When a pause request occurs, an audio delay time constituted by a delay time of frames of audio data based on the video data frames is found. During the pause, a frame offset time constituted by the offset of the frame start time of the video data and the audio data is monitored. When a pause release request is issued, based on the audio delay time and the frame offset time, the audio correction time to be corrected in the pause request is calculated. Then, when it is judged that the audio data is advanced with respect to the video data based on the audio correction time cumulatively added for each pause request, the video data is delayed by one frame with respect to the audio data, while when it is judged that the audio data is delayed with respect to the video data, the audio data is delayed by one frame with respect to the video data.

For example, in an audio/video synchronization processing apparatus (AV recording apparatus) such as an input device of an MPEG encoder, generally the frame lengths (frame periods) of input signals of the video data and the audio data are different. Further, it is characterized in the point that the audio data and the video data are fetched in periods of frame units. Below, an explanation will be given of the configuration and mode of operation of such a conventional AV recording apparatus.
FIG. 15 is a view of the system configuration of a conventional AV recording apparatus.
This system is configured by a data controller 2a and a system encoder 3a receiving control commands from a host (HOST) 1a.
The data controller 2a receives control commands from the host 1a at its audio/video controller (AV_CTRL) 21a and controls an audio controller 22a and a video controller 26a based on time information from a timer (TIMER) 24a.
Note that, hereinafter, the audio/video controller will be referred to as an "AV controller".
The AV controller 21a issues control commands to the audio controller (A_CTRL) 22a so as to control the input of the audio data (A_DATA). The input audio data is stored in an audio data memory (A_HEM) 23a.
Further, the AV controller 21a issues control commands to the video controller (V_CTRL) 26a so as to control the input of the video data (V_DATA). The input video data is stored in a video data memory (V_MEM) 25a.
The data controller 2a provides the audio data (A_PTS) and the video data (V_PTS) given a PTS (presentation time stamp) as time information to the system encoder 3a based on the time information from the timer 24a.
The system encoder 3a is controlled by the control commands from the host 1a. The audio encoder (A_ENC) 31a encodes the audio data given the PTS from the data controller 2a. The video encoder (V_ENC) 33a encodes the video data given the PTS from the data controller 2a. A multiplexer (MPX) 32a multiplexes the data encoded by the audio encoder 31a and the video means 33a to generate a bit stream (BSD).
However, in an AV recording apparatus including an MPEG encoder, due to hardware restrictions, the frame periods of the video data and the audio data often cannot be changed. In such cases, if pausing based on the frames of the video data, when subsequently releasing the pause, there is a problem that the audio data will become offset in synchronization from the video data (AV synchronization offset).
With respect to this problem, unless suitable processing is performed, the synchronization offset will build up and the viewer will get a strange feeling.
Below, this conventional problem will be specifically explained by using FIG. 16.
FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of the AV synchronization offset when controlling the pause and pause release.
In the conventional AV recording apparatus shown in FIG. 15, the control for fetching the data can only be carried out in frame units. Further, the frame periods of the video data and the audio data (video_frame_time and audio_frame_time) cannot be changed even during a pause.
In FIG. 16, when receiving a pause request (indicated as "P" in the figure) from the host 1a, the pause request is reflected in the data controller 2a at the time t161 of a break between frames in the video data 1. The audio data exists in the middle of the frame period at the time t161, and the pause request is reflected in the next audio frame, therefore tp161 is generated as a difference of the video data and the audio data at the time of a pause.
During a pause, the frame period of the video data and the frame period of the audio data remain unchanged. The difference tp161 between the video data and the audio data at the time of the pause remains as generated uncorrected.
When receiving a pause release request (indicated as "P_RL" in the figure) from the CPU 1a, the pause release request is reflected in the data controller 2a at the timing of the time t162 of the start of input of the video data n (VDn). Here, at the time of pause release, when adjusting the timing of the audio data with respect to the video data by considering the difference tp161 between the video data and the audio data at the time of the pause, no AV synchronization offset occurs.
However, since the difference of frame periods of the video data and the audio data causes generation of the difference tp162 from the time t162 of the pause release to the time of start of input of the audio input data n (ADn) as the difference between the audio data and the video data at the time of pause release, the result is that an AV synchronization offset tp163 occurs at the time of pause release from the time t161 and time tp162.
Particularly, when the frame periods of the video data and the audio data cannot be changed, this tp163 may accumulate with each pause request, therefore will sometimes be perceived as strange.

Apparatus and method for synchronizing video data and audio data having different predetermined frame lengths


A body-temperature measuring device is provided. The device includes: a pad which is attachable to and detachable from a human body; a battery which is provided to the pad and includes a pair of battery terminals for supplying power; and a temperature sensing block which is attached to and detached from the pad and comprises units for contacting the human body to sense temperature and wirelessly transmitting a temperature sensing signal corresponding to the sensed temperature and a pair of connecting terminals which are electrically connected to the battery terminals only when attached to the pad, and a body-temperature measuring system including one or more of the body-temperature measuring devices and a receiver which receives the wirelessly transmitted temperature sensing signal, measures the temperature by using the received signal, and informs of a result of measuring the temperature.

1. Field of the Invention
Apparatuses consistent with the present invention relate to a body-temperature measuring device, and more particularly, to a body-temperature measuring device which automatically measures temperature when attached to the human body and a body-temperature measuring system having the device.
2. Description of the Related Art
When physical problems due to illnesses such as a cold occur, body temperature needs to be periodically measured to check a state of the body. In a related art, body temperature is measured by contacting or inserting a thermometer to or into the armpit, the mouth, the ear, the forehead, and the like, and this needs help of a patient. For example, when a patient is an infant or a little child, the patient cannot help a measuring person to measure temperature. In addition, although the patient is sleeping, in order to measure temperature, the patient has to wake up, and it is inconvenient for the patient. In addition, in order to measure temperature late at night or at dawn, the measuring person also has to wake up, and this also causes inconvenience.

Body-temperature measuring device and body-temperature measuring system having the device


Disclosed is a workpiece processing apparatus that performs a predetermined processing on a workpiece. The workpiece processing apparatus includes: a workpiece table configured to place the workpiece thereon; a processor configured to process the workpiece placed on the workpiece table; a movement mechanism configured to relatively move the workpiece table and the processor; a position measuring device configured to measure a position of the movement mechanism; a detector configured to detect a position of the workpiece placed on the workpiece table; and a corrector configured to calculate a positional correction amount of the workpiece table based on a measurement result of the position measuring device and a detection result of the detector.

In the related art, as an apparatus for drawing a pattern on a workpiece using a functional liquid, there has been known an inkjet type droplet ejecting apparatus which ejects the droplets of the functional liquid. The droplet ejecting apparatus is widely used, for example, when manufacturing electro-optical devices (flat panel displays (FPD)) such as organic EL devices, color filters, liquid crystal display devices, plasma displays (PDP devices), and electron emitting devices (field emission (FED) devices or surface-condition electron-emitter display (SED) devices).
For example, a droplet ejecting apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-198028 includes a functional liquid droplet ejecting head (droplet ejecting head) which ejects the droplets of a functional liquid, a workpiece stage (workpiece table) on which a workpiece is mounted, and a movement mechanism (linear motor) which moves the workpiece table in a direction in which a pair of support bases for guidance extends (main scanning direction). Further, the droplet ejecting apparatus draws a pattern on the workpiece by ejecting the functional liquid from the droplet ejecting head into a bank formed in advance on the workpiece while moving the workpiece relative to the droplet ejecting head using the workpiece table.
In the droplet ejecting apparatus, work alignment is performed in advance in order to eject the functional liquid accurately to a desired position on the workpiece. The workpiece table is configured to be rotatable and movable horizontally, and an image of an alignment mark of the workpiece is captured by an alignment camera provided above the workpiece table. Further, a horizontal position of the workpiece table is corrected based on the captured image, thereby performing the workpiece alignment. Thereafter, the aligned workpiece is moved to a predetermined position, and the functional liquid is ejected into the bank on the workpiece from the droplet ejecting head.

Workpiece processing apparatus using workpiece having reference marks, workpiece processing method, and computer storage medium


An array substrate, a manufacturing method thereof and a display device are provided. In the manufacturing method, the needed patterns can be formed by just three photolithography processes, wherein the semiconductor layer and the etch stop layer are formed by just one photolithography process. The method reduces one photolithography process compared to the method of the state of the art, which forms the pattern of the semiconductor layer and the etch stop layer by two photolithography processes respectively, thereby greatly reducing the manufacturing cost and improving the production efficiency.

A Thin Film Transistor Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD) has the advantages of small volume, low power consumption, no radiation et al., and occupies the dominant position in the current market of the flat panel display.
TFT-LCD has obtained the rapid development for the last few years, especially the liquid crystal television, and its size and resolution are improved continually. The liquid crystal television with large size and high resolution has become a mainstream for the development of the TFT-LCD. At present, the world's largest liquid crystal television has the size larger than 100 inches. As the continual increase of the TFT-LCD size and the improvement of the resolution, the driving circuit with higher frequency is usually adopted in order to improve the display quality.
However, the carrier mobility of the current amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin film transistors can not meat the demand due to the continual increase of the TFT-LCD size and the frequency of the driving circuit. The carrier mobility of the a-Si thin film transistors is typically at about 0.5 cm2/VS. The current carrier mobility of the a-Si is obviously hard to meet the demand when the LCD size is over 80 inches and the driving frequency is 120 Hz, which needs the carrier mobility more than 1 cm2/VS. Although the poly-Si thin film transistor has high mobility, it is rarely used because of its poor uniformity and complex manufacturing process.
The metal oxide thin film transistor has attracted attentions and become a study focus of the large size, high refresh frequency LCD and organic light emitting diode (OLED) panels because of its high mobility, good uniformity and transparency, and simple manufacturing process, which can meet the requirements of the manufacturing process and the electrical properties for used in the large size LCD and active organic electroluminescence.

Array substrate, manufacturing method and the display device thereof


A boiler comprising a circulating fluidized bed hearth, a separator member for separating flue gas and solids extracted from the hearth, an external dense fluidized bed between the solids outlet of the separator member and the base of the hearth, the external bed containing a first heat exchanger in which a coolant fluid to be evaporated circulates. The outlet of the first heat exchanger is connected to a second heat exchanger placed in the hearth.

Such a boiler comprises, inter alia, the following elements:
a circulating fluidized bed hearth whose walls comprise vertical pipes in which an emulsion (liquid phase and vapor phase) of water circulates, which emulsion is produced by evaporation of water fed into the bases of said pipes; PA1 a separator member (in general a cyclone) which, at the top of the hearth, recovers the flue gas and the solid particles fluidized in the hearth and directs said flue gas and said particles to respective ones of two distinct ducts; and PA1 an external fluidized bed connected firstly to the particles duct of the separator member and secondly to the base of the hearth, the external bed including a heat exchanger which transmits the heat from the particles to the coolant fluid to be evaporated, which fluid is often water.
Such a heat exchanger is commonly in the form of a nest of tubes and the fluid can circulate either naturally or with assistance from one or more pumps.
Natural-circulation heat exchangers are difficult to implement. Firstly, in order to operate at reasonable circulation rates, the tubes must be disposed so that they slope, which makes the heat exchanger taller than a heat exchanger in which the tubes are horizontal, if substantially the same heat exchange area is to be retained. Unfortunately, the height of the fluidized bed is limited by the fluidization pressure, and also by the fluidization stability. It can be assumed that said height cannot significantly exceed 4 meters, and, in any case, it would seem impossible to provide a height greater than 5 meters. Secondly, the speed in the tubes must be suitable for avoiding "departure from nucleate boiling" (DNB), and also for avoiding stratified flow, i.e. the appearance of a liquid-vapor interface. A flow of that type gives rise to overheating of the tubes, to thermal shocks, and to corrosion. To achieve the required speed, the tubes must be of large section and have large clearance heights at their top ends. In addition, during start-up, there is not a large enough quantity of hot particles present, so that, since vaporization is low, the speed in the tubes is too low and there is a risk of DNB.
Assisted-circulation heat exchangers make it possible to overcome the difficulties encountered with natural-circulation heat exchangers. Unfortunately, assistance pumps are costly, and there is a risk that they might break down, which is detrimental to boiler availability.

Boiler having an external dense fluidized bed


An exhaust gas exhausted from a fuel cell is sent to a silencer through an exhaust pipe. The silencer is provided with a conductive noise absorbing material, and is fixed to a vehicle body through a metallic fixing jig. Thus, the noise absorbing material is earthed to the vehicle body so that it is possible to prevent static electricity from being generated in the use of the fuel cell vehicle such as in a low humidity environment.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel cell vehicle provided with a silencer for reducing an exhaust noise exhausted from a fuel cell.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a fuel cell used for a fuel cell vehicle, a PEM (Proton Exchange Membrane) fuel cell which employs solid polymer as an electrolyte membrane is commonly adopted. In this kind of fuel cell vehicle, power generation is carried out by the electrochemical reaction between air and hydrogen within the fuel cell. The air not used for the power generation is externally exhausted through an exhaust pipe together with water created by the electrochemical reaction. Further, since the fuel cell is supplied with high pressure air, the high pressure exhaust gas flows through the exhaust pipe. Therefore, the exhaust pipe is provided with a silencer for reducing a noise (see Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication JP-A-2003-291657 for example).
However, since a thin electrolyte membrane partitions an anode electrode (hydrogen electrode) and a cathode electrode (oxygen electrode) as for the solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell, the hydrogen supplied to the anode electrode permeates the cathode electrode via electrolyte membrane. As a result, the exhaust gas may contain a minute amount of hydrogen. For such a portion which may contain hydrogen, there has been a demand for solving a problem of a static electricity being generated in a condition such as dry environment.


A system for creating an animation may include a template adapted for receiving animation content from a user and configured to guide the user in providing animation content. The system may also include a computing system configured to receive an image of a completed version of the template and generate an animation based on the completed template. The system may allow for generating an animation from a single image by identifying and extracting particular regions of the image and using their spatial relationship to sequence the regions in time rather than space.

Digital animation is achieved by creating a series of images and compiling them into an animated sequence to form a video file. The length of video files can be controlled by the number of images that are compiled together and the rate at which the images are displayed in frames per second. A video file will have a longer length in time if the display rate has fewer frames per second, but the motion displayed in the video file will not appear as continuous to the observer.
Digital animation generally includes producing images that are created by some medium and compiled by hand or by a computing device. After a digital animation is compiled, the user may produce the animation by rapidly displaying the images in a desired sequence to simulate a desired change from one image to the next. This can be displayed by a user by viewing one image at a time in succession or by a computing device that displays each image in a desired order and at a desired display rate. Existing systems and methods fail to provide a simple approach to capturing and compiling so that unsophisticated users can prepare animations. There are few teaching tools and formats used for animation are not commonly used by the general public preventing receipt, viewing, and sharing by the average individual.

System and method for generating an animation from a template


A device for ultrasonically welding metal parts includes a sonotrode whose head can be excited by a vibration generator to produce vibrations. The sonotrode is connected to the vibrator with a screw connection provided on one side of the sonotrode. The sonotrode head may have at least one welding surface relative to the torsion axis on the circumference side. An anvil having a counter/compacting surface may be arranged opposite the welding surface of the sonotrode in a stationary position. The welding surface and the compacting surface may delimit a compaction space to receive parts to be welded. The entire sonotrode may be excited to produce torsional oscillation with a negligibly small longitudinal vibration component.

The invention relates to an ultrasonic welding device for welding cables, for example strands. The invention also relates to a mobile ultrasonic welding apparatus.
Cables here are understood to be cables having one or more strands and also individual wires or electrically conductive lines. However, it is possible, in principle, for a cable to be a terminal, i.e. a rigid electrical connection.
In the case of known devices of this type, ultrasonic vibration is introduced parallel to a welding surface, wherein a compacting force is exerted simultaneously in a direction perpendicular thereto, for example via a compacting or abutment surface. A compacting or welding space, in which the welding material is compressed, i.e. compacted, before and during the welding operation, is typically provided here. In particular for welding strands, it is necessary, for the purpose of achieving a durable weld, for the individual wires to be compressed by a comparatively large force during welding. During the welding operation, on account of the compacted welding material moving in relation to one another, the ultrasonic vibration results in the parts being connected, i.e. in welding taking place.
In a large number of industrial applications, in particular in the automobile industry, there is a need for it to be possible for already installed and/or difficult-to-access parts to be connected by means of ultrasonic welding. For example, in the case of the production of cable harnesses for vehicles, these being prefabricated on a board, the individual cables, in some cases, can be raised merely by approximately 4 cm. In particular, there is also increasingly the need to use ultrasonic welding to connect not just copper, but also materials which oxidize to a pronounced extent, for example aluminum. For this purpose, it is necessary for the highest possible level of power to be introduced into the welding region, in order to create a durable welding connection despite the oxide layer.
DE 10 2007 026 707 B3 discloses a device for connecting aluminum strands in an electrically conductive manner. A sonotrode here has a welding surface which is in direct contact with the aluminum strand. The sonotrode, which vibrates in its longitudinal direction, subjects the strands, in the longitudinal direction thereof, to ultrasonic vibration, and therefore the strands are welded to one another. For this purpose, the strands have to be arranged in the longitudinal direction of the sonotrode, which requires a large amount of space and presupposes that the parts which are to be welded allow for a corresponding arrangement in the first place.
EP 0 143 936 B1 proposes, for space-saving welding purposes, that a welding or compacting space of a device should be formed perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis of the sonotrode, and therefore it is also the case that the parts which are to be welded can be arranged perpendicularly to the sonotrode axis. However, the parts here are subjected to the ultrasonic vibration transversely to the compacting space, and thus transversely to their longitudinal direction, as a result of which only a low level of effective power is introduced. It is thus barely possible to effect metal welding of, for example, strands, in particular those made of aluminum.
WO 95/23668 A1 proposes to excite a sonotrode head to perform simultaneous longitudinal and torsional vibrations, wherein the vibration energy is taken off at the circumference. This makes it possible to arrange a compacting space perpendicularly to the sonotrode axis and, nevertheless, for the parts which are to be welded to be subjected to the ultrasonic vibration in their longitudinal direction up to a certain degree. However, it has been found that, on account of the design and excitation of the sonotrode, configuration of the compacting space requires high outlay in design terms and comparatively large tolerances. It is also possible, during the welding of strands, for ultrasonic vibrations introduced transversely to the strand direction to have an adverse effect on the welding since these vibrations disrupt the compacted arrangement of the wires (individual wires "roll", rather than rub), as a result of which it is also the case that the vibrations can become less effective in the longitudinal direction. Similarly, miniaturizing the sonotrodes is limited by design, since the dimensions of the oblique slots of the converter which are necessary for generating the torsional vibration cannot fall below a certain minimum level. Not least is the design of the slots complex and therefore costly.

Device for torsionally welding metal parts by means of ultrasound


A medical software application is configurable to allow different specialty views to be specified for healthcare practitioners having different characteristics (e.g. specialists in different fields), based on, for example, role or specialty information for a logged in user. A specialty view is further be configured to affect the display of data within a domain. A specialty view can specify that a certain vocabulary takes priority for display purposes (e.g. display ordering).

The present invention generally relates to graphical user interface methodologies for displaying clinical data to a healthcare practitioner.
Electronic healthcare record (EHR) applications are ubiquitous in the healthcare industry. Typically, EHR applications display healthcare information for a patient organized into a plurality of domains, such as problems, medications, encounters, procedures, etc. For example, FIG. 1 illustrates an interface of an exemplary EHR application which is displaying healthcare information for a patient in a problems domain.
An interface of an EHR application typically provides a way for a user to review information from these different domains, e.g. by browsing between different domains. For example, the interface of FIG. 1 includes a scrollable menu on the left side of the screen which allows a user to select different domains to view information for.
Notably, however, not all healthcare practitioners have the same clinical interests. For example, the logged-in, a cardiothoracic surgeon, may have much more interest in a procedures domain than another practitioner, who might have more interest in the problems domain. With reference to the interface of FIG. 1, however, a logged-in cardiothoracic surgeon cannot even access the procedures domain without first scrolling through the menu, as illustrated in FIG. 2.
A need exists for improvement in graphical user interface methodologies for displaying clinical data to a healthcare practitioner. This, and other needs, are addressed by one or more aspects of the present invention.

Graphical user interface methodologies for providing specialty views of healthcare data


A data center includes an electronic equipment rack having a front face and a back face and a cooling unit positioned adjacent to the rack, the cooling unit having a front face and a back face, the cooling unit being configured to exhaust cooled air from the front face of the cooling unit to cool the rack. The cooling unit is configured to release the cooled air along a substantial portion of a height of the front face of the rack.

Electronic equipment racks are generally designed to receive a number of electronic components arranged vertically in the rack, mounted on shelves, and/or to front and rear mounting rails. The electronic equipment may include, for example, printed circuit boards, communications equipment, computers, including computer servers, or other electronic components.
Electronic equipment housed in racks produces a considerable amount of heat, which undesirably affects performance and reliability of the electronic equipment. Often the heat produced by the rack-mounted components is not evenly distributed in the racks. Inadequate supply of cool air and hot air recirculation can reduce equipment reliability substantially and can cause other performance problems. Accordingly, rack-mounted computer systems typically require effective cooling systems to maintain operational efficiency. Cooling can be accomplished by introducing cooled air into an equipment rack and causing the air to flow through equipment in the rack to remove some or all of the heat. The air exits the rack at an increased temperature.
A conventional solution for cooling racks of electronic equipment is to position the equipment racks in rows on a raised floor in a hot aisle and cold aisle configuration, with the fronts of the equipment racks in one row facing the fronts of the equipment racks in an adjacent row. Air cooled by a central air conditioning system is ducted under the raised floor, and perforated or vented floor tiles are provided in the cold aisles to release chilled air towards the fronts of the equipment racks. Chilled air is then drawn into the equipment mounted in the rack and heated air is exhausted out the back of each rack into the hot aisle.
The raised floor solution for cooling electronic equipment in data centers has several drawbacks. Raised floors are expensive, and may provide poor recirculation and delivery of air, particularly as the power density of equipment in racks is increasing. For example, releasing cooled air from a floor plenum is impractical, as there is a need for great volumes of cooled air to be pumped into the floor plenum before cooling can be effective. Even when great volumes of air are pumped into the floor plenums, chilled air exiting the perforated floor tiles may not reach the equipment mounted in the top portion of the equipment rack. Thus, equipment is often only loaded into lower portions of the racks, leaving a substantial area in the tops of the racks unused. Still further, it is not uncommon for warm air to travel back down into the floor plenums. Cutouts for equipment and cabling, gaps around tiles, and open tiles in the floor can lead to up to a 50% or greater loss of cooled air due to leakage, creating substantial inefficiency. Cabling and cooling lines are located below the floor, obstructing the path of the air as it moves toward the racks, which further creates inefficient cooling. Often, in data centers having raised floor solutions, the cooling units are located in the corners or on the edges of the rooms, causing racks in the center of the aisles or rooms to receive a substantially different volume of cool air than racks located near the perimeter of the room.
In addition, data rooms having raised floor cooling systems often require modifications, including modifications to allow for the addition or removal of equipment racks. Modifications can be problematic in a raised floor room. For example, a substantially large space is necessary to accommodate changes to the data center, as equipment being added or removed requires a ramp to move the equipment onto the raised floor. Also, in some data centers, the hot air is returned through the ceiling, requiring ceiling venting and ducts that may require substantial adjustment as other changes to the data center occur.
Further, the overall efficiency, cost, reliability and cooling capacity of a cooling system in a data center is directly related to the ability to prevent mixing of cooling air and warm exhaust air in the data center. Thus, effective cooling and air mixing separation methods are required.


The present invention provides a mechanical sensor high in sensitivity (GF) and reliability. The mechanical sensor comprises an insulating substrate, a pair of electrodes formed on the insulating substrate, and a piezoresistance element formed by connecting the electrodes. The piezoresistance element is substantially made of a glass of the PbO--SiO.sub.2 --B.sub.2 --O.sub.3 --Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 system comprising 73.1 to 86.7 wt % of PbO, 9.7 to 22.2 wt % of SiO.sub.2, 2.5 to 5.0 wt % of B.sub.2 O.sub.3 and 0.9 to 3.6 wt % of Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 and a ruthenium oxide powder dispersed in the glass. The piezoresistance element is formed by coating and baking a paste containing the ruthenium oxide powder, a powder of the glass and an organic binder.

The present invention relates to a mechanical sensor for measuring dynamic quantities such as pressure, load, acceleration and displacement.
There has been a mounting demand in recent years for means to measure various dynamic quantities to improve the efficiency and function of facilities for air condition, electric instrumentation, housing equipment, electrification, factory automation and so on. The objects of measurement are varied from the load in a structure to the fluid pressure of gas or liquid, and a mechanical sensor which is applicable to many different measurements is sought for.
Heretofore, dynamic quantity measurement has been taken using a device such as a silicone semiconductor-type sensor and a strain gauge-type sensor employing a Cu--Ni alloy. These sensors are low in reliability and high in price. In addition, these can not every well be applied to wide use.
As replacement, there has been proposed a mechanical sensor comprising an insulating substrate, and a piezoresistance element and electrodes formed on the surface of the insulating substrate. When a stress is applied on the mechanical sensor, the substrate is deformed and the piezoresistance element which has been formed on the substrate is also deformed. A resistance value of the piezoresistance element changes as the length or the sectional area of the piezoresistance element changes. Therefore, the quantity of the applied stress is detected by reading a change in resistance value of the piezoresistance element. The sensitivity of such mechanical sensor is defined by gauge factor (hereinafter referred to as GF) representing the percentage of the change in resistance to the quantity of the strain as given below. ##EQU1##
The substrate made of ceramics such as alumina has been used for the mechanical sensor.
In recent years, a metal-core substrate employing a metal base coated with an electric insulating layer on the surface thereof (an enameled substrate) which are excellent in elasticity and workability has come to be widely used. As the metal base, a stainless steel sheet or a cold rolled carbon steel sheet is employed for example. As the electric insulating layer formed on the metal base, a crystallized glass of SiO.sub.2 --B.sub.2 O.sub.3 --CaO--MgO system is used, for example.
The piezoresistance element generally has a structure wherein a powder of an electroconductive material such as ruthenium oxide is dispersed in the glass. The piezoresistance element is formed by applying and baking on the substrate a mixture paste of the electroconductive material powder, a glass powder and an organic binder.
A protection layer is provided on the surface of the sensor thus obtained as necessary.
However, any of the mechanical sensors employing the piezoresistance element materials and metal-core substrate has failed to have a sufficient sensitivity to be used in various applications so far.
As the conceivable causes which affect the strain-sensitive characteristics of the mechanical sensor, interface reactions between the electroconductive materials and the glass in the piezoresistance element and reactions between the components in the piezoresistance element and the substrate components can be considered. These points are now subjected for extensive researches to improve the strain-sensitive characteristics (GF) or the sensitivity of the sensor. For example, a thicker piezoresistance element is studied to lower a ratio of the portion where the components are assumed to react with the substrate components in the piezoresistance element. In this method, thicker the piezoresistance element, higher the strain-sensitive characteristics of the sensor. However, formation of the thicker piezoresistance element causes foaming on and inside the piezoresistance element which results in an increased variation in sensor characteristics as shown in FIG. 6.

Piezoresistance paste and mechanical sensor using the same

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A method for treating against, or at least inhibiting or suppressing, the proliferation of an internal ribosome entry site-utilizing virus (IRES-utilizing virus) involves administering a compound, a tautomer, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, in an amount effective for inhibiting replication of the IRES-utilizing virus in cells, wherein the compound is represented by the formula:

It has been reported that various viruses use a host's RACK1 (Receptor for activated C kinase 1) protein to translate viral mRNA using a viral mRNA secondary structure known as the Internal Ribosomal Entry Site (IRES). Cell, 159(5):1086-1095 (2014). For example, Enteroviruses include viruses such as EV-D68, which replicate in a host by using the viral Internal Ribosomal Entry Site (IRES) structure. Focused Reviews, Annals ATS, 12(5): 775-781 (2015); Science, 347(6217):71-74 (2015).
Enteroviruses ("EV") can infect humans and include EV-71, such as EV-71A; EV-B, such as Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3); EV-C, such as Polioviruses (PV-1, PV-2, PV-3); EV-D, such as Enterovirus D68 (EV68, EV-D68, HEV68), RV-A, such as human rhinovirus 16 (HRV16); RV-10 (HRV14), and RV-C.
Enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) is a member of the Picornaviridae family. Since its first isolation in 1962, and although once considered rare, EV-D68 has been on a worldwide upswing in the 21st century. While some uncertainty may exist, it has been implicated in cases of a polio-like disorder called acute flaccid myelitis.
A relatively recent outbreak of this Enterovirus resulted in thousands of patients being hospitalized and deaths of at least 11 children in the United States. There are apparently no known approved cures for such a viral infection in cells, e.g., in a patient, Buontempo et al., Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 41(6):1220 (1997); Germann et al., Focused Reviews, Annals ATS, 12(5):775 (2015).
Enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) was reported as a causative agent in outbreaks in the U.S. of respiratory illness in children. Science, 347(6217):71-74 (2015).
In past decades, Enterovirus EV-71 has been the etiological agent in large scale epidemics. It has been reported that there are no currently approved vaccines or antiviral therapies for the treatment and prevention of EV-71 infections. Shang et al., Antiviral Res., 97(2):183-94 (February 2013).
In fall 2018 an outbreak of polio-like symptoms in patients has been reported. The malady is called acute flaccid myelitis (AFM). The affected patients are for the most part young. Reports are that about 90% of the patients are 18 or younger. Although potential causes are under investigation, in an initial press report Enterovirus EV-D68 has been singled out as one of the potential culprits for causing the AFM outbreak.

Methods for treating virus infection or proliferation

Abstract: wherein each R1 is independent of the other and represents a halogen atom selected from the group consisting of bromo, chloro, fluoro and iodo.


The outputs of N kinds of spectral response characteristics from an image sensor are passed through low-pass filters to obtain N kinds of outputs from the 1st through Nth, and the output signal of a pixel of interest having the Kth (1.ltoreq.K.ltoreq.N) spectral response characteristic is multiplied by the ratio of the low-pass filter output of the image sensor output at the coordinates of the pixel of interest to the Kth low-pass filter output at the coordinates of the pixel of interest, thereby the luminance signal with alleviated attenuation of the harmonics components is obtained.

1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a color video camera, particularly to the method of generating luminance signals thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 1 shows an arrangement of color filters of an image sensor described, for example, on pages 76 through 82 of "National Technical Report", Vol. 31, No.1, February 1985, composed by Matsushita Techno Research Co., Ltd. and published by Ohmsha Publishing Co., Ltd. In FIG. 1, Mg represents a pixel having a magenta color filter, G represents a pixel having a green color filter, Cy represents a pixel having a cyan color filter and Ye represents a pixel having a yellow color filter. FIG. 2 shows a part of a signal processing circuit of a color video camera which employs an image sensor consisting of these color filters arranged thereon. In FIG. 2, numeral 1 indicates a lens, numeral 2 indicates an image sensor, numeral 3 indicates a band-pass filter (BPF), numeral 4 indicates a detector, numeral 5 indicates a one horizontal period delay circuit (1HDLY), numeral 6 indicates a switching circuit and numeral 45 indicates a low-pass filter (LPF).
The operation will now be described below. In FIG. 2, incident ray on the lens 1 forms an image on the image sensor 2. In FIG. 1, an output signal from line n of the image sensor 2, consisting of a sequence of (Mg+Cy) and (G+Ye) being repeated, is denoted as Sn, and an output signal from line n+1 of the image sensor 2, consisting of a sequence of (Mg+Ye) and (G+Cy) being repeated, is denoted as S(n+1). Then Sn and S(n+1) are represented by the following equations. EQU Sn=Yn+Cn.multidot.sin(.omega.t)+ . . . (1) EQU S(n+1)=Y(n+1)+C(n+1).multidot.sin(.omega.t)+ . . . (2)
Where .omega. is the carrier frequency of the color signal which corresponds to double the horizontal pixel width. Yn and Y(n+1) in equations (1) and (2) represent the luminance signal components of line n and line n+1, Cn and C(n+1) represent the color difference signal components of line n and line n+1, respectively, and are given by the following equations. EQU Yn=(Ye+G)+(Cy+Mg)=2R+3G+2B (3) EQU Y(n+1)=(Ye+Mg)+(Cy+G)=2R+3G+2B (4) EQU Cn=(Cy+Mg)-(Ye+G)=2B-G (5) EQU C(n+1)=(Ye+Mg)-(Cy+G)=2R-G (6)
The luminance signal components Yn, Yn+1 are obtained by passing the output of the image sensor 2 through the low-pass filter 45. The color difference signal components Cn, C(n+1) are obtained by passing the output of the image sensor 2 through the band-pass filter 3 having a center frequency .omega. and a detector 4. The output of the detector 4 gives 2R-G and 2B-G appearing every two lines. These signals 2R-G, 2B-G which appear on every other line are synchronized by the one horizontal period delay circuit 5 and the switching circuit 6.
In the conventional color video camera as described above, an output signal of the image sensor is passed through a low-pass filter to remove the modulated components of the color signal and obtain a luminance signal, resulting in a problem of the harmonics of the luminance signals being attenuated. Although aperture correction has been made by enhancing the rising edge and falling edge of the signal to improve the resolution, it causes an impression of unnatural enhancement.
FIG. 3 shows a block circuit diagram illustrating the circuit of a color video camera employing a spatial offset of 3-chip CCD color camera which is described, for example, on pages 1079 through 1085 of the "Journal of Television Engineering Association", November 1986. In FIG. 3, numeral 51 indicates a lens, numeral 52 indicates a refracting prism which decomposes incident ray into three colors of red, green and blue, numeral 53, 54, 55 indicate image sensors, numeral 56 indicates a red signal amplifier, numeral 57 indicates a green signal amplifier, numeral 58 indicates a blue signal amplifier, numeral 68 indicates a low-pass filter, numeral 71 indicates an adder and numeral 73 indicates a demultiplexer. FIG. 4 shows the constitution of output signals with the conventional method of spatial offset of 3-chip CCD color camera. In FIG. 4, G represents the signal of a green pixel, and RB represents the composite signal of red and blue pixels. Letter p indicates the horizontal pixel width of the image sensor. Green image sensors and red, blue image sensors are arranged in the horizontal direction at intervals of a half pixel width.
The operation will now be described below. In FIG. 3, incident ray on the lens 51 is decomposed into red, green and blue by the refracting prism 52, with the light rays of respective colors forming images on image sensors 53, 54, 55. Each of the image sensors 53, 54, 55 mixes signals of the upper and lower adjacent pixels to give one signal output. The output signals R, G, B of the image sensors 53, 54, 55 are amplified by the red signal amplifier 56, the green signal amplifier 57 and the blue signal amplifier 58, respectively, so that the ratio of the output signals thereof becomes, in the case of NTSC system, R:G:B=0.30:0.59:0.11, to obtain R', G', B' signals. R' and B' are mixed in the adder 71 to obtain a signal RB which combines R' and B'. The demultiplexer 73 switches alternately between G' and RB to produce an output of luminance signal, which is passed through the low-pass filter 68 to obtain a luminance signal Y. Consequently, the luminance signal Y is given by equation (7). ##EQU1##
In the conventional method of spatial offset of 3-chip CCD color camera, the purpose is set at improving the resolution. Although there arises no problem in the case of such objects that have green signal and red-blue combined signal in similar proportions, but vertical lines appear in the case of objects which have significantly different proportions. Vertical lines have been reduced by passing the green signal and red-blue combined signal through a low-pass filter in the prior art, though it has a problem of causing attenuation of harmonics in the luminance signal. Thus resolution has been improved by enhancing the rising edge and falling edge of a signal for aperture correction, resulting in a problem of unnatural enhancement.

Color video camera for generating a Luminance signal with unattenuated harmonics


A method is provided for reducing NOx in a combustion exhaust gas stream from a boiler. The method includes the steps of converting an aqueous solution of urea to ammonia by heating the urea solution to a temperature of 350.degree.-650.degree. F. in an injection lance system. The urea solution is pressurized to the pressure required to keep urea reaction products in the liquid phase and is contacted for a selected time with a conversion catalyst selected from the group of metals, metal oxides, or metal compounds consisting of chromium or molybdenum to provide a converted urea solution. The converted urea solution is injected from the injection lance system into the combustion exhaust gas for reducing NOx.

Urea is a well-known fertilizer and industrial chemical which is useful for many purposes, including urea-formaldehyde resins and glues. Urea itself is a highly water-soluble salt, and is relatively easy to store, transport and handle. Urea does not have any perceptible odor and is not classified as a hazardous chemical. By contrast, ammonia or ammonia compounds give off a very strong ammonia odor in water solutions. Ammonia is classified as a hazardous chemical, and is much more difficult to store, transport and handle, compared with urea. However, in many cases, ammonia is preferred for use in chemical processes instead of urea, because of faster reaction times, fewer objectionable byproducts, and/or higher utilization efficiency. For example, in SNCR (Selective Non-Catalytic NOx Reduction) processes, which involve injecting a chemical such as ammonia or urea into NOx-containing flue gases at temperatures from 1600 to 2000 F., it has been determined that ammonia reacts more quickly than urea and produces lower concentrations of undersirable byproducts such as N.sub.2 O, CO, or NH.sub.3 slip, compared with urea under otherwise identical SNCR process conditions. It is therefore desired to combine the advantages of both urea and ammonia into process systems utilizing ammonia.
One of the objectives of the present invention is to provide an effective and inexpensive means to use urea for storage, transportation, and handling as part of an ammonia process system. The present invention accomplishes this by rapid conversion of stored urea into ammonia for continuous use during long operational periods, whereby only very small amount(s) of ammonia are actually present in the equipment components of the ammonia process system. The cost and difficulty of providing storage, transportation, and handling of ammonia can therefore be avoided without sacrificing the performance benefits of using ammonia in the ammonia process system.
There are many examples which illustrate the advantages of the present invention. One such example might be for NOx control applications in large trucks powered by Diesel engines, where urea can be safely stored in the truck, but rapidly converted to ammonia at required flowrates for use in NOx control equipment to remove NOx pollution from the Diesel engine exhaust gas. It would be difficult to imagine that regulatory agencies would permit storage of ammonia (a hazardous chemical) in a large number of such trucks. In the event of a traffic accident, many innocent bystanders could be injured by ammonia fumes. However, odor-free and safely-stored urea chemical is not expected to present a difficult permitting problem for the same application. A reliable and inexpensive means for rapidly converting a given flowrate of aqueous urea into aqueous ammonia would provide a means for implementing this type of NOx control system into large trucks powered by Diesel engines. Other examples could be described, such as storage of urea for powerplant boiler NOx control systems, where aqueous urea is converted to aqueous ammonia prior to injection into the NOx-containing flue gas. As another example, the present invention could be used to provide rapid recovery of NH.sub.3 and CO.sub.2 from urea-containing water streams, as an improvement to urea manufacturing processes. Many other examples could also be cited.
A literature review indicates that no such rapid urea conversion process is commercially available. One of the best texts is "Urea, Its Properties and Manufacture" by G. Tsei-Yu Chao, Library of Congress Catalog Card No. Ai-11254, 1967. Chapter III-2 (Hydrolysis of Urea, pages 97-118) and Chapter III-7 (Miscellaneous Reactions of Urea, pages 177-194) make no mention of the use of catalysts to promote the conversion of urea. The text does show that 20% to 26% urea conversion (depending on addition of acids or alkalis) can be accomplished at 212.degree. F. in 60 minutes residence time at atmospheric pressure. Such long reaction times with such low urea conversion percentages are not of interest.
Next, the U.S. Pat. Nos. of L. P. Schell (4,087,513 and 4,168,299 and 4,220,635) relating to urea hydrolysis were investigated. The '513 patent involves urea hydrolysis combined with absorption and condensation of mixtures of carbon dioxide and water vapor. The '299 (continuation) patent involves hydrolyzing urea to carbon dioxide and ammonia using vanadium pentoxide catalyst to achieve about 30% urea conversion at 215.degree. F. in 30 minutes at atmospheric pressure. The '635 (continuation) patent shows the effectiveness of a variety of vanadium compounds. The best results were 58% urea conversion with 0.19% vanadium at about 220.degree. F. in 360 minutes, and 100% urea conversion with 0.30% vanadium at the same temperature in 840 minutes. Both the '299 and '635 patents specify that reaction times of "at least 10 minutes, preferably about 15 to 60 (360) minutes, is desirable for most applications." One of the main objectives of the present invention is to achieve significant levels of urea conversion in less than 10 minutes reaction time.
Further investigation of urea manufacturing processes revealed the common practice of hydrolyzing urea contained in waste water streams to ammonia and CO.sub.2 for recovery and re-use. This is accomplished by feeding a 1% or 2% aqueous urea solution at 300 psig into a steam-sparged reactor to achieve 99.9+% urea conversion at 400.degree. F. in about 60 minutes reaction time. This is commonly practiced in urea manufacturing plants, and no catalyst is used. Again, the long reaction time which is required is a significant disadvantage.
Finally, a search was conducted to determine if a catalyst to promote rapid urea conversion is taught in the prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 4,124,629 describes urea hydrolysis which occurs in the presence of alumina and one or more of the iron group metals. In this case, co-precipitation of nickel and alumina from solution by urea hydrolysis was shown to produce a more stable catalyst than by prior methods. The discussion in Col. 6, Example II indicates that with a large excess of catalyst at 210 F. "rapid evolution of CO.sub.2 occurred due to urea hydrolysis . . . . After about 4 hours, the pH had risen from 2.3 to 4.5 . . . . Urea hydrolysis was allowed to continue, the pH rising to 5.3 in 85 more minutes, where it remained for about 2 hours . . . " This teaching indicates that even with a large excess of catalyst, urea conversion reaction times are a matter of hours, not minutes. U.S. Pat. No. 4,018,769 entitled "Urea Cyanurate Manufacture" describes (at the top of Col 4) urea hydrolysis, where the effect of acid and temperature in mixtures of urea and elemental sulfur are said to accelerate reaction rates, with 90 C. to 150 C. (or 190 F. to 300 F.) being the upper limit of temperatures desired for urea cyanurate conversion, beyond which urea loss by hydrolysis exceeds acceptable limits. This teaching is consistent with the commercial practice of urea hydrolysis at 400 F. in 60 minutes, but it is not known whether the presence of elemental sulfur, as taught, hinders or helps the urea hydrolysis reaction rate. The present invention seeks to avoid the use of additional additives such as elemental sulfur.
It appears that neither prior art nor presently-practiced urea manufacturing processes utilize or anticipate the present invention using catalyst materials to achieve high percentages of urea conversion in very short reaction times.


A multi-tap distribution box is disclosed in which the positions of the input terminal and the output terminal are selectable. A housing (1) has in the center portion thereof an attachment portion (5) on which main line terminals (5a, 5b, and 5c) are provided. Two terminals are located above, and on both sides of the center of, the housing (1) while the other terminal is located directly under one of the two terminals. A mother board (6) with transmission terminals (7) is mounted on the attachment portion (5) so that the transmission terminals (7) are connected to a select pair of the main line terminals. A branch unit (15) which includes a branch terminal (17) is detachably mounted on the mother board (6) on which a main body (21) with a tap board (20) is in turn mounted. When the main body (21) is mounted, an input terminal (23) provided on the tap board (20) is connected to the branch terminal (17) of the branch unit (15).

Generally, CATV cables are laid underground or aerially strung on telephone poles. The number of secondary cables branching out from a multi-tap distribution box varies depending on the number of subscribers to be connected to.
As shown in FIG. 5A (PRIOR ART), a typical aerial multi-tap distribution box generally has an input A and an output terminal B on the opposite end surfaces. As shown in FIG. 5B (PRIOR ART), a typical pedestal multi-tap distribution box, the type for used with cables laid underground, has both input and output terminals A and B on the same surface. Many different models with different numbers of taps to which secondary cables are connected are manufactured to suit particular applications.
CATV cables that are already laid or aerially hung may require various changes and adjustments in the future: the direction of the signal transmission may be reversed, aerial cables may need to be laid underground, or underground cables may be hung on poles. To effect such change, however, the existing cables need to be reconnected in different locations, so that the multi-tap distribution box often needs to be replaced with a new one. In addition, cable reconnection often involves a change in the number of the secondary branch cables. When the existing multi-tap distribution box is replaced with another with the required number of taps, the high-frequency signal transmission and the electrical current flow have to be temporarily interrupted.


A system and method for providing insurance protection against loss of contributions to tax favored defined contribution plans should an active employee/participant become disabled. The invention manages the administration of a disability insurance policy held inside the plan that continues contributions to the plan during a period of disability, where the coverage amount for each participant is determined by the level of contributions made by or for each participant.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of employee benefits, and more specifically to systems and methods for insuring against loss of retirement benefits. Yet more particularly, the invention relates to and is applied to retirement plans established under United States Tax Law, and under Title 26 of the United States Internal Revenue Code.
2. Description of the Related Art
Employee benefits are generally divided into welfare benefits (such as health care, disability and life insurance), qualified retirement benefits (may take the form of defined executive wealth accumulation programs).
Under a defined benefit plan, the plan document sets forth a formula for determining the amount of monthly retirement income to be paid to an employee after he/she reaches normal retirement (or some earlier retirement age). This formula is based on the employee's length of service or a combination of the employee's length of service and pay (either career pay or final average pay). The benefit is provided from a trust or annuity contract to which usually only the employer contributes. The amount of contributions necessary to provide the promised benefits for the covered work force is determined under minimum standards set out in federal law and the actual annual contribution amount is determined by the employer with the assistance of an actuary. Each employee's benefit is insured by a federal agency (called the "Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation" or "PBGC") and because of the minimum funding standards and the PBGC insurance, benefits to the employee are not solely dependent on the accumulations in the trust on behalf of the employee.
Defined contribution plans are retirement programs where the employee's final retirement benefit is determined solely by the value of an "account" that has been established within the plan for the benefit of the employee. Contributions to that account and investment gains or losses of the account during the employee's working career, are paid to the employee at normal retirement age (or some earlier age) as specified in the plan document. As is evident, the amount of the employee's retirement benefit is directly, and entirely, related to the accumulations in the employee's account. The PBGC does not insure defined contribution plans. Employers make contributions to defined contribution plans using some non-discriminatory formula, such as a percentage of each employee's compensation as defined by the plan. In addition, if the plan has a 401(k) feature (26 United States Code 401(k)), employers may make contributions to the plan based on an employee's election to defer a portion of his/her cash compensation into the plan (such contributions are called "employee deferrals.") Plans with 401(k) features often allow for special employer contributions called "employer matching contributions" whereby the employer will make an additional contribution to the employee's account based on the amount of deferral the employee elects.
(References to code sections herein, such as 401(k), 401(m), 410(b), 415(c), etc. shall be understood to refer to sections of the United States Internal Revenue Code, United States Code, Title 26.)
All qualified retirement plans are required to adhere to strict tax laws and regulations set forth in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 as amended (IRC), various Revenue Rulings and Procedures, and Department of Labor regulations. The general standards of accuracy and completeness are unusually high. The IRS demands that plans comply both "in form" and "in operation" with the tax "qualification requirements." Compliance "in form" means that the plan document language must comply with all applicable tax laws and regulations (as interpreted by the IRS). Compliance "in operation" means that the plan must be administered in strict adherence to its written provisions-even provisions that have been adopted solely for design reasons (and would not have needed to have been adopted to achieve "qualified" status). Both form defects and operational defects may result in the IRS "disqualifying" the plan or imposing a "correction program" on the plan. Either result would have enormous financial implications for the employer sponsoring the defective plan; therefore, employers are extremely careful to see that their plans comply with all regulations in regard to both features and practices.
Loss of Current Income
The Loss of income during a period of long-term disability has generally been addressed under an employer's welfare benefits through a long-term disability plan. The employer may choose to fund this plan through the use of a group long-term disability contract, individual insurance contracts, a self-insurance arrangement, or a combination of the above. This plan partially replaces the loss of regular earnings that would otherwise be paid during the employee's period of disability. Benefits under these disability programs typically stop at the individual's "ADEA cut-off age." For a person who becomes disabled prior to the attainment of age 60, the ADEA cut-off age is usually age 65. For workers who become disabled after attaining age 60, the ADEA cut-off age is usually five years after the commencement of disability payments. This plan typically does not address the needs of disabled employees after retirement age. At retirement, a disabled employee's disability benefit will cease and income must be provided by a combination of Social Security benefits, qualified retirement plan benefits, and personal savings.
Loss of Retirement Benefits
Employees who have been covered by a defined benefit plan for most of their working career may have a portion of their retirement income needs met by their qualified retirement plan benefits, even if they suffer a long-term disability during their career. Defined benefit plans may provide that if a participant becomes disabled, service, and if applicable, pay, would be deemed to continue for purposes of determining the amount of the retirement benefit provided under the plan's formula. Some plans also commence paying benefits at the time of disability and continue paying benefits throughout retirement.
In contrast, under the typical defined contribution plan, if a participant becomes disabled and remains disabled beyond a period of "short-term disability" (during which the employee is usually compensated through the regular payroll), contributions to the employee's account under the plan will cease. Therefore, an active employee is at risk that if he/she should become disabled and contributions to the plan are not made, the value of his/her plan account at the commencement of retirement will be substantially less than it would be if he/she had not become disabled. The reduction in the value of the employee's account will produce a direct loss of retirement income to the employee. If the plan allows benefits to be paid at disability, the available benefits are based on the accumulations in the account to date, and immediate payment of benefits from the account increase the likelihood that the account will be depleted before retirement age, further exaggerating the problem. Since the introduction of 401(k) plans, many employers have entirely, or significantly, shifted the focus of their retirement benefits from defined benefit plans to defined contribution plans, often with a 401(k) feature, making this disability risk a reality for millions of employees.
The potential loss of retirement account values at age 65 (usually considered to be the "normal retirement age") assuming disability occurs at certain ages that last for certain periods of time can be illustrated as follows:
Qualifying the Exposure
The diminution in inflation adjusted retirement income for every $1000 of annual employer pre-tax or employer matching contribution:
If disability occursAnd continues to age:at age:3545556525|$52,500$88,071$112,071 $128,357 35|$35,357$59,357$75,64245|$24,000$39,42855|$16,071The chart expresses the individual's loss in inflation adjusted incomeattributable to the assumed $1000 of annual contribution that would havebeen made had the disablement not occurred.Assumptions:1.4% real rate of return (that is, inflation adjusted)2.Plan withdrawals over 15 years starting at age 653.No salary scale. (That is, it was assumed that this individual'scompensation would not have increased during the period he/she wasdisabled.
In the foregoing chart, it was assumed that the individual's compensation would have remained the same during the period of disability. However, if it is assumed that the individual's compensation would have increased by a certain percentage (e.g. a commonly used "salary scale" such as 5% per year), the losses would be proportionately greater.
"Outside the Plan" Arrangements
Until the introduction of the invention, employers did not think it was possible to address this risk inside the 401(k) and other retirement plans by including disability insurance as a feature of the plan. Even though retirement plans may include "incidental health and welfare" benefits, there was no known way to structure the insurance without complicating the "non-discrimination" requirements that apply to all "benefits, rights or features" for plans subject to IRS Section 410(b) testing. Therefore, some employers have attempted to deal with this risk on the part of their employees by using various funding arrangements outside of the retirement plan. Each outside the plan arrangement presents significant problems.
Arrangement One—Increase the Group LTD Benefits
Some employers have increased the benefits payable under their group long-term disability (LTD) contract, or their long-term disability program, to cover the potential loss. For example, an employee who elects a 6% deferral and receives a 4% match to the 401(k) plan, might receive an additional 10% of pay benefit under the regular, or a supplemental, group LTD policy. There are three main problems with this approach.                Problem One—The insurance may not be "linked" to employee deferrals. Tax policy requires that no other benefits may be contingent upon an employee's deferral election under a 401(k) plan. If the employer links the amount of coverage under a group LTD policy directly or indirectly to the level of employee deferrals and/or employer matching contributions under a 401(k) plan, contributions to the plan will cease to be viewed as "elective deferral contributions" under the federal tax laws. And, since highly compensated employees and non-highly compensated employees elect deferrals at differing percentages of compensation, without the special tests applicable to deferrals, these contributions would not be able to pass the non-discrimination requirements. Alternatively, for the employer to set an arbitrary amount of insurance based on average contributions would result in some employees having their account funded more heavily if they become disabled, and other employees having their account under-funded in the event of disability.        Problem Two—The employee may be "over-insured." Actuaries at most insurance companies are of the view that increasing the cash benefit payable during a disability will have an adverse impact on the rate at which some disabled individuals respond to rehabilitation. This is especially true if the benefit is provided on a tax-free basis, which is the design under many employers' group LTD programs. This risk of over-insurance would require a substantial, disproportionately large increase in the risk charge that must be imposed as part of the premium for the group LTD policy. Similarly, this over-insurance could create a substantial increase in benefit payments in a self-insured LTD program.
Problem Three—The employee may not save the benefit for retirement. If the employee spends the additional benefit before his/her retirement years, the employer's objective will not have been achieved and the employee still has a significant risk of loss at retirement.
Arrangement Two—Continue Employer Contributions to the Plan
Some employers have attempted to deal with the employee's loss of contributions during a long-term disability by continuing to make contributions to the plan on behalf of the employee during the period of disability equal to the pre-disability level of contributions. There are three main problems with this approach.                Problem One—Difficulty with IRC Section 415(c). Certain tests are prescribed under IRC Section 415(c) that determine the maximum annual additions allowed to the plan in a plan year. This generally limits contributions to a defined contribution plan to 25% of the employee's taxable compensation paid by the employer. Since a disabled individual is receiving no compensation directly from the employer, the contribution limit becomes zero (25% multiplied by $0 compensation). A special provision of the tax laws permits the limit to be applied by assuming that a disabled employee's compensation continues during a period of disability at the same level that it was prior to the commencement of disability. However, the rule applies only if the participant is disabled under a very restrictive "any occupation" definition of disability. If an employer wishes to use a less restrictive "own occupation" definition of disability for the first two to five years following the commencement of disability (as most employers would desire), the special rule provides no relief for the tests prescribed under IRC Section 415.        Problem Two—Difficulty with Non-Discrimination Tests. Contributions that are made by the employer on behalf of disabled employees who are "highly compensated employees" ("HCE" as defined by tax laws) may have difficulty passing non-discrimination tests. Contributions that are made by employers on behalf of disabled employees under this approach may not be tested as matching contributions under 401(m) after the first 12 months. IRC Section 401(k) and 401(m) describe the parameters for allowing higher levels of deferrals and matching contributions to be made (on the average) by, or for, HCEs than are made (on the average) by, or for, non-HCEs. Since HCEs almost always make larger percentage of pay contributions than non-HCEs, if the employer continues the same level of contributions that it was making for the disabled individual prior to the disability and these tests no longer apply, the contributions would almost certainly be considered discriminatory.        Problem Three—The Benefit is Not Insured. An employer who decides to continue contributions during a long-term disability could also have a change of heart. The employer could choose to unilaterally cut back the continuing contribution—even with respect to persons who are already disabled. And the disabled individual is at risk that the employer will go bankrupt. Even if the employer has insured its risk, the benefits payable after bankruptcy would be retained by the estate of the bankrupt employer and would benefit all of the employer's general creditors (including the employees) on a pro-rata basis.Arrangement Three—Continue Employee Contributions from LTD Benefits
Some employers permit a disabled employee to make contributions to the 401(k) plan out of the benefit he/she is receiving from the group LTD plan. There are three main problems with this approach.                Problem One—The LTD Benefit Must Be Taxable to the Employee. This approach avoids the IRC Section 415 and non-discrimination problems noted as Problem One and Two above only if the group LTD benefit is taxable to the employee. A number of employers have structured their group LTD benefit in such a way that the benefit under the group LTD policy is (or, at the election of the employee, can be) tax free. Employees would be giving up a significant tax advantage and a significant amount of disability income in order to be able to contribute a portion of the benefit to the 401(k) plan.        Problem Two—The 401(k) Plan and LTD Plan Must Cover Non-HCEs Equally. This approach is likely to avoid a discrimination problem with regard to availability only if most of the non-HCEs participating in the 401(k) plan are also participants in an LTD program that provides the same (or higher) percent of pay benefits than are provided to most of the HCEs. The minimum coverage standards of ERISA applicable to the 401(k) plan require coverage for many employees who work part-time (i.e. at least 1000 hours per year). These ERISA standards do not apply to the group LTD program and many employers do not provide LTD coverage to part-time employees. If a sufficient proportion of non-HCEs who are participants in the 401(k) plan are not participants in the LTD program, the availability of disability coverage under the 401(k) plan may not pass non-discrimination tests.        Problem Three—An HCEs Loss Cannot be Fully Covered. Because of the application of the 401(k) and 401(m) non-discrimination tests with regard to average contributions for HCEs and non-HCEs, an HCE may not be able to replace his/her entire pre-disability contribution. For example, consider an HCE who was contributing 6% of pay to the 401(k) plan, becomes disabled, and receives a 60% of pay LTD benefit. In order to continue his/her old contribution amount, he/she would need to contribute 10% of the LTD benefit. Such an increase in the deferral percentage for disabled HCEs would no doubt increase the average percentage for the HCE group and may result in failure of the 401(k) and/or (m) tests.

Method and system for providing insurance protection against loss of retirement accumulations in a tax favored defined contribution plan in the event of a participant's disability

Corporate Compensation Plans, Inc. of Connecticut


Liquid drug transfer devices including a vial adapter designed for failsafe correct snap fitting on a medicinal vial for ensuring flow communication with the vial's interior. The vial adapters include at least two non-adjacent vial retention flex members for snap fitting over a vial opening for vial retention purposes and at least two non-adjacent vial guidance flex members longer than their counterpart vial retention flex members for guiding a vial adapter with respect to a vial prior to snap fitting the vial adapter thereon.

Medimop Medical Projects Ltd., Ra'anana, Israel (www.medimop.com) supply liquid drug transfer devices for use with medicinal vials containing liquid or powder drug contents and having a vial opening stopped by a typically rubber stopper. Vials are typically available in 13/14 mm and 20 mm standard sizes, and often contain expensive drugs. The liquid drug transfer devices include inter alia vial adapters with single lumen puncturing spikes, vented vial adapters with dual lumen puncturing spikes, fluid control devices illustrated and described in commonly owned PCT International Publication No. WO96/29113, MIX2VIAL® fluid control devices illustrated and described in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 6,558,365 to Zinger et al., in-line MIXJECT® fluid control devices illustrated and described in commonly owned PCT International Publication No. WO 2005/105014, and the like. The liquid drug transfer devices are used by both professional users and also home users, for example, young users, visually impaired users, infirm users, and the like, for self-drug administration purposes in the home.
The liquid drug transfer devices include a plastic molded vial adapter with a generally cylindrical skirt for telescopically slidingly receiving a vial opening therein, an integrally formed hollow puncturing spike for puncturing the vial's stopper and having at least one flow aperture towards the puncturing spike's tip for accessing the vial's interior, and at least one access port in flow communication with the puncturing spike. The skirts typically include four or six flex members including at least two non-adjacent vial retention flex members with at least partially circumferentially extending inwardly protruding vial retention ribs for snap fitting over a vial opening for vial retention purposes. The vial retention flex members are designed such that vial adapters cannot be released from a medicinal vial after being snap fitted thereon for sterilization purposes. Flex members not employed for vial retention purposes have smooth inner surfaces for bearing against a vial opening for stabilization purposes. Such vial stabilization flex members are typically of the same length as their counterpart vial retention flex members but maybe shorter, for example, as shown in US Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0199847 to Akerlund et al.
Misalignment of a liquid drug transfer device with respect to a vial results in puncturing difficulties and in some instances its vial adapter's puncturing spike's tip being embedded in the vial's stopper, thereby precluding flow communication with the vial's interior. In such instances, notwithstanding that a vial contains a full dosage of medicament, it is necessarily discarded. It has been long recognized that inaccurate snap fitting of vial adapters on vials can be at least partially contributed to a problematic design feature of medicinal vials described hereinafter. Professional users of liquid drug delivery devices are generally aware of this design feature but are still prone to inaccurately snap fit a vial adapter on a vial due to time pressure, and the like. Home users of liquid drug delivery devices are often not even aware of the design feature and are therefore even more prone to inaccurately snap fit a vial adapter on a vial despite their best efforts.

Liquid drug transfer devices for failsafe correct snap fitting onto medicinal vials


In an internal combustion engine, a barring adapter member is mounted on an auxiliary engine component, such as an air compressor shaft which is geared to the engine crankshaft. The barring adapter member is configured to receive a barring tool, permitting manual rotation of the air compressor shaft for desirably positioning engine crankshaft-driven components during engine repair or adjustment. In an arrangement according to the invention, the air compressor gear is enclosed by a gear casing, but the adapter is accessible through an aperture closeable by a removable cap. The barring adapter member facilitates barring the engine from a convenient position and is particularly advantageous in an engine designed to eliminate most externally-exposed rotational shaft seals and associated external pulleys conventionally used as barring locations.

The present invention generally relates to internal combustion engines. More specifically, the invention relates to a device and arrangement which facilitates the manual rotation or "barring" of engine crankshaft-driven components during adjustment or repair.
In internal combustion engines, many components are synchronously actuated by the engine crankshaft, e.g., valves, fuel injectors, and other timed components. Thus, in the adjustment or repair of such engine components, the crankshaft is manually rotated or "barred over" to bring the selected parts to a desired position. Barring is done during valve lash adjustment, setting injector travel, and other repairs. Particularly on large diesel engines, barring has conventionally been accomplished by rotating an external accessory drive pulley driven by a crankshaft-mounted pulley. Each external pulley requires an external rotational shaft seal on the engine casing.
State-of-the-art engine design, however, avoids externally-exposed rotational shaft seals when possible, hence eliminating external pulleys which could be used for barring. For example, an engine developed by Cummins Engine Co. has no external accessory drive pulley and, in fact, has no external rotational shaft seals except at the crankshaft. Instead, this engine has a front gear casing which seals and encloses a series of crankshaft-driven drive gears. These enclosed gears operate rotational components including an air compressor. Of course, the elimination of expensive external rotational seals minimizes possible leakage points and intrusion of external debris. This can reduce wear and increase mileage between overhauls.
An engine without an accessory drive pulley, such as the engine described above, could possibly be barred over by directly rotating the exposed crankshaft nose. Unfortunately, the crank nose location is impractically difficult to access when the engine is mounted on a truck chassis. This is because the crank nose is located in a low position close to the truck frame. Also, the crankshaft nose is inconveniently far from a mechanic's common work position during barring--near the head of the engine where the valves and injectors are located. A barring location higher on the engine is desirable so that a mechanic can torque the barring tool while also having convenient access to components at the engine head.
Given the elimination of conventional barring points at external pulleys on modern engines, a need exists for a new device and arrangement to facilitate convenient engine barring.


Multiple playing levels in a stacked multilevel game, appear with unique indicia on different playing levels, and these indicia provide different pathways of movement for game pieces between multiple apertures which extend through the multiple playing levels. By switching the playing level relative to the game pieces, the situations and events faced by different players is altered. In a xe2x80x9cbookxe2x80x9d format, switching playing levels is achieved simply by turning the pages forward or backward. Other formats include a xe2x80x9cmapxe2x80x9d style, wherein different playing levels are secured to adjacent levels by folds in the game board, and a xe2x80x9cstacked layerxe2x80x9d style, wherein a plurality of playing levels are achieved by stacked layers.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to games, and, more particularly to board games which allow multiple level play.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Board games typically include a board, one or more game pieces which are used on the board with different players or teams of players generally having different game pieces, and indicia printed on the board defining spaces, functions, travel paths or other information. Movement of game pieces is often controlled by rolling dice, using a spinner, or by using instructional cards. Alternatively, in many strategy games such as chess, movement is simply decided by taking alternating turns. Each game has unique rules which define the goal of the game, how and what actions can be taken by the various players, and how certain events proceed, such as the start and finish of the game. The rules vary widely from game to game, and, indeed, the rules are the very essence of the game, since many different types of games are readily amenable to play on a board format.
Often, the board game is designed to have all pieces fit within an oblong rectangular box. The board itself can be sized to fit within the box as a unitary flat surface; however, to accommodate greater playing options, the board is often folded in half or in thirds or in other manners which will allow a larger sized playing surface to be achieved.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,255,923 to Bennett, a board game is described which has apertures which extend through one or more hinged play sections. The design allows play to be extended to different sections of an extended board by having pieces pass through an aperture. However, the Bennett concept is not directed to and does not allow for multilevel play. Rather, it is oriented only to two dimensional play with extended path routes for game pieces, and it does not allow free movement forward and reverse.
There are few games which allow multilevel games to be played. Typically, these games are generally focused on high level strategic endeavors such as three dimensional chess or three dimensional connect four.
It is an object of this invention to provide a new and improved game, which is akin to a board game, but which will allows play to proceed on multiple levels by allowing one or more playing levels to be switched relative to game pieces maintained in apertures which extend through the multiple stacked playing levels.
According to the invention, a plurality of playing levels, each with unique indicia thereon, are stacked on top of each other. A plurality of apertures extend through the multiple stacked playing levels. During play, game pieces travel between apertures according to the rules of the game being played. Interconnections between apertures on different levels will vary according to the indicia thereon. Thus, the game board allows for playing conditions to vary by switching between playing levels, with the relative positions of the game pieces remaining stationary during switching.


The invention provides a treating process of cacao beans, and more particularly cacao powder rich in polyphenols, a process for the preparation thereof and a prepared cacao composed of the cacao powder. According to the invention, the polyphenol contained in the cacao beans is allowed to remain as much as possible, by setting initial water content in the roasting treatment to 3-10% by weight. Although polyphenols have various favorable biological functions of anti-oxidating action, anti-dental cariesing action, action for preventing arteriosclerosis and so on, but those are unfavorable from the view point of taste because of astringency and bitterness. In a conventional process for preparing cacao powder, therefore, an operation for removing polyphenols has been carried out, but in the invention, the astringency and bitterness are inhibited by setting water content of the cacao nib to 3-10% by weight in the alkali treatment prior to the roasting treatment. Therefore, the invention provides a high functional cacao powder with good taste.

The present invention relates to a process for treating cacao beans and more particularly, a cacao powder rich in polyphenols, process for the preparation thereof and prepared cacao comprising the same.
A conventional cacao powder has been prepared through steps of crushing washed raw cacao beans to remove a shell and embryo and obtain a cacao nib, treating with an alkali the cacao nib, roasting the cacao nib, grinding the roasted cacao nib, expressing oil, and pulverizing the oil expressed substance.
In general, the alkali and roasting treatments are started with such initial conditions that an amount of water is 10-25% by weight inclusive of moisture in the cacao nib and pH is 6.8-8.0.
The prepared cacao is prepared by adding sugar, powdered milk and the like to the cacao powder prepared as above to adjust its taste, and if necessary, agglomerating the resulting mixed powder. A cacao beverage prepared by dissolving the prepared cacao with hot water has been widely and habitually drunk.
While, the polyphenols are watched substances with great interest, since such reports have been made through recent studies that the compounds have various and biologically favorable functions inclusive of anti-oxidating action, anti-dental caries action, action for preventing arteriosclerosis, inhibiting action of carcinogenesis, anti-stressing action, anti-bacillus and virus actions, anti-allergy action and others.
However, a cacao polyphenol (may be abbreviated hereinafter as xe2x80x9cCMPxe2x80x9d) which is one of polyphenols and contained in the cacao beans shows astringency and bitterness, and thus a cacao powder containing CMP in higher amount can not be said as preferable one from view point of taste. In the conventional process for preparing the cacao powder, therefore, the cacao nib is treated with the alkali to increase solubility and reduce the astringency and bitterness and in other words, the process reduces the amount of CMP originally presenting in the cacao beans. Therefore, there is no measure other than increasing the intaking amount of the cacao beverage or using a prepared cacao which contains the cacao powder in excess amount, is not well-balanced with the sugar and milk and is not preferable from view point of taste, in order to intake the biologically favorable CMP as much as possible by using an adjusted cacao composed the conventional cacao powder.
Basic objects of the invention, therefore, to provide a process for preparing a cacao powder under treating conditions which do not reduce an amount of CMP presenting in cacao beans, as possible, the cacao powder rich in CMP, to be obtained by the process, and a prepared cacao comprising the cacao powder.
Final object of the invention lies in providing a good cacao powder which is not spoiled in taste, in spite of that its CMP content is kept in higher level, to make easy intake of CMP which is excellent in functions.
The inventors have energetically studied and investigated for dissolving said problems and attaining said objects. As a result, they have obtained such findings to establish the invention that preparation of the cacao powder rich in CMP (may be abbreviated hereinafter as xe2x80x9cHPCxe2x80x9d) is possible by adjusting roasting conditions of a cacao nib, and that the astringency and bitterness inherent to CMP can be sharply inhibited by adjusting treating conditions with an alkali, prior to the roasting treatment, in spite of that the cacao powder has relatively high CMP content and although an amount of CMP somewhat reduces than that contained in the cacao beans.
Namely, the invention relates to a process for preparing a cacao powder rich in polyphenols, which is characterized by subjecting a cacao nib to an alkali treatment under water content condition of 3-10% by weight or the cacao nib to a roasting treatment by setting initial water content of 3-10% by weight, without carrying out the alkali treatment, and then carrying out steps of grinding, oil expression and pulverization, in order; the cacao powder obtained by the process; and a prepared cacao composed of the cacao powder.
The basic matter of the process according to the invention lies in that the amount of CMP presenting in the cacao beans does not reduce, as possible, through steps for preparing the cacao powder and thus, it is preferable to use cacao beans in kind and place of production, which contain CMP in higher level, as much as possible, in order to obtain a cacao powder rich in CMP. For instance, the cacao beans produced in Ghana, which have been widely selected for preparing the cacao powder contain CMP of about 3.3% by weight in raw beans, and while the cacao beans produced in Ecuador show higher CMP content of 3.6-6.3% by weight and thus, it is advantageous to use the cacao beans produced in Ecuador, since the amount of CMP is higher than those produced in Ghana. The cacao beans produced in Venezuela can be exemplified as those containing CMP in higher amount, excepting those produced in Ecuador.
In case of carrying out the process according to the invention, taste of finally obtained cacao powder becomes good, if an alkali is added to make final pH to 5.0-7.5 and more preferably to 6.6-7.0, in the alkali treatment. When potassium carbonate, sodium carbonate or the like is used as the alkali, it is preferable to add the same in an amount not exceeding 2.0% by weight to the cacao nib.
It is preferable to set water content in the cacao nib in a reaction vessel for subjecting the cacao nib to the alkali treatment in lower level, as possible, so that CMP presenting in the cacao beans remains in an amount as much as possible. Since moisture contained in the cacao nib per se is 3-7% by weight, in usual cases and thus it is necessary to carry out the treatment under the water content condition of 3-10% by weight, by setting possible adding water of an amount not exceeding 7% by weight.
Further, it is preferable to carry out the alkali treatment under controls of temperature in a range of 50-100xc2x0 C. and stirring time period in a range of 5-30 minutes to finish the reaction under lower temperature condition and shorter period of time, as possible, so as to remain CMP as much as possible.
In the roasting step for carrying out the process according to the invention, it is preferable to set shorter roasting period of time, in order to remain CMP presenting in the cacao beans in maximum level, but it necessary to consider various conditions on an amount of adding water, temperature, roasting period of time and others, in response to kind of the cacao beans for taking out inherent flavor and taste due to the kind of cacao beans. In a usual case, such conditions for the roasting treatment are preferable as standards that initial water content is 3-10% by weight, final temperature of the cacao nib is 120-125 C., and roasting period of time is about 30-50 minutes. For instance, the cacao nib with nice taste can be obtained by if necessary, adding water to make water content of the cacao nib at roast starting time as 10% by weight and then roasting the same for 40 minutes, so as to reach final temperature of the roasted cacao nib to 123 C. (final moisture content of the roasted cacao nib: about 2% by weight), when the cacao beans produced in Ecuador are selected. In case of the cacao beans produced in Ecuador, bright flavor inherent to the beans becomes strong, but grassy-smelling generates, when the final temperature of cacao nib is lower than 123 C., and the flavor becomes poor and taste becomes heavy feeling, when the roasting is carried out until the final temperature of cacao nib exceeds 123 C.
It is preferable that moisture content of the roasted cacao nib is 1-5% by weight and in such a range of moisture content, almost no lowering of CMP content occurs in subsequent grinding and oil expressing steps.
The subsequent step of oil expression from the roasted cacao nib can be carried out in a conventional manner. In the conventional cacao powder, there are two types containing oil as final content of 12-14% by weight and 22-24% by weight, but it is preferable to carry out the oil expression, so that the final oil content becomes 12-14% by weight, to increase CMP content therein. When the process according to the invention is carried out with use of the cacao beans produced in Ecuador, HPC containing CMP of 7-11% by weight can be obtained by carrying out the oil expression, so as to make the final oil extent to 12% by weight. In this case, HPCs containing CMP of 7-9% by weight have proper astringency and bitterness to show nice taste.
When the oil expression is carried out, so as to make final oil extent to 22% by weight, HPCs containing CMP of 6-10% by weight can be obtained.
The prepared cacao can be obtained by composing a saccharoid, powdered milk and edible additive(s) in the HPC and mixing the same or agglomerating mixture in the form of powder in a conventional manner.

Cocoa powder rich in polyphenols, process for producing the same and modified cocoa containing the same