An apparatus for covering the lower rim of a metal can, where the rim has an outer face and an inner face and a bottom edge, includes a channel member having first and second side wall portions and a bottom wall portion connecting the first and second side wall portions, for fitting over the lower rim, such that the first side wall portion substantially covers the outer face, and the second side wall portion substantially covers the inner face, and the bottom wall portion substantially covers the bottom edge. The first side wall portion preferably has an inner first side wall surface, additionally including a lip portion extending from the inner first side wall surface toward the second side wall portion, for resiliently snapping over the rim and contracting above the rim to help hold the channel member securely on the can. Where the can has a can wall, the first side wall portion of the channel member optionally extends upward along the can wall above the rim for providing a surface for displaying a message. The channel member is preferably formed into a continuous loop having a shape essentially matching that of the rim. Alternatively, the channel member is a flexible strip which can be cut and laterally bent to fit a variety of can rims.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of holders for glasses and cans, and more specifically to a stiff and resilient channel member for snapping over the rim protruding from the bottom of a metal can, such as an aerosol can, which covers the entire rim including the inner and outer rim faces, to prevent the rim from scratching or leaving rust deposits on the surface supporting the can, such a shelf, counter or table.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There have long been holders for vessels such as metal cans to prevent damage to furniture from scratching and from accumulations of condensate. These holders have generally been disks with raised edges for serving as coasters or rugged shells for protecting a vessel against impact damage.
One such prior holder is that of McKee, U.S. Pat. No. 4,829,618, issued on May 16, 1989. McKee teaches a coaster having a square body with parallel top and bottom surfaces and a circular depression in the top surface for receiving the bottom of a can or glass. McKee also includes a slot for engaging the tab on a can and a circular depression for gripping bottle caps. A problem with McKee is that it would be relatively expensive to make and must be available wherever one happens to decide to set down a can. If one were to walk around a house carrying a soft drink can, for example, one would have to separately carry a McKee coaster as well, or be inconvenienced by having to continuously hold the can. Alternatively, one would have to place McKee coasters in many locations around the house, thereby multiplying expenses.
Good, U.S. Pat. No. 3,809,353, issued on May 7, 1974, discloses a protective cap for fitting over the lower end of a scuba diver's air tank. The cap contains supportive ribs which permit water to pass through the cap. A problem with Good is that manufacturing a smaller version for the bottom of an aerosol or beverage can would be prohibitively expensive. And if made to be a separate coaster, Good would present the inconveniences of McKee.
Lerner, U.S. Pat. No. 2,905,351, issued on Sep. 22, 1959, discloses a snap-on base for a bottle, jar or glass in the form of a hollow, annular member beveled to widen at its lower end. The vessel is provided with a circumferential channel around its base for engagingly receiving the interior, upper edge of the member. A problem with Lerner is that the member is significantly wider than the base of the vessel at its base. If vessels were manufactured and sold with the member, a substantial portion of packaging and retail shelf space would be sacrificed. Also, if Lerner were to support a metal can, moisture could accumulate on the lower rim of the can and drip onto the supporting surface, depositing rust stains. Finally, Lerner would be relatively expensive to manufacture.
Hazel, U.S. Pat. No. 2,893,163, issued on Jul. 7, 1959, teaches a coaster for supporting a vessel such as a can or glass, to protect the surface on which it rests from condensate. Hazel presents a three-layer unitary body, the two outer layers being absorbent and the inner layer being non-absorbent. The inner layer prevents moisture from soaking through to the surface supporting the vessel. Hazel includes a cavity in its upper face containing ribs for supporting the vessel. The problems with Hazel are much the same as those identified for McKee: the coaster must be carried with the user or many such coasters must be provided at various locations. Hazel is not suited for pre-attachment to the vessel during manufacture because it extends the vessel diameter significantly and also greatly increases vessel cost.
Wallace, U.S. Pat. No. 2,683,579, issued on Jul. 13, 1954, teaches a base for supporting cans such as those containing cleansers. The purpose of the base is to prevent the can from falling over and from scratching the surface on which it rests. Wallace presents an annular flange member which includes a radially extending ledge portion and a perpendicular tube portion extending upwardly from the ledge portion inner edge. A groove is provided in the ledge portion near the inner edge so that when the lower rim of a can is inserted into the tube portion, the tube material can deform outwardly into the groove. In this way, Wallace grips the can rim without substantially changing shape. A problem with Wallace is that the projecting ledge portion substantially increases the diameter of the can, causing a shipment of cans thus equipped to occupy much more package and shelf space. Also, if the can and base are resting in a puddle of water on a supporting surface, the water can freely touch the lower can rim and cause the rim to rust and leave rust deposits on the supporting surface. This is because the can is not substantially elevated and there is no protective cover over the inner face of the rim. Also, continually keeping the base material deformed and under tension could shorten the life of the base. Finally, Wallace would be relatively expensive to manufacture and may tend to fall off the can.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a rim guard for a metal can which only negligibly extends the diameter of the can rim, so that storage, packing and shelf space are conserved.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a rim guard which essentially covers the entire lower rim so that the metal remains substantially dry and no rust-carrying liquid can reach the supporting surface.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a rim guard which returns to its original shape when installed on a rim, so that the guard material does not remain under stress.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide such a rim guard which can be sold with and will stay on the can unless intentionally removed.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide such a rim guard which can be firmly attached to a rim to prevent theft of the guard in retail stores.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide such a rim guard which can be manufactured to extend up the wall of the can and provide advertising space.
It is finally an object of the present invention to provide such a rim guard which is durable, compact and very inexpensive to manufacture.


A system to facilitate virtual page translation. An embodiment of the system includes a processing device, a front end unit, and address translation logic. The processing device is configured to process data of a current block of data. The front end unit is coupled to the processing device. The front end unit is configured to access the current block of data in an electronic memory device and to send the current block of data to the processor for processing. The address translation logic is coupled to the front end unit and the electronic memory device. The address translation logic is configured to pre-fetch a virtual address translation for a predicted virtual address based on a virtual address of the current block of data. Embodiments of the system increase address translation performance of computer systems including graphic rendering operations.

Many types of computer system use virtual memory. The use of virtual memory allows a computer to reference data stored in auxiliary storage as though it were resident in main memory. Another benefit of using virtual memory is the ability to reference contiguous virtual memory addresses which correlate to non-contiguous physical memory addresses. In order to correlate the virtual memory addresses to physical memory addresses, a virtual address translation is performed.
The virtual memory address translation is typically performed by referencing a translation table (often referred to as a translation lookaside buffer, or TLB) which caches recently used virtual address translations. If the translation table does not have the requested physical memory address for the virtual memory address, then the translation is fetched from memory (e.g., from a page table stored in main memory). A fetched address translation is then stored in the translation table. The requestor is held off until the requested translation is available in the translation table.
In conventional computer systems, virtual address translation is performed on demand because the non-contiguous use of physical memory accesses is inherently unpredictable. In other words, a conventional design for a memory management unit (MMU) does not attempt to predict virtual address translations because the non-contiguous nature of physical addressing makes it difficult and, hence, very costly to try to predict virtual address translations with any degree of accuracy.

Virtual memory translation with pre-fetch prediction


Embodiments include heart monitoring systems, apparatus, and methods adapted to detect myocardial ischemia. An apparatus includes at least one first-tier sensor/analyzer adapted to sense a first input related to cardiac function, and to produce a first-tier trigger signal when the first input indicates myocardial ischemia. In an embodiment, a first-tier sensor/analyzer includes an ECG sensor/analyzer. In another embodiment, a first-tier sensor/analyzer includes a patient activator. An apparatus further includes at least one second-tier sensor/analyzer adapted to sense a second input related to cardiac function, and to produce a second-tier trigger signal when the second input indicates myocardial ischemia. In an embodiment, a second-tier sensor-analyzer includes a heart sound sensor/analyzer. A triggering element is adapted to produce a response-invoking signal in response to the first-tier trigger signal and the second-tier trigger signal. The response-invoking signal may invoke a patient alert, a message to an external system, and/or a cardiac stimulus.

Coronary artery disease is a disease of the coronary arteries, which causes decreased blood flow to the heart muscle. Individuals with coronary artery disease (or other conditions) may experience myocardial ischemia, which is an imbalance between myocardial oxygen demand and myocardial oxygen supply. In some cases, myocardial ischemia may result in irreversible cardiac cell death (e.g., cell necrosis), a result commonly referred to as a myocardial infarction. Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is the acute phase of a myocardial infarction (MI), during which cell necrosis occurs. Along with coronary artery disease, other conditions also may result in myocardial ischemia and/or AMI. For example, myocardial ischemia may result from cardiovascular disease, ischemic heart disease, pulmonary heart disease, hereditary heart disease, hypertensive heart disease, inflammatory heart disease, valvular heart disease, atherosclerosis, tachycardia, hypertension, hypotension, thromboembolism, compression of a blood vessel or artery (e.g., by a tumor), foreign matter within the cardiovascular system, sickle cell disease, and/or other causes. Minimizing the time to diagnose an ST segment elevated AMI (STEMI) and to provide treatment is critical to preventing damage to the cardiac tissue and death. Diagnoses and treatment within the first hour after a STEMI AMI event have been shown to abort MI (See JAMA, GERSH, Bernard J., "Pharmacological Facilitation of Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention for Acute Myocardial Infarction," JAMA, Feb. 23, 2005, Vol. 293, No. 8, pages 979-986, and GOLDBERG, Robert J., "Duration of, and Temporal Trends (1994-1997) in, Prehospital Delay in Patients With Acute Myocardial Infarction: The Second National Registry of Myocardial Infarction," Archives of Internal Medicine, October 1999; Vol. 159, pages 2141-2147.).
Acute coronary syndrome, commonly referred to as a "heart attack," refers to the series of events associated with coronary vessel closure or occlusion. The series of events may proceed from stable angina (e.g., chest/arm pain or dyspnea with exertion) to unstable angina (e.g., chest/arm pain at rest or increasing frequency of angina). Acute coronary syndrome may then proceed to an AMI and death, in some cases. Myocardial ischemia is present at the onset of acute coronary syndrome, and may indicate the potential for an impending AMI.
Myocardial ischemia may be transient, sub-lethal or persistent. Transient myocardial ischemia may have a relatively short duration (e.g., minutes), with prompt reperfusion of the coronary blood vessels. Accordingly, cell necrosis does not typically occur with transient myocardial ischemia. Sub-lethal myocardial ischemia may have a significantly longer duration (e.g., weeks or months), although it also is characterized by subsequent reperfusion and no cell necrosis. Persistent myocardial ischemia, during which no reperfusion occurs of the coronary blood vessels, may result in cell necrosis and death.
An individual may experience physical symptoms warning them of the onset or presence of transient, sub-lethal or persistent myocardial ischemia. These warning symptoms may include, for example, chest and/or arm pain (e.g., stable angina or unstable angina), shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting, palpitations, sweating, weakness, fatigue, anxiety, and/or one or more other physical symptoms. Through education, many people realize that they should promptly seek medical attention at the onset of such physical symptoms. However, a significant number of individuals experience non-specific symptoms or "silent" myocardial ischemia, during which they do not perceive any physical symptoms of myocardial ischemia. Accordingly, an acute coronary syndrome for such an individual may proceed to an AMI before this individual becomes inclined to seek medical attention.
When medical personnel (e.g., emergency room personnel) are presented with a patient who exhibits symptoms of myocardial ischemia, the conventional standard of care includes applying current AMI detection apparatus and methods. Typically, this includes monitoring the bioelectrical impulses from the patient's heart using an electrocardiogram (ECG), and looking for certain characteristics of the ECG waveform. A typical ECG may have as many as twelve leads, and this system may have only about 50% sensitivity to the detection of an on-going AMI at the time the patient first arrives at the emergency room. Accordingly, the patient's heart rate and certain cardiac biomarkers, present in the blood, also may be monitored. However, cardiac biomarkers associated with severe ischemia typically are not produced in significant quantities until cell necrosis has occurred, and it may take several hours for the biomarker concentrations to reach measurable levels.
When an impending or current AMI is diagnosed, therapies may include thrombolytic therapy and/or administering aspirin, beta-blockers, nitrates, and/or statins, among other things. These therapies, when administered promptly and properly, may minimize or stop cell necrosis. Accordingly, an individual experiencing myocardial ischemia, particularly persistent myocardial ischemia, is well advised promptly to seek medical attention, in order to reduce the occurrence or severity of cell necrosis and, in some cases, to avoid death. However, a patient may delay early action due to denial, psychological factors, and/or physical factors. In addition medical personnel may delay early treatment because of the time required for running diagnostic tests.
For at least the foregoing reasons, a need exists for methods and apparatus to detect the onset or presence of myocardial ischemia, and to provide more accurate and timely cardiac monitoring in the presence of myocardial ischemia.

Heart monitoring systems, apparatus and methods adapted to detect myocardial ischemia


A consecutive thin edge detection system and method for enhancing color filter array image is disclosed in the present invention. The consecutive thin edge detection system includes a consecutive thin edge detector, a color gradient estimator and a direction indicator. The consecutive thin edge detector receives a color pixel array including a plurality of color pixels and alternately sets each color pixel as a target pixel. The consecutive thin edge detector detects a difference value between a plurality of first green pixels and a plurality of second green pixels nearby a target pixel, and determines whether the target pixel comprises a consecutive thin edge feature or not according to the difference value. The plurality of first green pixels are in red pixel rows which comprises a plurality red pixels and the plurality of first green pixels, and the plurality of second green pixels are in a blue pixel row which comprises blue pixels and the plurality of second green pixels.

(a) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an image detection method and device, particularly to a consecutive thin edge detection system and a consecutive thin edge detection method for enhancing color filter array image.
(b) Description of the Related Art
In general, consumer electronics using a sensor for image acquisition such as digital cameras, video recorders, multimedia mobile phones, surveillance systems, video phones usually use a Bayer color filter array (Bayer CFA) covered on a sensor to record red, green and blue color information simultaneously to achieved the purpose of cost reduction. As shown in FIG. 1, in a Bayer color filter array BCFA, each position of a pixel records a color intensity of a kind of color. As shown in the figure, the position of R pixel records red color intensity and for example, on the right-hand side of the figure, the R spectrum filter only allows red light passing through to the pixel sensor cell Sens; the position of G pixel records green color intensity and for example, on the right-hand side of the figure, the G spectrum filter only allows green light passing through to the pixel sensor cell Sens; and the position of B pixel records blue color intensity and for example, on the right-hand side of the figure, the B spectrum filter only allows blue light passing through to the pixel sensor cell Sens. Therefore, consumer electronics may process an obtained raw Bayer CFA image via a color interpolation algorithm for missing color components to generate a full-color image.
It should be noted that the color interpolation algorithm includes analyzing image structure and color content so that the calculation result has critical impact on the final output image quality.
An edge detection method is usually the most effective and highly complicated step in color interpolation algorithm. If the edge direction of an image is not correctly determined by the edge detection method, the consecutive thin edge of an image is apt to appear significant distortion like maze pattern and false color. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, an ISO 12233 test chart is usually used to evaluate color interpolation efficiency. An instance of a test result including a maze pattern due to an incorrect edge direction determination is shown in spectra 5, 6, and 7.

Consecutive thin edge detection system and method for enhancing a color filter array image


A two-line subscriber system (10) includes a remote channel unit (20) coupled to a central office (14) by a single telephone line (16). The remote channel unit (20) provides additional line capability to a customer premises (18) by allowing a first telecommunications unit (22) and a second telecommunications unit (24) to operate despite having only a single telephone line (16). The remote channel unit (20) operates from a local power source (26), such as a battery or customer premises alternating current, to provide operating power to the first telecommunications unit (22) and the second telecommunications unit (24). In response to a loss of the local power source (26), the remote channel unit (20) cuts a connection to the second telecommunications unit (24) and passes line power from the single telephone line (16) to the first telecommunications unit (22) for continued operation of the first telecommunications unit (22).

Conventional two-line digital loop carrier devices are typically mounted on the exterior of a customer premises and operate off of line power supplied by the central office over the telephone line. The external installation of these devices requires that they provide suitable resistance to the environment for reliable operation. The weather-proofing of such devices is one of the major expenses during manufacture. Another major expense is the power adaptation circuitry required to handle the line power. Therefore, it is desirable to provide a two-line digital loop carrier device that avoids the environment and power expenses of conventional devices.


In an embodiment, a method of data sharing is disclosed. The method may include routing a data set to a specific device in response to a data selection and a target selection.

As a result of the modern digital age, the sharing of digital data is becoming increasingly important. For example, many people feel emotionally enriched and connected to others when they are able to electronically share digital images, videos, messages and other data with such individuals. Indeed, in one exemplary scenario, the ability to share files and applications between different electronic devices may be of interest to a significant number of individuals. Consequently, a valuable consumer market is developing for technologies that enable users to quickly and easily share digital data.


An apparatus can have a computing component. The computing component can be configured to receive a wireless transmission from an implanted device, verify an identity of the implanted device by verifying security data from the implanted device, and perform an authentication procedure, in response to verifying the identity of the implanted device, to determine whether the transmission is authentic by determining whether a digital signature of the transmission is authentic. The apparatus can be configured to wirelessly charge the implanted device in response to the computing component determining that the digital signature is authentic.

Various devices, such as implants, can be implanted into living organisms, such as humans or animals. Some implants can store information about the identity living organism. Some implants can be trackers that can track geographical locations of the living organism. Some implants can be medical devices that can monitor and/or control various functions of the organism, such as heart rate, glucose levels, or the like. Some implants can be medical prostheses that can replace missing or damaged body parts of the living organism.
Since implants can be difficult to access, some implants can be accessed wirelessly by a various remote wireless apparatus. For example, implants and various remote wireless apparatus might communicate wirelessly by exchanging wireless communications (e.g., transmissions). For example, some remote wireless apparatus can receive wireless transmissions that can include data (e.g., information) stored by the implant. In some instances, some remote wireless apparatus might send wireless transmissions to cause an implant to perform various operations in response to the information contained in a wireless transmission.

Secure wireless communication between implants and apparatus


This invention provides methods of modifying feeding behavior, including increasing or decreasing food consumption, e.g., in connection with treating obesity, bulimia or anorexia. These methods involve administration of compounds that are selective agonists or antagonists for the Y5 receptor. One such compound has the structure: ##STR1## In addition, this invention provides an isolated nucleic acid molecule encoding a Y5 receptor, an isolated Y5 receptor protein, vectors comprising an isolated nucleic acid molecule encoding a Y5 receptor, cells comprising such vectors, antibodies directed to the Y5 receptor, nucleic acid probes useful for detecting nucleic acid encoding Y5 receptors, antisense oligonucleotides complementary to any unique sequences of a nucleic acid molecule which encodes a Y5 receptor, and nonhuman transgenic animals which express DNA encoding a normal or a mutant Y5 receptor.

Throughout this application, various publications are referred to within parentheses. Disclosures of these publications in their entireties are hereby incorporated by reference into this application to more fully describe the state of the art to which this invention pertains. Full bibliographic citations for these publications may be found at the end of the specification, preceding the sequence listing and the claims.
Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is a member of the pancreatic polypeptide family with widespread distribution throughout the mammalian nervous system. NPY and its relatives (peptide YY or PYY, and pancreatic polypeptide or PP) elicit a broad range of physiological effects through activation of at least five G protein-coupled receptor subtypes known as Y1, Y2, Y3, Y4 (or PP), and the "atypical Y1". The role of NPY as the most powerful stimulant of feeding behavior yet described is thought to occur primarily through activation of the hypothalamic "atypical Y1" receptor. This receptor is unique in that its classification was based solely on feeding behavior data, rather than radioligand binding data, unlike the Y1, Y2, Y3, and Y4 (or PP) receptors, each of which were described previously in both radioligand binding and functional assays.
The peptide neurotransmitter neuropeptide Y (NPY) is a 36 amino acid member of the pancreatic polypeptide family with widespread distribution throughout the mammalian nervous system. NPY is considered to be the most powerful stimulant of feeding behavior yet described (Clark et al., 1984; Levine and Morley, 1984; Stanley and Leibowitz, 1984). Direct injection into the hypothalamus of satiated rats, for example, can increase food intake up to 10-fold over a 4-hour period (Stanley et al., 1992). The role of NPY in normal and abnormal eating behavior, and the ability to interfere with NPY-dependent pathways as a means to appetite and weight control, are areas of great interest in pharmacological and pharmaceutical research (Sahu and Kalra, 1993; Dryden et al., 1994). Any credible means of studying or controlling NPY-dependent feeding behavior, however, must necessarily be highly specific as NPY can act through at least 5 pharmacologically defined receptor subtypes to elicit a wide variety of physiological functions (Dumont et al., 1992). It is therefore vital that knowledge of the molecular biology and structural diversity of the individual receptor subtypes be understood as part of a rational drug design approach to develop subtype selective compounds. A brief review of NPY receptor pharmacology is summarized below and also in Table 1.

Methods of modifying feeding behavior compounds useful in such methods and DNA encoding a hypothalmic atypical neuropeptide Y/peptide YY receptor Y5


The present invention describes bleached grain products such as bleached whole wheat flour that are obtained having the color and taste of white flour by bleaching whole wheat kernels prior to conventional flour milling. The wheat kernels are treated with a peroxide solution to lighten the color of the bran layers. The bleached grain kernels can be tempered and milled into whole grain flours having 10% to 12% dietary fiber from the bran but which are white in color and bland in flavor. The whitened, high fiber whole wheat flours can be used to prepare good tasting, and nutritious products such as baked goods such as breads and pastries as well as pasta product, and ready-to-eat cereals or grain based snacks.

The present invention provides improvements in the processing or treatment of grains such as wheat. More particularly, the present invention is directed towards the provision of whole grain flour such as whole wheat with the color and taste comparable to white flour or a "white" whole wheat flour. Also, the present invention provides methods for preparing such improved white whole wheat flour and further to intermediate products useful in the production of such improved finished products as white whole wheat flour. Such intermediate products include, for example, bleached grain kernels such as bleached wheat kernels.
Most consumers have experienced and readily recognize the difference between whole wheat bread and ordinary white bread. Most consumers also know that whole wheat bread is more nutritious, but consume white bread anyway, because they like the taste better. This is especially true of children who can be particularly selective in food choices.
Through a particular treatment process, the present invention is able to lighten the darker color of whole wheat flour, and all but eliminate the bitter flavors. As a result, the present invention provides whole wheat flours that can be used to provide finished whole wheat products that look and taste as good as those made with regular white flour.
The principle species of wheat are Triticum vulgare or bread wheat; T. durum which has extra hard kernels used primarily for macaroni and related pasta products; and T. compactum or club wheat, which has very soft kernels. Numerous varieties and cultivars within each species are known.
All wheat generically comprise a major starchy endosperm, a smaller germ or sprouting section of the seed and a surrounding bran or husk layer. The endosperm makes up about 82–83% of the wheat kernel and is used in the production of flour. Typically, the bran makes up 14–15%, is removed from the kernel and is used in animal and poultry feed. However, the bran can also be milled along with the endosperm to produce whole wheat flour. The germ is usually separated from the rest of the kernel because its fat content limits the shelf life of the flour. The bran with or without the germ is sometimes referred to as "millfeed". Some special purpose whole grain flours include not only the bran but also the germ fraction.
In the United States, wheat is classified according to whether it is hard or soft, white or red, and planted in winter or spring.
Soft or spring wheat is typically planted in the spring and harvested later in the fall. Soft wheat is normally white wheat. White soft wheat is used for the donut and pastry industries since a white color and bland taste are essential flour quality attributes.
Hard or winter wheat is typically planted in the fall and harvested the following season in mid-summer. Winter wheat is normally red. Hard or red wheat is used for bread production. Red wheat has a distinctive taste due to tannins in the bran. To minimize the amount of these flavor-bearing tannins, the wheat grain is milled so as to have as small a fraction as possible of the bran containing these tannins. Naturally white hard wheat is also increasingly available commercially and being used more and more.
Even though the endosperm fraction is about 83%, in a typical flour milling process, the extraction rate of white patent flour generally runs about 72–75%. That is, for every hundred pounds of wheat, about 72–75 pounds of flour is obtained. This flour contains about 1–2% dietary fiber from small amounts of the bran. The balance millfeed is very low value comprising bran and germ although containing some of the desirable endosperm.
The milling process can be adjusted to obtain an increase in the flour yield but at the cost of including some of the bran. The presence of bran may lower the quality and thus value of the flour more than the increase in the value of the increase in yield. That is, the amount of flour obtained during the milling process is limited by contamination of the flour with bran that deteriorates flour quality. For flour made from red wheat, less bran in the flour can be tolerated due to the presence of more color and flavor tannins in the bran. The darker bran typically makes the flour grayish in color, and also imparts bitter flavors.
The present invention provides a particular chemical lightening treatment or wetting process, or wet bleaching process that bleaches wheat kernels after cleaning but prior to milling. Since wheat is typically wet tempered prior to milling anyway, this process is commercially practical with existing milling systems.
The principle advantage of the present invention is the provision of white whole grain flour having a high fiber content (≈11–12%) and other nutritional advantages of a whole grain flour that nonetheless has a white color and bland flavor comparable to conventional white flour. Since additional endosperm is associated with the bran is also included, the yield of the flour milling process is surprisingly and, dramatically increased. More surprisingly, the amount of flour obtained can be increased without deterioration in flour quality in terms of color and flavor.
Still another benefit is that the present invention provides enzyme inactivation that increases the stability of the flour.
Still another benefit is that the present invention provides substantial reductions in the viability of toxin producing molds and reductions in levels of mycotic toxins in the flours that can occur as a result of mold growth prior to milling.
These and further objects and advantages of the present invention will become clearer in light of the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment of this invention described in connection with the drawings.


Methods and systems for culling a litigation discovery file set are described. A directory of the litigation discovery file set is traversed. A hashcode corresponding to a file in the directory is computed. The hashcode is compared to a database and if the hashcode matches an entry in the database, then the file is removed.

In law, litigation discovery is the pre-trial phase in a lawsuit in which each party can request and/or compel the production of documents and other evidence from other parties. Often, litigation discovery is a process that includes manually gathering data from different sources. For large corporations, the litigation discovery process frequently involves gathering data from a multitude of sources such as databases, individual custodians, web sources, tape backups, hardcopy documents, document repositories, emails, and/or other relevant sources. In addition, not only does the litigation discovery process for large corporations involve accessing a large number of sources, each of the accessed sources often yield a high volume of possibly relevant data as well.
Moreover, the data gathered frequently contain standard software application files (e.g., standard readme files, standard text files, and/or standard log files), which are not needed for data analysis, but cause the individual file sizes to be larger than needed and add to the overall data size inflation. In some instances, these standard software application files can take up 70% of the file size of the data gathered.
Consequently, the litigation discovery process for large corporations is often exceedingly time-consuming because it involves processing of a daunting amount of data. As a result, litigation discovery processes can be highly costly.

Method for culling a litigation discovery file set


A fibrous thermal insulation comprising an intimate blend of A) an effective amount of non-graphitic carbonaceous fibers having an LOI value greater than 40, a percent char value greater than 65, and a thermal conductivity less than 1 BTU hr ft.sup.2 /.degree.F. for providing a synergistic improvement in fire resistance, and B) hollow thermoplastic fibers.

It is desirous to have lightweight structures that have a high degree of thermal insulation that can be washed and dried without retention of a great amount of water. Fiberglass containing structures are presently being used to provide fiber battings for use in insulating spaces in buildings and airplanes. In addition, fiberglass battings are being used as insulation in industrial apparel, blankets and curtains.
The problems with fiberglass is that it is difficult to handle and can cause dermal invitation. Moreover, fiberglass does not have a high insulation compact value and can pick up moisture so as to cause it to settle down after installation with a loss in insulation value.
Styrenic fibers are well-known. Moreover, styrenic fibers are low in cost, are non-irritating, have good insulation value and can be blended with other fibers utilizing conventional processes. The main disadvantage of styrenic fibers is that they are highly flammable. Hollow styrenic fibers are even more flammable because they provide a greater surface area for combustion.
Hollow fibers can also be prepared from other thermoplastic materials which have better fire resistant characteristics than styrene. However, the fire resistance of these thermoplastic materials also decreases when formulated into hollow fibers.
It is now known that carbonaceous fibers can provide a synergistic improvement in fire resistance when blended with flammable materials.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,076, to McCullough, Jr. et al, which is herein incorporated by reference, relates to the preparation of non-linear carbonaceous polymeric fibers and to carbonaceous polymeric fibers having different electroconductivity. This patent discloses a process which can be used to heat treat and carbonize expanded polymeric fibers to yield the fibers of the invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,898,783, to McCullough Jr. et al, which is herein incorporated by reference, discloses the synergism found with a blend of solid carbonaceous polymeric fibers and solid thermoplastic fibers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,514, to Windley, which is herein incorporated by reference, discloses crimped and expanded polyamide fibers. The crimps in the fiber are caused by collapsed portions. There is also disclosed a process for preparing precursor fibers useful in the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,093, to Murata et al, which is herein incorporated by reference, discloses porous expanded acrylonitrile based fibers and a process for their preparation. The process can be used for preparing one of the precursor fibers of the invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,832,881, to Arnold Jr. et al, discloses the preparation of low density, microcellular carbon foams from polyamides, cellulose polymers, polyacrylonitrile, etc. The foams are rigid and brittle.
For the purpose of rendering various terms employed herein clear and readily understandable, the following definitions are provided hereinafter.
The term "stabilized" herein applies to fibers which have been oxidized at a specific temperature, typically less than about 250.degree. C. for acrylic fibers. It will be understood that in some instances the fibers are oxidized by chemical oxidants at lower temperatures. The procedure is more clearly described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,076, which is herein incorporated by reference.
The term "reversible deflection" as used herein applies to a helical or sinusoidal compression spring. Particular reference is made to the publication, "Mechanical Design--Theory and Practice," MacMillan Publishing Co., 1975, pp 748, particularly Section 14-2, pp 721 to 724 as well as the herein before mentioned European published Application serial number 0199567.
The term "polymer" or "polymeric material" used herein applies to organic polymers as defined in Hawley's Condensed Chemical Dictionary, Eleventh Edition, Published by Van Nostrand Rheinhold Company. The organic polymers generally include: 1) natural polymers, such as cellulose, and the like; 2) synthetic polymers, such as thermoplastic or thermosetting elastomers; and 3) semisynthetic cellulosics. Polymers included herein are also low melting polymeric binders as well as polymeric fibers.
The term "carbonaceous fibers" as used herein is intended to include linear or nonlinear carbonaceous fibers, or mixtures of such fibers.
The term "carbonaceous fiber structure" as used herein relates to polymeric fibers whose carbon content has been irreversibly increased as a result of a chemical reaction such as a heat treatment, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,076, and is at least 65%.
The term "nongraphitic" as used herein relates to those carbonaceous materials which are substantially free or oriented carbon or graphite microcrystals of a three dimensional order, typically have an elemental carbon content less than 98% and as further defined in U.S. Pat. No. 4,005,183.
The term "ignition resistant" as used herein generally applies to any one of the characteristics that are referred to as flame arresting, flame retarding, fire shielding and fire barrier, as defined in 14 CFR 25.853(b).
An article is considered to be "flame retarding" to the extent that once an igniting flame has ceased to contact unburned parts of a textile article, the article has the inherent ability to resist further propagation of the flame along its unburned portion, thereby stopping the internal burning process. Recognized tests to determine whether an article is flame retarding are, inter alia, the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorist Test Method 34-1966 and the National Bureau of Standards described in DOC FF 3-71.
An article is considered to be "flame arresting" if it has the ability to block or prevent flames from contacting unburned parts of a flammable substance at least five (5) minutes.
An article is considered to be "fire shielding" if it is capable of deflecting flames and the radiation therefrom in a similar manner as aluminum coated protective garments, which are known in the art.
Fire barriers have the characteristic of being nonflammable and flame retarding and also provide thermal insulation characteristics.
The term "polymeric" or "polymeric resin" used herein includes natural polymers as well as other organic polymeric resins including organosilicone polymers.
The nonlinear carbonaceous fibers preferably used in the invention are resilient, shape reforming and have a reversible deflection greater than about 1.2:1. It should be understood that the reversible fiber defection comprises two components, pseudoelongation and fiber elongation. Pseudoelongation results from the nonlinear configuration and/or false twist imposed on the fiber. Fiber elongation is the elongation to fiber break after the fiber has been made linear.
The carbonaceous materials that are suitably employed in the present invention have an LOI value of greater than 40 as measured according to test method ASTM D 2863-77. The method is also known as the "oxygen index" or "limiting oxygen index" (LOI) test. With this procedure the concentration of oxygen in O.sub.2 /N.sub.2 mixtures is determined at which a vertically mounted specimen is ignited at its lower end and just continues to burn. The size of the specimen is 0.65.times.0.3 cm with a length of from 7 to 15 cm.
The LOI values of different materials are calculated according to the following equation: ##EQU1##
The carbonaceous materials of the invention are characterized as having a percentage value greater than 65 and thermal conductivity of less than 1 BTU ft/hr ft.sup.2 .degree.F. The percent char formation and thermal conductivity of various other materials are as follows:
______________________________________ Thermal % Char Conductivity ______________________________________ Carbonaceous particles 18.6% N.sub.2 >65 0.1 16.0% N.sub.2 >65 0.2 KEVLAR 60 <1.0 KODEL 410 polyester 10 <1.0 Polyacrylonitrile 60 <1.0 Oxidized polyacrylonitrile 60 <1.0 THORNEL 300* >95 4.84 Cotton >30 <1.0 Rayon <50 <1.0 Polycarbonate 22 <1.0 Polyethylene terephthalate 10 <1.0 Carbon particles >90 2.5 THORNEL P758** >95 106.48 ______________________________________ *Trademark of Amoco Corp., Danbury, CT, for graphite yarn **Trademark of Amoco Corp., Danbury, CT, for graphite yarn derived from pitch.
The measurement of char formation as illustrated in the aforementioned table and as discussed herein is made by using a standard thermogravimetric analysis apparatus that is adapted to perform the analysis in a nitrogen atmosphere. The apparatus is described in Encyclopedia of Polymer Science, Vol. 14, p. 21, John Wiley & Son, 1971.
The measurement is performed by loading a sample onto a sample pan of the thermogravimetric analysis apparatus. The sample is then heated in an nitrogen atmosphere at a rate of 10.degree. C./min from ambient temperature to 900.degree. C. The thermogravimetric apparatus records the sample weight remaining versus temperature. The percent of original weight remaining at 800.degree. C. is taken as the char percentage.

Batting thermal insulation with fire resistant properties


A diagnostic system for a modular fieldbus board carrying a number of fieldbuses connected to a bulk power supply. A monitoring transceiver means is adapted in use to one or more of the fieldbuses by means of two or more common mode and/or differential mode signal injection and/or signal detection points, which points are dispersed between the bulk power supply and the fieldbus trunk. The monitoring transceiver means can detect one or more fieldbus physical layer characteristics between two of the two or more of said points.

This invention relates to a diagnostic system for a modular fieldbus board, for use particularly to monitor fieldbus physical layer characteristics on a modular fieldbus board carrying a number of fieldbuses.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,831,805 there is disclosed a local power failure detection and clock disabling circuit operating within a node coupled to a bus structure. The node includes multiple ports and physical connections for supporting multiple applications. Each physical connection serves as a bus transceiver for receiving and transmitting communications over the bus structure. The node includes a local power supply and a clock signal which is provided to each of the physical connections within the node. A detection circuit is coupled to the local power supply for detecting whether or not a sufficient level of power is being supplied from the local power supply. The clock signal is always provided to a master physical connection within the node, which is responsible for repeating communications across the bus structure. The master physical connection draws power from the backup power supply source when the local power supply is not supplying a sufficient level of power. When the detection circuit has detected that the local power supply is not supplying a sufficient level of power, the clock signal is disabled to all of the physical connections within the node, except the master physical connection, in order to minimize power consumption of the node. The local applications coupled to the node are also disabled when a sufficient level of power is not supplied from the local power supply. When the detection circuit detects that the local power supply is again supplying power at a sufficient level, the clock signal is reenabled to all of the physical connections within the node and the local applications are also reenabled.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,757,265 there is disclosed a field bus system in which transmission ability of the system can be maintained even if communication error occurs due to noises or failure of a transmission line. The system can be easily shifted at a lower cost from a conventional system to the field bus system without degrading the high reliability thereof. The transmission line is constituted by a multiple-cable transmission line having at least three transmission cables. An external power supply supplies power to field devices through a pair of transmission cables of the multiple-cable transmission line. The field devices are connected to the transmission cables through a transmission line switching unit constituted by a plurality of rectifier elements, so that the field devices are supplied with current flowing in one predetermined direction when any of the pairs of transmission cables is selected. The external power supply monitors a failure of a currently used pair of transmission cables and, upon detection of failure of the currently used pair of transmission cables, the failed pair is replaced by a normal pair of transmission cables such that the field devices are continuously supplied with power.
In US-A1-2002/169582 there is disclosed a field device coupleable to a fieldbus process communication loop, the device comprising: a power module coupleable to the loop to power the device with energy received from the loop, a fieldbus loop communicator coupleable to the loop, and adapted to bi-directionally communicate over the loop, a controller coupled to the fieldbus loop communicator, diagnostic circuitry coupled to the controller and operably coupleable to the loop, the diagnostic circuitry adapted to measure a loop-related parameter, and wherein the controller provides diagnostic information based upon the loop-related parameter.
In WO-A-02/099663 there is disclosed an intrinsically safe field bus system comprising a field bus, a power source, a terminating resistor and at least one field bus device connected to the field bus. The power source is connected to a first end of the field bus and the terminating resistor terminates the field bus on the other end. The power source generates a periodic alternating signal, has a reactance as a terminating resistor and a unit for control and adjustment of the power source according to the input impedance (ZBus) of the field bus. The field bus input current (IBus) is kept constant when the input impedance (ZBus) in a first range of operation (I) is smaller than the wave impedance (ZW) of the field bus line, and the field bus input voltage (UBus) is adjusted to a constant maximum voltage (Umax) and the field bus input current (IBus) is adjusted according to the input impedance (ZBus) if the input impedance (ZBus) exceeds the value of the wave impedance (Zw) in a second operating range (II).
In DE-A-10104908 there is disclosed an electronic device for permanent monitoring electrically measurable states or values of bus systems, such as Profibuses, field buses, etc., after the bus has been installed, with two bus conductors, a comprehensive power supply and data bus, that connects a bus master and a bus slave together. Accordingly the device samples a number of connections of the electrically measurable bus conductors using a permanent circuit connection for voltage or current measurement, testing earth connection testing the quality of the bus conductors and the signals they carry. The current testing of bus systems is based an connection of measurement meters and multimeters after installation to test the bus system and to correct any faults.
What is needed is a diagnostic system for a modular fieldbus board carrying a number of fieldbuses connected to a bulk power supply, comprises a monitoring transceiver means, such that the monitoring transceiver means can detect one or more fieldbus physical layer characteristics.

Diagnostic system for a modular fieldbus board


A heat-peelable pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet comprises: a base material; and a thermo-expandable pressure-sensitive adhesive layer containing thermo-expandable microspheres, the thermo-expandable pressure-sensitive adhesive layer having a surface to be adhered to an adherend, wherein the surface of the thermo-expandable pressure-sensitive adhesive layer before subjecting to heating has a centerline average roughness of greater than 0.4 μm, and has a convex portion resulting from the thermo-expandable microspheres.

Heat-peelable pressure-sensitive adhesive sheets obtained by disposing, on a base material, a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer containing a blowing or expanding agent such as thermo-expandable microspheres are conventionally known (JP-B-50-13878, JP-B-51-24534, JP-A-56-61468, JP-A-56-61469, JP-A-60-252681, etc.). These heat-peelable pressure-sensitive adhesive sheets are developed to satisfy both adhesion and releasability after use. They are easily releasable from an adherend by heating to foam or expand the blowing agent, thereby lowering adhesion. By making use of such a feature, they have been used as a temporary supporting means upon production of electronic parts and as labels for goods to be recycled.
When the adherend is to be bonded at a relatively large area or is made of a material, such as metal, wettable with an adhesive (a material having a relatively high surface energy), releasability lowers, thereby sometimes making it difficult to maintain good releasability after heating.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Video and audio signals are streamed to remote viewers that are connected to a communication network. A host server receives an originating video and audio signal that may arrive from a single source or from a plurality of independent sources. The host server provides any combination of the originating video and audio signals to viewers connected to a communication network. A viewer requests the host server provide a combination of video and audio signals from the host server. The host server transmits an instruction set to be executed by the viewer. The instruction set causes the viewer to transmit parameters to the host user, including parameters relating to the processing capabilities of the viewer. The host server then transmits multimedia data to the viewer according to the received parameters. A plurality of viewers may be simultaneously connected to the host server. Each of the plurality of viewers may configure the received video and audio signals independent of any other viewer and may generate alerts based on the video and audio content.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to devices and systems for communicating over a network. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for streaming a multimedia signal to remote viewers connected to a communication network.
2. Description of the Related Art
The constantly increasing processing power available in hardware devices such as personal computers, personal digital assistants, wireless phones and other consumer devices allows highly complex functions to be performed within the device. The hardware devices can perform complex calculations in order to implement functions such as spreadsheets, word processing, database management, data input and data output. Common forms of data output include video and audio output.
Personal computers, personal digital assistants and wireless phones commonly incorporate displays and speakers in order to provide video and audio output. A personal computer incorporates a monitor as the display terminal. The monitor, or display, on most personal computers can be configured independently of the processor to allow varying levels of resolution. The display for personal computers is typically capable of very high resolution, even on laptop-style computers.
In contrast, displays are permanently integrated into personal digital assistants and wireless phones. An electronic device having a dedicated display device formats data for display using dedicated hardware. The processing capabilities of the hardware as well as the display capabilities limit the amount of information displayed and the quality of the display to levels below that typically available from a personal computer. The lower quality is defined as fewer pixels per inch, the inability to display colors or a smaller viewing area.
A personal computer may integrate one of a number of hardware interfaces in order to display video output on a monitor. A modular video card or a set of video interface Integrated Circuits (IC's) is used by the personal computer to generate the digital signals required to generate an image on the monitor. The digital signals used by a computer monitor differ from the analog composite video signal used in a television monitor. However, the personal computer may incorporate dedicated hardware, such as a video capture card, to translate analog composite video signals into the digital signals required to generate an image on the monitor. Thus, the personal computer may display, on the monitor, video images captured using a video camera, or video images output from a video source such as a video tape recorder, digital video disk player, laser disk player, or cable television converter.
The video capture card, or equivalent hardware, also allows the personal computer to save individual video frames provided from a video source. The individual video frames may be saved in any file format recognized as a standard for images. A common graphic image format is the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) format that is defined in International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard ISO-10918 titled DIGITAL COMPRESSION AND CODING OF CONTINUOUS-TONE STILL IMAGES. The JPEG standard allows a user the opportunity to specify the quality of the stored image. The highest quality image results in the largest file, and typically, a trade off is made between image quality and file size. The personal computer can display a moving picture from a collection of JPEG encoded images by rapidly displaying the images sequentially, in much the same way that the individual frames of a movie are sequenced to simulate moving pictures.
The volumes of data and image files generated within any individual personal computer provide limited utility unless the files can be distributed. Files can be distributed among hardware devices in electronic form through mechanical means, such as by saving a file onto a portable medium and transferring the file from the portable medium (e.g., floppy disks) to another computer.
Such mechanical file transfers are not particularly efficient and may be limited by the capacity of the transfer medium. A more efficient method of transferring files between computers is by using some type of communication link. The most basic communication link is a hardwired connection between the two computers transferring information. However, information may also be transferred using a network of computers.
A computer may be connected to a local network where a number of processors are linked together using dedicated communication links. File transfer speed on a dedicated network is typically constrained by the speed of the communication hardware. The physical network is typically hardwired and capable of providing a large signal bandwidth.
More widespread remote networks may take advantage of existing infrastructure in order to provide the communication link between networked processors. One common configuration allows remote devices to connect to a network using telephone land lines. The communication link is the factor constraining data transfer speed where low bandwidth communication links such as telephone land lines are used as network connections.
One well known public network that allows a variety of simultaneous communication links is the Internet. As used herein, "Internet" refers to a network or combination of networks spanning any geographical area, such as a local area network, wide area network, regional network, national network, and/or global network. As used herein, "Internet" may refer to hardwire networks, wireless networks, or a combination of hardwire and wireless networks. Hardwire networks may include, for example, fiber optic lines, cable lines, ISDN lines, copper lines, etc. Wireless networks may include, for example, cellular systems, personal communication services (PCS) systems, satellite communication systems, packet radio systems, and mobile broadband systems.
Individual computers may connect to the Internet using communication links having vastly differing information bandwidths. The fastest connections to the network use fiber connections directly to the network "backbone". Connections to the network having a lower information bandwidth use E1 or T1 telephone line connections to a fiber link. Of course, the cost of the communication link is proportional to the available information bandwidth.
Network connections are not limited to computers. Any hardware device capable of data communication may be connected to a network. Personal digital assistants as well as wireless phones typically incorporate the ability to connect to networks in order to exchange data. Hardware devices often incorporate the hardware or software required to allow the device to communicate over the Internet. Thus, the Internet operates as a network to allow data transfer between computers, network-enabled wireless phones, and personal digital assistants.
One potential use of networks is the transfer of graphic images and audio data from a host to a number of remote viewers. As discussed above, a computer can store a number of captured graphic images and audio data within its memory. These files can then be distributed over the network to any number of viewers. The host can provide a simulation of real-time video by capturing successive video frames from a source, digitizing the video signal, and providing access to the files. A viewer can then download and display the successive files. The viewer can effectively display real-time streaming video where the host continually captures, digitizes, and provides files based on a real-time video source.
The distribution of captured real-time video signals over a network presents several problems. For example, there is no flexibility in the distribution of files to various users. A host captures the video and audio signals and generates files associated with each type of signal. As previously discussed, graphic images are commonly stored as JPEG encoded images. The use of JPEG encoding can compress the size of the graphic image file but, depending on the graphic resolution selected by the host, the image file may still be very large. The network connection at the host is an initial bottleneck to efficient file transfer. If the host sends files to the network using only a phone modem connection to transfer multiple megabyte files, no viewer will be able to display the video and audio signals in a manner resembling real-time streaming video.
The viewer's network connection becomes another data transfer bottleneck even if the host can send files to the network instantaneously. A viewer with a phone modem connection will not be able to transfer high-resolution images at a speed sufficient to support real-time streaming video.
One option is for the host to capture and encode any images in the lowest possible resolution to allow even the slowest connection to view real-time streaming video. However, the effect of capturing low-resolution images to enable the most primitive system's access to the images is to degrade the performance of a majority of viewers. Additionally, the images may need to be saved in such a low resolution that all detail is lost from the images. Degradation of the images, therefore, is not a plausible solution.
Another problem encountered is the inability of all users to support the same graphical image format selected by the host. Most personal computers are able to support the JPEG image format; however, network-enabled wireless phones or personal digital assistants may not be able to interpret the JPEG image format. Additionally, the less sophisticated hardware devices may not incorporate color displays. Access to video images should be provided to these users as well.
Finally, in such video distribution systems, the viewer has no control over the images. The viewer must rely solely on the host to provide a formatted and sized image having the proper view, resolution, and image settings. The viewer cannot adjust the image being displayed, the image resolution, or the image settings such as brightness, contrast and color. Further, the viewer is unable to control such parameters as compression of the transmitted data and the frame rate of video transmission.

Method and apparatus for distributing multimedia to remote clients


A radical-curable adhesive composition containing a rubber (a) having one or more (meth)acryloyl groups within a single molecular chain, a polymerizable monomer (b) having both an epoxy group and a (meth)acryloyloxy group in the molecule, and a radical polymerization initiator (c). The rubber (a) is preferably a polymer of a monomer containing at least acrylonitrile.

Vinyl ester resins have excellent properties including mechanical properties, chemical resistance, heat resistance and oxidation resistance. Accordingly, vinyl ester resins are used in a broad range of fields. In particular, vinyl ester resins are widely used as materials for adhesives. Adhesive compositions containing a vinyl ester resin exhibit powerful adhesive strength to metals, and are therefore widely used in fields such as the electrical and mechanical fields, vehicles, and construction materials.
One example of an adhesive composition containing a vinyl ester resin is an adhesive composition containing a vinyl ester resin and a rubber. The cured product of this adhesive composition exhibits superior adhesive strength.
Patent Document 1 discloses a curable resin composition prepared by adding a radical generator to a mixture containing a vinyl ester resin composition having 1% by weight to 30% by weight of a rubber with a particle size of not more than 1 μm dispersed therein and a polymerizable monomer.
Patent Document 2 discloses a one-liquid radical-curable adhesive composition composed of a hindered amine compound having a specific structure, an organic peroxide, an acrylic monomer, and a polymerizable oligomer having two or more (meth)acryloyl groups within the molecule.
Patent Document 3 discloses a heat-resistant acrylic-based adhesive composition containing methacrylic acid, a (meth)acrylic monomer other than methacrylic acid containing isobornyl (meth)acrylate, a liquid rubber having a polymerizable unsaturated double bond at the terminal, an organic peroxide, and a reducing agent.
Further, as disclosed in Non-Patent Document 1, polymer materials exhibit very different surface tension values from metals and typical adhesives such as polyvinyl acetate emulsions and epoxy-based adhesives. Accordingly, conventionally, substrate surfaces are subjected to a surface treatment to adjust the surface tension of the substrate to a value close to the surface tension of the adhesive, thereby improving the adhesive strength of the adhesive to the substrate. As described in Non-Patent Document 1, examples of surface treatment methods include physical methods and chemical methods. Examples of the physical methods include sanding, corona, plasma, flame and ultraviolet treatments. In terms of the chemical methods, methods in which functional groups having high polarity are introduced onto the substrate surface are becoming increasingly widespread.

Radical-curable adhesive composition and adhesive


A control system for a capsule endoscope is provided. The control system includes a balance arm device, a mechanical arm, a permanent magnet and a 2-DOF rotary platform. The bottom of the balance arm device is fixed, and the active end of the balance arm device connects with a boom. The bottom of the mechanical arm is fixed, and the active end of the mechanical arm connects with a spherical hinge. The 2-DOF rotary platform is fixed below the boom and the permanent magnet is located in the 2-DOF rotary platform. The spherical hinge connects to the boom, assisting the permanent magnet to move around a fan-shaped area around a subject.

Capsule endoscope is a capsule-shaped medical device designed to examine human gastrointestinal tract. Generally, after the capsule endoscope is swallowed by the patient into their body, an external magnetic control device guides the device to move in the GI tract, so as to view the health status of the gastrointestinal and esophageal regions of the patient and help the doctor to make a diagnosis.
A control system for the capsule endoscope of prior art comprises a capsule endoscope for collecting information of the digestive tract of the patient to be examined, wherein a permanent magnet is provided; a capsule endoscope control device for controlling the movement of the capsule endoscope by the permanent magnet; a control terminal for receiving and displaying digestive tract information and capsule endoscope position information as well as controlling the operation of the capsule endoscope control device. After moving to a first position to be examined under control of the capsule endoscope control device, the capsule endoscope can send information of the digestive tract at the first position to the control terminal and display, so that the examiner can clearly observe the digestive tract conditions of the patient. Then, move the capsule endoscope to a second position for examination, and send the digestive tract conditions to the control terminal. Therefore, all target positions can be examined by this way.
The robot of the control system for the capsule endoscope is fixed on a control cabinet with casters and can move around with the movement of the control cabinet. However, this kind of movement may cause the robot to crash into the surrounding examination bed or control terminal, affecting the patient experience, or even damaging the precision instrument.
In addition, an active magnet is suspended below the robot arm of the control system. As the robot arm reaches a designated position, the active magnet is controlled to move and exert an magnetic attraction force on the permanent magnet in the capsule endoscope, and thereby drive the capsule endoscope to move in the digestive tract. However, since the active magnet under the robot arm is heavy, vertical movement needs to overcome the effect of gravity. As a precision machine, the robot arm provides limited loading capacity and is costly. Long-time heavy load may cause the robot arm to be deformed and even damaged, affecting the examination accuracy consequently.
Further, in the above solution, the control of the capsule by the control system is transmitted through human-control terminal—computer-server-motor-permanent magnet, so that the overall system structure is complicated and the operation is inconvenient. In addition, the examination position is fixed, so all-round scanning and control are impossible.
Moreover, the control system can be a mechanical arm for controlling an active magnet connected to the mechanical arm, and achieve the purpose for controlling the capsule endoscope. At this time, the active magnet is too heavy that can result in heavy bearings and high costs of motors of the mechanical arm.
Therefore, it is necessary to provide a control system for the capsule endoscope that features simplified structure, easy operation, low cost and provides all-round scanning and control capability.

Ankon Medical Technologies (Shanghai) Co., LTD


A cable connector assembly including: a cable including a number of core wires, each core wire including an insulative layer and an inner conductor; and an electrical connector connected with an end of the cable, the electrical connector including an insulative housing, a number of contacts retained in the insulative housing, a shell member enclosing the insulative housing, a cover member assembled on a rear end of the insulative housing for fixing the core wires, and a carrying member connected between the cover member and the insulative housing, each of the contacts including a mounting portion rearwardly exposed to the insulative housing, wherein each of the mounting portion defines a spines portion, the cover member defines a number of through holes receiving the core wires, and the insulative layer of the core wire is punctured by the spines portion when the cover member is mounted on the carrying member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a cable connector assembly, and more particularly to an audio connector easy to assemble.
2. Description of Related Arts
U.S. Pat. No. 7,819,690, published on Aug. 21, 2008, discloses a monitoring device including a plurality of electrical contacts or connectors in cooperation with a belt including a plurality of tension members. The connector has a portion that penetrates into the belt for making electrically conductive contact with the tension member. The connector has a base that is generally planar and aligned with a longitudinal axis of the tension member. Two projections extend away from the base.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,052,461, published on Nov. 8, 2011, and Patent No. 202333250, published on Jul. 11, 2012, each discloses a connecting scheme for a cable and a connector, which has a spiked metal terminal consisting of two spinous portions. The arrangement of the two spinous portions is along a direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the cable wire. Such arrangement ensures reliable connection but takes up more horizontal space. Therefore, a soldering method is usually used to connect the metal terminal, which is preferred over a crimping method that needs a more cumbersome manufacturing process and costs more.
A cable connector assembly of a different structure is desired.

Cable connector assembly easy to assemble


Pipe clamp and method for retaining a tensioning element in a tensioning head of the pipe clamp. The pipe clamp includes a clamp band having a first end with a first tensioning head and a second end with a second tensioning head, a tensioning element guidable guided through the first tensioning head and engageable with the second tensioning head, and a securing element structured and arranged in the first tensioning head to secure the tensioning element against loss and including a spring element structured and arranged to act between the tensioning element and the first tensioning head.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention relate to a pipe clamp, in particular a profile clamp, with a clamp band having a first end with a first tensioning head and a second end with a second tensioning head. A tensioning element is guided through the first tensioning head and is secured against loss by a securing element in the first tensioning head and the tensioning element is engagable with the second tensioning head.
2. Discussion of Background Information
A pipe clamp of the type generally discussed above is positioned around a pipe. The tensioning element, which is already guided through the first tensioning head, is then engaged with the second tensioning head and subsequently tightened. In this way, the clamp band is positioned around the pipe with a certain tension. If the pipe clamp is embodied or formed as a profile clamp, then the clamp band has roughly a trapezoid-shaped cross section, with which it is placed over frustum-shaped flanges on pipe ends. By the tightening of the clamp band with the aid of the tensioning element, which is often embodied or formed as a screw or bolt, the frustum-shaped flanges of the pipes are pulled to one another and braced against one another.
For assembly, the clamp band must be opened so that the pipe clamp can be guided past the pipe and the frustum-shaped flanges. A loss prevention is provided, which up to now has been embodied or formed as a plastic ring, so that the tensioning element is not lost in this opened state, when the tensioning element is not engaged with the second tensioning head. This plastic ring is mounted onto the tensioning element and remains there under frictional locking or even in a positive fit if the tensioning element is embodied or formed as a screw or a bolt with threading. Assembly of the loss prevention is relatively complex. In addition, the tensioning element is only secured against falling out of the first tensioning head.


A reusable gas-powered hand grenade is provided. A hand-held housing defi one or more launch tubes. A projectile is loaded in each launch tube with an obturator being positioned therein between the projectile and the launch tube's muzzle end. A sealed reservoir is maintained in the housing for storing a gas under pressure. A rupturing device is mounted in the housing for breaking the reservoir's seal upon impact therewith. A triggering mechanism coupled to the rupturing device maintains separation between the rupturing device and the seal until the triggering mechanism is activated. Once activated, the triggering mechanism moves the rupturing device to impact the seal so that gas pressure propels the projectile and obturator from the launch tube.

To adequately prepare military personnel, good military training must account for and simulate not only the use of hand grenades, but also their explosive fragmentation characteristics. To do this, it is necessary to have practice hand grenades for use in war games. An example of a war game marking grenade is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,521. Briefly, a number of paintballs are press-fit or glued into cavities formed in the grenade housing with each paintball extending partially outside the confines of the grenade housing. A compressed gas cylinder provided in the housing is pierced when the grenade is activated. The gas is directed within the grenade housing to a plurality of plugged channels, each of which leads to one cavity holding a paintball. When sufficient pressure builds in each plugged channel, the plug is propelled forward to impact the paintball such that the plug and paintball are ejected from the grenade housing.
The problems associated with the hand grenade disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,521 are numerous. Since the paintballs extend beyond the confines of the grenade housing, premature rupturing of the paintballs can occur during handling of the grenade. Also, because each paintball extends partially outside the grenade housing and resides at the end of a plugged channel in which launch pressure is developed, each paintball is only exposed to launch pressure for a very brief time period. That is, once pressure in each plugged channel is sufficient to overcome frictional forces holding the plug and paintball in position, the paintball is immediately expelled from the grenade housing while the pressurized launch gas quickly expands. This limits the amount of acceleration each paintball can develop so that the range of each paintball is only a few feet. Since real grenades have ranges much greater than a few feet, realistic practice results cannot be achieved. Finally, since each paintball is impacted with a propelled plug, the paintball can fracture from the impact and, therefore, never be ejected in whole from the grenade housing.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


A chair, in particular office chair, comprises a seat support, which carries a seat, and a back rest, which is provided with a rod-shaped back rest support, which in turn is releasably connected with the rear end of the seat support. In order to embody the connection of the back rest with the seat support such that it can be made or released in a simple manner with regard to design and very quickly, a clamping device is formed at the rear end of the seat support, which clamping device has a receiving sleeve which can be clamped together and which receives the rod-shaped back rest support.

With chairs of this type the back rest is among other reasons releasably connected with the seat support, in order to be able to pack the chair as a whole very compactly for storage and for dispatch. The subsequent final assembly for the user is supposed to be carried out even by untrained staff in a very quick and reliable manner. Beyond that, the connection between back rest and seat support should be firm and secure and should be capable of being made in a simple manner with regard to design and at low expenses.

Friedrich W. Dauphin GmbH & Co. Entwicklungs- und Beteiligungs-KG


The present invention relates to human monoclonal antibodies neutralizing vascular endothelial growth factor receptor and the use thereof. More specifically, relates to human ScFv molecules neutralizing vascular endothelial growth factor receptor, and a composition for inhibiting angiogenesis and a composition for treating cancer, which contain the human ScFv molecules. The disclosed monoclonal antibody neutralizing vascular endothelial growth factor receptor shows excellent neutralizing ability in living cells, compared to that of a commercially available antibody against vascular endothelial growth factor receptor, and shows the ability to neutralize vascular endothelial growth factor receptor not only in humans, but also in mice and rats. Thus, the monoclonal antibody will be useful in anticancer studies and will be highly effective in cancer treatment.

Angiogenesis means the formation of new blood vessels from pre-existing vessels by the growth, differentiation and migration of endothelial cells and does not occur in healthy adults, except for some special occasions, including wound healing, menstruation, etc. However, the excessive formation of new blood vessels in diseases, such as tumor growth and metastasis, age-related macular degeneration, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetic retinopathy, psoriasis and chronic inflammation, has been reported (Cameliet and Jain, Nature, 407:249, 2000). For this reason, many efforts to treat diseases, particularly tumors, using angiogenesis inhibitors, have been made.
Factors involved in angiogenesis include vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), epithelial growth factor (EGF), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), transforming growth factor-b (TGFb), fibroblast growth factor (FGF), etc. Among them, the vascular endothelial growth factor is an endothelial cell-specific factor which is involved directly in the growth, differentiation and migration of endothelial cells, and there are four different isoforms (VEGF165, VEGF121, VEGF189 and VEGF206). Among the four isoforms, VEGF165 is the most abundant isoform in all human tissues except placenta (Tisher et al., J. Biol. Chem., 266:11947, 1991).
Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) regulates new blood vessel formation resulting from the differentiation of endothelial precursors (angioblasts) in situ, is expressed in embryonic tissues (Breier et al., Development (Camb), 114:521, 1992), macrophages, and proliferating epithelial keratinocytes during wound healing (Brown et al., J. Exp. Med., 176:1375, 1992), and may be responsible for tissue edema associated with inflammation (Ferrara et al., Endocr. Rev., 13:18, 1992). In situ hybridization studies have demonstrated high VEGF expression in a number of human tumor lines including glioblastoma multiforme, hemangioblastoma, central nervous system neoplasms and AIDS-associated Kaposi's sarcoma (Plate et al., Nature, 359:845, 1992; Plate et al., Cancer Res., 53: 5822, 1993; Berkman et al., J. Clin. Invest., 91:153, 1993; Nakamura et al., AIDS Weekly, 13(1), 1992). High levels of VEGF were also observed in hypoxia induced angiogenesis (Shweiki et al., Nature, 359:843, 1992).
The biological function of VEGF is mediated through its high affinity VEGF receptors which are selectively expressed in endothelial cells during embryogenesis (Millauer et al., Cell, 72:835, 1993) and during tumor formation. VEGF receptors (VEGFR) typically are class III receptor-type tyrosine kinases characterized by having several, typically 5 or 7, immunoglobulin-like loops in their amino-terminal extracellular ligand-binding domain of a receptor (Kaipainen et al., J. Exp. Med., 178:2027, 1993). The other two regions include a transmembrane region and a carboxy-terminal intracellular catalytic domain interrupted by an insertion of hydrophilic interkinase sequences of variable lengths, called the kinase insert domain (Terman et al., Oncogene, 6:1677, 1991). VEGF receptors include fms-like tyrosine kinase receptor (Flt-1), or VEGFR-1 (Shibuya et al., Oncogene, 5:519, 1990; WO 92/14248; Terman et al., Oncogene, 6:1677, 1991), kinase insert domain-containing receptor/fetal liver kinase (KDR/Flk-1), or VEGFR-2 (Matthews et al., PNAS, 88:9026, 1991), although other receptors such as neuropilin-1 and neuropilin-2 can also bind VEGF. Another tyrosine kinase receptor, VEGFR-3 (Flt-4), binds the VEGF homologues VEGF-C and VEGF-D and is important in the development of lymphatic vessels.
High levels of Flk-1 are expressed by endothelial cells that infiltrate gliomas (Plate et al., Nature, 359:845, 1992). Flk-1 levels are specifically upregulated by VEGF produced by human glioblastomas (Plate et al., Cancer Res., 53:5822, 1993).
The finding of high levels of Flk-1 expression in glioblastoma associated endothelial cells (GAEC) indicates that receptor activity is probably induced during tumor formation since Flk-1 transcripts are barely detectable in normal brain endothelial cells. This upregulation is confined to the vascular endothelial cells in close proximity to the tumor. Blocking VEGF activity with neutralizing anti-VEGF monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) resulted in inhibition of the growth of human tumor xenografts in nude mice (Kim, K. et al., Nature, 362:841-844, 1993), indicating a direct role for VEGF in tumor-related angiogenesis.
Although VEGF ligands are upregulated in tumor cells, and the receptors thereof are upregulated in tumor infiltrated vascular endothelial cells, the expression levels of VEGF ligands and the receptors thereof are low in normal cells that are not associated with angiogenesis. Therefore, such normal cells would block the interaction between VEGF and the receptors thereof to inhibit angiogenesis, thus inhibiting tumor growth.
High levels of VEGFR-2 are expressed by endothelial cells that infiltrate gliomas, and are specifically upregulated by VEGF produced by human glioblastomas (Plate et al., Nature, 359:845, 1992; Plate et al., Cancer Res., 53:5822, 1993). The finding of high levels of VEGR-2 expression in glioblastoma associated endothelial cells (GAEC) suggests that receptor activity is induced during tumor formation, since VEGFR-2 transcripts are barely detectable in normal brain endothelial cells.
Therefore, studies focused on inhibiting the activity of VEGF, which is expressed in tumor growth sites, to inhibit angiogenesis so as to inhibit tumor growth, are being actively conducted. Typically, methods of inhibiting VEGF receptors on the membrane of cancer cells to prevent VEGF from entering cells have been developed. Examples of cell lines producing VEGFR antibodies include a hybridoma cell line producing rat anti-mouse VEGFR-2 monoclonal antibody (DC101; ATCC HB 11534), a hybridoma cell line (M25, 18A1; ATCC HB 12152) producing mouse anti-mouse VEGFR-2 monoclonal antibody mAb 25, and a hybridoma cell line producing mouse anti-mouse VEGFR-2 monoclonal antibody mAb 73 [(M73,24; ATCC HB 12153), KM1730(FERM BP-5697; WO 98/22616; WO 99/59636), KM1731 (FERM BP-5718), KM1732 (FERM BP-5698), KM1748 (FERM BP-5699), KM1750 (FERM BP-5700)].
There has been a continuous development of humanized antibodies against VEGF receptors. These humanized antibodies against VEGF receptors, developed to date, showed high competition with VEGF in vitro, but had problems in that their ability to neutralize VEGF receptors in cells is reduced and in that the antibodies do not show cross-reactivity in mice or rats, such that animal tests cannot be carried out.
Accordingly, the present inventors have constructed a library of non-immunized fully human antibodies, screened single chain variable fragment (ScFv) antibodies against VEGF receptor (KDR), and found that the antibodies exhibit an excellent KDR-neutralizing effect not only in vitro, but also in cells and in vivo, and show cross-reactivity even in mice and rats, thereby completing the present invention.

Human monoclonal antibody neutralizing vascular endothelial growth factor receptor and use thereof


An automatic injection device (100) adapted to automatically eject a dose of a medicament by automatically inserting a needle (112) into the skin of a user, ejecting a dose of a medicament through the needle, and subsequently retracting the needle into a housing (122) of the device.

In relation to some diseases patients must inject a medicament on a regular basis such as a plurality of times each day. In order to help patients overcome fear of needles, fully automatic injection devices have been developed that makes the use of an injection device as simple as possible. Such devices are designed such that a user shall position the injection device onto his skin and manipulate an activation button. Such activation causes the device to insert a needle into the skin, eject a dose of the medicament and subsequently retract the needle into a housing of the device.
WO 02/17996 discloses an automatic injection device which automatically injects a pre-measured quantity of fluid medicine when it is released. The tensing spring moves the ampoule and the injection needle from a storage position to a deployed position and ejects the medicament through a linear movement.
It is an object of a preferred embodiment of the present invention to provide an alternative to known devices for automatically injecting a medicament. Moreover, it is an object of a preferred embodiment of the present invention to provide an automatic injection device allowing dosing of the medicament with a high precision volume. Furthermore, it is an object of a preferred embodiment to provide the user with a tactile, visible or auditive indication of the point in time wherein the ejection process has terminated.


In one or more particular implementations, a plurality of energy harvesting cells are provided, wherein each cell comprising a substrate supporting a least one electrical energy generating device, at least one control circuit for controlling at least the operation of the electrical energy generating device, wherein the energy harvesting cell is encased in a polymer Wherein the substrate has two opposing first sides each having a length L, a second side orthogonal to both first sides having a length equal to 2L, a third side opposed from the second side having a length of 4L, wherein the width of the substrate between the two opposing first sides is 8L.

There is much interest in obtaining energy from renewable sources. Each year new records are set for energy produced from renewable sources, such as solar and wind. However, solar and wind installations suffer various drawbacks. For example, traditional solar photovoltaic cells are incapable of utilizing infrared light to generate electricity. Infrared accounts for a substantial portion of the electromagnetic energy that the sun provides the Earth. That energy is not currently captured. Furthermore, solar devices positioned at optimal locations (such as near the equator) suffer from excess heating due to direct sunlight exposure. This heating can impact performance and eventually damage the electronic components incorporated into the photovoltaic cell.
Thus, what is needed in the art are energy harvesting devices that not only utilizes a larger spectrum of solar energy, but also make use of the thermal energy that is incident to upon the energy collectors.
Additionally, within some environments, there are excesses of RF frequencies. For example, in urban environments, radio and microwave communication signals are a constant presence. These RF frequencies can be harvested and used to power monitoring and control apparatus. For instance, in addition to providing power sources for remote/portable devices, a suitable RF harvesting device can re-convert unused ambient RF energy to reduce overall energy demand by replacing batteries and other remote power sources.
Thus, what is needed in the art are energy harvesting devices that can also harvest RF frequencies and optionally use the harvested energy to power control and communication devices.

BIO CELLULAR DESIGN AERONAUTICS AFRICA SA


An image forming method according to the present invention comprises the steps of forming an electrostatic latent image on an image carrying member by a latent image forming device, applying a release agent to the surface of the image carrying member by an application device, and bringing an ink carried on an ink carrying member into contact with the surface of the image carrying member coated with the release agent to form an ink image corresponding to the electrostatic latent image on the surface of the image carrying member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming method and an image forming apparatus in which an electrostatic latent image is formed on an image carrying member, and the electrostatic latent image is developed using an ink, to form an image.
2. Description of the Related Art
As are represented by electrophotographic copying machines, image forming apparatuses so adapted as to form an electrostatic latent image on the surface of an image carrying member, develop the electrostatic latent image with toner particles to form a toner image, and then transfer the toner image on a recording medium such as paper to form an image on the recording medium have been conventionally used. One of the electrophotographic image forming apparatuses, an image forming apparatus using a liquid developer constructed by dispersing colored resin particles (toner particles) in a carrier liquid in order to develop the electrostatic latent image has been known.
The electrophotographic image forming apparatus using the liquid developer has advantages that the resolution thereof is superior, for example, while having disadvantages that an image having a sufficient image density is not obtained on a recording medium, and an image formed on the recording medium is fogged because toner adheres to an image carrying member even in a portion where no electrostatic latent image is formed and is transferred to the recording medium.

Image forming method and apparatus transferring an ink image


A circuit includes a first transistor whose gate is connected to a set terminal and whose source or drain is connected to an internal node, a second transistor connected such that one of a source and a drain is electrically connected to the internal node and the other one of the source and the drain is electrically connected to a reference voltage source, a third transistor connected such that a gate is connected to the internal node, one of a source and a drain is connected to a clock terminal, and the other one of the source and the drain is connected to a first output terminal, a bootstrap capacitor which is connected to the internal node and the first output terminal, and a stabilization circuit that suppresses a drop in potential at the internal node in a charging period of the bootstrap capacitor.

In recent years, display apparatuses such as liquid crystal display apparatuses, organic EL display apparatuses, or the like including thin-film transistors (TFTs) in respective pixels have been widely used. For example, active matrix liquid crystal display apparatuses are widely used in the field of large, high-definition panels for TV applications. TFTs are produced using a semiconductor layer formed on a substrate such as a glass substrate. The substrate on which TFTs are formed is called an active matrix substrate. The active matrix substrate is also called a "cell array substrate". A plurality of TFTs are arranged in the form of a matrix such that the TFTs are disposed at respective positions where a plurality of gate bus lines and a plurality of source bus lines intersect thereby forming a display area AA on the active matrix substrate.
Peripheral circuits such as a gate driver for supplying scanning signals to gate bus lines (scanning lines), a source driver for supplying display signals to source bus lines (display signal lines), and the like may be formed in a small area on a glass substrate by using an oxide semiconductor such as low-temperature polysilicon, IGZO, or the like having a particularly high mobility characteristic. Alternatively, the peripheral circuits may be formed using amorphous silicon. The gate driver formed around a display area on a glass substrate is also called a gate driver on array (GOA) circuit. In the present description, the gate driver is also referred to as a GOA circuit. The GOA circuit is a shift register circuit including a plurality of stages connected one-to-one to the gate bus lines. The GOA circuit operates according to a plurality of clock signals such that scanning signals are sequentially output from the respective stages of the shift register circuit to corresponding gate bus lines.
PTL 1 discloses a liquid crystal display apparatus including a GOA circuit. In this GOA circuit, a circuit of each stage of the shift register includes a carry buffer transistor that independently generates a carry voltage or signal. In this configuration, a signal transmitted to a gate bus line connected to an output terminal of each stage is output separately from a carry signal transmitted to an input terminal of a next stage. This circuit configuration is described to reduce an effect of a RC delay caused by a load of a gate bus line on an input signal transmitted to the input terminal of a next following stage thereby suppressing a display defect.

Shift register circuit, active matrix substrate, and display apparatus