A discovery application on a computing system is provided. The discovery application receives a user input, which is for discovery of resources associated with a cloud operating system of a cloud computing system. The user input includes an authentication credential and account information associated with the cloud operating system. Based on the received input, the discovery application executes a discovery pattern comprising operations for the discovery of resources. The cloud operating system includes a group of services to access such resources. At least one of the operations corresponds to an API call to an API endpoint associated with a service of the group of services. The discovery application receives a response to the API call from the cloud operating system. The response includes a payload of information associated with the resources. The discovery application updates, based on the received response, one or more configuration items in a configuration management database.

Advancements in resource discovery have allowed organizations and individuals to use applications for discovery of various disparate resources associated with a remote computing environment. Such resources may include hardware resources (such as computing devices, network switches, storage devices) and software resources (such as database applications or microservices). Typically, the remote computing environment provides a mechanism through which its resources can be discovered. For example, such a mechanism may include Representational State Transfer function (REST) calls, HTTP GET/POST requests, or Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) request, or other methods to invoke functions on the remote computing environment.
Without a reliable method to identify such resources associated with the remote computing environment in a dynamic enterprise, it may be impossible to keep track of changes occurring in on-premise, multi-cloud, and serverless infrastructure. This may pose a significant risk to service stability and can lead to financial waste, such as paying unnecessary hardware maintenance fees, incurring software compliance penalties, or an inability to pinpoint disruptions.
Limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of described systems with some aspects of the present disclosure, as set forth in the remainder of the present application and with reference to the drawings.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A pack for smoking articles including an outer housing (11) having an open end and an inner casing (12) telescopically received within the outer housing and moveable between an open position in which the inner casing (12) at least partially extends out of the open end of the outer housing (11), and a closed position in which the inner casing (12) is retracted further into the outer housing than in the open position. The inner casing (12) includes an elongate access aperture (29) configured to enable elongate smoking articles to be laterally dispensed therefrom in a direction transverse to their longitudinal axes.

Packs are known which comprise an outer housing and an inner casing slidably received within the outer housing and moveable between a closed position in which the inner casing is received within the outer housing, and an open position in which the inner casing at least partially extends out of the outer housing to enable a user to access smoking articles contained within the inner casing. Such packs are generally known as "shell and slide" packs.

BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO (INVESTMENTS) LIMITED


A multilayer tube having excellent low temperature impact resistance, breakage pressure strength at high temperature, flexibility, dimensional stability, and elution resistance of low molecular weight substances and ion components. The multilayer tube has a layer containing an aliphatic polyamide composition having a predetermined range of a bending elastic modulus; a layer containing a modified polyolefin has a melting point over a predetermined temperature, and the aliphatic polyamide composition contains an aliphatic polyamide having a predetermined range of a methylene group/amide group number ratio, an elastomer polymer having a constituent unit derived from a carboxyl group and/or acid anhydride group-containing unsaturated compound, and a plasticizer having a certain structure if necessary; and the thickness of the layer containing the aliphatic polyamide composition is a specific ratio or more of the total wall thickness of the tube.

Many hoses and tubes are used in various pressure tubes such as an oil pressure tube and a water pressure tube, a vacuum tube, a fuel tube used for automobiles, a brake tube, a hose for coolant, a tube for air conditioner, a tube for SCR (a machine for removing an exhaust gas in a diesel engine), a control cable liner, and the like. In these hoses and tubes, chemical liquids such as coolants (alcohols and water), refrigerants, oils, and urea solutions are transported. For various hoses and tubes used in automobile industry, extremely high properties such as high breakage pressure strength at high temperature, long period heat resistance, chemical resistance, barrier properties to water vapor and chemical liquids, and flexibility are required.
In particular, when a circulating fluid is a coolant (LLC) containing ethylene glycol as the main component for freeze prevention in winter season, a urea solution enclosed as a catalyst for removing NOx exhausted from a diesel engine, or a refrigerant such as carbon dioxide, freon, alternative freon, propane, and water used in an air conditioner, a radiator, or the like, if the hoses and tubes have insufficient barrier properties to these chemical liquids, the cooling effect and catalysis effect cannot be exerted during actual use. Further, with tightening regulations on transpiration of ozone depleting gases, needs for barrier properties to refrigerants of a tube for transporting refrigerants used in automobiles are demanding.
Apart from this, with tightening regulations on transpiration of ozone depleting gases, properties of refrigerants used in automobiles have been improved recently. For example, R-1234yf refrigerant was developed as an alternative refrigerant of HFC-134a refrigerant. R-1234yf refrigerant has a lower ozone depletion potential and global warming potential than HFC-134a refrigerant, and is an extremely mild refrigerant for global environment. However, in particular, R-1234yf refrigerant tends to be hydrolyzed when contacted with water under high temperature environment to form an acid (for example, formic acid). As a result from the acid, a material contacting with chemical liquids tend to be hydrolyzed or degraded depending on the type of the material, and at worst, there are problems in that cracks are formed in the material, liquids are leaking and the purpose of transporting fluids can not be accomplished. Alternatively, when chemical liquids or water is penetrating through the tube body, parts contacting with the liquids or water may be adversely affected.
A monolayer tube using a conventionally used polyamide-based resin, in particular, using Polyamide 11 or Polyamide 12 having excellent strength, toughness, chemical resistance, and flexibility alone has insufficient long-term durability and barrier properties to the chemical liquids described above.
Since fluorinated resins such as ethylene/tetrafluoroethylene copolymer (ETFE) has particularly excellent resistance to various chemical liquids, they are believed to be one of the material members having barrier properties to water vapor. A fluorinated resin having adhesion to polyamides has been actively developed recently (Referring to Patent Documents 1 to 3). However, use of halogen-containing materials tends to be avoided on dealing with environmental problems and the resin has problems of the high specific gravity and high cost. Therefore, Development of a tubing system using a halogen-free material, and having excellent barrier properties to chemical liquids and resistance to various chemical liquids is required.
On the other hand, polyolefin is less expensive, and has excellent resistance to permeation of chemical liquids and long-term resistance to chemical liquids. For example, a cooling tube constituting an outer layer composed of a polyamide and an inner layer composed of a cross-linked polyethylene was suggested (referring to Patent Document 4). Further, a cooling tube constituting an outer layer composed of a polyamide and an inner layer composed of a polyethylene having over a certain level of thickness and containing a certain additive was suggested (referring to Patent Document 5). Similarly, a cooling tube that are inert to refrigerants and don't swell with refrigerants is suggested. The cooling tube constitutes an outer layer composed of a polyamide and an inner layer composed of a halogenated or non-halogenated homopolyolefin or copolyolefin, produced by extrusion blow molding. The cooling tube has varying wall thickness along the length of its conduit, and the polymer of the inner layer has clearly different flexibility compared to that of the outer layer (referring to Patent Document 6). Further, a multilayer tube having an inner layer of a polyolefin, a first intermediate layer based on an adhesive, a second intermediate layer of an ethylene/vinyl alcohol copolymer, a third intermediate layer of a polyamide, and an outer protective layer from the inside to the outside of the multilayer tube was suggested (referring to Patent Document 7). Further, a tube for fuel battery having an outer layer using a material for the outer layer containing a polyamide-based resin and a styrene/isobutylene block copolymer as the essential components and an inner layer using a material for the inner layer containing a polyolefin-based resin and a styrene/isobutylene block copolymer as the essential components was suggested (referring to Patent Document 8).


A vehicle bottom structure includes: side members; a plurality of cross members that extend in the width direction of the vehicle, are joined to the side members at both end parts, and support the bottom of a battery pack disposed under a floor panel between the side members, from below; and front-rear direction reinforcing members that extend in the front-rear direction of the vehicle and are joined on the cross members so as to cross the cross members.

Nowadays, many electric vehicles have battery packs under their floor. JP 2014-19203 A discloses a battery pack structure which includes a casing for storing batteries that has cross members disposed inside so as to extend in the vehicle width direction, and brackets protruding in the vehicle width direction from the positions on the outer surfaces where the cross members are disposed, and is fixed under the floor of a vehicle by joining the brackets to the bottom of the vehicle body.


Provided is a film for a film capacitor in which electrical insulation, and especially electrical properties at high temperatures are improved while a high dielectric constant of a vinylidene fluoride resin is maintained. The film for a film capacitor includes a tetrafluoroethylene resin (a1) that includes a vinylidene fluoride unit and a tetrafluoroethylene unit in the vinylidene fluoride unit/tetrafluoroethylene unit ratio (mol %) of 0/100 to 49/51 as a film-forming resin (A).

Conventionally, it has been proposed to use a vinylidene fluoride (VDF) resin (a homopolymer or a copolymer) as a film-forming resin in terms of its high dielectric constant, in films for film capacitors (Patent Literatures 1 and 2). Further, it is known to blend various kinds of high dielectric composite oxide particles in order to achieve higher dielectric properties. (Patent Literatures 3 to 6).
It is also known to blend a small amount (0.01 to 10 parts by mass based on 100 parts by mass of a VDF resin) of silica as a process improver in addition to high dielectric composite oxide particles (Patent Literature 7).

Film for use in film capacitors, and film capacitors


An enhanced reel strip includes a base reel strip and an overlay strip, wherein the base reel strip has symbols applied thereto and the overlay strip has designated portions thereof removed to create cut-outs. The base reel strip and overlay strip are affixed in such a manner that the symbols of the base reel strip are visible through the cut-outs of the overlay strip. The joined strips produce an enhanced reel strip. Furthermore, these enhanced reel strip production methods dramatically improve the quality and appearance of reel strips while utilizing a relatively simple manufacturing process that maintains cost effectiveness.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to gaming systems, and more particularly, to a method for producing an enhanced reel strip and gaming machine with an enhanced reel strip.
2. Description of the Related Art
A variety of gaming machines are known in the art. This diversity provides players with many different options for gaming, interactivity and entertainment. In the past, gaming machines were mechanical or electro-mechanical in nature. However, more recently, there has been an emphasis in the gaming industry on computer or video gaming machines. One reason for the popularity of computer or video gaming machines is that each machine may be designed to provide a number of different games or gaming options to players. Additionally, computer or video gaming machines may have enhanced displays, such as sounds, flashing lights, scrolling text, and the like, which entice players to play and add to the overall excitement and entertainment of the games.
A persistent issue with computer or video gaming machines is that they are typically more complicated than mechanical gaming machines. This complexity requires specialized maintenance and electronics personnel to service the computer and video gaming machines. Moreover, a significant portion of the public has a fear or distrust of computers and computer generated games, such as video gaming machines, and prefer the electro-mechanical or mechanical gaming machines.
In this regard, much effort has been directed towards making the mechanical or electro-mechanical gaming machines more enticing and exciting to players. Many attempts have been made to increase the excitement and interactivity of mechanical gaming devices by adding secondary game features, such as additional buttons, bells, lights, whistles, top boxes, visual graphics, and the like. However, for some of the most popular mechanical gaming machines, i.e. reel spinners and slot machines, many manufacturers have directed their design efforts to the appearance of the reels themselves. By varying the overall appearance of the reels or the reel strips which are applied to the reels, it is possible to achieve gaming machine reel designs that look more elegant, are more entertaining and which add to the excitement and appeal of the game.
Those skilled in the art have designed reels capable of displaying multiple symbols or being implemented in different mediums. For instance, the symbols may be screen printed or stamped upon the reels themselves, inherently providing contrast between the symbol and the reel. However, this method limits the symbols on the reels to only one pattern and the reels must be swapped out from the machine to achieve different looks. Alternatively, symbols are screen printed, stamped or otherwise applied to the reel strips and the reel strips are then applied to the reels. In this regard, the reel strips may be swapped out to easily and quickly vary the reel symbols and appearances. Designers have also implemented different mediums for the reels, including fluorescent, prismatic, translucent, and transparent materials. These same materials are also used in the design of the reel strips so as to provide different effects as the reels are spun in the gaming machines.
Another popular effect is to use lighting to emphasize the reels of the gaming machines. For example, the gaming machine may be designed with front lights that shine on the exterior of the reels to highlight or reflect the reel surfaces. The effects of front lighting are relatively limited and do not provide much latitude for adding excitement in the design. Alternatively, gaming machines may be equipped with back lighting that highlights the underside of the reels and gives the effect that the reels are lit from within. While back lighting is easy to implement, depending on the materials utilized in the reels and the reel symbols, it may not give a dramatic and exciting effect to the reels.
It is also popular to light the reels themselves with electroluminescent lighting. In this regard, conductive materials are incorporated into the reel or reel strips, and when a voltage is applied across the reels, light elements are illuminated. Although electroluminescent lighting may provide dramatic and exciting enhancement of the reels, there are frequently problems with crimping and failure of the conductive materials in the reels such that the luminescent features are easily lost and costly to repair. Moreover, the difficulty and costs associated with manufacturing electroluminescent reel strips are prohibitive. Finally, for any of the above lighting options for reels or reel strips, if the light source on the gaming machine is malfunctioning, most if not all of the lighting effects are lost.
One significant problem with enhanced reel strips, in general, is that they are difficult and costly to manufacture. For example, the quality of the images applied on to the reel strips by processes such as screen-printing, digital imaging or photographic imaging may be compromised. Often the images do not have sufficient depth of color or are blurred. Likewise, the images may lack vibrancy and look dull, particularly where harsh lights or backlighting are used. Also, there is concern for the quality of the strip where a designer seeks to add borders, outlines around the images, or an appliqué effect to the strip. Without precise placement of the borders, outlines, or appliqués, the overall quality and appearance of the reel strips is significantly diminished.
Gaming machine manufacturers are always seeking new ways to increase the attractiveness and excitement of mechanical gaming devices. However, while having a gaming machine that attracts and excites players is important, the simplicity of the operation and maintenance of the machine and the cost effectiveness of enhancements to the gaming machine are also important. Similarly, for reel strips, the difficulty and costs of manufacturing enhanced reel strips are essential considerations. The present invention clearly addresses these needs and other concerns.

Method for manufacturing an enhanced reel strip and gaming machine


Plural processing apparatuses 3 such as CVD apparatuses 31 and diffusion apparatuses 33, measuring apparatuses 5, and a control computer 7 for management are connected through a LAN 9. Each processing apparatuses 3 stores control data for performing a treatment. The control computer 7 also stores the control data for the processing apparatuses 3. The control computer 7 makes each processing apparatus perform a treatment for calibration. The control computer 7 receives a result of the treatment performed by the processing apparatus 3 to be calibrated, and calibrates the control data stored in the control computer 7 based on the treatment result. The control computer sends the calibrated control data to the processing apparatus 3 after completion of the calibration procedure. The processing apparatus 3 stores the calibrated control data, which is used for subsequently performed treatment.

Semiconductor processing apparatuses are used for performing various kinds of treatments, such as a film deposition on a surface of a semiconductor wafer and a dopant diffusion. Processing apparatuses of a stand-alone type have been primarily used. In a factory equipped with plural processing apparatuses of the stand-alone type, the processing apparatuses are independently controlled based on a control program and control data stored in each processing apparatus. The maintenance of the processing apparatuses is carried out one by one.
A control computer connected to plural processing apparatuses through a network to control the apparatuses is known. However, the computer merely gives instructions to the processing apparatuses.
Therefore, each processing apparatus must be provided with a controller having a high computing power, resulting in increase in a cost of each apparatus. In addition, the controller of the semiconductor processing apparatus is in need of periodic maintenance (specifically, calibration). Such maintenance must be done separately for each apparatus, and thus is time-consuming.

Calibration of plural processing systems


The present specification describes methods and systems for modifying a media, such as Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, or Mixed Reality (VR/AR/MxR) media based on a vision profile and a target application. In embodiments of the specification, a Sensory Data Exchange (SDE) is created that enables identification of various vision profiles for users and user groups. The SDE may be utilized to modify one or more media in accordance with each type of user and/or user group.

In recent years, the advent of various visual experiences, including Virtual Reality (VR) environments, Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MxR) applications through various mediums, such as tablet computers and mobile phones, have placed a greater strain on the vision of users. Reliable measurements of the strain on vision requires an understanding of numerous psychometrics and how various visual field parameters affect those psychometrics, and how those vision field parameters can be modified in order to avoid certain vision problems.
In turn, this requires an understanding of the interoperability, connectivity, and modularity of multiple sensory interfaces with the brain, with many being closed-looped.
Current measures and rating systems for AR/VR are qualitative in nature. Further, clinical testing interfaces include EEG, MRI, EOG, MEG, fMRI, ultrasound, and microwaves. Traditional industry standards for measuring Field of View include tests such as The Amsler grid, the Humphrey Visual Field Analyzer, Frequency-Doubling technology, the Tangent Screen Exam, the Goldmann Method, and the Octopus perimeter. For Accuracy, compensatory tracking, Jenson Box, and Hick's Law tests/standards are typically used. Industry standard tests for multi-tracking include auditory serial addition, the Posner Cueing Task, and the D2 Test of Attention. For Endurance, typical industry standard tests include Visual Field Perimetry (maintaining fixation) and Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) Tests. Industry standard Detection tests include Ishihara test (color vision/color plates), Farnsworth-Munsell 100 hue test, Pelli Robson Contrast Sensitivity Chart, Vistech Contrast test, Snellen Charts, ETDRS, and Tumbling Cs.
While these traditional industry standards and clinical standards exist for sight testing, there is still a need for a comprehensive visual performance index or assessment that integrates multiple, disparate measures into a single aggregated measurement. What is also needed is a software interface that provides an aggregate quantification of multiple data points. What is also needed is a method and system for monitoring eye health and identifying changes to vision over time.

Methods and systems for obtaining, aggregating, and analyzing vision data to assess a person's vision performance


The invention relates to novel conjugated polymers comprising in their backbone one or more divalent donor units, like for example benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene-2,6-diyl (BDT), that are linked on both sides to an acceptor unit, to methods of preparing the polymers and educts or intermediates used in such preparation, to polymer blends, mixtures and formulations containing the polymers, to the use of the polymers, polymer blends, mixtures and formulations as semiconductors organic electronic (OE) devices, especially in organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices and organic photodetectors (OPD), and to OE, OPV and OPD devices comprising these polymers, polymer blends, mixtures or formulations.

Organic semiconducting (OSC) materials are receiving growing interest mostly due to their rapid development in the recent years and the lucrative commercial prospects of organic electronics.
One particular area of importance is that of organic photovoltaics (OPV). Conjugated polymers have found use in OPV as they allow devices to be manufactured by solution-processing techniques such as spin casting, dip coating or ink jet printing. Solution processing can be carried out cheaper and on a larger scale compared to the evaporative techniques used to make inorganic thin film devices. Currently, polymer based OPV devices are reported to achieve a power conversion efficiency (PCE) above 8%.
Benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene (BDT) polymers have been suggested in prior art for use in OPV devices, and have been reported to show high power conversion efficiency. BDT polymers have been reported for example in U.S. Pat. No. 7,524,922 (Merck), WO 2010/008672 A1 (Univ. Chicago), US 2010/0078074 A1 (Univ. Cal. L.A.), WO 2010/135701 A1 (Polyera), US 2011/0006287 A1 (Univ. N.C.), WO 2011/063534 A1 (Univ. Laval), WO 2011/085004 A2 (Konarka), US 2011/0178255 A1 (Xerox), WO 2011/131280 A1 (Merck), and WO 2011/156478 A2 (Univ. N.C.).
The polymers disclosed in prior art, like for example in the above-mentioned documents, can be categorised into different types of generic backbone structures.
In a first type, the polymer backbone is formed by two electron donating units D (hereinafter also referred to as "electron donor units" or simply "donor units"), like for example BDT, which are separated by an electron accepting unit A (hereinafter also referred to as "electron acceptor unit" or simply "acceptor unit"), and an optional monomer unit M, which is consisting of one or more aromatic units, as shown in formula a) below.*-[(D)a-(A)b]-[(D)c-(M)d]-*  a)
In a second type the polymer backbone is formed by two segments, each consisting of an electron donor unit D, a first spacer unit Sp, an electron acceptor unit A, and a second spacer unit Sp, wherein the spacer units Sp are consisting of one or more aromatic units, such as thiophene, which are not acting as electron acceptors, as shown in formula b) below.*-[(D)a-(Sp)b-(A)c-(Sp)d]x-[(D)a-(Sp)b-(A)c-(Sp)d]y-*  b)
In a third type the polymer backbone is formed by an electron donor unit D, such as BDT, a first spacer unit Sp, an electron acceptor unit A, and a second spacer unit Sp, wherein the spacer units Sp are consisting of one or more aromatic units, such as thiophene, which are not acting as electron acceptors. A polymer of this third type is exemplarily shown in structure 1 below
where R1-4 are substituents like for example alkyl or alkoxy groups.
Thus, in the above-mentioned types of polymers the electron donor unit (like BDT) is not directly connected to an electron acceptor unit in the polymer backbone, but is instead flanked by at least two spacer units. Polymers of these types are disclosed for example in WO 2010/135701 A1, US 2011/0006287 A1, WO 2011/085004 A2, WO 2011/131280 A1 and WO 2011/156478 A2.
In a fourth type the polymer backbone is formed by an electron donor unit, such as BDT, that is directly linked to an electron acceptor unit A. A polymer of this fourth type is exemplarily shown in structure 2 below
wherein R1-4 are as defined above. Thus, in this fourth type of polymers the electron donor unit (BDT) is directly connected to one electron acceptor unit, and the number of donor units in the polymer backbone is at least equal to the number of acceptor units. Polymers of this second type are disclosed for example in WO 2010/008672 A1, US 2010/0078074 A1, WO 2011/063534 A1 and US 2011/0178255 A1.
However, the polymers disclosed in prior art still leave room for further improvements, like a lower bandgap, better processability especially from solution, higher OPV cell efficiency, and higher stability.
Thus there is still a need for organic semiconducting (OSC) polymers which are easy to synthesize, especially by methods suitable for mass production, show good structural organization and film-forming properties, exhibit good electronic properties, especially a high charge carrier mobility, a good processibility, especially a high solubility in organic solvents, and high stability in air. Especially for use in OPV cells, there is a need for OSC materials having a low bandgap, which enable improved light harvesting by the photoactive layer and can lead to higher cell efficiencies, compared to the polymers from prior art.
It was an aim of the present invention to provide compounds for use as organic semiconducting materials that are easy to synthesize, especially by methods suitable for mass production, and do especially show good processibility, high stability, good solubility in organic solvents, high charge carrier mobility, and a low bandgap. Another aim of the invention was to extend the pool of OSC materials available to the expert. Other aims of the present invention are immediately evident to the expert from the following detailed description.
The inventors of the present invention have found that one or more of the above aims can be achieved by providing conjugated polymers, which are based on a generic co-polymer design that comprises a core structure of a donor unit D, like for example BDT, which is flanked on each side by an electron acceptor unit A, like for example benzothiadiazole, to form a triad A-D-A, and wherein one or more of these triads are optionally separated in the polymer backbone by further spacer units, like for example thiophene.
The inventors of the present invention found that the incorporation of this structural motif into a polymer backbone extends the electron delocalisation, thus leading to a lower band-gap material while maintaining good structural organisation and charge transport properties which are essential for high power conversion efficiency solar cell.
Such a generic co-polymer design concept has not been suggested in prior art so far. JP 2011-124422 A discloses a copolymer of a formula 4 which comprises a 4,8-dihexyl BDT unit and 1-hexyl-1,2-dihydro-pyrazol-3-one units attached to each side of the BDT unit and being separated by 2,2′-bithiophene units, as shown in structure 3 below.

However, the OPV device disclosed in JP 2011-124422 A which comprises this polymer only has a moderate power conversion efficiency of 3.3%. Apart of this specific polymer JP 2011-124422 A does not propose a systematic approach to a generic polymer design where the polymer backbone is composed from "acceptor-BDT-acceptor" triads.
US 2011/0156018 A1 (corresponding to WO 2010/026972 A1) discloses a polymer for the emitting layer of a polymer LED, wherein the polymer backbone is composed of repeating units of structure 4 or 5 below,
wherein Ar1 is a divalent heterocyclic group, X1 and X2 are O, S, NR or CR═CR, X3 and X4 are O, S or NR, and R1-8 are H alkyl, aryl, and the like. In these repeating units two acceptor units, such as benzothiadiazole or benzooxadiazole, are flanking a central unit Ar1, wherein said central unit Ar1 is selected from a broad variety of possible aromatic units, including both donor and acceptor units.
However, US 2011/0156018 A1 does not disclose or suggest polymers that can be used as donor material in OPV cells. Also, it does not describe the generic concept of a polymer containing only triads A-D-A. Besides, it does not contain any specific examples of substituted acceptor units with solubilising groups in R1 to R4 positions are prepared. Also, the examples are limited to thiophene based polymers only.
Furthermore, the above cited prior art documents do not describe any polymer backbones composed of random or statistical block copolymers including A-D-A sequences, segments or blocks.
Also, in prior art hitherto no generic co-polymer design has been disclosed that comprises repeating units containing donor and acceptor units, wherein all donor units are flanked on both sides by an acceptor unit to form a triad A-D-A, and wherein these triads are linked in the polymer backbone by spacer units such as a thiophene.


For each performance part, a database stores therein a plurality of part performance data. The part performance data for each part includes a sound generation pattern and tone data corresponding thereto. A query pattern indicative of a sound generation pattern to be made an object of search is input by a user. A search is made through the database for part performance data including a sound generation pattern matching the query pattern. In response to a user's operation, one part performance data is identified from among searched-out results, and the sound generation pattern of the identified part performance data is instructed as a new query pattern. Then, a further search is made through the database for part performance data including a sound generation pattern matching the new query pattern. The searched-out pattern can be edited by the user and a further search can be made based on the edited pattern.

The present invention relates to a sound data processing device and method for processing sound data on the basis of performance operation etc., as well as a program for causing a computer to function as such a sound data processing device.
Heretofore, there has been known a technique for combining a plurality of accompaniment sound waveforms extracted from a plurality of different accompaniment sound sources and reproducing the thus-combined accompaniment sound waveforms. For example, Japanese Patent No. 2550825 (hereinafter referred to as "patent literature 1") discloses a technique which allows a user to execute an automatic accompaniment, based on an ensemble of accompaniment patterns of a plurality of performance parts, by searching for accompaniment patterns (sound generation patterns) of each of the plurality of performance parts by inputting a text, such as a letter string and logical operator and then combining searched-out accompaniment patterns (sound generation patterns) of the individual performance parts. Further, Japanese Patent No. 3480433 (hereinafter referred to as "patent literature 2") discloses a technique which, in a multi-track digital recording/reproduction apparatus, allows a particular number of recording tracks to be freely set and allows reproduction to be performed via a maximum number of usable reproducing tracks in accordance with the setting of the particular number of recording tracks.
However, with the search method disclosed in patent literature 1, where the user searches for accompaniment patterns by inputting a text, the user cannot input a rhythm or melody pattern intuitively and sensorily. If, in searching through accompaniment sound sources, the user is allowed to intuitively input a rhythm or melody pattern to be made an object of search, the search method would be able to provide more operability to the user.


A catheter-based system for percutaneously supporting and articulating a septal wall of a heart includes a catheter and a flanged device. The flanged device includes a distal anchor and a proximal anchor, and has a radially collapsed configuration and a radially expanded configuration. When the flanged device is in the radially expanded configuration and disposed through a transseptal puncture in the septal wall, the flanged device is configured to anchor to the septal wall to permit manipulation thereof whereby an angle between an axis through the transseptal puncture and an axis through a native valve is reduced. The proximal anchor and the distal anchor may each be self-expanding or balloon expandable. The flanged device may further include a flanged device shaft. The flanged device shaft may be releasably coupled to the catheter.

The human heart is a four chambered, muscular organ that provides blood circulation through the body during a cardiac cycle. The four main chambers include the right atria and right ventricle which supplies the pulmonary circulation, and the left atria and left ventricle which supplies oxygenated blood received from the lungs to the remaining body. To ensure that blood flows in one direction through the heart, atrioventricular valves (tricuspid and mitral valves) are present between the junctions of the atria and the ventricles, and semi-lunar valves (pulmonary valve and aortic valve) govern the exits of the ventricles leading to the lungs and the rest of the body. These valves contain leaflets or cusps that open and shut in response to blood pressure changes caused by the contraction and relaxation of the heart chambers. The leaflets move apart from each other to open and allow blood to flow downstream of the valve, and coapt to close and prevent backflow or regurgitation in an upstream manner.
Diseases associated with heart valves, such as those caused by damage or a defect, can include stenosis and valvular insufficiency or regurgitation. For example, valvular stenosis causes the valve to become narrowed and hardened which can prevent blood flow to a downstream heart chamber from occurring at the proper flow rate and may cause the heart to work harder to pump the blood through the diseased valve. Valvular insufficiency or regurgitation occurs when the valve does not close completely, allowing blood to flow backwards, thereby causing the heart to be less efficient. A diseased or damaged valve, which can be congenital, age-related, drug-induced, or in some instances, caused by infection, can result in an enlarged, thickened heart that loses elasticity and efficiency. Some symptoms of heart valve diseases can include weakness, shortness of breath, dizziness, fainting, palpitations, anemia and edema, and blood clots, which can increase the likelihood of stroke or pulmonary embolism. Symptoms can often be severe enough to be debilitating and/or life threatening.
Heart valve prostheses have been developed for repair and replacement of diseased and/or damaged heart valves. Such heart valve prostheses can be percutaneously delivered and deployed at the site of the diseased heart valve through catheter-based systems. Heart valve prostheses can be delivered while in a low profile or compressed/collapsed arrangement so that the heart valve prosthesis can be advanced through the patient's vasculature. Once positioned at the treatment site, the heart valve prosthesis can be expanded to engage tissue at the diseased heart valve region to, for instance, hold the heart valve prosthesis in position. While these heart valve prostheses offer minimally invasive methods for heart valve repair and/or replacement, challenges remain to providing effective, less invasive, smaller crossing profile valve prosthesis delivery systems, particularly for mitral valve replacement. For repair and replacement of a native mitral valve, it may be desirable in some circumstances for a clinician to utilize a transseptal approach to the native mitral valve with a catheter-based delivery system. However, challenges exist with maneuvering a catheter-based delivery system within the confined space of the left atrium that may limit a clinician's ability to properly position a heart valve prosthesis at the native mitral valve when using a transseptal approach. More specifically, a mitral valve prosthesis may be up to 39 mm in length and between 23 F-24 F in crossing profile and the length and crossing profile of the mitral valve prosthesis retained within the delivery system can create challenges during a transseptal approach to the native mitral valve. Sharp bends or angles as a delivery system containing such a mitral valve prosthesis crosses from the right atrium, thorough a transseptal puncture in the interatrial septum, into the left atrium and then immediately downward to the left ventricle may be difficult to negotiate. Moreover, the sharp angle between an axis of the transseptal puncture and the native mitral valve require at least a distal segment of the delivery catheter that contains the prosthesis to be articulated or bent/curved to align with the native mitral valve, potentially tearing or otherwise damaging the tissue of the fragile interatrial septum around the transseptal puncture point during articulation.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for catheter-based systems and methods for use with transseptal approaches to a native mitral valve that address one or more of the deficiencies noted above.

Systems and methods for percutaneously supporting and manipulating a septal wall


A composition and method for the prevention and therapeutic treatment of skin conditions and disorders are disclosed. The composition and method of the invention are particularly directed to the treatment and prevention of dermal irritations. These irritations include, for example, psoriasis, eczema, ichthyosis, pruritus, dryness and dermatitis, which may cause skin to crack, chap or chafe. The composition and method are particularly useful in treating and preventing diaper dermatitis. A therapeutic composition according to the invention includes an agent, which is an enzyme constituent, promoting the synthesis of collagen and the reproduction of cells, particularly skin cells. Such therapeutic agents include, for example, zinc oxide. This agent is generally nonprescription and capable of effectively preventing and treating diaper dermatitis through local or topical application. Therapeutic compositions according to the invention also include both natural and synthetic components, which aid in application, use and treatment.

Skin is the largest organ of the human body. In general, human skin includes two layers, an outer layer and an underlying layer. The outer layer is known as the epidermis, and the underlying layer is referred to as the dermis. The dermis is a connective layer that is responsible for the elasticity of skin. The epidermis primarily functions to regulate secretion and body temperature, and protect against dehydration and infection. Skin aliments or disorders, however, tend to retard the functions of the epidermis, and may limit the outer layer's ability to protect the body. Moreover, skin conditions and dermal irritations are a common problem for many individuals.
Although there are numerous skin conditions known in the field of dermatology, conditions that normally affect individuals include psoriasis, eczema, dryness and dermatitis. One form of dermatitis that is particularly problematic and known to reoccur with frequency is diaper dermatitis. Diaper dermatitis or diaper rash inflames and irritates those dermal parts of the body which are generally proximate to or covered by a diaper. This inflammation and irritation may cause skin to, for example, crack, chap or chafe.
The pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries are both concerned with treating diaper rash and its effects. A number of topical products are available to consumers for this purpose. These products include creams, starches and powders.
Although generally effective to relieve the discomfort associated with diaper dermatitis, the majority of available topical products do not include nonprescription therapeutic agents for treatment and prevention. Similarly, therapeutic agents are not available in products having both organic and synthetic components, which aid in application and use as well as treatment and prevention. In addition, these products are not effective in treating or preventing other related skin conditions. Products are also not available which are easy to apply to different areas of the body. For example, a topical talc presents application problems without the use of a carrier that remains in contact with the skin. Finally, the increasing costs of such products tends to limit consumer use.

Topical composition and method for the treatment and prophylaxis of dermal irritations


The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing fish sauce using fermented soybean lump powder and fish sauce manufactured thereby. The fish sauce is manufactured according to the present invention which comprises: (S1) a step of mixing 0.5 to 10 weight % of fermented soybean lump powder with regard to the weight of fish sauce; (S2) a ripening step of fermenting a mixture of the fish sauce, fermented soybean lump powder, shiitake mushroom powder and starch powder for 7 to 70 days at 10 to 32° C.; and (S3) filtering the ripened fish sauce mixture to thereby remove sediment. By applying traditional Korean fermented foods, the fish sauce eliminates a peculiar smell which gives displeasure and a fishy smell of fish sauce, significantly enhances the flavor, thereby increasing savory taste, and thus can be harmonized with any dish and can be used for multiple purposes. In addition, sweet and salty tastes are also increased, while the flavor is enhanced. Accordingly, salinity is reduced so that sodium and sugar intake can be reduced, and thus it is expected that the fish sauce can be useful all over the world as well as in Korea.

A fish sauce is a representative marine fermented food produced in Korea, and refers to a mixture of a primary broth obtained by adding culinary salt to all or part of raw materials such as fishes, crustaceans, mollusks, echinoderms, and the like, fermenting and ripening the pickled fish, and filtering or separating the ripened pickled fish and a secondary broth obtained by again fermenting and ripening the pickled fish remaining after the separation and filtering or separating the ripened pickled fish. Anchovy, sand lance, yellow corvina, sardine, cutlassfish, large-eyed herring, tuna, shrimp, and the like are used as source fish species. A traditional method for manufacturing a fish sauce includes adding approximately 20 to 30% culinary salt water to fish bodies, ripening the fish bodies at a room temperature of 15 to 25° C. for a long period of 1 to 2 years, and filtering the ripened fish bodies. Such pickled fish has a rich savory taste because components such as proteins, sugars, lipids, organic acids, and the like are properly dissolved in the pickled fish. Therefore, the pickled fish has been often used as a minor material for Kimchi as well as a main material.
Thailand's fish sauce (Nam Pla) is a natural sauce with savory taste which is obtained by preserving fishes with salt, ripening the fishes for a long period of time, separating solid components of the fishes to gather a broth, which is similar to a Korean anchovy sauce, but has been used more widely due to less strong tastes and flavors. Because all kinds of foods in Thailand contains the fish sauce and there is a rapid increase in demand for the Thailand's fish sauce with the globalization of Thai foods, there is a short supply of the fish sauce.
There are lots of inosinic acid-rich fish sauces in Korea. Among these, an anchovy sauce is especially a sauce with savory taste that becomes famous in the world because the anchovy sauce contains the highest content of inosinic acid.
Because the anchovy sauce contains a large amount of taste compounds, for example, various amino acids such as glutamic acid, glycine, alanine, lysine, and the like, and nucleic acids, and the like, the anchovy sauce has been widely used from old times to season salted vegetables such as Kimchi, and the like. As a protein source, the anchovy sauce serves as a nourishing food, and also has a gustatory effect. Peptides contained in the anchovy sauce have physiological functions such as an antioxidant effect, an antibacterial effect, and the like, and also have an immunoregulatory function, a function as hormones and neurotransmitters, and a body-modulating function such as an antihypertensive effect. Such an anchovy sauce is typically manufactured by mixing fresh anchovy or anchovy powder with salt and water, ripening the resulting mixture and extracting a liquid component generated during the ripening. In the past, the anchovy sauce had such a self-sufficient consumption pattern that a small amount of the anchovy sauce was generally manufactured at home and used to make Kimjang Kimchi or vegetable dishes. However, the anchovy sauce has been mass-produced and sold by companies or individuals as its applications are spread to a wide range of most Korean foods as well as the Kimjang Kimchi or vegetable dishes, resulting in a sudden expansion of consumer market.
Amid this trend, most of the companies or individuals who had manufactured the anchovy sauce have actively conducted a lot of research to manufacture an anchovy sauce having a better taste, especially a deeper savory taste in order to gain a competitive advantage and create more profit.
However, the consumption of fish sauces is being gradually reduced because the fish sauces smell fishy, and have their own peculiar smells and a high degree of salinity. Also, consumers strongly feel a fishy taste and other miscellaneous smells since products have a less salty taste due to a reduction of salt in pickled fish. The peculiar fishy smell of the fish sauce is the major obstacle that keeps consumers who first experience the peculiar fishy smell, especially children or foreigners, from eating.
With reference to the prior-art document known in the related art in this regard, Korean Registered Patent No. 10-1385294 discloses "Process for Producing Soluble Salted Fish Sauce." Here, the soluble salted fish sauce has neither a fishy smell of pickled fish nor peculiar miscellaneous smells, which give displeasure, and has a clean and savory taste due to a variety of rich minerals and amino acids, and the process includes (a) extracting a fish sauce from the pickled fish (fish sauce extraction step); (b) adding any one selected from the group consisting of mulberry leaf powder, salicornia herbacea powder, mulberry powder, gardenia powder, bamboo leaf powder, turmeric powder and Rubus coreanus powder to the fish sauce at a content of 0.5% by weight with respect to the weight of the fish sauce, followed by ripening the fish sauce at 5° C. for 2 days (ripening step); and (c) filtering the ripened fish sauce to remove sediment (filtration step).
However, the prior-art document has a drawback in that, because the fishy smell and other miscellaneous smells are eliminated with strong peculiar flavors of additives, there are pros and cons to the peculiar flavors depending on the consumers' tastes, and the fish sauce is limited for use in cooking. Also, the prior-art document has limitations in that a savory taste may be reduced due to the mixed additives.
Accordingly, the present inventors have continuously conducted research to develop a method for manufacturing a fish sauce capable of further enhancing a savory taste and eliminating a fishy smell and other miscellaneous smells, which give displeasure, while solving the above problems, and found that fermented soybean lump powder may be used to eliminate a fishy smell of pickled fish and other miscellaneous smells and simultaneously further enhance a savory taste, thereby improving the consumers' preference. Therefore, the present invention has been completed based on these facts.

Method for manufacturing fish sauce using fermented soybean lump powder and fish sauce manufactured thereby


According to one embodiment, a magnetic recording and reproducing device includes magnetic recording medium and a magnetic head. The magnetic recording medium includes a first surface. A plurality of bits is provided in the first surface. Each of the bits has a direction of magnetization corresponding to recorded information. The magnetic head includes a reproducing unit. The reproducing unit senses the direction of magnetization. The reproducing unit includes a first shield, a second shield, a first magnetic layer, a second magnetic layer, a third magnetic layer, a fourth magnetic layer, an intermediate layer, a first nonmagnetic layer, and a second nonmagnetic layer. The first and the second nonmagnetic layers include at least one selected from ruthenium, copper, and tantalum. A distance between the first shield and the second shield is not less than 3 times and not more than 7 times a length of each of the bits.

There is a magnetic recording and reproducing device in which, for example, a magnetic head having a spin-valve structure is used in a hard disk drive. In such a magnetic recording and reproducing device, it is desirable to increase the resolution of the reproduction as the linear recording density of the recording medium is increased.

Magnetic recording and reproducing device


A wrapping machine for winding a web (1) of wrapping film from a roller (2) around an object to be packaged. The wrapping machine has a film dispenser (3) which comprises a frame (4) provided with at least one guide means (5, 11) in contact with the first side (1.sup.1) of the film 1 to guide the film; an openable gate section (7) provided with at least one guide means (8, 12) which is in contact with the opposite side (1.sup.2) of the film relative to the first side, the gate section (7) being pivoted on the frame (4) so that it can be moved between an open position (I) and a closed position (II); and a pre-stretching device (10) for preliminary stretching of the film. The pre-stretching device comprises a first pre-stretching roller (11) and a second pre-stretching roller (12). One of the pre-stretching rollers (11, 12) is connected to the frame (4) and the other one is connected to the gate section (7) in such manner that one of the pre-stretching rollers (11, 12) is disposed in contact with the first side (1.sup.1) of the film while the other one is in contact with the other side (1.sup.2).

Previously known is a wrapping machine for winding a web of wrapping film from a roll around an object to be packaged. The wrapping film consists of a thin plastic film. The wrapping machine is provided with a film dispenser. The film dispenser comprises a frame provided with at least one guide element for guiding the film, which guide element is in contact with a first side of the film. Further, the film dispenser comprises an openable gate section which is provided with at least one guiding device which is in contact with a second side of the film opposite to the first side. The gate section is pivoted on the frame so that it can be moved between an open position and a closed position. Moreover, the film dispenser comprises a pre-stretching device for preliminary stretching of the film. The pre-stretching device comprises two pre-stretching rollers, a first pre-stretching roller which can be run operated at a first circumferential velocity and a second pre-stretching roller which is disposed at a distance from the first pre-stretching roller and can be operated at a second circumferential velocity differing from the first circumferential velocity. The pre-stretching of the film occurs as a result of the two different circumferential speeds of the pre-stretching rollers which are brought into frictional contact with the film portion between the pre-stretching rollers.
In the known apparatus, both pre-stretching rollers are attached to the frame of the film dispenser. Connected to the gate part are guide elements, such as backup rollers, which, in the closed position of the gate, are pressed against the pre-stretching rollers while the film is passing between them along a W-shaped path so that each pre-stretching roller is in contact with the first side of the film on the same side of it and the backup rollers in the gate are in contact with the second side of the film.
A problem with this prior-art apparatus is that it has a complex structure containing many different parts, such as guiding means, rollers, power transmission elements and the like, so the structure is expensive. The film is narrowed too much by the pre-stretching system as the distance between the pre-stretching rollers is relatively long. As the film narrows too much, the film area covering the object being wrapped becomes smaller.


A work-holding device is provided for clamping a workpiece of irregular shape. The work-holding device has a clamping jaw. The clamping jaw comprises a multitude of clamping pins (3). The clamping pins (3) are circular in cross section, aligned in parallel and laterally directly adjacent to one another, and separately movable in their direction of main extension. The clamping jaw also comprises a frame laterally encompassing the clamping pins (3). The clamping jaw further comprises an open pressure chamber (17) provided at the backside of said clamping pins (3) turned away from said workpiece. Pressure medium (16) is supplied to the pressure char, parts of which emerge from said pressure chamber (17) to said workpiece through clearances between said clamping pins (3); and the pressure medium (16) in the pressure chamber impinges said clamping pins (3) in direction towards the workpiece.

A work-holding device having a clamping jaw with a multitude of clamping pins is known from Australian Patent No. 117,458. The clamping pins, which are circular in cross section and which are laterally encompassed by a frame, do not fill the frame completely. Several clearances exist in the neighbourhood of each clamping pin. When fixed to each other and to the frame by a lateral fixing force, the clamping pins show line shaped contact areas. With this arrangement, debris, which penetrates between the clamping pins, will be removed into the clearances between the clamping pins with applying the fixing force. Thus, the debris does not hinder the fixing of all of the clamping pins with regard to the frame by means of the fixing force, as long as it can be received by the clearances. The limited contact area of the clamping pins is uncritical for a sufficient non-positive connection of the clamping pins. On the contrary, elastic deformations of the clamping pins, which can occur when applying higher fixing forces, may support the fixing of the clamping pins with regard to the frame by way of a kind of positive connection. Additionally, the clamping pins with the circular cross section are easily manufacturable, for example by means of cutting-off to length appropriate bars of round bar steel. The fixing device of the known work-holding device applies the fixing force on a wall of the rectangular shaped frame, which, opposite to the other walls of the frame, is movable perpendicularly to the direction of main extension of the clamping pins. The fixing force is exerted by means of a fixing screw supported on the other walls of the frame. A clamping mechanism for applying a clamping force on the clamping jaw as a whole comprises a stationary but pivoted spindle passing through a tapped hole in the clamping jaw.
A work-holding device having a clamping jaw with a multitude of clamping pins is also known from U.S. Pat. No. 2,754,708. Here, the clamping pins are hexagonal in cross section. The clamping pins are packed up in the frame go that they fill up the frame completely, aside from the border region of the packing. Here also, the clamping pins are fixed with regard to each other and with regard to the frame by means of a movable wall of the frame, to which the fixing force is applied by a fixing screw. At their backsides, the clamping pins are connected with retaining bars, which pass through a through-drilled retaining plate and which are provided with a retaining collar behind the retaining plate. Helical compression springs are arranged on the retaining bars, which push the clamping pins away from the retaining plate forward to the workpiece. The clamping mechanism here also comprises a stationary but pivoted spindle passing through a tapped hole in the clamping jaw. During actual use of the work-holding device according to U.S. Pat. No. 2,754,708 it turns out, that the work-holding device reacts very sensitive to debris. In the case of penetration of any debris between the clamping pins, the lateral fixing force acts no more on all of the clamping pins, but it is borne by definite clamping pins only. The result is, that single clamping pins or total regions of clamping pins are not fixed with regard to the frame by means of the lateral fixing force.
The British Patent 595,803 discloses a holding device with two clamping jaws, which are horizontally divided into single clamping elements. Pressure chambers, to which oil pressure is admitted, are provided behind the clamping elements. The pressure in the pressure chambers pushes the single clamping elements forward and carries them. The pressure chambers of both clamping jaws known from the vice according to British Patent 595,803 are jointed together. A mobility of the whole clamping jaws against each other is not provided. Instead, pressure is applied on the communicating but principally closed pressure chambers for clamping a workpiece. However, no definite position of the workpiece clamped in the vice is achieved herein because in case of a displacement of the workpiece in clamping direction of the vice no rise of the pressure occurs as a reactio. One pressure chamber displaces exactly as much oil as it can flow after into the other pressure chamber. The same applies for twisting the workpiece in a plane, in which the single clamping elements of both clamping jaws are arranged side by side.
Work-holding devices for workpieces with a plurality of parallel and separately movable clamping elements are also known from German Patent 19 29 830 and German published Patent Applications 42 39 180 and 39 27 773.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,200,272 discloses a work holder for locating a workpiece of irregular shape during treatment. Said holder comprises a flat horizontal table and a two-dimensional array of vertically disposed spaced-apart rods mounted to be vertically movable in relation to said table and protruding upwards through said table. The table has upper and lower table surfaces through which said rods protrude upwards. There is a working clearance between each of said rods and each of said surfaces. Said first and second horizontal surfaces define therebetween a plenum chamber. Means are provided for admitting air under pressure to said chamber whereby to produce an upward flow of air through said clearances between each of said rods and said upper sable surface to prevent the ingress of debris from a workpiece supported by said rods. The rods are pushed upwards by means of helical springs arranged below said plenum chamber. A fixing mechanism is provided for fixing each rod to a frame of the table, separately.

Matrix GmbH Spannsysteme und Produktionsautomatisierung


A reclosable lid with a playing surface for laying out of the jig saw puzzle pieces is shown and described. The playing surface includes: a pair of grooves and a pair of side rails for lateral support of puzzle pieces placed on the surface. The lid includes a layer of foamed material to maintain downward pressure on the puzzle pieces in place. Puzzles may then be safely stored for long periods of time within the confines of the playing surface and lid.

The invention relates to the field of games and in particular to a puzzle securing mean for safely storing and transporting jig saw puzzles that are partially completed or perhaps completed and mounted. The apparatus includes a box like construction that has a pivoting lid and side rails. The side rails may be adjusted by the user to hold the puzzle together with sideways support and the lid preferably has a foamed material layer in order that the lid can be clamped upon the puzzle in order to secure it in place with pressure from above.
There is found a need in the puzzle industry for a means for keeping uncompleted puzzles in place so that they may be safely stored when not in use. As the user may wish to place the partly completed puzzle away for an indeterminate period it becomes necessary to find an apparatus that can keep the puzzle pieces in the order that they go so that the user does not have to start all over again if he wishes to pick up the puzzle at a later time. With that end in mind, the applicant has provide a hinged box with a lid that will provide sideways support on the puzzle through the use of rails and also provide downward pressure on the puzzle when the lid is closed. With the use of the apparatus, a user may store the puzzle in partially completed fashion for an indeterminate time until he is ready to pick up the puzzle again. Such apparatus will keep the puzzle safely out of the way and allow the puzzle to be picked up again at a later date. While there are devices that are seen in the prior art that may be used in connection with puzzles none of the prior art is known to provide the advantages of the applicant's invention. None of the prior art is thought to use the idea of using sideways support to hold the pieces together nor does any of the prior art show the use of a padded lid in order to hold down the puzzle through downward pressure applied to the pieces.


Methods for manufacturing a microfluidic delivery device comprising a semiconductor structure, such as silicon, are provided. In particular, the structure for delivering fluid may be formed from polycrystalline silicon, also called polysilicon, or epitaxial silicon. The microfluidic delivery device that predominantly uses semiconductor material, such as silicon, to form the structures that are in contact with the dispensed fluid results in a device that is compatible with a wide set of fluids and applications.

Technical Field
Embodiments are directed to microfluidic delivery devices and methods of making the same.
Description of the Related Art
Microfluidic delivery devices are generally used in liquid dispensing applications, such as dispensing ink in ink-jet printers. A microfluidic delivery system can include fluid holding structures, such as a reservoir, and delivery structures, such as the microfluidic delivery device. Both the fluid holding structures and the delivery structures are in direct contact with the fluid for dispensing. These structures are typically made from organic materials, including polymers.
Many inks or other fluids are incompatible with these polymer materials. Using incompatible inks and other fluids, particularly organic fluids, in a polymer-based microfluidic delivery device can cause premature damage to, and can reduce the useful life of, such devices. For example, an organic fluid can etch the polymer structure and change the dimensions of the delivery device. This may cause the delivery device's efficiency and accuracy to degrade over time. In addition, the fluids may react with the polymer structure, weakening or otherwise damaging the structure. The fluid may also pick up contaminants from the polymer structure which may have undesirable effects on the fluid.

Method for manufacturing microfluid delivery device


The use of salt-inducible kinase 3 allows screening for a substance having an effect of increasing cartilage volume and/or an effect of normalizing chondrocyte differentiation. A modified chondrocyte in which the expression or function of salt-inducible kinase 3 gene is inhibited or enhanced can be used to ameliorate a disease associated with reduced cartilage volume and/or a disease associated with impaired cartilage growth.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a progressive degenerative joint disease characterized by the degeneration of articular cartilage and the growth and reconstitution of subchondral bone. The symptoms are stiffness, restriction of the movement, pain, and the like and the incidence is higher with increasing age. Due to little repair capacity of cartilage, there is no radical cure for osteoarthritis and current therapy is aimed to control pain by limiting exercise and using an analgesic. If the symptoms have progressed and the disease has reached the end stage, artificial joint replacement is performed to excise degenerative articular cartilage and cover the site with a metal cover.
In an attempt to develop a cartilage repair promoter, compounds or proteins for promoting the growth of chondrocytes have been searched for, but only bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) have been discovered as proteins that actually increase cartilage tissue. However, BMPs have the effect of, after increasing cartilage, hypertrophying the chondrocytes and replacing them with bone, which causes problems in use for the treatment of articular cartilage. In recent years, it has been pointed out that the acceleration of chondrocyte hypertrophy is involved in the degeneration of articular cartilage and consequently the prevention of chondrocyte hypertrophy has become one of the main targets in the treatment of osteoarthritis. Target molecules that have been identified until now include Hedgehog (Non Patent Literature 1) and Hif-2α (Non Patent Literature 2 and 3). It has been also reported that transient activation of β-catenin signaling induces thickening of articular cartilage (Non Patent Literature 4).
Regenerative medicine for the treatment of cartilage injury such as articular cartilage injury and growth plate injury caused by trauma, disturbance of blood circulation, or the like has also been studied using stem cell transplantation. However, cartilage-like cells induced from stem cells tend to hypertrophy, which poses problems (Non Patent Literature 5).
Chondrodysplasia, which is included in skeletal dysplasia, is a general term for various kinds of diseases that cause dwarfism, skeletal growth disorder, skeletal deformation, and the like due to congenital disorder of the cartilage primordium and the growth plate. Chondrodysplasia is often caused by mutations of various kinds of genes involved in chondrocyte differentiation (Non Patent Literature 6). The clinical conditions are related to the disorder of chondrocyte differentiation, which includes both cases where chondrocyte differentiation is enhanced and where chondrocyte differentiation is inhibited. Hypertrophy of chondrocytes is one aspect of chondrocyte differentiation. There has been desired the development of a drug capable of controlling chondrocyte differentiation as a therapeutic agent for chondrodysplasia. Another possibility is a therapy in which chondrocytes are implanted so as to normalize the growth of some of the growth plates in chondrodysplasia patients.

Screening method for therapeutic agent for chondropathy and modified chondrocyte for treatment of chondropathy


A data storage system and methods for managing data to be transferred between a host and a data volume distributed across solid state storage modules are disclosed. A storage controller couples the host to the data volume and manages data transfers to and from the logical volume. The storage controller receives a set of parameters that define how an array of blocks and chunks of buffered data will be distributed across solid state storage modules. The storage controller receives and buffers data to be stored and transfers the same when the capacity of the buffered data will fill a set of arranged stripes in the defined array in a single write operation.

Solid-state storage devices (SSDs) store digital data persistently in an integrated circuit. Data stores that use integrated-circuit (IC) based storage media have comparatively lower access and latency times than data storage devices that rely on magnetic properties of the storage medium to save data. Despite the performance benefits provided by SSDs their relatively higher cost per byte of storage capacity has led to their deployment in cache memory portions of a data store. A cache memory is a main memory locations. As long as most memory accesses are to cached memory locations, the average latency of memory accesses is closer to the cache latency than to the latency of main memory.
Whether deployed in a cache, in a primary data store or a secondary data store, IC based storage media require novel approaches for managing input/output operations and providing data protection while minimizing overhead and communicating data.
A conventional storage array or disk array is a logical data store that includes multiple disk drives or similar persistent storage units. A storage array can use parallel data input/output operations to store and retrieve data more efficiently than when a single disk drive or storage unit alone is used to implement a data store. A storage array also can provide redundancy to promote reliability, as in the case of a Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) system. In general, RAID systems simultaneously use two or more hard disk drives, referred to herein as physical disk drives (PDDs), to achieve greater levels of performance, reliability and/or larger data volume sizes. The acronym "RAID" is generally used to describe data storage schemes that divide and replicate data among multiple PDDs. In RAID systems, one or more PDDs are setup as a RAID virtual disk drive (VDD). In a RAID VDD, data might be distributed across multiple PDDs, but the VDD is seen by the user and by the operating system of the computer as a single data store. The VDD is "virtual" in that storage space in the VDD maps to the physical storage space in the PDDs that make up the VDD. Accordingly, a meta-data mapping table is used to translate an incoming VDD identifier and address location into a PDD identifier and address location.
Although a variety of different RAID system designs exist, all have exhibit one or more of two design goals, namely: (1) to increase data reliability and/or (2) to increase input/output (I/O) performance. RAID has seven basic levels corresponding to different system designs. The seven basic RAID levels, typically referred to as RAID levels 0-6, are as follows. RAID level 0 uses striping to achieve improved data reliability and increased I/O performance. When the data is written, it is fragmented. The term "striped" means that logically sequential data, such as a single data file, is said to be "striped" over multiple PDDs when the data is written. Striping improves performance and provides additional storage capacity. The fragments are written to their respective PDDs simultaneously on the same sector. This allows smaller sections of the entire chunk of data to be read off the PDDs in parallel, providing improved I/O bandwidth. The larger the number of PDDs in the RAID system, the higher the bandwidth of the system, but also the greater the risk of data loss. Parity is not used in RAID level 0 systems, which means that RAID level 0 systems have no fault tolerance. Consequently, when any PDD fails, the entire data storage system fails.
In RAID level 1 systems, mirroring without parity is used. Mirroring corresponds to the replication of stored data onto separate PDDs in real time to ensure that the data is continuously available. RAID level 1 systems provide fault tolerance from disk errors because all but one of the PDDs can fail without causing the system to fail. RAID level 1 systems have increased read performance when used with multi-threaded operating systems, but also have a small reduction in write performance as each data write operation must be replicated across the redundant or mirrored drives.
In RAID level 2 systems, redundancy is used and PDDs are synchronized and striped in very small stripes, often in single bytes/words. Redundancy is achieved through the use of Hamming codes, which are calculated across bits on PDDs and stored on multiple parity disks. If a PDD fails, the parity bits can be used to reconstruct the data. Therefore, RAID level 2 systems provide fault tolerance. In essence, failure of a single PDD does not result in failure of the system.
RAID level 3 systems use byte-level striping in combination with interleaved parity bits and a dedicated parity disk. RAID level 3 systems require the use of at least three PDDs. The use of byte-level striping and redundancy results in improved performance and provides the system with fault tolerance. However, use of the dedicated parity disk creates a bottleneck for writing data due to the fact that every write requires updating of the parity data. RAID level 3 systems can continue to operate without parity and no performance penalty is suffered in the event that the parity disk fails.
RAID level 4 is essentially identical to RAID level 3 except that RAID level 4 systems employ block-level striping instead of byte-level or word-level striping. Because each stripe is relatively large, in some situations a single file can be stored in a block. Each PDD operates independently and many different I/O requests can be handled in parallel. Error detection is achieved by using block-level parity bit interleaving. The interleaved parity bits are stored in a separate single parity disk.
RAID level 5 uses striping in combination with distributed parity. In order to implement distributed parity, all but one of the PDDs must be present for the system to operate. Failure of any one of the PDDs necessitates replacement of the PDD. However, failure of a single one of the PDDs does not cause the system to fail. Upon failure of one of the PDDs, subsequent read requests can be satisfied by determining the entirety of the previously stored information from the distributed parity such that the PDD failure is masked from the end user. If a second PDD fails, the storage system will suffer a loss of data. Thus, before a first failed PDD is replaced and the appropriate data is completely reconstructed, the storage system is vulnerable to potential data loss.
However, there is a performance penalty for the additional fault tolerance as each data write operation requires at least two read operations and two write operations as the data strip to be changed and the parity strip both need to be read and the new data has to be written to the modified strip and the parity strip.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,092,732 describes a method of allocating data sequentially and holding or buffering data until the data to be written matches the data storage capacity of a full stripe of the data store. Other conventional storage systems apply full stripe write I/O operations in arrays of PDDs, and arrays of solid state storage elements. While these methods minimize the total number of I/O operations to the PDDs and the sold state storage elements in the respective arrays, the complexity and costs associated with the storage and management of the temporary data makes this approach suboptimal.
RAID level 6 uses striping in combination with dual distributed parity. RAID level 6 systems require the use of at least four PDDs, with two of the PDDs being used for storing the distributed parity bits. The system can continue to operate even if two PDDs fail. Dual parity becomes increasingly important in systems in which each VDD is made up of a large number of PDDs. Unlike RAID-based storage systems that use single parity, which are vulnerable to data loss until the appropriate data on a failed PDD is rebuilt, in RAID level 6 systems, the use of dual parity allows a VDD having a failed PDD to be rebuilt without risking loss of data in the event that a second PDD fails before completion of the rebuild of the data on the first failed PDD.
The previous summary of RAID levels and variants is incomplete. Many variations of the seven basic RAID levels described above exist. For example, the attributes of RAID levels 0 and 1 may be combined to obtain a RAID level known as RAID level 0+1 or RAID 01. RAID 01 is a mirror of stripes. In other systems the attributes of RAID level 1 and RAID level 0 are reversed forming a stripe of mirrors. Many other variations include other nested combinations of one or more of the seven basic RAID levels.

System and methods for performing embedded full-stripe write operations to a data volume with data elements distributed across multiple modules

Avago Technologies General IP (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.


A method of forming an aluminum containing film on a substrate includes providing a precursor having the chemical structure: Al(NR1R2)(NR3R4)(NR5R6); where each of R1, R2, R3, R4, R5 and R6 is independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and an alkyl group including at least two carbon atoms. The precursor is utilized to form a film on the substrate including at least one of aluminum oxide, aluminum nitride and aluminum oxy-nitride. Each of the R1–R6 groups can be the same or different and can by straight or branched chain alkyls. An exemplary precursor that has is useful in forming aluminum containing films is tris diethylamino aluminum.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention pertains to the formation of aluminum containing films. More particularly, this invention pertains to chemical precursors for forming aluminum containing films.
2. Related Art
Aluminum oxide films have good electrical insulating properties and a high dielectric constant, which renders these films extremely advantageous as layer materials in integrated circuit designs. For example, aluminum oxide containing films are playing important roles in transistor and capacitor fabrication used in microprocessor and memory devices. Further, as integrated circuit device scaling dimensions continue to reduce into the nanometer scale, these films are likely to play a crucial role in forming dielectric films of future gate insulator layers in MOSFET transistors and capacitive structures of DRAM devices. In particular, recent advances in semiconductor technology have shown aluminum oxide containing films to be to be a superior material in certain critical applications such as the gate dielectric layer in MOSFET transistors and the capacitive storage media in DRAM memory devices.
In addition to having desirable electrical properties, Al2O3 films have good chemical inertness and mechanical strength properties. Thus, Al2O3 films are also used extensively in non-electronic circuit applications such as protective layers on hard disk heads, integrated circuit packaging, and anti-corrosion barriers for metal alloys.
Deposition of Al2O3 has traditionally been accomplished by means of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) or atomic layer deposition (ALD) using various aluminum precursors (e.g., alkyl aluminum and alkyl aluminum hydride compounds) in conjunction with an oxygen source. In thin film deposition for semiconductor fabrication, ALD is particularly desirable because of the need to deposit very thin, very uniform layers of, e.g., Al2O3 in continually shrinking semiconductor devices. One class of precursors commonly used in CVD includes the trialkylaluminum precursors, such as trimethyl aluminum (TMA). See, e.g., M. Gustin and R. G. Gordon, Journal of Electronic Materials, Volume 17, pages 509–517 (1988).
Aluminum isopropoxide has also been used as a precursor to deposit aluminum oxide. See, e.g., J. A. Aboaf, Journal of Electrochemical Society, Volume 114, pages 948–952 (1967). However this compound polymerizes easily and thus exists as a mixture of isomers, each with a different vapor pressure. Consequently, the vaporization of this precursor is unpredictable and difficult to control. In addition, aluminum 2-ethyhexanoate has been demonstrated as a precursor for Al2O3 deposition, but its low vapor pressure results in low deposition rates, which limits the usefulness of this compound in situations where high throughput is desired. See, e.g., T. Maruyama and T. Nakai, Applied Physics Letters, Volume 58, pp. 2079–2080 (1991).
One disadvantage associated with using alkyl aluminum compounds as precursors to form aluminum oxide films is that many are pyrophoric (i.e., igniting spontaneously in air) and hence present significant safety hazards in their use. There is a strong interest in industry today to avoid such risk if possible. A related disadvantage is the high reactivity of these compounds with oxygen that can result in the formation of powdered alumina in the vapor phase in a CVD chamber, particularly when excess oxygen is present.
The following sets forth a list of volatile Al compounds that can potentially be used for the various film deposition applications:
Phase atPyrophoric orCompoundTemperature/PressureNon-pyrophoricAlH(Me)2liquid at ~65° C./2.13 kPapyrophoricAl(Me)3liquid at 20° C./1.07 kPapyrophoricAl(Et)2ClliquidpyrophoricAl(Et)3liquid at 186° C./101.3 kPapyrophoricAl(Acac)3solid at 150° C./0.13 kPanon-pyrophoricAl(6Facac)3solid at 50° C./13.3 Panon-pyrophoricAl(Thd)3solid at 150° C./1.33 Panon-pyrophoricAl(i-OPr)3solid at 132° C./0.80 kPanon-pyrophoricAl(t-OBu)3156° C./0.27 kPaAl2(Et)3(s-OBu)3liquid at ~185° C./5.33 kPanon-pyrophoricwhere:Me = methyl;Et = ethyl;Opr = propoxide;Obu = butoxide;Acac = acetylacetonate (2,4 pentanedionate);Thd = tetramethylheptanedionate; and6Facac: hexafluoroacetylacetonate.
Several of the potential precursors listed above have sufficient volatility for effective use in an aluminum deposition process. However, many of these compounds are also pyrophoric and present substantial safety risks in their use, particularly in industrial environments. In addition to pyrophoricity, these compounds contain aluminum-carbon (Al—C) bonds that are undesirable in high dielectric insulating applications due to the potential of carbon incorporation of the film, which in turn leads to reduced resistivity. This has obvious disadvantages in gate dielectric and capacitor films as it leads to an increase in leakage current.
In addition, many of the remaining non-pyrophoric candidates in the above list contain aluminum-oxygen (Al—O) bonds. These bonds are quite strong (122 kcal/mol) compared to aluminum-nitrogen (AlN) bonds (71 kcal/mol), and thus it is quite difficult to substitute nitrogen for oxygen in a deposition process. To do so would require an additional process step in the overall film deposition (typically plasma nitridation). Increasing process steps decreases overall reliability, a factor that is critical for sustaining economic competitiveness in the semiconductor industry today.
Further use of higher energy processes, such as high temperatures or plasma, increases processing operating costs as well and can be detrimental to the quality of the critical gate dielectric layer of transistors in CMOS devices. Thus, it is desirable to utilize a precursor without a strong Al—O bond to form an aluminum oxide or other film, as this type of precursor provides the advantage of process tunability between oxide and nitride via process chemistry.
Aluminum dimethyl amide has been used to deposit aluminum nitride (AlN) films (see, e.g., J. Vac. Soc. Technol., 1996, 14, 306). In principle, it would appear that this compound might also yield Al2O3 in the presence of an oxidizer. However, this compound exists as a dimer and is solid at room temperature. Both of these attributes are not good characteristics for a vapor deposition process.

Methods for forming aluminum containing films utilizing amino aluminum precursors


To prevent a crack from occurring on a sheared end face due to press forming, a technology is provided for evaluating and predicting a crack limit of the sheared end face of a metal sheet and determining press forming conditions. In a deformation limit evaluation method for, when deforming by press forming a metal sheet subjected to shearing, evaluating a deformation limit of the sheared end face of the metal sheet, the deformation limit is evaluated by an index value obtained from two stress gradients at an evaluation position among stress distributions occurring in the vicinity of the sheared end face of the metal sheet due to the press forming, which gradients are a stress gradient in a sheet thickness direction and a stress gradient in a direction away from the sheared end face.

Automobiles are currently required to improve fuel efficiency by weight reduction and to improve safety against collision. This leads to a tendency to use high-strength steel sheets for auto parts to achieve both vehicle body weight reduction and passenger protection in collisions.
Cracking is one of forming defects in press forming of a high-strength steel sheet. In particular, a crack on an end face comprising a sheared surface subjected to shearing (hereinafter also referred to as sheared end face) is one of critical problems.
The crack on the sheared end face is roughly classified as a crack due to stretch flange deformation or a crack due to bending deformation. Regarding a stretch flange crack, for example, PTL 1 to PTL 3 disclose prediction methods. PTL 1 proposes a prediction method considering a strain gradient in an in-plane direction of a sheet and a prediction method considering a stress gradient in the in-plane direction of the sheet. PTL 2 proposes a method using a relationship between strain gradient, strain concentration, and fracture strain in stretch flange deformation. PTL 3 proposes a crack prediction method using a relationship between forming limit strain and strain gradients in an in-plane direction of a sheet and a sheet thickness direction.
On the other hand, no crack prediction method has been developed that relates to bending cracks on a sheared end face, and hence, there has been a desire to develop a method for predicting a crack on a sheared end face, including such bending cracks.

Press die designing method using an index value obtained from two stress gradients in sheet thickness direction and gradient of surface stress distribution in direction


An underreamer for well drilling comprises pivotally extendible roller cutters that extend slightly beyond the diameter of the pilot drill bit but are retained in their retracted position by the casing. Upon encountering an obstruction, the underreamer is pushed out of the casing, allowing the outer edges of the cutters to contact the obstruction. Continued downward pressure of the drill stem causes the roller arms to pivot outward to a fully extended position in which the cutters enlarge the hole to a diameter larger than the casing by rotation of the drilling stem. The advance of the casing relative to the underreamer forces the cutters to retract into the casing.

In simultaneous drilling and casing operations, a section of casing follows the drill bit into the borehole. Underreamers located upstream of the drill bit and downstream of the end of the casing are used to enlarge the hole when necessary, such as when an obstruction in the formation is encountered. Such underreamers typically rely on springs or hydraulic pressure to actuate the roller cutters from a retracted, inoperative position to an extended, operating position. When they jam, the underreamers are expensive to remove, with the removal process sometimes requiring the withdrawal of the casing and the associated risk of compromising the integrity of the hole.
Examples of a trailing underreamer used in conjunction with a casing are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 6,419,033 to Hahn et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,920,944.B2 to Eppink et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,929,076 to Fanuel et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 7,048,078 to Dewey et al.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an underreamer that does not require springs or hydraulic actuation and that provides an effective means to enlarge a hole into which a casing is to be inserted. More generally, it is an object of the invention to provide a means of enlarging a hole past a pipe inserted into the hole and to a larger diameter than the pipe.
Other objects of the invention will be appreciated by reference to the disclosure and claims that follow.


A sliding box type pen base computer including a flush type LCD mounted on a mother board, an IC card on the mother board, and a plurality of sliding boxes slidably fastened to the mother board beneath the LCD to carry a power supply unit, a battery box, a floppy disk drive, a hard disk drive, or any other computer peripheral equipment respectively, wherein each sliding box has a connector at one end detachably connected to either connector on a front cross bar inside the mother board, and an inward horizontal flange at an opposite end spaced at the top and hooked on a rear wing plate on the mother board for positioning.

The present invention relates to pen base computer of the type disclosed in related application Ser. No. 08/040,257, and more particularly to a sliding box type pen base computer.
A variety of portable computers have been proposed, and widely accepted for their advantage of mobility. A pen base computer is a newly developed compact computer which has an LCD for graphic input through a pen. Because the keyboard input device is eliminated, the size of a pen base computer is greatly reduced. Since a pen base computer is very small (may be so small that can be held in the palm), the master board and the LCD thereof may be damaged easily when frequently opening and closing the outer shell (opening the outer shell may cause a static electricity to happen, which will affect the operation of the electronic elements therein).
The inventor of the present invention invented a sliding box type pen base computer under U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,051 which eliminates the aforesaid problems. The sliding box type pen base computer according to U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,051 comprises a base and a sliding box, in which the base comprises a mother board and a liquid crystal display supported on two longitudinal side stands with a receiving chamber defined therein to receive the sliding box. The sliding box is made to slide in and out of the base, and comprises a battery box, a power supply unit, a floppy disk drive, and a hard disk drive on the inside surrounded by a vertical peripheral wall and electrically connected to the base. The present invention provides an alternate form of the sliding box type pen base computer which also effectively eliminates the aforesaid problems.

Pen base computer with detachable peripheral equipment boxes


The invention relates to compounds of general formula (I); in which R is an amino or guanidino group; R2 is acetyl or trifluoroacetyl; X is CONH, NHCO or O; n is an integer from 2 to 6; and Y is C2–C8 alkyl C3-8 cycloalkyl, C1–C4 alkoxyalkyl, an amino acid or dipeptide, or a pharmaceutically acceptable derivative thereof, methods for their preparation, pharmaceutical formulations containing them or their use in the prevention or treatment of a viral infection

Enzymes with the ability to cleave N-acetyl neuraminic acid (NANA), also known as sialic acid, from other carbohydrates are present in many microorganisms. These include bacteria such as Vibrio cholerae, Clostridium perfringens, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Arthrobacter sialophilus, and viruses such as influenza virus, parainfluenza virus, mumps virus, Newcastle disease virus and Sendai virus. Most of these viruses are of the orthomyxovirus or paramyxovirus groups, and carry a neuraminidase activity on the surface of the virus particles. Many of these neuraminidase-possessing organisms are major pathogens of man and/or animals, and some, such as influenza virus and Newcastle disease virus, cause diseases of enormous importance.
It has long been thought that inhibitors of neuraminidase might prevent infection by neuraminidase-bearing viruses. Most of the known neuraminidase inhibitors are analogues of neuraminic acid, such as 2-deoxy-2,3-dehydro-N-acetylneuraminic acid (DANA) and some of its derivatives (Meindl et al, Virology, 1974 58 457). Our International Patent Publication No. WO 91/16320 describes a number of analogues of DANA which are active against viral neuraminidase, and it has been shown in particular that 4-guanidino-2-deoxy-2,3-dehydro-N-acetylneuraminic acid (Compound (A), code number GG167) is useful in the treatment of influenza A and B (N. Engl. J. Med., 1997 337 874–880). Other patent applications describe various closely-related sialic acid derivatives (eg. PCT Publications No. WO 95/18800, No. WO 95/20583 and No. WO 98/06712), and anti-viral macromolecular conjugates of GG167 have also been described (International Patent Application No. PCT/AU97/00771).

Dimeric compounds and their use as anti-viral agents