Disclosed are a display device and controlling method thereof. The present invention includes a communication unit configured to perform a communication with a terminal device located in a preset distance, the communication unit configured to receive terminal device's information including an identifier of the terminal device, a controller determining whether a card included in a card group exists by searching the card group associated with the received terminal device's identifier, and a display unit, wherein if the card included in the searched card group exists, the controller displays a main card and wherein if the card included in the searched card group does not exist, the controller outputs a notification message.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device, and more particularly, to a display device and controlling method thereof.
Discussion of the Related Art
Generally, terminals can be classified into mobile/portable terminals and stationary terminals. In particular, the mobile terminals can be further classified into handheld terminals and vehicle mounted terminals according to possibility of user's direct portability.
Recently, functions of a mobile terminal tend to be diversified. For instance, the diversified functions include a function of data and audio communication, a function of photographing and video-making through a camera, a function of audio recording, a function of music file play through a speaker system, a function of outputting an image or video to a display unit, and the like. A prescribed terminal is further equipped with an electronic game play function or performs a multimedia player function. Particularly, a recent mobile terminal is able to receive multicast signals for providing visual contents such as a broadcast, a video, a television program and the like.
As functions of the terminal are getting diversified, the terminal tends to be implemented as a multimedia player provided with complex functions such as photographing of photos or videos, playback of music or video files, game play, broadcast reception and the like for example.
To support and increase the terminal functions, it may be able to consider the improvement of structural parts and/or software parts of the terminal.
Meanwhile, a user generally possesses various kinds of cards. For instance, a user may possess a credit card for payments, a debit card, a cash withdrawal card for cash withdrawal, a key-card for opening a door lock, a card for a transportation means, a ticket for entry into a specific place, and the like. When a user carries a number of cards, it may cause inconvenience to the user and raise the possibility of loss. Thus, the demand for a technology of using a plurality of card informations loaded on a terminal is increasingly rising.

Display device and controlling method thereof


A golf swing training and exercise device incorporates a spring-loaded retraction reel which pays out and pulls back a flexible cord which is releasably attached to the shank of a golf club a practice training wand simulating a golf club, or alternatively to an attachment point on the user's practice glove. The important muscles for the user's golf swing are trained and strengthened by repeatedly pulling the cord against the tension of the reel. To make the path of each golf swing more visible to the user, the cord is made of a highly visible material. Additionally, a lightweight simulated golf ball is slidably attached to the cord to simulate an actual golf ball addressed by before each swing. The reel has a multi-function attachment means by which it may be secured to a fixed stake or post, or to the forward edge of a golf practice mat, or to the turf or sod of a golf playing surface.

Golf can be a very enjoyable game, but it is hard for a beginner to learn the basics of a smooth, consistent and powerful swing. For a person just beginning to learn the game, a great deal of time and effort are required to "teach" the muscles of the hands, arms, legs and back the specialized coordinated movement required to hit a golf ball powerfully and consistently. For this reason the beginning golfer may seek the assistance of a mechanical device to train and improve his or her golf swing more quickly, efficiently and economically than by going to a golf course or driving range and trying to hit the ball without some sort of guidance or assistance in developing a proper golf swing.
The key to a proper golf swing is, of course, the backswing. Without a proper backswing or "takeaway", the downswing through the ball impact zone cannot be delivered consistently and under proper control, which means that the ball may be hit unpredictably, or not at all. This must be followed by a smooth and consistent follow-through, which connects all the other elements of the swing into the kind of unified fluid and repeatable movement which is so important to playing an enjoyable game of golf.
It is also very important for a golfer to learn a proper swing early and not to develop bad habits which must later be unlearned with great difficulty. In addition, proper initial training enables the golfer to develop and retain a "muscle memory" which insures that each golf shot can be made controllably and predictably.
The present invention achieves these objectives by assisting the golfer to both see and feel these important swing elements which would otherwise be very difficult to visualize.
The prior art includes many devices conceived and intended to help a golfer improve his or her golf swing, but none disclose or suggest the use of a visible retractable cord as a training aid for visibly indicating the direction or path of the swing. The following are just a few examples.
A spring-loaded reel or pulley is disclosed by Hughes U.S. Pat. No. 4,253,663 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,135,714 in which the reel resiliently pays out or pulls in a cord which attaches to a golf-club simulating handle. The reel is positioned on a post or beam above and behind the user's head so that by swinging the handle downward against the resistance of the reel, the device provides a form of exercise or muscle development. Similar reels are shown in older prior art such as Poole U.S. Pat. No. 518,967, Patterson U.S. Pat. No. 1,137,349, and Boyd U.S. Pat. No. 3,804,420.
Fenton, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,835 and Qualey, Sr. U.S. Pat. No. 5,769,734 disclose golf club-like exercise training devices in which the club portion contains or is attached to a weight retained by a resilient cord, but neither uses the cord as training aid for visibly indicating the direction or path of the swing.
Several prior art devices utilize physical restraints, much like prosthetic devices, to train the user to execute a presumably improved golf swing. These include Herridge II U.S. Pat. No. 5,397,122, Romano U.S. Pat. No. 6,783,464, Kim et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,805,640 and Snyder et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,863,616. All of these devices constrain the user's range of movement in some way, and none disclose or suggest the use of a flexible cord as a visible swing path indicator.
An additional group of prior art documents disclose various mechanical devices which, in Draconian fashion, force the user to assume physical postures and patterns of golf swing movement as dictated by their mechanisms, and not as taught by free repetitive movement as in the previously described patents, and as provided for by the present invention. These documents include Arena U.S. Pat. No. 4,134,589, Self et Al. Re. 32,397, Perry et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,303,927, Florain U.S. Pat. No. 6,699,141, Pope U.S. Pat. No. 6,805,641, Hamilton, U.S. Pat. No. 6,855,065, and Chapman et al. App. US 2002/0025892 and US 2004/0152534. Like all the previously described disclosures, none of these disclose or suggest the use of a flexible cord as a visible swing path indicator.

Golf swing training and exercising device


The present invention is directed to plants that display an altered oil content phenotype due to altered expression of a citrate synthase nucleic acid. The invention is further directed to methods of generating plants with an altered oil content phenotype.

The ability to manipulate the composition of crop seeds, particularly the content and composition of seed oils, has important applications in the agricultural industries, relating both to processed food oils and to oils for animal feeding. Seeds of agricultural crops contain a variety of valuable constituents, including oil, protein and starch. Industrial processing can separate some or all of these constituents for individual sale in specific applications. For instance, nearly 60% of the US soybean crop is crushed by the soy processing industry. Soy processing yields purified oil, which is sold at high value, while the remainder is sold principally for lower value livestock feed (US Soybean Board, 2001 Soy Stats). Canola seed is crushed to produce oil and the co-product canola meal (Canola Council of Canada). Nearly 20% of the 1999/2000 US corn crop was industrially refined, primarily for production of starch, ethanol and oil (Corn Refiners Association). Thus, it is often desirable to maximize oil content of seeds. For instance, for processed oilseeds such as soy and canola, increasing the absolute oil content of the seed will increase the value of such grains. For processed corn it may be desired to either increase or decrease oil content, depending on utilization of other major constituents. Decreasing oil may improve the quality of isolated starch by reducing undesired flavors associated with oil oxidation. Alternatively, in ethanol production, where flavor is unimportant, increasing oil content may increase overall value. In many fed grains, such as corn and wheat, it is desirable to increase seed oil content, because oil has higher energy content than other seed constituents such as carbohydrate. Oilseed processing, like most grain processing businesses, is a capital-intensive business; thus small shifts in the distribution of products from the low valued components to the high value oil component can have substantial economic impacts for grain processors.
Biotechnological manipulation of oils can provide compositional alteration and improvement of oil yield. Compositional alterations include high oleic soybean and corn oil (U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,229,033 and 6,248,939), and laurate-containing seeds (U.S. Pat. No. 5,639,790), among others. Work in compositional alteration has predominantly focused on processed oilseeds but has been readily extendable to non-oilseed crops, including corn. While there is considerable interest in increasing oil content, the only currently practiced biotechnology in this area is High-Oil Corn (HOC) technology (DuPont, U.S. Pat. No. 5,704,160). HOC employs high oil pollinators developed by classical selection breeding along with elite (male-sterile) hybrid females in a production system referred to as TopCross. The TopCross High Oil system raises harvested grain oil content in maize from ˜3.5% to ˜7%, improving the energy content of the grain.
While it has been fruitful, the HOC production system has inherent limitations. First, the system of having a low percentage of pollinators responsible for an entire field's seed set contains inherent risks, particularly in drought years. Second, oil contents in current HOC fields have plateaued at about 9% oil. Finally, high-oil corn is not primarily a biochemical change, but rather an anatomical mutant (increased embryo size) that has the indirect result of increasing oil content. For these reasons, an alternative high oil strategy, particularly one that derives from an altered biochemical output, would be especially valuable.
The most obvious target crops for the processed oil market are soy and rapeseed, and a large body of commercial work (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,952,544; PCT application WO9411516) demonstrates that Arabidopsis is an excellent model for oil metabolism in these crops. Biochemical screens of seed oil composition have identified Arabidopsis genes for many critical biosynthetic enzymes and have led to identification of agronomically important gene orthologs. For instance, screens using chemically mutagenized populations have identified lipid mutants whose seeds display altered fatty acid composition (Lemieux B, et al. 1990, Theor Appl Genet 80, 234-240; James D W and Dooner H K (1990) Theor Appl Genet 80, 241-245). T-DNA mutagenesis screens (Feldmann et al., Science 243: 1351-1354, 1989) that detected altered fatty acid composition identified the omega 3 desaturase (FAD3) and delta-12 desaturase (FAD2) genes (U.S. Pat. No. 5,952,544; Yadav N S et al. (1993) Plant Physiol 103, 467-476; Okuley et al., Plant Cell. 1994 January; 6(1):147-58). A screen which focused on oil content rather than oil quality, analyzed chemically-induced mutants for wrinkled seeds or altered seed density, from which altered seed oil content was inferred (Focks N and Benning C, Plant Physiol 118:91-101, 1998). Another screen, designed to identify enzymes involved in production of very long chain fatty acids, identified a mutation in the gene encoding a diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT) as being responsible for reduced triacyl glycerol accumulation in seeds (Katavic V et al, Plant Physiol. 1995 May; 108(1):399-409). It was further shown that seed-specific over-expression of the DGAT cDNA was associated with increased seed oil content (Jako et al., Plant Physiol. 2001 June; 126(2):861-74).

Generation of plants with altered oil content


A hinge for a closing door of a compartment, of the type having a first and a second body, respectively integral to the door and to the frame of the corresponding compartment, or vice versa, and mutually hinged by at least one pin, first elastic means mounted on the second body and acting upon the first body, and at least one dampening device fixed to the second body, acting upon the first body and actuated by at least a first slider, functionally connected to the dampener, and by at least a second slider, configured for engaging, directly or indirectly, the aforesaid first body in correspondence of at least a certain angular range assumed by the first body with respect to the second body during their relative rotation, whereby the second slider is actuated in translation by the first body when engaged therewith, as well as constraining means between the first slider and the second slider. Advantagiously, the aforesaid constraining means include at least a lever pivoted to the second body, and the aforesaid first and second slider are constrained at least in rotation to one lever.

It is a known art to make hinges for doors closing compartments that comprise two bodies hinged together, and fixed respectively to the door and to the frame of the compartment, in which one of the two bodies houses appropriate elastic means, usually consisting of a cylindrical helical spring, acting on the other hinge body so as to counteract, or facilitate, the motion in one direction and/or towards certain angular positions assumed by a body with respect to the other.
To such a structure, it is known to couple a dampener, generally of a fluidic cylinder-piston type, which is configured to exert a further braking action during the respective motion in at least one direction, of the two hinge bodies, and therefore of the door with respect to the compartment, in order to partially counteract the action of the elastic means and/or prevent that in the fully open or fully closed position of the compartment undue shock between door and compartment frame can occur due to an excessive force imparted by the user to the door during the closing or opening thereof.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,397,836, granted on behalf of THE STANLEY WORKS, teaches how to create a hinge of the above mentioned type, in which a mobile body, constrained to the door, and a fixed body, constrained to the respective compartment frame, are reciprocally hinged, and wherein a spring and fluidic actuated dampener are housed on the mobile hinge body and are simultaneously urged by sliders pushed by a connecting rod, which is in turn hinged at one end to the fixed body and at the other end is constrained to one or more of said sliders. The spring and the dampener, constrained to the mobile body, therefore exert a continuous counteracting, or facilitating action to the respective sliders displacement and therefore a continuous counteracting, or facilitating action, to the relative rotation of the mobile body with respect to the fixed hinge body.
In this way, during the relative motion of the mobile hinge body with respect to the fixed one, the clockwise and counterclockwise rotational motions are variously counteracted, or facilitated, by the elastic means and the dampener. Moreover, thanks to the dampener, it is possible to avoid any impact at least during the closing of the door.
Said solution, foreseeing that the dampener is continually stressed during the opening or closing stroke of the door, requires a careful designing of the dampener itself, which must not only be actuated in both rotation directions of the mobile hinge body, and therefore of the door, but also cannot be configured neither to exert an excessive dampening action upon the hinge, which would make the opening and closing of the door itself difficult, nor to exert a reduced dampening action, which would defeat the purpose of its use.
Considering the fact that the main purpose in using a dampener in a hinge with motion counteracting elastic means is, in many applications, to prevent the door frame from slamming into its respective compartment frame when the door reaches its closing position has been proposed in European Patent EP-A-1847670, on behalf of NUOVA STAR, to allow the actuation of the dampener only when the door to which the hinge is coupled, reaches its closed position.
More specifically, the NUOVA STAR patent informs on how to make a hinge provided both with elastic means housed in the mobile hinge body for the purpose of counteracting or facilitating the opening/closing movement of the hinge, and of a fluidic type dampener, also constrained to the mobile hinge body, which counteracts the motion of the hinge only in the vicinity of its closed position, being actuated by a slider, slidable on the mobile hinge body, which is configured to engage with the respective fixed body only when the mobile body, and therefore the door, reaches its closed position.
This solution, which provides that the dampener actuating slider is pushed due to the support of the fixed hinge body only at a certain angle range, and transmits a translational and substantially unaltered motion to the dampener, suffers the drawback that, because of the necessarily reduced hinge size, the slider translation stroke driving the dampener results particularly reduced, and therefore the displacement of the dampener actuating element results in being considerably limited, thus making it necessary to use dampeners designed "ad hoc", capable of exerting a proper dampening action even in the presence of small movements of their actuating element (for example, the piston in a fluidic cylinder-piston type dampener).
But these customized dampeners, as will be clear to one skilled in the art, appear to be bulky and/or of complex construction and therefore expensive.
This drawback, in fact, prevents the use of this type of hinge in applications where it is necessary to concentrate the dampening action of the dampener in a small angular range reached by the mobile hinge body with respect to the respective fixed body and/or when the hinge bulk dimensions should be limited because of the geometry of the door and the respective compartment.
Note also that the direct transmission of motion from the abovementioned slider to the dampener actuating element, as described in EP-A-1847670, can also lead, though in rare cases and depending on the different dimensions of the hinge, to an excessive stroke of the dampener actuating slider that directly results into an excessive movement of the dampener actuating element itself, thereby making it necessary, also in this case, the predisposition of an expensive and complex customized dampener.
Also note that the direct transmission, i.e. unchanged, of the motion from the fixed body of the hinge to the dampener actuating slider, thanks to the pressure exerted by the fixed body when the actuating slider comes to rest upon the latter, does not prevent jamming of the dampener, resulting in a rebound of the door when the door closing speed constrained to said fixed body is excessive, and therefore when the impact between the slider and the fixed body has an un-negligible energy.
Finally, as one skilled in the art can easily understand, since in the applications described in EP-A-1847670, the amount of displacement of the actuating slider is in relation to the amount of mechanical clearance that is created during the medium life-span of the dampener, it becomes evident that, over time, the effectiveness of the dampener decreases more and more, until the clearance that is created between the mechanical parts results in dampener malfunction.
It is therefore the aim of the present invention to create a hinge of the aforementioned type, which solves the drawbacks of the known prior art, mentioned above, therefore allowing the dampener to operate in any angular range, large or small as desired, during the movement of the mobile hinge body with respect to the fixed one without dampener jamming, resulting in the rebound of the door coupled to the hinge, and without requiring the use of a complex and expensive custom-made dampener.
It is another aim of the present invention to provide a hinge having counteracting/facilitating elastic means of the motion of the mobile hinge body with respect to the fixed one that does not present excessive bulk dimensions and allows an effective dampening action, at least when the mobile hinge body moves within a certain angular range with respect to its respective fixed body.
A further aim of the present invention is to create a hinge of the aforementioned type which allows the dampener to act effectively during the entire life-span of the hinge, without the clearance which is formed between mechanical parts during the use of the hinge itself, results in dampener malfunction.

Hinges provided with elastic means and dampener


Magnetic tunnel junction (“MTJ”) element structures and methods for fabricating MTJ element structures are provided. An MTJ element structure may comprise a crystalline pinned layer, an amorphous fixed layer, and a coupling layer disposed between the crystalline pinned layer and the amorphous fixed layer. The amorphous fixed layer is antiferromagnetically coupled to the crystalline pinned layer. The MTJ element further comprises a free layer and a tunnel barrier layer disposed between the amorphous fixed layer and the free layer.

Magnetoelectronics devices, spin electronics devices, and spintronics devices are synonymous terms for devices that use the effects predominantly caused by electron spin. Magnetoelectronics effects are used in numerous information devices, and provide non-volatile, reliable, radiation resistant, and high-density data storage and retrieval. The numerous magnetoelectronics information devices include, but are not limited to, magnetic random access memory (MRAM), magnetic sensors, and read/write heads for disk drives.
Typically, a magnetoelectronic device, such as a magnetic memory element, has a structure that includes multiple ferromagnetic layers separated by at least one non-magnetic layer. In the magnetic memory element, information is stored as directions of magnetization vectors in the magnetic layers. Magnetization vectors in one magnetic layer, for instance, are magnetically fixed or pinned, while the magnetization direction of the other magnetic layer is free to switch between the same and opposite directions that are called "parallel" and "antiparallel" states, respectively. In response to parallel and antiparallel states, the magnetic memory element represents two different resistances. The resistance has minimum and maximum values when the magnetization vectors of the two magnetic layers point in substantially the same and opposite directions, respectively. Accordingly, a detection of change in resistance allows a device, such as an MRAM device, to provide information stored in the magnetic memory element. The difference between the minimum and maximum resistance values divided by the minimum resistance is known as the magnetoresistance ratio (MR).
One type of magnetic memory element, a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) element, comprises a fixed ferromagnetic layer that has a magnetization direction fixed with respect to an external magnetic field and a free ferromagnetic layer that has a magnetization direction that is free to rotate with the external magnetic field. The fixed layer and free layer are separated by an insulating tunnel barrier layer that relies upon the phenomenon of spin-polarized electron tunneling through the tunnel barrier layer between the free and fixed ferromagnetic layers. The tunneling phenomenon is electron spin dependent, making the magnetic response of the MTJ element a function of the relative orientations and spin polarization of the conduction electrons between the free and fixed ferromagnetic layer.
The tunnel barrier layer is important to the performance of the MTJ element, as the MR is strongly dependent on the tunnel barrier quality. In particular, the surface smoothness of the tunnel barrier plays a critical role in making a high-quality MTJ device. Typically, surface roughness of the tunnel barrier leads to a reduction of MR due to non-tunnel current flow through the barrier or over oxidation of high spots in the bottom ferromagnetic layer, which consequently reduces reliability and thus process yield in MTJ device fabrication. Further, because future generations of magnetoelectronic devices, such as MRAMs, will be scaled to smaller sizes, thinner tunnel barrier layers will be required. Accordingly, as the tunnel barrier layers become thinner in future devices, the surface smoothness will become even more important.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide MTJ elements having tunnel barrier layers with reduced surface roughness. In addition, it is desirable to provide a process for fabricating an MTJ element having improved electrical properties. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.

Magnetic tunnel junction element structures and methods for fabricating the same

Abstract: Another MTJ element structure may comprise a pinned layer, a fixed layer and a non-magnetic coupling layer disposed therebetween. A tunnel barrier layer is disposed between the fixed layer and a free layer. An interface layer is disposed adjacent the tunnel barrier layer and a layer of amorphous material. The first interface layer comprises a material having a spin polarization that is higher than that of the amorphous material.


A called party response detecting apparatus of a terminal equipment includes a plurality of filter units, a determining unit, and an analyzing unit. The filter units are commonly connected to an input side and detects specific frequency components included in a plurality of signal tones coming from a telephone line. The determining unit checks the presence/absence of each output from the filter units for each fundamental period to determine a signal type on the basis of a predetermined output pattern. The analyzing unit analyzes various signal tones and a called party response on the basis of occurrences of signal type outputs during a predetermined time period of the determining unit.

The present invention relates to a called party response detecting apparatus of a terminal equipment connected to a telephone line to which a signal representing a called party response is not sent.
A conventional destination detecting apparatus of a terminal equipment of this type (Ex. U.S.P. 4,811,386), detects each specific frequency component included in various types of signal tones coming from a telephone line and monitors the duration of each detection output. If a specific frequency continues for a predetermined time period, the apparatus determines a signal tone corresponding to this condition. If any frequency component does not correspond to various types of signal tones, the apparatus determines that the signal is a destination voice obtained by a called party response.
In such a conventional system however, various signal tone data coming from a telephone line are input in real time and compared with a pattern of a predetermined ON/OFF signal length to recognize various signal tones. If noise is sent to the telephone line, therefore, the various signal tones become unstable to immediately deform the recognition pattern, thereby disabling identification. As a result, since the various signal tones cannot ba identified from a called party response, the called party response cannot be correctly detected.

Called party response detecting apparatus


There is provided a catalyst composition for polymerizing a conjugated diene monomer containing a rare earth complex having a specific structure and a specific compound.

Conjugated diene polymers are used as raw material rubbers in a variety of fields. For example, conjugated diene polymers are widely used in tires because these polymers advantageously provide treads having high resistance to wear and high flexibility at low temperatures and carcasses having low heat-generating properties and high flex crack resistance.
Among these, it is known that natural rubber having a cis-1,4-bond content (hereinafter also referred to as "cis content") of approximately 100% and conjugated diene polymers having high tacticity such as polybutadienes having a cis-1,4-bond content of 98% or more are crystallized during drawing to attain high tensile strength (for example, Non-Patent Literature 1). These highly tactic conjugated diene copolymers have been produced with a coordination polymerization catalyst. A variety of catalyst systems such as Ti, Co, and Ni has been known. Conjugated diene polymers having a high cis content have been also produced with these catalyst systems in an industrial scale (for example, Non-Patent Literature 2).
In the late 1970s, systems using rare earth catalysts such as rare earth carboxylates have been proposed. Typically, the rare earth carboxylate catalyst systems have a cis content of approximately 94 to 97%. These catalyst systems have higher polymerization activity than those of the traditional Co, Ni, and Ti catalysts at a polymerization temperature of 60 to 80° C. or more. For this reason, these catalyst systems enable polymerization at higher temperatures and have narrower molecular weight distribution, which are characteristics not found in the traditional catalyst systems (for example, Patent Literatures 1 and 2 and Non-Patent Literature 3).
As an attempt to increase the cis content, a system using a binuclear complex of a rare earth element and alkylaluminum has been proposed, which has shown high cis selectivity at a cis content of 99% or more in the polymerization of isoprene (Non-Patent Literature 4).
Another rare earth binuclear complex has been proposed, which is prepared by a reaction of a binuclear complex of a rare earth element coordinated with toluene and alkylaluminum halide with alkylaluminum, and attains polymers having a cis content of 88 to 98.8% (for example, Patent Literature 3).
Furthermore, a system using a metallocene complex of a rare earth element has been proposed. This system attains polymers having a cis content of 96 to 100% (for example, Patent Literatures 4 to 8).

Catalyst composition for polymerizing conjugated diene monomer


A composition and method for the control of appetite having food grade nutrients as the active ingredients, and a pharmaceutically acceptable delivery agent, formulated so that the active ingredient is released predominantly in the ileum. The active ingredient may include sugars, fatty acids, polypeptides, and amino acids. The delivery agent may be a pH sensitive coating, a cellulosic polymer coating or a diazotized polymer. The composition may be formulated into pellets of between 1 and 3 mm with a density of around 1.0. The composition may be administered with a liquid as a slurry, or it may be administered in a tablet form. The composition may be used in conjunction with any weight loss or weight maintenance program.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a composition and method for controlling appetite in humans. More particularly, the invention concerns the targeting of nutrients for the ileum to induce satiety in a human being.
2. Related Technology
A major class of weight control agents are drugs which act on the central nervous system (CNS) to suppress appetite. One major subclass of CNS appetite suppressant drugs interacts with cathecolaminergic receptors in the brainstem. These include controlled drugs such as amphetamine, phenmetrazine, and diethylproprion, and over-the-counter drugs such as phenylpropanolamine. Manizidol is another CNS active drug which, although not a catecholamine, activates the central nervous system. Each of these agents have potential for addiction and, at doses which effectively reduce appetite, i.e., suppress food intake by 20-30%, they induce significant CNS side effects, such as nervousness, loss of concentration, and insomnia. Another subclass of CNS active appetite control drugs interferes with serotonergic systems. D-fenfluramine, for example, releases and depletes brain serotonin, but it causes sedation at appetite suppressant levels, and it may precipitate depression upon its withdrawal. Fluoxetine is an inhibitor of serotonin re-uptake in the brainstem. However, at effective appetite control doses, Fluoxetine often causes nausea and asthenia, i.e., weakness, lassitude.
Another major class of weight control agents are drugs which promote malabsorption of nutrients through suppression of digestive enzymes. One agent in this category is Acarbose, a bacterial inhibitor of amylase and brushborder glycosidases. Another is tetrahydrolipostatin, a fungal inhibitor of lipases. These agents work by preventing digestion of carbohydrates and/or fats, thus creating an effective reduction in the number of calories absorbed, despite continued consumption. One drawback is that virtually complete inhibition of the respective enzymes must be maintained throughout the digestive period, a situation that can be rarely achieved. Thus, Acarbose was shown to be ineffective in humans, and tetrahydrolipostatin was shown to reduce human absorption of fat by only 30%. A second major drawback to this approach is that subjects taking these agents develop hyperphagia for other foodstuffs. For example, subjects taking tetrahydrolipostatin will consume more carbohydrate to compensate for the loss of fat absorption. Thus, the loss of calories from malabsorption is compensated by an increased intake of food, especially of foodstuffs of a different class.
A third class of weight control agents are noncaloric, non-nutritive dietary substitutes, like saccharin or Nutrasweet, sugar substitutes, and sucrose polyester, a fat substitute. These agents, while not absorbed, provide a taste and/or texture like the nutrient for which they are substituted. The disadvantage of these substitutes is that persons develop a hyperphagia to compensate for the reduction of calories by the substitution. With sucrose polyester, a nondigestible lipid, fat soluble, enterohepatically circulated vitamins partition into the unabsorbed polyester and are lost from the body, a potential problem which can also occur with tetrahydrolipostatin.
Thermogenic drugs are also sometimes used. The catecholamine drugs discussed above have some thermogenic activity, in addition to their suppression of appetite. Thyroid hormone is also commonly used.
Semi-starvation diets are universally effective in short term weight loss, but regain of weight after resumption of less restricted diets is the rule. Long term use of semi starvation diets is nutritionally unsound because of the development of multiple deficiencies of essential nutrients.
Surgical devices have also been employed to control appetite. Intragastric balloons have been placed endoscopically according to the theory that they increase the amount of gastric distension and thus augment satiety responses. However, they have been discontinued because, while they were not shown to be any better than restricted diets in promoting weight loss, their long term use was associated with severe side effects such as gastric ulceration and migration of the balloons into the small intestine resulting in intestinal obstructions.
Patients with morbid obesity (body mass index>29 kg/m2, about 3% of the overweight population) are often encouraged to undergo bariatic surgery because, as a class, they suffer from more than four times the incidence of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, uterine and breast cancer, degenerative joint disease, and social stigmatization. Ileojejunal bypass, the first such surgery undertaken 30 years ago, has now been abandoned because of severe side effects such as poor subsequent malnutrition, fatal cirrhosis or renal failure. Biliopancreatic by-pass, gastric by-pass, and gastric partitioning (stapling) are the current procedures, but the long term side effects have not yet been determined.

Composition and method for inducing satiety


A system and method for improving the efficiency of a gas fractionalization system of the type having a compressor having an inlet for receiving air from the ambient environment. The system includes a sensor for sensing a parameter indicative of the flow of concentrated gas delivered from the gas fractionalization system to a patient. A multi-positional valve is disposed in line with the compressor for regulating the flow of air from the ambient environment into the compressor. A valve control manipulates the position of the multi-positional valve depending on the value of the parameter sensed by the sensor for regulating the quantity of air received from the ambient environment into the compressor inlet.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to an apparatus and method for separating gas components by a gas fractionalization system, and, more particularly, to the regulation of the work done by a compressor by manipulating the air flow through the compressor depending on the quantity of consumable gas requested by an end user.
2. Description of the Related Art
Gas fractionalization systems are used for separating a desired gas from a gas mixture, such as air, and delivering the separated gas to an end user. A typical gas fractionalization system is an oxygen concentrator, which separates the oxygen from air, for subsequent inhalation by a patient. An oxygen concentrator, or similar pressure swing absorption system, typically includes molecular sieve beds for separating the gas into an oxygen and a nitrogen fraction. The oxygen is subsequently provided to the patient while the nitrogen is retained in the sieve bed and subsequently purged. Generally, in a pressure swing absorption system, two sieve beds are utilized. One sieve bed separates nitrogen from the oxygen while the other sieve bed is simultaneously being purged of the nitrogen previously absorbed during the prior fractionalization cycle.
Typically, an oxygen concentrator utilizes a compressor that draws air from the ambient environment and presents compressed air to the molecular sieves pressurizing the sieves for fractionalization of the gases. The concentrated gas then enters a product chamber. A flow metering device is located between the product chamber and the patient. The user manipulates the flow metering device to present a desired amount of oxygen to the patient. Typically, an oxygen concentrator can provide a flow of oxygen ranging from 1 liter per minute to 5 liters per minute. The amount of oxygen delivered to a patient is prescribed by a physician and may vary depending on the physical condition of the patient. A typical oxygen concentrator is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,183,483 the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Even though oxygen concentrators are designed to provide an oxygen flow rate between 1 to 5 liters per minute, these concentrators usually operate at less than full capacity and typically are operated to provide only 2 liters of oxygen per minute, as generally prescribed. While these oxygen concentrators may provide various flow outputs of oxygen, such systems are generally not designed to provide a varying input flow of air into the molecular sieves. Accordingly, the compressors of these systems continuously operate at one level which produces the maximum flow of oxygen. This results in the compressor needlessly working harder than required to produce the desired flow of oxygen if the flow selected by the patient is less than the maximum output of the gas fractionalization system. The drawbacks of the compressor working harder than necessary are that the compressor at full capacity is noisier than required and also utilizes more power than required. Furthermore, the compressor operates at a higher temperature, increasing the wear of the compressor components. Thus, it is desirable to reduce the work of the compressor when the desired flow rate of the oxygen concentrator is less than the maximum flow rate.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,474,595 discloses an oxygen concentrator system utilizing a compressor having a manually operated valve for reducing air flow into the compressor when the flow output of the oxygen concentrator is less than the maximum output. This patent discloses a two position valve enabling air flow at either a high capacity rate or a low capacity rate depending on the usage by the patient. This valve is manually operated and requires the attendance of a technician to set the valve to the proper position depending on the usage of the concentrator.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,561,287 discloses an oxygen concentrator system that automatically controls the timing cycle for charging the molecular sieve beds by monitoring the pressure levels within the product chamber to determine patient utilization. While this system is suitable for its intended purpose, it functions by manipulating a valve downstream of the compressor for charging the molecular sieve beds and, therefore, does not directly reduce the air mass flow through the compressor.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a pressure swing absorption system wherein the operation of the compressor is modified to correlate the air mass flow through the compressor automatically to correspond with the desired output of the product gas, which results in a reduction in the work done by the compressor.
Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a gas fractionalization system wherein control of the gas into the compressor is performed based on a parameter indicative of the flow rate of the product gas, thereby requiring less power and providing a more tranquil operating environment.
These objects are accomplished according to the principles of the invention by providing a gas fractionalization system and method for gas fractionalization having improved efficiency. The gas fractionalization system includes a compressor having an inlet for receiving air from the ambient environment. The system also includes a sensor for sensing a parameter indicative of the flow of concentrated gas delivered from the gas fractionalization system to a patient. A multi-positional valve is disposed in line with the compressor for regulating the flow of air from the ambient environment into the compressor. A valve control manipulates the position of the multi-positional valve depending on the value of the parameter sensed by the sensor for regulating the quantity of air received from the ambient environment into the compressor inlet.
A method for controlling airflow in a gas fractionalization system that achieves the above objects includes the steps of 1) providing a multi-positional valve inline with an inlet of a compressor to control a flow of air from an ambient atmosphere into the inlet, 2) producing concentrated gas from pressurized gas generated by the compressor and delivering a flow of the concentrated gas to a patient, 3) monitoring a parameter indicative of an amount of concentrated gas delivered to such a patient, and 4) controlling the multi-positional valve based on the parameter indicative of the flow of concentrated gas delivered to such a patient so as to regulate the flow of air from an ambient atmosphere into the inlet of the compressor based on the parameter.
These and other objects, features and characteristics of the present invention, as well as the methods of operation and functions of the related elements of structure and the combination of parts and economies of manufacture, will become more apparent upon consideration of the following description and the appended claims with reference to the accompanying drawings, all of which form a part of this specification, wherein like reference numerals designate corresponding parts in the various FIGURES It is to be expressly understood, however, that the drawings are for the purpose of illustration and description only and are not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention.

Air flow control in a gas fractionalization system and associated method


Two images are analyzed to compute a set of motion vectors that describes motion between the first and second images. A motion vector is computed for each pixel in an image at a time between the first and second images. This set of motion vectors may be defined at any time between the first and second images, such as the midpoint. The motion vectors may be computed using any of several techniques. An example technique is based on the constant brightness constraint, also referred to as optical flow. Each vector is specified at a pixel center in an image defined at the time between the first and second images. The vectors may point to points in the first and second images that are not on pixel centers. The motion vectors are used to warp the first and second images to a point in time of an output image between the first and second images using a factor that represents the time between the first and second image at which the output image occurs. The warped images are then blended using this factor to obtain the output image at the desired point in time between the first and second images. The point in time at which the output image occurs may be different from the time at which the motion vectors are determined. The same motion vectors may be used to determine two or more output images at different times between the first and second images. The images may be warped using a technique in which many small triangles are defined in an image corresponding in time to the point in time between the first and second images at which the motion vectors are determined. A transform for each small triangle from the point in time at which the motion vectors are determined to the desired interpolated image time is determined, e.g., the triangle is warped using the motion vectors associated with its vertices. For each pixel in each triangle in the output image, corresponding points in the first and second images are determined, and the first and second images are spatially sampled at these points. These samples for each pixel are combined to produce a value for that pixel in the output image.

For applications such as standards conversion and generation of slow and fast motion in film, television and other video productions, images in a sequence of images may be simply repeated or dropped to achieve a desired sampling rate. Such a technique, however, generally produces unwanted visible artifacts such as jerky motion. Analysis of motion in a sequence of images is commonly used to improve interpolation of the sequence of images.
Motion analysis generally is performed by determining a set of motion parameters that describe motion of pixels between a first image and a second image. For example, the motion parameters may describe forward motion of pixels from the first image to the second image, and/or backward motion of pixels from the second image to the first image. The motion parameters may be defined at a time associated with either or both of the first and second images or at a time between the first and second images. These motion parameters are then used to warp the first and second images to obtain an interpolated image between the first and second images. This process generally is called motion compensated interpolation.

Interpolation of a sequence of images using motion analysis


A game to be modified in accordance with the invention involves a first random outcome and a second random outcome that are combined according to game rules to produce a game outcome. The game is administered by receiving a player request for a specific entry, the specific entry replacing one of the random outcomes and being selected from a finite set of possibilities not determined by chance. The requested specific entry affects the probable outcome of the game. The specific entry is combined with the remaining one of the random outcomes according to the game rules to determine the game outcome. According to one embodiment, the specific entry may be a score such as 18 which replaces the player's hand in the game of blackjack.

In many games of chance, the game outcome is determined on the basis of two or more independent outcomes. For example, in the card game blackjack, the outcome of the game depends on comparing the respective scores of a randomly dealt player's hand (first random outcome) and a randomly dealt dealer's hand (second random outcome).
As another example, in a video poker game based on the game of draw poker, the outcome of a hand depends upon the initial, randomly dealt hand configuration (first random outcome) as well as the cards randomly drawn (second random outcome) to replace discards from the initial hand configuration.
As still another example, the outcome of a play cycle in a slot machine is determined by a combination of the respective random outcomes that correspond to the final positions of the reels of the slot machine.
Because these games involve more than one random outcome, there is more than one way that the player may lose or may suffer bad luck. For example, in blackjack, the player may lose either by "busting" (exceeding a twenty-one count in the player's hand) or by having a lower count than the dealer. If a player suffers a run of bad luck, he/she may become frustrated and cease playing the game. This is disadvantageous to the proprietor of the gaming establishment or device.
It is considered desirable from the point of view of the game proprietor to give the player more options relative to the game so that the player feels that he/she has a better opportunity to change his/her luck and therefore continue playing. Certain known modifications to popular games have attempted to provide the player with additional options. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,660,391, issued to Klasee, a variation on blackjack is disclosed. According to this variation, the player places a bet on one of five possible hand outcomes, namely blackjack, twenty-one, twenty, nineteen or eighteen. Four cards are dealt and using those cards the best ranking blackjack hand is assembled. If the resulting hand matches the player's bet, then the player wins.
According to another known variation on blackjack, casinos issue promotional coupons that may be presented at a blackjack table as a "free ace" to form part of the player's hand.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,200,291, issued to Hooker, discloses a modified slot machine in which the player can select one or two of the slot machine reels to be held at the same position at which the reels ended the previous play cycle and which was randomly determined. If the player exercises this option, then only one or two reels are spun in the next cycle in an attempt to match the position of the held reel or reels.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,068,552, issued May 30, 2000, entitled, "A Gaming Device and Method of Operation Thereof," and commonly assigned with this application, discloses a slot machine in which the player is allowed to customize parameters such as payouts or frequency of winning outcomes.
It is also a common practice in state-run lotteries to permit players either to specify the numbers to be played or to have the numbers chosen automatically and randomly by computer.
It would be desirable to provide improved games of chance that would encourage the player to continue playing and to attempt to change his luck in cases where a losing streak has occurred. It would also be desirable to provide improved games that are simpler and easier to play and therefore generally more attractive to players.

Games of chance with player-specified elements


To enhance adhesion between a resin and a glass filler and at the same time to disperse a rubber in the resin to thereby improve mechanical properties of a molded body. Provided is a resin composition containing an engineering plastic (A), a glass filler (B) and a rubber-containing graft polymer (C), wherein a ratio of an acrylonitrile-derived component in a chloroform-soluble component of the resin composition is not more than 2.0 mass %, a content of a fatty acid in 100 parts by mass of the resin composition is not more than 0.03 parts by mass, a total content of calcium and magnesium in 100 parts by mass of a dry sample of the resin composition extracted with chloroform is not more than 0.0008 parts by mass, and a content of aluminum is not more than 0.0008 parts by mass. Also provided is a resin composition further containing a salt (D) of an alkali metal and a strong acid. The engineering plastic (A) is preferably an aromatic polycarbonate resin. Also provided is a molded body obtained by molding the resin composition.

Engineering plastics have been adopted for automotive members and appliance members owing to their excellent heat resistance. In recent years, weight lightening and wall thinning have been highly desired mainly for the automotive members and appliance members, and materials in which glass fillers (glass fibers, etc.) have been compounded with engineering plastics are improved in rigidity such as flexural strength, so that they are preferably used.
These materials exhibit larger improvement effects on rigidity, heat resistance, etc. as the adhesion between the glass filler and the engineering plastic becomes better. However, by compounding the glass filler, impact resistance, particularly notch strength, is decreased. On that account, it is thought that a rubber-containing graft polymer is compounded with these materials for the purpose of improving impact resistance, but if the rubber-containing graft polymer having been heretofore disclosed is compounded, an adverse influence is exerted on the adhesion between the glass filler and the engineering plastic.
Particularly in a field where dimensional stability of a molded body is required, a glass filler has come to be often compounded with an aromatic polycarbonate resin having low water absorption property to cope with the above. However, even if a rubber-containing graft polymer having been heretofore disclosed is compounded with the aromatic polycarbonate resin and the glass filler, the improvement effect on the notch strength is particularly low, and on the other hand, rigidity such as flexural strength decreases.
A rubber-containing graft polymer is generally produced by emulsion polymerization, and is obtained by (process of mixing an acid or calcium-based, magnesium-based or aluminum-based salt with the latex to obtain a coagulated slurry followed by heat treatment, dehydration and drying (hereinafter, referred to as "coagulation method"). For coagulation method of the rubber-containing graft polymer for engineering plastics, a calcium-based, magnesium-based or aluminum-based salt is often used. However, the adhesion between the glass filler and the resin decreases in the presence of salts of calcium or magnesium and strong acids and a salt of aluminum and a strong acid derived from the rubber-containing graft polymer.
A patent literature 1 discloses an example in which a rubber-containing graft polymer (containing more than 1000 ppm of calcium), which is thought to have been obtained by salting out with a calcium-based salt, have been compounded in an amount of about 10 parts by mass with an engineering plastic and a glass filler.
A rubber-containing graft polymer can also be produced by emulsion polymerization using a fatty acid-based alkali metal salt as an emulsifying agent. Therefore, the rubber-containing graft polymer can be coagulated by not salting out but by acid coagulation. Since the fatty acid-based emulsifying agent is changed to a fatty acid by means of an acid and is decreased in hydrophilicity, the rubber-containing graft polymer in a latex is coagulated. The coagulate is subjected to dehydration, washing and drying, and can be recovered as a powder of the rubber-containing graft polymer. A patent literature 2 discloses an example in which a powder of a rubber-containing graft polymer that has been obtained by coagulating, by means of an acid, a latex containing a rubber-containing graft polymer produced by the use of a fatty acid-based emulsifying agent has been compounded with an aromatic polycarbonate resin and a glass filler. However, also the fatty acid acts to decrease adhesion between the glass and the resin.

Resin composition and molded body thereof


The present invention provides humanized, chimeric and human anti-CSAp antibodies and anti-CSAp antibody fusion proteins that are useful for the treatment and diagnosis of various cancers, including colon cancer.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to immunological reagents for therapeutic use, for example, in radioimmunotherapy (RAIT) and chemoimmunotherapy, and detection and/or diagnostic uses, for example, in radioimmunodetection (RAID), ultrasonography, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In particular, the invention relates to naked antibodies (unconjugated) and directly-conjugated antibodies, as well as bi-specific antibodies (bsAbs) and bi-specific antibody fragments (bsFabs) which have at least one arm which is reactive against a targeted tissue and at least one other arm which is reactive against a linker moiety. Further, the invention relates to monoclonal antibodies that have been raised against specific immunogens, being human, humanized and chimeric monoclonal antibodies, as well as human, humanized and chimeric bi-specific antibodies and antibody fragments having at least one arm which is reactive against a targeted tissue and at least one other arm which is reactive against a linker moiety, DNAs that encode such antibodies and antibody fragments, and vectors for expressing the DNAs.
The present invention also relates to humanized, chimeric and human anti-CSAp antibodies, particularly monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), therapeutic and detection/diagnostic conjugates of humanized, chimeric and human anti-CSAp antibodies and methods of diagnosing/detecting or treating a malignancy using humanized, chimeric and human anti-CSAp antibodies. The present invention also relates to antibody fusion proteins or fragments thereof comprising at least two anti-CSAp mAbs or fragments thereof or at least one anti-CSAp mAb or fragment thereof and at least one second mAb or fragment thereof, other than the anti-CSAp mAb or fragment thereof. The humanized, chimeric and human anti-CSAp mAbs, fragments thereof antibody fusion proteins thereof, or fragments thereof may be administered alone, as a therapeutic conjugate or in combination with a therapeutic immunoconjugate, with other naked antibodies, or with other therapeutic agents or as a diagnostic/detection conjugate. The present invention also provides DNA sequences encoding humanized, chimeric and human anti-CSAp antibodies, and antibody fusion proteins, vectors and host cells containing the DNA sequences, and methods of making the humanized, chimeric and human anti-CSAp antibodies.
2. Related Art
An approach to cancer therapy and detection/diagnosis involves directing antibodies or antibody fragments to disease tissues, wherein the antibody or antibody fragment can target a detection/diagnostic agent or therapeutic agent to the disease site. One approach to this methodology that has been under investigation involves the use of bi-specific monoclonal antibodies (bsAbs) having at least one arm that is reactive against a targeted diseased tissue and at least one other arm that is reactive against a low molecular weight hapten. In this methodology, a bsAb is administered and allowed to localize to target, and to clear normal tissue. Some time later, a radiolabeled low molecular weight hapten is given, which being recognized by the second specificity of the bsAb, also localizes to the original target. The same technology can be used to target therapeutic isotopes, drugs and toxins selectively to diseased tissues, particularly cancers against which the bsAb is targeted, or non-radioactive diagnostic agents for improved diagnosis and detection of pathological lesions expressing the target antigen.
Although low MW haptens used in combination with bsAbs possess a large number of specific imaging and therapy uses, it is impractical to prepare individual bsAbs for each possible application. Further, the application of a bsAb/low MW hapten system has to contend with several other issues. First, the arm of the bsAb that binds to the low MW hapten must bind with high affinity, since a low MW hapten is designed to clear the living system rapidly, when not bound by bsAb. Second, the non-bsAb-bound low MW hapten actually needs to clear the living system rapidly to avoid non-target tissue uptake and retention. Third, the detection and/or therapy agent must remain associated with the low MW hapten throughout its application within the bsAb protocol employed.
Of interest with this approach are bsAbs that direct chelators and metal chelate complexes to cancers using Abs of appropriate dual specificity. The chelators and metal chelate complexes used are often radioactive, using radionuclides such as cobalt-57 (Goodwin et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,863,713), indium-111 (Barbet et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,256,395 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,274,076, Goodwin et al., J. Nucl. Med. 33:1366-1372 (1992), and Kranenborg et al. Cancer Res (suppl) 55:5864s-5867s (1995) and Cancer (suppl.) 80:2390-2397 (1997)) and gallium-68 (Boden et al., Bioconjugate Chem. 6:373-379, (1995) and Schuhmacher et al. Cancer Res. 55:115-123 (1995)) for radioimmuno-imaging. Because the Abs were raised against the chelators and metal chelate complexes, they have remarkable specificity for the complex against which they were originally raised. Indeed, the bsAbs of Boden et al. have specificity for single enantiomers of enantiomeric mixtures of chelators and metal-chelate complexes. This great specificity has proven to be a disadvantage in one respect, in that other nuclides such as yttrium-90 and bismuth-213, useful for radioimmunotherapy (RAIT), and gadolinium, useful for MRI, cannot be readily substituted into available reagents for alternative uses. As a result, iodine-131, a non-metal, has been adopted for RAIT purposes by using an I-131-labeled indium-metal-chelate complex in the second targeting step. A second disadvantage to this methodology requires that antibodies be raised against every agent desired for diagnostic or therapeutic use.
Thus, there is a continuing need for an immunological agent which can be directed to diseased tissue and is reactive with a subsequently administered linker moiety which is bonded to or associated with a therapeutic or diagnostic/detection metal chelate complex or a therapeutic or diagnostic/detection chelator.
The present invention relates to recombinantly produced chimeric, humanized and human monoclonal antibodies directed against cancers, including colorectal, pancreatic, and ovarian cancers. Chimeric, humanized and human monoclonal antibodies cause less production of human anti-mouse antibodies than completely murine antibodies. Additionally, when the antibodies are covalently conjugated to a diagnostic or therapeutic reagent, they retain their binding characteristics. Further, if the human, humanized or chimeric antibodies have human constant regions that can be immunologically functional in patients, such as is the case for IgG1, then these can also be active against such tumors as naked, or unconjugated, antibodies, and as such may also potentiate the antitumor effects of other therapeutic modalities, such as chemotherapy and radiation.
Colorectal, pancreatic, and ovarian cancers remain important contributors to cancer mortality. Their response to traditional chemotherapy and radiation therapy is mixed, however. Furthermore, these conventional forms of therapy have toxic side effects that limit their utility.
The use of monoclonal antibodies offers an alternative to traditional chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Tumor-specific and tumor-associated monoclonal antibodies can function alone (naked antibody therapy) or as conjugates in treatment regimes. The use of targeting monoclonal antibodies conjugated to radionuclides or other cytotoxic agents offers the possibility of delivering such agents directly to the tumor site, thereby limiting the exposure of normal tissues to toxic agents (Goldenberg, Semin. Nucl. Med., 19: 332 (1989); Goldenberg, D M, Radioimmunotherapy, in: Nuclear Medicine Annual 2001, L. Freeman, ed., Lippincott, William & Wilkins, Philadelphia, 2001, pp. 167-206). In recent years, the potential of antibody-based therapy and its accuracy in the localization of tumor-associated antigens have been demonstrated both in the laboratory and clinical studies (see, e.g., Thorpe, TIBTECH, 11: 42 (1993); Goldenberg, Scientific American, Science & Medicine, 1: 64 (1994); Baldwin et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,923,922 and 4,916,213; Young, U.S. Pat. No. 4,918,163; U.S. Pat. No. 5,204,095; Irie et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,196,337; Hellstrom et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,134,075 and 5,171,665, Thorpe et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,342,221, and Epstein et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,965,132, 6,004,554, 6,071,491, 6,017,514, 5,882,626 and 5,019,368. In general, the use of radiolabeled antibodies or antibody fragments against tumor-associated markers for localization of tumors has been more successful than for therapy, in part because antibody uptake by the tumor is generally low, ranging from only 0.01% to 0.001% of the total dose injected (Vaughan et al., Brit. J. Radiol., 60: 567 (1987)). Increasing the concentration of the radiolabel to increase the dosage to the tumor is generally counterproductive, as this also increases exposure of healthy tissue to radioactivity.
Mu-9 is a murine monoclonal antibody of the IgG1 subtype, directed against the colon-specific antigen-p mucin (CSAp). CSAp is a tumor-associated antigen that is present in a high percentage of colorectal, as well as pancreatic and ovarian cancers. (Gold et al., Cancer Res., 50: 6405 (1990), and references cited therein). In pre-clinical and clinical testing, the antibody has shown excellent tumor targeting ability (Blumenthal et al., Int. J. Cancer, 22: 292 (1989); Sharkey et al., Cancer, 73 (suppl): 864 (1994)). Mu-9 has an advantage over other antibodies that target tumor antigens because it recognizes an epitope, which is not present in the circulation (Pant et al., Cancer, 50: 919 (1982)). Circulating antigen can alter the delivery of antibody therapy because the antibody forms circulating immune complexes, which in turn could affect tumor targeting and antibody pharmacokinetics and biodistribution.
As with most other promising non-human antibodies, the clinical use of murine Mu-9 may be limited by the development in humans of anti-mouse antibody (HAMA) responses. This can limit the diagnostic/detection and therapeutic usefulness of the antibodies, not only because of the potential anaphylactic problem, but also because a major portion of the circulating antibody may be complexed to and sequestered by the circulating anti-mouse antibodies. The production of HAMA may also affect the accuracy of murine antibody-based immunoassays. Thus, HAMA responses in general pose a potential obstacle to realizing the full diagnostic and therapeutic potential of the Mu-9 antibody.
In order to maximize the value of the Mu-9 antibody as a therapeutic or diagnostic/detection modality and to increase its utility in multiple and continuous administration modalities and settings, an object of this invention is to provide a mouse-human chimeric mAb (cMu-9), a fully human, and a humanized mAb (hMu-9) that relate to Mu-9 by retaining the antigen-binding specificity of Mu-9, but that elicit reduced HAMA or other immune responses in a subject receiving the same.
Another object of this invention is to provide DNA sequences that encode the amino acid sequences of the variable regions of the light and heavy chains of the cMu-9, human Mu-9, and hMu-9 mAbs, including the complementarity-determining regions (CDRs).
A further object of this invention is to provide conjugates of the hMu-9, human Mu-9, and cMu-9 mAbs containing therapeutic or diagnostic/detection modalities.
Another object of this invention is to provide combinations of antibodies with CSAp antibody or antibodies with other carcinoma-targeting antibodies, wherein said antibodies can be used as naked immunoglobulins or as conjugates with drugs, toxins, isotopes, cytokines, enzymes, enzyme-inhibitors, hormones, hormone antagonists, and other therapy-enhancing moieties.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide methods of therapy and diagnosis/detection that utilize the humanized, chimeric and fully human MAbs of the invention.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Chimeric, human and humanized anti-CSAp monoclonal antibodies


Disclosed are microwave popcorn articles comprising any conventional microwave popcorn bag, and a food charge disposed therein comprising kernel popcorn, fat, salt and sufficient amounts of a calcium ingredient to provide a total calcium content of about 360 to 3600 mg per 100 grams of unpopped popcorn. Preferably the salt and calcium ingredients are essentially characterized by having a mean particle size of less than 25 .mu.m. Methods of preparing such microwave popcorn articles are disclosed wherein some of the salt and/or calcium ingredient is added to the fat slurry while the balance is added in particulate form in a separate step after the fat and kernel popcorn have been added to the bag.

Popcorn is a highly popular snack food item. In the past, the at-home preparation of popcorn by the consumer involved adding kernel popcorn plus a cooking oil to a covered pot and heating until the popcorn kernels popped to make popcorn. As used herein, "kernel popcorn" refers to unpopped popcorn. The noun "popcorn" or synonymously "popped popcorn" refers herein to popped kernel popcorn. The adjective "popcorn" can refer to either. Once prepared, common, relatively coarse, table salt is a frequently added flavoring or condiment. The resultant salted popped popcorn is a familiar snack food.
More recently, microwave popcorn products have become extremely popular. At present, in the U.S., over 70 different brands of microwave popcorn products are available. In general, the more popular microwave popcorn products comprise an expandable paper bag containing a charge of kernel popcorn, fat and salt. The microwave popcorn article is adapted to be heated in a microwave oven for three to five minutes to produce the popped popcorn. More recently, improved microwave popcorn articles have been fabricated employing a metallized susceptor which facilitates the heating of the kernel popcorn-fat charge and which, in turn, leads desirably to increases in popcorn volume and decreases in unpopped kernels. Microwave popcorn articles of this type are described in detail in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,450,180 (issued May 22, 1984 to J. D. Watkins and incorporated herein by reference).
Microwave popcorn articles, of course, comprise a microwave popping bag and a charge of kernel popcorn, fat, and, usually, salt. Certain early patents taught the addition of kernel popcorn, fat and salt in the form of a prefabricated toroid or doughnut shaped piece. The piece was fabricated by mixing the kernel popcorn, salt and melted fat to form a blend and the blend was allowed to cool and harden into the toroid shape desired. These circular pieces were then dropped into the desired chamber of the popcorn bag prior to final sealing. (See for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,450,180, issued May 22, 1984).
Contemporary methods of filling microwave popcorn bags, however, employ a different filling process and technique. (See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,604,854 entitled "Machine For Forming, Filling and Sealing Bags," issued Aug. 12, 1986 to D. W. Andreas). The microwave bags having an unsealed open end are advanced to a first kernel popcorn filling station. While being maintained in an open position, the kernel popcorn is charged to the desired channel. Thereafter, the bags are advanced to a second filling station at which the fat/salt slurry is added to the bag. Typically, the slurry is added in the form of a vertically dispensed pencil jet (i.e., a confined stream) of the slurry. Single station filling methods are also known that involve applying the fat/salt slurry as a spray onto the kernel popcorn as the kernel popcorn falls into the bag. (See, for example WO 95/01105 entitled "Reduced Fat Microwave Popcorn and Method of Preparation" published Jan. 12, 1995, or, equivalently, U.S. Pat. No. 5,690,979 issued Nov. 25, 1997) which is incorporated herein by reference. Such single station filling techniques are especially useful for the preparation of low fat microwave popcorn products.
The bags now containing both kernel popcorn and slurry are then advanced to a sealing station where the bags are provided with a top seal to complete the closure of the bag. The sealed popcorn bags are advanced to subsequent finish packaging operations which complete the folding of the bags, providing the bags with an overwrap, and inserting appropriate numbers of the bags into cartons, etc.
Thus, while microwave popcorn products are popular, it would be desirable if such microwave popcorn products were fortified with supplemental calcium to provide a significantly nutritionally enhanced product. By significantly nutritionally enhanced is meant a product having at least 10% of the current recommended daily intake ("RDI") or at least 360 mg of calcium (including both the native and supplemental contributions) per 100 grams of unpopped microwave popcorn.
One conceivable approach is to merely add the calcium along with the salt to the slurry to facilitate calcium fortification of the food charge. However, a first problem can reside in the slurry viscosity. The slurry viscosity rises rapidly as more particulates are added. If an additional particulate is desired to be added to the slurry such as for flavor or mineral fortification, then addition of requisite amounts of salt to the slurry results in a slurry having a paste consistency and a viscosity too high to pump. This is especially true in the more concentrated slurry typically used for ultra low fat popcorn--usually about 94% fat free.
A second problem is plugging of the orifice of the pencil jet nozzle used to charge the slurry to the bag that can occur when the slurry viscosity is too high. While plugging is a problem when salt alone is added to the slurry, such plugging problems are compounded when the slurry contains supplemental particulates such as a calcium mineral.
Still another problem with adding is that the calcium ingredient is to ensure that the calcium ingredient is both visually and organoleptically indiscernible.
In view of the prior art and the problems described above, there is a continuing need for new and useful microwave popcorn products that provide enhanced nutrition and particularly enhanced calcium levels. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide microwave popcorn products having improved mineral nutrient properties.
In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide methods for preparing calcium fortified microwave popcorn products.
In view of these processing difficulties, a further important object of the present invention is to provide for commercially practical methods for preparing calcium fortified microwave popcorn products.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide methods for prepared calcium fortified microwave popcorn products wherein the calcium is supplied by insoluble calcium salts such as calcium carbonates.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide calcium fortified microwave popcorn having desirable levels of salt.
It has been surprisingly discovered that the above objectives can be realized and superior microwave popcorn products provided by formulating food charge compositions disposed with microwave popcorn bags, popcorn fat, salt and a calcium ingredient of particular particle size.
It has been surprisingly discovered that the above objectives can be realized and that microwave popcorn articles can be provided that exhibit novel consumer appeal. In the preferred embodiment, the present invention resides in part in the separate, sequential filling of kernel popcorn, fat and at least a portion of the salt and/or calcium ingredient in particulate form at their individual respective filling stations. By applying the kernel popcorn/fat/salt separately in the particular sequence in combination with selecting salt and the calcium ingredient each of a particular particle size range, improved calcium enriched microwave popcorn articles are achieved.

Microwave popcorn fortified with calcium and method of preparation


A physical token operates together with an online server to test whether a user operating a user computer to access a service available at the online server is human. The physical token has two states: inactive and active. When in the inactive state the physical token displays interaction instructions for performing a physical action on the token. When the interaction instructions are satisfied, the physical token transitions to the active state and displays a response that may be used for satisfying a challenge issued by the online server to the user seeking to access the service.

The following relates generally to methods, unit and articles of manufacture therefor, for verifying human presence in an online environment.
There exist a variety of automated tests for telling humans and computers apart in an online environment. Such tests are collectively known as CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart) tests. A CAPTCHA test is a program that can generate and grade tests that most humans can pass but that current computer programs cannot. CAPTCHA tests are of necessity heuristic; there is no way to prove that a computer program cannot pass a test that a human can pass. CAPTCHA tests are adapted to exploit gaps between the abilities of humans and computers.
CAPTCHA tests may be used at the start of or during an online application, such as a multi-player game, to verify human presence as opposed to an automated operator (otherwise known as a "bot" or automated player agent). The CAPTCHA test may or may not be directly integrated with the online application. CAPTCHA tests that are not integrated with online applications are referred to herein as out-of-band CAPTCHA tests. Such out-of-band CAPTCHA tests are flexible in that they may be used with a varied number of online applications. CAPTCHA tests that are tightly integrated into an application (such as a game) are less likely (depending on their method) to be disruptive to the user.
A wide range of CAPTCHA testing strategies is possible. In multi-player game applications for example, a single CAPTCHA challenge may be presented when a player joins a game; alternatively, repeated CAPTCHA challenges may be presented to the player at random intervals over the course of a game. The game may on occasion allow a player not to reply or to give an incorrect answer. A player that fails one or several challenges may be suspended from the game, temporarily for a limited period of time, or permanently (in which case all progress made in the game is lost). CAPTCHA tests deter bots most effectively in long stateful games where players have a lot to lose if they fail a test; games played in short, stateless rounds may require more frequent tests.
A drawback with known CAPTCHA tests is that the tests may be delegated by an automated user to a user that is a human to perform the test. For example, with multi-player online games, know CAPTCHA test may be solved by a human, but that human need not be the user playing the game. That is, known CAPTCHA tests are susceptible to relay attacks in which automated player agents direct digital CAPTCHA tests that require human evaluation to a user that is human to solve the test. The cost of setting up a relay attack may be prohibitive to solve a single digital CAPTCHA test (e.g., when opening a new email account), but it becomes negligible if it can be amortized over many tests, as in online games.
Additional background on the use of CAPTCHA tests and their limitations is disclosed in the following publications which are incorporated herein by reference: Luis von Ahn, Manuel Blum, Nicholas J. Hopper, and John Langford, "CAPTCHA: Using Hard AI Problems For Security", Advances in Cryptology—EUROCRYPT'03, Vol. 2656, pp. 294-311, 2003; and Philippe Golle and Nicolas Ducheneaut, "Preventing Bots from Playing Online Games", in the ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 3, July, 2005, which is incorporated herein by reference.
Accordingly, there continues to be a need for improved CAPTCHA test for distinguishing bots from human players in various online applications. Such improved CAPTCHA tests would advantageously be computationally resistant (i.e., are not readily carried out by a bot without undue expense), not readily outsourced (i.e., not readily carried out by a third-party human), and non-disruptive (i.e., do not deleteriously disrupt a human's interaction with the online application).
In accordance with the various embodiments disclosed herein, there is provided a computer implemented method, apparatus and article of manufacture therefor, for verifying human presence in an online environment using a CAPTCHA (or physical) token. In operation, a challenge is issued from an application server (e.g., first computational unit) to a user computer (e.g., second computational unit) after the user computer communicates a request to access a service provided by the application server. A response is computed at the CAPTCHA token (e.g., third computational unit) using a function that takes as input a synchronization measure and a key shared with the application server. The computed response is computed for satisfying the challenge issued by the application server to the user computer and displayed on a user interface of the CAPTCHA token only if interaction instructions involving a physical challenge output on the user interface are satisfied. Input is received at the user computer representing the response displayed on a user interface of the CAPTCHA token. The input received representing response from the user computer is transmitted to the application server for satisfying the challenge issued by the application server. Access to the service to the user computer is enabled by the application server after the challenge is satisfied. The challenge is satisfied at the application server when the response received from the user computer is authenticated using a function that takes as input the response and the key shared with the CAPTCHA token.
In accordance with one of the various embodiments disclosed herein: the each synchronization measure shared between the application server and the user computer is one of a measure of time output by a clock, a counter, and a nonce output by a computational unit; the key shared between the application server and the user computer is a key for a symmetric cipher; the function is computed at the CAPTCHA token with a symmetric cipher that takes as input a synchronization measure and the symmetric key shared with the application server; and the response received from the user computer is deciphered by the application server using a symmetric cipher that takes as input the ciphertext response and the symmetric key shared with the CAPTCHA token.

Physical token for supporting verification of human presence in an online environment


A status estimation device for ultraviolet curable resin includes a probe configured to irradiate an ultraviolet curable resin with excitation light, a wavelength demultiplexer configured to receive fluorescence produced from the ultraviolet curable resin and detect spectral distribution of the fluorescence, and a computer configured to estimate status of the ultraviolet curable resin by comparing a shape of pre-irradiation spectral distribution detected when the ultraviolet curable resin is irradiated by excitation light before being irradiated by ultraviolet radiation with a shape of post-irradiation spectral distribution detected when the ultraviolet curable resin is irradiated by excitation light after being irradiated by ultraviolet radiation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to devices, methods, and programs for estimating the status of an ultraviolet curable resin.
2. Description of the Related Art
Ultraviolet curable resin has been used as adhesive in assembling optical devices and electronic devices. Because it is difficult to measure the cure degree of ultraviolet curable resin by visual inspection, measurement is normally done by destructive inspection. In cases where an ultraviolet curable resin is used in a factory line, the cure degree is indirectly managed by managing the luminance of curing ultraviolet radiation and time of irradiation and by conducting a destructive test on a sample by sampling inspection.
Recently, a nondestructive inspection method is known whereby the status, i.e., the cure degree, of an ultraviolet curable resin is estimated based on time-dependent change in the intensity of fluorescence produced when the ultraviolet curable resin is irradiated by ultraviolet radiation (see, for example, patent document No. 1).    [patent document No. 1] JP 2007-248244
However, the intensity of fluorescence from some ultraviolet curable resins changes with an elapse of time after curing. Therefore, the method disclosed in patent document No. 1 may only be capable of accurately estimating the status of an ultraviolet curable resin immediately after the resin is irradiated by ultraviolet radiation.
Further, since the fluorescence intensity varies depending on the amount of coating made of ultraviolet curable resin, the method disclosed in patent document No. 1 may not be able to estimate the status of the ultraviolet resin with high precision.

Status estimation device, status estimation method and program for ultraviolet curable resin


A liquid crystal display includes a substrate; a common voltage line formed on the substrate and transmitting a common voltage; a pixel electrode formed on the common voltage line and including a first subpixel electrode and a second subpixel electrode; a first thin film transistor connected to the first subpixel electrode, and including a first gate electrode, a first source electrode, and a first drain electrode; a second thin film transistor connected to the second subpixel electrode, and including a second gate electrode, a second source electrode, and a second drain electrode; a boosting capacitor connected to the first subpixel electrode; a third thin film transistor connected to the common voltage line and the boosting capacitor, and including a third gate electrode, a third source electrode, and a third drain electrode; and a fourth thin film transistor connected to the second subpixel electrode and the boosting capacitor, wherein the common voltage line is formed in the same layer as the third source electrode, and is electrically connected to the third source electrode.

(a) Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a liquid crystal display.
(b) Discussion of Related Art
Liquid crystal displays (LCDs) are one of the most widely used flat panel displays. Typically, an LCD includes a pair of panels provided with field-generating electrodes, such as pixel electrodes, and a common electrode, with a liquid crystal (LC) layer interposed between the two panels. The LCD displays images by applying voltages to the field-generating electrodes to generate an electric field in the LC layer that determines the orientations of LC molecules therein to adjust polarization of incident light.
Among such LCDs, there is a vertical alignment (VA) mode LCD, which aligns LC molecules such that their long axes are perpendicular to the panels in the absence of an electric field. The VA mode LCD is favored because of its high contrast ratio and wide reference viewing angle.
In the vertical alignment (VA) mode LCD, the wide reference viewing angle can be realized by forming a plurality of domains including the liquid crystal molecules that have different alignment directions in one pixel.
To form the plurality of domains in one pixel one method involves forming minute cutouts in the field generating electrodes, and another method involves forming protrusions on the field generating electrodes. In this way, the plurality of domains may be formed by aligning the liquid crystal molecules vertically with respect to a fringe field generated between the edges of the cutout or the protrusions and the field generating electrodes facing the edges.
As another approach for forming the plurality of domains in one pixel, there is a light alignment method in which the alignment direction of the liquid crystal molecules and the alignment angle are controlled by irradiating light on the alignment layer.
As a drawback, however, the liquid crystal display of the vertical alignment (VA) mode has lower side visibility compared with front visibility, and it is proposed that one pixel be divided into two subpixels and different voltages applied to the subpixels to solve this problem.
Among the various methods for achieving the above-mentioned solution, one data voltage is applied to two subpixels, and then the charged voltage of one subpixel is decreased and the charged voltage of the other subpixel is increased through a voltage boosting capacitor such that the visibility may be improved by differentiating the voltages of the two subpixels without reduction of the aperture ratio due to an increase of the number of data lines or gate lines. Also, there is no need to make the two subpixels capacitively coupled to each other, which may decrease the luminance.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.