Oligosaccharides including those usable as anti-inflammatory agent or anti-allergy agent, represented by the following general formula (3):

The present invention relates to a method for producing an oligosaccharide. The present invention also relates to a novel oligosaccharide and a pharmaceutical composition containing it.
Keratan sulfate is a glycosaminoglycan comprising, as a basic structure, N-acetyl lactosamine in which the 6-position of the N-acetyl glucosamine residue is O-sulfated. It has been reported that some of degradation products of karatan sulfate, i.e., keratan sulfate oligosaccharides, have a pharmacological activity (see, for example, International Publication No. WO96/16973).
As a disaccharide structure derived from keratan sulfate, those shown in FIG. 1 may be expected. However, searching of another keratan sulfate oligosaccharide having a pharmacological activity has been limited, because it has been difficult to obtain a keratan sulfate oligosaccharide as a disaccharide having a galactose residue at its reducing end (GlcNAcxcex21xe2x86x923Gal where Gal represents galactose, GlcN represents glucosamine, and Ac represents an acetyl group) and having a sulfate group like keratan sulfate. For example, even by treating keratan sulfate with known endo-xcex2-galactosidases, it is difficult to obtain a disaccharide having a galactose residue at its reducing end (GlcNAcxcex21xe2x86x923Gal) with a sulfate group retained.
A first object of the present invention is to provide a method that makes it possible to easily produce a keratan sulfate disaccharide having a galactose residue at its reducing end.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a novel oligosaccharide having a pharmacological activity, and to provide it as a medicine.
The inventors of the present invention found that a disaccharide having a galactose residue at its reducing end could be obtained through glycosidic linkage formation by protecting hydroxyl groups and an amino group in glucosamine, and hydroxyl groups in galactose in a particular manner. Moreover, they also found that disaccharides in which hydroxyl groups at particular positions were sulfated had excellent pharmacological activities. The present invention has been accomplished based on these findings.
The present invention provides a method for producing an oligolsaccharide represented by the following general formula (3):
wherein R10 and R11 each independently represent a hydrogen atom or xe2x80x94SO3M where M represents a proton or a monovalent cation, Ac represents an acetyl group, R12 represents a hydrogen atom, a 6-O-sulfated N-acetylglucosamine residue, an alkyl group, a glycerol residue, an O-alkylglycerol residue, an O-acylglycerol residue, a cholesterol residue, a cholestanyl group, a ceramide residue, a phospholipid residue, a biotin residue, or a peptide residue, and Z represents an oxygen atom or xe2x80x94NHCOxe2x80x94,
which method comprises at least a step of carrying out glycosidic linkage formation between a monosaccharide represented by the following general formula (1):
xe2x80x83wherein R1 and R2 each independently represent an aralkyl group, R3 represents an acyl group or a silyl group, R4 represents a protective group for an amino group, and R5 represents a leaving group, and
a monosaccharide represented by the following general formula (2):
xe2x80x83wherein R6 and R8 each independently represent an aralkyl group, R7 represents an acyl group or a silyl group, R9 represents an aralkyl group, a 6-O-sulfated N-acetylglucosamine residue, an alkyl group, a glycerol residue, an O-alkylglycerol residue, an O-acylglycerol residue, a cholesterol residue, a cholestanyl group, a ceramide residue, a phospholipid residue, a biotin residue, or a peptide residue, and Z represents an oxygen atom or xe2x80x94NHCOxe2x80x94 (this method is also referred to as the xe2x80x9cproduction method of the present inventionxe2x80x9d hereinafter).
In the production method of the present invention, it is preferred that at least one of R10 and R11 represents xe2x80x94SO3M where M represents a proton or a monovalent cation, and the method comprises, after the step of carrying out the glycosidic linkage formation between the monosaccharide represented by the aforementioned general formula (1) and the monosaccharide represented by the aforementioned general formula (2), a step of substituting a hydrogen atom for at least one of R3 and R7, and subsequently substituting xe2x80x94SO3M for the hydrogen atom.
In a preferred embodiment of the production method of the present invention, the aforementioned general formulae (1)-(3) are represented by the following formulae (4)-(6), respectively:
wherein Bn represents a benzyl group, R13 represents an acetyl group or a levulinoyl group, and Phth represents a phthaloyl group, and X represents a halogen atom;
wherein Bn represents a benzyl group, R14 represents a benzyl group, a 6-O-sulfated N-acetylglucosamine residue, an alkyl group, a glycerol residue, an O-alkylglycerol residue, an O-acylglycerol residue, a cholesterol residue, a cholestanyl group, a ceramide residue, a phospholipid residue, a biotin residue, or a peptide residue, Z represents an oxygen atom or xe2x80x94NHCOxe2x80x94, and Piv represents a pivaloyl group; and
wherein, Ac represents acetyl group, and M represents a proton or a monovalent cation, R15 represents a hydrogen atom, a 6-O-sulfated N-acetylglucosamine residue, an alkyl group, a glycerol residue, an O-alkylglycerol residue, an O-acylglycerol residue, a cholesterol residue, a cholestanyl group, a ceramide residue, a phospholipid residue, a biotin residue, or a peptide residue, and Z represents an oxygen atom or xe2x80x94NHCOxe2x80x94.
In another preferred embodiment of the production method of the present invention, the aforementioned general formulae (1)-(3) are represented by the following formulae (7)-(9), respectively:
wherein, Bn represents a benzyl group, Lev represents a levulinoyl group, and Phth represents a phthaloyl group, and X represents a halogen atom;
wherein, Bn, R14 and Z are as defined above, Ph represents a phenyl group, and Me represents a methyl group; and
wherein, R15 and Z are as defined above, Ac represents an acetyl group, and M represents a proton or a monovalent cation.
In a further preferred embodiment of the production method of the present invention, the aforementioned general formulae (1)-(3) are represented by the following formulae (10)-(12), respectively:
wherein, Bn represents a benzyl group, Lev represents a levulinoyl group, and Phth represents a phthaloyl group, and X represents a halogen atom;
wherein, Bn, R14 and Z are as defined above, Ph represents a phenyl group, and Me represents a methyl group; and
wherein, R15 and Z are as defined above, Ac represents an acetyl group, and M represents a proton or a monovalent cation.
The present invention also provides an oligosaccharide represented by the following general formula (13):
wherein, R16 and R17 each independently represent a hydrogen atom or xe2x80x94SO3M where M represents a proton or a monovalent cation, Ac represents an acetyl group, R18 represents a hydrogen atom, a 6-O-sulfated N-acetylglucosamine residue, an alkyl group, a glycerol residue, an O-alkylglycerol residue, an O-acylglycerol residue, a cholesterol residue, a cholestanyl group, a ceramide residue, a phospholipid residue, a biotin residue, or a peptide residue, and Z represents an oxygen atom or xe2x80x94NHCOxe2x80x94, provided that an oligosaccharide wherein both of R16 and R17 are hydrogen atoms, Z is an oxygen atom and R18 is a hydrogen atom or a cholestanyl group, and an oligosaccharide wherein R16 represents xe2x80x94SO3M where M represents a proton or a monovalent cation, Z is an oxygen atom and both of R17 and R18 are hydrogen atoms are excluded (The oligosaccharide is also referred to as the xe2x80x9coligosaccharide of the present inventionxe2x80x9d hereinafter).
In a preferred embodiment of the oligosaccharide of the present invention, each of R16 and R17 is xe2x80x94SO3M where M represents a proton or a monovalent cation.
In another preferred embodiment of the oligosaccharide of the present invention, R16 is a hydrogen atom, and R17 is xe2x80x94SO3M where M represents a proton or a monovalent cation.
In the oligosaccharide of the present invention, R18 is preferably a hydrogen atom, a 6-O-sulfated N-acetylglucosamine residue, an alkyl group, an O-alkylglycerol residue or a cholestanyl group, and Z is an oxygen atom.
The present invention further provides a medicine comprising, as an active ingredient, the oligosaccharide of the present invention represented by the following general formula (13):
wherein, R16 and R17 each independently represent a hydrogen atom or xe2x80x94SO3M where M represents a proton or a monovalent cation, Ac represents an acetyl group, R18 represents a hydrogen atom, a 6-O-sulfated N-acetylglucosamine residue, an alkyl group, a glycerol residue, an O-alkylglycerol residue, an O-acylglycerol residue, a cholesterol residue, a cholestanyl group, a ceramide residue, a phospholipid residue, a biotin residue, or a peptide residue, and Z represents an oxygen atom or xe2x80x94NHCOxe2x80x94, provided that an oligosaccharide wherein both of R16 and R17 are hydrogen atoms, Z is an oxygen atom and R18 is a hydrogen atom or a cholestanyl group is excluded, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof (The medicine is also referred to as the xe2x80x9cmedicine of the present inventionxe2x80x9d hereinafter).
In particular, the oligosaccharide of the present invention wherein R16 is xe2x80x94SO3M, and R17 is a hydrogen atom or xe2x80x94SO3M where M represents a proton or a monovalent cation, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof is useful as an anti-allergy agent, and the oligosaccharide of the present invention wherein both of R16 and R17 are xe2x80x94SO3M where M represents a proton or a monovalent cation, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof is useful as an anti-inflammatory agent.
The present invention also provides a pharmaceutical composition comprising the oligosaccharide of the present invention usable for the medicine and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. In particular, an anti-allergy composition comprising the oligosaccharide of the present invention usable for the anti-allergy agent and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier, and an anti-inflammatory composition comprising the oligosaccharide of the present invention usable for the anti-inflammatory agent and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier are provided. In addition, the present invention provides a method for preventing or treating allergy, which comprises administering a therapeutically effective amount of the oligosaccharide of the present invention usable for the anti-allergy agent to a subject in need of such treatment, and a method for preventing or treating inflammation, which comprises administering a therapeutically effective amount of the oligosaccharide of the present invention usable for the anti-inflammatory agent to a subject in need of such treatment.

Method for producing oligosaccharide, and novel oligosaccharide and pharmaceutical composition containing the same

Abstract: wherein R10 and R11 each independently represent a hydrogen atom or xe2x80x94SO3M where M represents a proton or a monovalent cation, Ac represents an acetyl group, R12 represents a hydrogen atom or an anomeric substituent (a 6-O-sulfated N-acetylglucosamine residue, an alkyl group, a glycerol residue, an O-alkylglycerol residue, a cholesterol residue, a cholestanyl group, a ceramide residue, a phospholipid residue, a biotin residue, or a peptide residue), and Z represents an oxygen atom or xe2x80x94NHCOxe2x80x94.


A pop-up tissue dispenser comprising a dispensing package and tissues is disclosed. The tissue-dispensing package is cylindrically shaped with a dispensing opening through which tissues are removed individually. The tissues are disposed in the dispensing package in a specific interleaved pattern and orientation, permitting the convenience of pop-up tissue access from the cylindrically shaped dispensing package. The dispensing package may be disposable or refillable, and may also be provided with an attachment means to further facilitate tissue removal.

The present invention relates to pop-up tissue dispensers. Specifically, the invention described herein pertains to the folding configuration of interleaved tissues and the cylindrical dispenser therefor.
Tissue dispensers are designed to dispense individual tissues or similarly folded sheet product. Typically, the dispenser is comprised of a dispensing package and tissues in combination. The package contains an opening through which a single tissue is accessible and easily releasable from the rest of the tissues within the package. The pop-up style tissue dispenser provides a practical way to access individual tissues with minimal effort. The dispenser is generally parallelepiped in shape with overall dimensions that allow the user to place the dispenser anywhere accessibility to individual tissues is desirable.
These pop-up tissue dispensers are not always practical. In particular, the overall dimensions of the dispenser package can be limiting at times when the user wants to access a tissue, but the dispenser can not be conveniently located within reach. This problem occurs often when the user is in any location that does not have sufficient space for the dispenser to be placed.
Small packages of tissues are a useful alternative to the usual pop-up dispenser, but these packages usually contain tissues that are difficult to remove singly and equally difficult to unfold. The tissues may be smaller in overall size and are often of lesser quality than a typical full-size tissue. Furthermore, one has to carry the package on their person at all times to ensure convenient accessibility whenever a tissue is needed. These packages can be designed as a pop-up style dispenser, but the tissue must be unfolded to its full size prior to use. Although these small packages can be used when use of a larger box of tissues is not practical, many other inconveniences must be tolerated.
Driving an automobile poses additional problems. A typical box of full-size tissues may be out of reach if the box has been placed on the floor or in the back seat area. Small packages of tissues can also be inaccessible or difficult to find while driving. To help alleviate this particular problem, some automobiles have a specific location within the console, door or ceiling that is designed to accommodate a pre-packaged box of tissues. This enables the driver to access the tissues conveniently as needed. But not all automobiles are designed with such a tissue box holder.
These alternatives to a pop-up style dispenser do not provide adequate convenience in these situations, especially while driving. And because a person can spend a large amount of time travelling in automobiles, there is a need for a new pop-up style tissue dispenser that is both accessible and convenient to use while driving and at times when a larger box of tissues is not practical.

Cylindrical tissue dispenser with interleaved tissues


A delay locked loop circuit includes a duty detector configured to detect a duty cycle of a clock signal, and to determine whether to perform a coarse duty cycle correction based on the detected duty, and a delay locked loop core. The delay locked loop core is configured to selectively perform the coarse duty cycle correction for the clock signal according to the determination of the duty detector, perform a coarse lock for the clock signal during a first time period different from a second time period in which the coarse duty cycle correction is performed, and perform a fine duty cycle correction and a fine lock for the clock signal.

Example embodiments of inventive concepts relate to semiconductor devices, and more particularly to delay locked loop circuits included in semiconductor devices and methods of operating the delay locked loop circuits.
Generally, a clock signal is widely used as a signal for synchronizing an operating timing of a semiconductor device. When a clock signal applied from an external device is used inside a semiconductor device, a time delay or a clock skew by internal circuits may occur. A delay locked loop (DLL) circuit may perform a function that synchronizes an internal clock signal with an external clock signal by compensating for this time delay. In particular, the DLL circuit is widely used in a synchronous memory device, such as a synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM) that requires the synchronous operation for the clock signal. However, as an operating speed of a semiconductor device increases, a phenomenon where the clock signal is distorted such that a duty cycle (or a duty ratio) of the clock signal is not maintained as about 50% frequently occurs, which results in an abnormal operation of a double data rate (DDR) SDRAM using both rising and falling edges of the clock signal. Thus, the DLL circuit used in the DDR SDRAM should perform not only the locking for synchronizing the clock signal but also duty cycle correction (DCC). However, in a case where the DCC is performed along with the locking, the DCC may affect the locking, which may result in an operation error.

Delay locked loop circuit and method of operating a delay locked loop circuit


A two-piece pallet fastener for securing a pallet element to a base pallet is disclosed. The fastener includes a sleeve having internal, male protrusions and a rivet having external, female threads. The sleeve is installed in a pallet base and the rivet is inserted through the part to be attached to the pallet base and into the sleeve. The sleeve includes a rivet-receiving end having an alignment feature and an anchoring end. The anchoring end includes flexible legs having external shoulders. The rivet includes a head and a shaft. The head includes an alignment feature. The shaft includes external, female threads and two or more axially-aligned longitudinal grooves. One or more detents are formed on the rivet for engagement with the interior surface of the sleeve. The detents are provided to produce a ratchet-type effect to assure that the rivet is locked into the sleeve.

Successful domestic and international trade relies on the efficient and cost-effective shipment of both finished and unfinished goods of different sizes in various quantities. Many of these articles, both unfinished and finished, must be moved on flat transport structures such as pallets or skids that can be readily moved by heavy machinery such as a forklift, a pallet jack or a crane.
In order that shipping efficiency may be maximized at the lowest possible cost, the attachment of pallet components to one another must be undertaken quickly without compromising security or safety. Workers accordingly require a pallet fastening system that requires the least amount of effort to achieve complete fastening.
Conventional pallet fastening methods typically rely on either adhesive fastening or on mechanical fasteners such as nails, conventional screws or lag bolts. Adhesive fastening relies on permanent adhesives such as wood glue. While being effective at adhesion, the use of permanent adhesives makes disassembly very difficult and often results in damage to the pallet components.
Challenges faced by industries relying on mechanical fastening include different types of tools needed to install these fasteners. Nail fasteners result in cracked or damaged pallets. A further challenge is related to the disassembly of pallets once assembled, the challenge often including the removal of nails or the removal of threaded fasteners having stripped or damage fastener heads. Each of these challenges has the potential for increasing assembly cost to manufacturers because of added tooling as well as extra assembly and disassembly time.
Modern demands on the design and construction of pallet fasteners mean that new pallet fastener solutions need to contribute to ease of assembly as used in production (particularly in view of increasing automation) and provide excellent attachment strength, while maintaining high reliability and low production costs. Compliance with the need for standardization and the requirements of the shipping industry has proved challenging to current pallet fastener designs.
Accordingly, and as is the case in many industries, known approaches to attaching pallet components together are often undesirable and impractical. An improved methods for attaching two pallet components together remains wanting.


One embodiment of a golfing apparatus for assisting a golfer in playing golf includes an belt member adapted to be wrapped around a waist of the golfer. The belt member includes a groove. Further, the golfing apparatus includes an attaching member carried by end portions of the belt member. The attaching member is adapted to secure the belt member to the waist of the golfer. Furthermore, the golfing apparatus includes a guiding member adapted to receive a handle portion of a golf club. The guiding member is slidably engaged in the groove to enable a free movement of the guiding member therein. The free movement of the guiding member in the groove guides a swing of the golf club received in the guiding member, thereby assisting the golfer in playing golf.

Various golfing equipments, such as golf clubs, golf balls, and tee markers, are utilized by golfers while playing golf. In addition to such golfing equipments, other equipments, such as golf carts, and golfing bags, are also utilized by golfers while playing golf.
Putting is an important aspect of golf. During putting, the golfers generally bend towards a golf ball, and hit the golf ball by a golf club for displacing the golf ball towards an aimed hole on the golf course.
However, such striking of the golf ball often fails to displace the golf ball substantially closer to the aimed hole. Accordingly, golfers both experienced and beginners repeatedly practice putting strokes aiming to accurately put the golf ball in the aimed hole. However, since arms and body of golfers are unrestrained, every golf stroke may result in a different swing of the golf club. Moreover, since the golfers generally bend while hitting the golf ball, back and body portion of the golfers often comes under considerable stress. Such stress often creates various posture and health related problems for the golfers.


A smoke detector which responds to the presence of smoke or other aerosol particles within a smoke chamber. The detector includes a photocell and a pair of light sources, one light source aimed directly at the cell and the other light source shielded from direct illumination of the cell, but aimed at an inspection zone to which the cell is visible. The first light source shines in a generally steady state directly against the cell to bias the cell to a predetermined level. Cyclically, the first light source will be turned off and the second light source will be turned on to illuminate any smoke that may be present in the inspection zone. If smoke is present in excess of that which corresponds to the pre-bias of the cell, the output will rise due to reflection of light from the second light source against the smoke and onto the cell. The output will remain the same if the amount of smoke is equal to the pre-bias and the output will drop if the smoke is less than the pre-bias. Circuitry connected to the cell is adapted to respond to a change in the cell output and to actuate an alarm in the event that cell output is equal to or greater than a predetermined reference. A method for detecting the presence of smoke is also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to smoke detectors and the method of detecting smoke and more particularly is directed towards a new and improved smoke detector of simplified construction and operation and one that is thermally stable. This invention also relates to a novel method for detecting smoke by means of a cylindrical sequence of simplified steps.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional optical smoke detectors operate on reflected light principles by which a light source is directed towards an examination zone through which smoke is adapted to pass. A photocell is also directed at the zone and is adapted to respond to light reflected from any smoke particles illuminated by the light source. In my copending applications Ser. No. 824 filed Jan. 4, 1979 and Ser. No. 023.033, filed Mar. 23, 1979, both entitled "Smoke Detection and Method", there is disclosed a smoke detector comprised of two light sources and one cell. One of the light sources is adapted to illuminate an inspection zone while the other light source is employed to pre bias the cell. If no smoke is present the output of the cell will decay at a rate faster than would be the case if smoke were present. Timing circuitry is provided to measure the decay time and to actuate an alarm if the time exceeds a predetermined amount. The detector involves the operation of a ramp circuit and the making of precise measurements with respect to the decay time of the cell output.
It is an object of the present invention to provide improvements in optical smoke detectors of the foregoing type. Another object of this invention is to provide an optical smoke detector of improved construction and operation and one which responds to a simple change in the output of the cell. Another object of this invention is to provide a thermally stable smoke detector. A further object of this invention is to provide a novel method for detecting smoke by means of an optical smoke detection system.


A collapsible tripod stand for supporting an instrument in a spaced position above a supporting surface. The collapsible tripod stand will normally have a slanted main supporting member which has an upper end upon which is to be mounted the instrument and a lower end which is to be located against the supporting surface. Mounted to the main supporting member are a pair of legs which are angularly disposed relative to each other when such extend transversely to the main supporting member and are in contact the supporting surface. Each of the legs is connected by links to a middle clamp band mounted on the main supporting member with this middle clamp band being slidably movable thereon. Movement of the middle clamp band is capable of locating the legs in numerous transverse positions relative to the main supporting member or when in the collapsed position the legs are located alongside and substantially parallel to the main supporting member.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of this invention relates to stanchions or stands which are designed to support a piece of equipment in a spaced position above a supporting surface such as a floor or ground.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Stands are in extremely common use and are used to support equipment such as musical instruments, cameras, surveyors levels, telescopes, lighting equipment, microphones, intravenous containers, just to name a few usages for such stands. Most stands are designed to support the equipment in a directly vertical position which means that the main supporting member of the stand is always located perpendicular to the supporting surface. For some objects that are being supported, it would be more preferable to not have a vertical main supporting member. Examples of such equipment would be for an intravenous container where it is desired to have the container located directly above the patient with the main supporting member of the stand being located in a slanted configuration so as to not interfere with the body of the patient. Such slanting of the main supporting member is desirable also in conjunction with musical instruments where the stand is used to support sheet music. With the main supporting member being slanted away from the musician, this provides space for the legs of the musician, peg room for the cellist, slide room for the trombonist, and so forth, who normally is in a seated position directly adjacent the stand. Also, when the stand is used to support a microphone, a vertical main supporting member of the stand causes the base section of the stand to interfere with the feet of the microphone user. Again, by having a slanted main supporting member, the base section of the stand is spaced from the user so as not to interfere with the user.
Further, for some applications, users, such as photographers and animated musicians, may wish the stand to function temporarily as a unipod. Stands of the prior art have not been able to accommodate this type of movement.
Also, stands of the prior art are designed primarily to be used on level floors or level ground. When the supporting surface is not level, such stands of the prior art frequently become unstable and are subject to overturning. In order to accommodate unlevel surfaces, some of the stands of the prior art have been equipped with extendable legs so as to enable adjustment of the stand to assume a vertical position even when located on an unlevel surface. However, such extendable legs increase the complexity of the stand thereby increasing the cost of manufacture and also require additional setup steps for the stand when used on an unlevel surface.


A recording-reproducing apparatus can remarkably relax the reproduction tracking accuracy by use of a head wider than the track width. The carrier signal frequency assigned to a recording track is designated to a synthesized signal generator. In compliance with this designation, the synthesized signal generator generates a signal of the designated frequency. This carrier signal is amplitude-modulated by the baseband signal to be recorded in a mixer. The unrequired frequency components are removed from this modulation signal by a bandpass filter, and the resulting signal is recorded in a recording medium by a head. The recording medium and the head are in relative motion. In read mode, a track is specified by the carrier signal.

The present invention relates to an information recording-reproducing apparatus for recording and reproducing digital and analog information including video and audio information for video and audio equipment and external memory units of electronic computers.
External memory units for information equipment including electronic computers are roughly divided into disk-type and tape-type apparatuses. For all the disk-type information recording-reproducing apparatuses and a part of the tape-type information recording-reproducing apparatuses, the surface of the recording media is split into tracks in which information is recorded.
The recording and reproducing operation for each track requires the movement of a head providing recording-reproducing means on the track. This operation is called the tracking. The tracking is generally performed on the basis of the signal reproduced from reproducing means. In order to improve the recording density, the track width and the space between tracks have been reduced. In parallel with this, efforts have been made to improve the absolute mechanical accuracy of apparatuses for securing an accurate tracking.
In magnetic disks, for recording binary-coded digital signals, codes are converted (modulated) in such a way that the signal obtained at the time of reproducing is capable of self synchronization. These methods, some of which are for recording the FM (frequency modulation) signals, are strictly aimed at recovering clock signals required for deciding on the code from the reproduction signal.

Information recording and reproducing method and apparatus


The present invention relates specifically to starch products and starch compositions useful for thickening aqueous liquids, for example, for use by people suffering from dysphagia. In one aspect, the invention provides a pregelatinized, hydroxypropylated starch, having a level of hydroxypropylation in the range of about 1% to about 10%; an RVA viscosity in the range of about 400 cP to about 3500 cP; wherein the pregelatinized, hydroxypropylated starch is readily dispersible in milk. Another aspect provides a provides a pregelatinized, hydroxypropylated starch, having a level of hydroxypropylation in the range of about 1% to about 10%; and an RVA viscosity in the range of about 400 cP to about 3500 cP; and less than about 80%> of the surface protein of the corresponding native starch.

Field of the Invention
In certain aspects, the present invention relates generally to starch products and starch compositions. In more particular aspects, the present invention relates more specifically to starch products and starch compositions useful for thickening aqueous liquids, for example, for use by people suffering from dysphagia.
Technical Background
Difficulty or discomfort in swallowing is known as dysphagia. Dysphagia can accompany a wide variety of conditions, such as blunt throat injury, surgery caused impairment, stroke, multiple sclerosis, Asperger's syndrome, esophageal cancer, laryngeal cancer, Chagus disease, celiac, cystic fibrosis, Huntington's disease, Niemann-Pick disease, neurological conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, obesity, Riley-Day syndrome, high cholesterol, scleroderma, and diabetes. People with dysphagia generally lack the ability to properly seal the windpipe or to propel an entire bolus of food and/or beverage to the stomach. Accordingly, dysphagic people are at risk of having food or beverages being misrouted into their lungs, which presents the risk of bacterial infection, pneumonia, and even asphyxiation.
Dysphagia can be especially problematic with respect to the swallowing of liquids. Due to their low viscosity, they are especially susceptible to dripping into the lungs. Thickening such liquids for consumption is a common method of addressing this problem. Thickening also helps provide better bolus control and provides greater oral stimulation, which can also help manage the symptoms of dysphagia.
Modified food starches are often used to thicken liquids for dysphagia patients. Most conveniently, thickening can be performed at the time of service, for example by the addition of a dry powder to a desired liquid followed by agitation. Starches, however, can be difficult to homogeneously mix into a liquid. For example, in many cases the starch wets quickly, forming stringy, glue-like masses, potentially trapping some of the dry material in pockets to form "fish eyes" or powder clumps These attributes can be highly displeasing to the consumer. Accordingly, it is desirable to have a starch thickening agent that combines homogeneously with a liquid quickly with minimal stirring. This can be especially difficult when the liquid is milk; the complex nature of the fat and protein suspension present in milk makes the dispersion properties of the starch difficult to predict, especially with respect to process variability in large-scale manufacture. These issues have ultimately made the provision of a reliably milk-dispersible starch thickener difficult.
Thus, there remains a need for an improved starch thickener that is reliably and readily milk-dispersible.

Starch compositions useful for thickening aqueous liquids


An electrophotographic developing agent is provided that includes a binder resin, a releasing agent, a colorant, and a charge control agent. By using a binder resin having a high acid value and a mixture of two waxes having different melting points as a releasing agent, a electrophotographic developing agent is obtained, which has excellent fusing property and durability and does not result in hot offset and wrap jamming.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrophotographic developing agent. More particularly, the invention relates to an electrophotographic developing agent having excellent fusing property without filming, streaking, hot offset and wrap jamming on a developing member. The electrophotographic developing agent includes a binder resin having a high acid value and a mixture of a low melting point wax and a high melting point wax as a releasing agent.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electrophotographic image forming apparatuses currently being used include laser printers, facsimile machines, copiers, and the like. These apparatuses form an electrostatic latent image on a photoreceptor using a laser. A toner is transferred to the electrostatic latent image using a potential difference, and a resulting toner image is transferred to a printing medium such as a sheet of paper to form a desired image.
As image forming apparatuses such as electrophotographic laser beam printers (LBPs), multifunction machines, and color copiers are widely used, a high quality image is required. Unlike a mono-printer, a color laser printer expresses various colors using a toner having four basic colors (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black). For example, red is represented with magenta plus yellow. Thus, toner fusing property is more important than in the mono-printer.
Further, in view of environmental issue, less paper should be used and more double-side printing is required for user's convenience. The double-side printing results in more back-side contamination due to hot offset and wrap jam of a fuser than single-side printing. Of these disadvantages, wrap jam is more serious.
Furthermore, even within the life of a toner, image problems such as streaking of the toner itself and filming may be caused by letter or image printing.
To solve these problems, two or more binder resins are mixed and kneaded. The kneading conditions such as kneading temperature, screw rpm and feed rpm is controlled to improve dispersion of a releasing agent. The equipment for melting and kneading itself is improved, or a new type of melting and kneading equipment (e.g., open roll) is used to overcome these problems.
When a low melting point wax is used as a releasing agent to improve the fusing property, hot offset and wrap jam also occur. To reduce these problems, a high melting point wax is added to the low melting wax. However, in this case, the fusing property is deteriorated and it is difficult to disperse the releasing agent in a binder resin. Thus, further improvement in the electrophotographic developing agent is required.


The present application relates to the treatment of arthritis and related disorders and to a particular composition suitable thereto. The composition comprises a mixture of white petroleum jelly and the reaction products of lead-free gasoline in combination with dried and ground pods or seeds of the capsicum plants mixed to form an ointment to application to the affected part of the body.

Arthritis is medically termed as an inflamation of a joint or joints and is one of a number of diseases and disorders of the skeleton and body system commonly called rheumatism. It arises from many causes, some well-defined, some still unknown, and it is treated in many different ways. There are two common types know as rheumatoid arthritis and degenerative arthritis. The former is a disease not of the joints alone but of the whole bodily system, in particular, the connective body tissue. The latter is a chronic joint disease of age, rarely occurring before the age of 40 in humans. In both cases the manifestations are the same. The joints in the hands, feet and legs are affected. For example, they become swollen and gnarled, so that the digits tend to slant away to the outside. In severe cases unused muscles surrouding the affected area become painful and swollen and joints may become atrophied through non-use.
Various new and old drugs have been developed for the treatment of arthritis, such as cortisone, acth and others, but most have dangerous side effects. Their dosage must be carefully prescribed and administered under controlled conditions and circumstances to avoid very unpleasant side effects. Also, several ointments and liniments have been utilized for the relief of pains and aches of arthritis. Most of these have provided little relief to persons suffering from arthritis.
I have discovered an ointment that can be topically applied to the skin that will bring early relief from the aches and pains of arthritis, reduce the swelling of joints and thereby permit joint and muscular movements that were previously difficult and painful and in some cases impossible.
The ointment is prepared by mixing the following ingredients in these proportions:
1. 1/2 pint of lead-free gasoline PA1 2. 13/4 ounces of ground red pepper PA1 3. 1 pound of petroleum jelly.
The ingredients are throughly blended by agitating in a mechanical mixing devise to form a semi-solid composition.
In the preferred embodiment of the discovery I used a purified semi-solid mixture of petroleum jelly. The petroleum is admixed with ground red pepper derived from dried seeds and pods of the capsicum plant. To this mixture a distilled hydrocarbon product, commonly referred to as lead-free gasoline is added.
It is believed that it is the reaction product which is important to my discovery only and that ideally this product, if isolated and contained in the petroleum base may yet prove to be the commercially feasible ointment. However, it has been proven to be difficult to separate or distill this product from the non-reacting constituent parts.


Parasitic high-voltage diodes implemented by integration technology in a high-voltage level shift circuit are used for charging a bootstrap capacitor CB, wherein a power supply end of the high voltage level shift circuit is a high-side floating power supply VB, and a reference ground is a floating voltage PGD that is controlled by a bootstrap control circuit. A first parasitic diode DB1 and a second parasitic diode DB2 are provided between the VB and the PGD. The bootstrap control circuit is controlled by a high-side signal and a low-side signal.

The half-bridge driver circuit is widely applied in the fields of motor drive, electronic ballast, switching power supply, etc., and is used for driving two power switch devices connected in a totem-pole manner to make the two power switch devices be alternately conducted. As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional half-bridge driver chip comprises a low-side channel logic circuit and a high-side channel logic circuit, wherein the low-side channel logic circuit comprises a low-side signal input circuit, a low-side delay circuit and a low-side signal output circuit; the high-side channel logic circuit comprise a high-side signal input circuit, a narrow pulse generation circuit, a high-voltage level shift circuit and a high-side channel high-basin logic circuit; the high-voltage level shift circuit which is used as an interface circuit of circuits in a high-voltage area and a low-voltage area (located at the edge of an isolation structure, and needing to work at several hundred volts) is composed of high-voltage power switch devices (M01 and M02), resistive loads (RL1 and RL2) and Zener clamping diodes (D01 and D02); the high-side channel high-basin logic circuit is located in a high-voltage circuit area and is powered by the high-side floating power supply VB, other circuits are located at a low-voltage circuit area and are powered by a low-side fixed power supply VCC, and both the circuits in the low-voltage area and the high-voltage area work under a voltage ranging from 10V to 20V. In order to increase the utilization efficiency of the power supply, the half-bridge driver chip is powered by a single power supply, wherein the low-voltage area is directly powered by a direct current power supply VCC, while the high-voltage area is in a floating state, and is powered by an external bootstrap capacitor. When a lower tube (low-side tube) ML in the half-bridge structure is switched on, and a higher tube (high-side tube) MH is switched off, the voltage of the high-side floating power supply VB drops with the voltage drop of a high-side floating ground VS, when the voltage of the VB drops below the voltage of the VCC, and the differential voltage between the two exceeds the turning-on voltage drop of a high-voltage bootstrap diode DB, the VCC charges the bootstrap capacitor CB through the bootstrap diode DB; when the higher tube is switched on and the lower tube is switched off, the voltage of the VB increases with the voltage increasing of the VS, the voltage of the VB far exceeds the voltage of the VCC, and the bootstrap diode DB is switched off, and the high-basin circuit is powered by the bootstrap capacitor CB.
The conventional half-bridge driver circuit with an external bootstrap diode DB has obviously defects: the externally arranged discrete device (bootstrap diode DB) will increase additional costs of the circuit, and will increase the system complexity; the high-voltage bootstrap diode has a higher turning-on voltage drop, which will finally affect the charging voltage on the capacitor CB; moreover, the higher the withstand voltage of the diode is, the larger the turning-on voltage drop is; and the reverse recovery current of the bootstrap diode DB will cause electric leakage of the bootstrap capacitor.
In order to realize the integration of the bootstrap diode, a BCD (Bipolar CMOS DMOS) technology can be used to integrate the high-voltage bootstrap diode into the half-bridge driver chip, but the high-voltage bootstrap diode made by this technology has larger leakage and will bring about very large leakage that affects the system reliability, and meanwhile, the charging efficiency of the bootstrap capacitor is decreased. An SOI (Silicon On Insulator) technology can also be used to integrate the high-voltage bootstrap diode into the half-bridge driver chip, but the half-bridge driver chip made by the SOI technology will greatly increase the cost of the chip and reduce the competitiveness of the product.
Therefore, U.S. Pat. No. 7,215,189B proposes a bootstrap diode emulator circuit with dynamic back-gate biasing, as shown in FIG. 2, to replace the bootstrap diode DB in FIG. 1. The bootstrap diode emulator circuit in the patent comprises a high-voltage power switch device LDMOS and a control circuit; an integrated high-voltage power switch device LDMOS is turned on and off to stimulate the positive turning-on and reverse turning-off functions of a bootstrap diode DB; when a low-side output LO is at a high level, the LDMOS is turned on, and a low-side fixed power supply VCC charges a bootstrap capacitor CB through the LDMOS, and when the low-side output LO is at a low level, the LDMOS is turned off, and the low-side fixed power supply VCC stops charging the bootstrap capacitor CB. However, this technology has the defect of low charging efficiency. To this end, U.S. Pat. No. 7,456,658B2 proposes an improved solution: a voltage comparator circuit is added for a VCC and a VB; when the high-side output and the low-side output are at a low level at the same time, the comparator is enabled, and the LDMOS is turned on in the case that the voltage value of the VB is smaller than a certain value, and the VCC charges the bootstrap capacitor. However, the high-voltage power switch device LDMOS and the control circuit added in the bootstrap diode emulator circuit adopted by the patent greatly increase the complexity of the circuit, and the area of the chip is greatly increased; moreover, the cost is also increased; moreover, compared with the diode, the on-resistance of the LDMOS device is relatively large, which seriously reduces the charging speed of the bootstrap circuit, so that the technical solution is not suitable for some applications, such as a high-frequency half-bridge driver circuit.

Integrated bootstrap high-voltage driver chip and technological structure thereof

SOUTHEAST UNIVERSITY-WUXI INTEGRATED CIRCUIT TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE


An information recording and erasing method and apparatus of an optical memory medium including a substrate, a guard film, and an intermediate layer portion so disposed between said substrate and said guard film as to include at least a recording material layer having a phase changing with temperature and include at least one good conductor layer, comprising the steps of supplying magnetic flux varying relatively to said good conductor layer to generate eddy currents within said good conductor layer, and heating said recording material layer with heat generated in said good conductor due to the eddy current loss to effect information recording and erasing with respect to said recording material layer.

The present invention relates to an optical memory medium for optically recording and reproducing information which is especially suitable to the information recording and erasing and also relates to an information recording and erasing method and apparatus of an optical memory medium which are suitable for surely recording and erasing information of the optical memory medium at high speed.
An apparatus for recording information at high density and reproducing it by using laser light condensed to a submicron order is capable of recording a large capacity of information such as video information or audio information and is expected to become an indispensable apparatus for the future information society. One of such recording and reproducing apparatuses is a known optical disk apparatus. In optical disk apparatuses, there are three types: (1) reproduction-only type; (2) postscript type; and (3) rewritable type. The reproduction-only type and the overwriting type have nearly reached the stage of practical use. On the other hand, no methods are established in the rewritable type yet. The rewritable optical disk using an optical magnetic material, phase change material or the like is now under vigorous research and development. In the opto-magnetic disks and optical disks using the phase change material now under research, information is erased by using laser light. In case of optical magnetic disks, however, the magnetic field must be inverted during the erasing operation. Accordingly, optical magnetic disks are not suitable to the so-called successive erasing and recording scheme in which the information recording is effected concurrently with the information erasing. In case of an optical disk using the phase change, the recording sensitivity is lower than the erasing sensitivity and hence a laser beam taking the shape of long ellipse is radiated for the purpose of erasing operation.
The optical disk using the phase change comprises at least a substrate, a recording material layer and a guard film layer. The recording material used for the optical disk is a material highly sensitive to electromagnetic waves such as laser light. That is to say, the recording material used for the optical disk is a recording material using the crystal-amorphous phase change represented by a recording material disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3341825 or an organic memory material using a pigment or polymer as disclosed in JP-A-60-166487, JP-A-60-15180 and JP-A-60-180887. The features of these material are as follows: (1) Although recording operation can be effected at high speed, erasing operation is slow; (2) The erasing temperature is higher or slightly lower than the heat-resisting temperature of the substrate (120.degree. to 150.degree. C. in case of a plastic substrate). If these recording materials are used for the erasing operation, therefore, a technique for heating the recording material for a long time without heating the substrate is required.
If a long ellipse laser beam provided apart from the laser beam for recording and reproducing operation is radiated to erase the information in accordance with the conventional method, the ratio of the major axis to the minor axis is limited to approximately 10:1. The material whose data can be erased by using an ellipse beam having the axis ratio close to 10:1 is poor in thermal stability and hence in long-term stability of data. In case of a material having a fine thermal stability, the data cannot be erased by an ellipse beam having an axis ratio of approximately 10:1. Further, high-speed erasing operation is difficult.
In addition, the erasing temperature is higher than or close to the heat-resistance temperature of the substrate. In spite of the fact that the data can be erased by heating the material for a long time, therefore, the data cannot be actually erased for preventing the substrate from being heated.

Optical memory medium and its information recording and erasing method and apparatus


A carton is cut out and foldably formed from an integral piece of corrugated paperboard or similar sheet material, and has foldable bottom flaps and foldable closure flaps attached to panels forming side walls. Some of the panels define sidewalls forming a rectilinear carton, and at least one panel defines a partition dividing the carton into at least two compartments. Another panel defines a front wall of the carton, and has openings permitting access through the front wall to the compartments. The closure flaps have flanges which cover the access openings during shipping and inventory storage of the closed carton. The closure flaps are defined by fold lines that are weakened by scoring, perforating or the like, and are easily severed at the weakened fold lines. The carton can be assembled and folded flat, and erected for closure of the bottom, loading with product, and closure of the top. By removing the top closure flaps, the carton is converted to a display permitting customers to access the compartments through the openings in the front wall.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to packing and shipping cartons, and in particular concerns a plural-compartment carton formed from an integral flat piece of a sheet. The sheet is cut to form panels, and folded to provide certain partitioning and access features. When erected the carton has plural access openings in the front wall for access to internal compartments, for use as a display carton on retail shelves and the like. Flange portions of closure flaps cover the access openings during closure and shipping. The closure flaps can be removed for retail-display use of the carton.
2. Prior Art
A two-compartment packing and shipping carton is advantageously used, for example in the candy packing industry, for packing two complementary products. In the example of candy, the two compartments can be used for comparable products with nuts and without nuts, respectively. Various other examples of alternative choice products are also possible. A known two-compartment container for shipping and display of alternative products comprises the combination of a separate cap-like top, which is relatively shallow, with a deep box-like bottom.
At the packing line, the box-like bottom is filled with material, such as bags or bars of candy. The cap-like top is placed on and affixed to the box-like bottom for shipping or storage.
It would be advantageous for purposes of efficiency if a carton could be formed from an integral piece of stock such as corrugated paperboard or the like, rather than made from separate pieces. Such a carton could be cut, perforated or similarly subdivided to define panels, and folded to form and close the carton. However, this should not unduly complicate manufacture, packing, handling or use of the carton. Considering the needs for multiple compartments, access to the interior for packing and later for access to extract the product, these objectives can be difficult to achieve in a straightforward manner. Whereas the manufacture, packing and handling of the known two-piece carton is already rather complicated, changes to the carton configuration presents a risk of undue complication and expense.
For example, the known two-piece carton is customarily handled several times between manufacture and retail use. The manufacturer, packer, shipper, retailer and customer all have their particular needs and objectives. The known two-piece carton has been developed in an attempt to serve the convenience of each.
The manufacturer of the known carton typically forms the parts only partly into the fully-assembled and erected state of the finished carton. The manufacture typically forms at least some of the folds in the pieces and affixes some of the joints by glue, staple or tape. However, it is most convenient for the manufacturer to leave the carton pieces in a flat or folded collapsed condition, to conserve space for shipping to the packer. For example, the parts of the partially formed carton can be shipped with the box pan folded in half and collapsed flat. This configuration is compact, allowing a number of the cartons or parts of cartons to be stacked flat.
The packer unfolds the box-like bottom piece to erect it. This may include closing the bottom flaps using glue, staples, tape or the like, or the carton can have a self-erecting bottom. In any event, after erecting the box the packer fills the box-like bottom with product, and forms and attaches the top to the bottom to close the package for shipping or storage.
The retailer opens the carton sufficiently to enable customers to access the contents, while the product remains substantially housed in the carton and does not spill out. The retailer seeks also to display the product attractively and reasonably prominently, to encourage selection by the customers.
What is needed is an improved plural-compartment packing and shipping carton that serves all these objectives efficiently and at minimum expense, preferably using a single integral flat piece of paperboard or the like, to provide a carton that is quickly, easily and inexpensively made, that is durable for handling, and that provides an attractive display permitting ready access to the product.

Plural-component one-piece shipping and retail display carton


A mobile telephone which can easily reach a target person and obtain a plurality of phone numbers thereof is disclosed. Registered phone numbers related to registered names are retrievably stored in a phone directory memory. A radial number memory stores a plurality of radial phone numbers which have been dialed. By selecting one of the radial phone numbers, a registered phone number related to the selected radial phone number is sequentially displayed to be redialed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a portable or mobile communication device with a memory storing dialing information, and in particular to a telephone having a radial function and a redial method therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the widespread use of mobile telephones, a growing number of people possess two or more telephones including a stationary telephone connected to a public telephone subscriber line. In such a situation, since a single person has a plurality of telephone numbers assigned thereto, there are cases where two or more telephone numbers are sequentially dialed to make contact with that person.
To make such a dialing operation easy, a telephone having the function of retrieving telephone numbers related to the last-dialed telephone number has been proposed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2 87751. This conventional telephone is provided with a redial key as well as a redial-next key. The redial key, as well known, is used to redial the last telephone number dialed. The redial-next key is used to retrieve telephone numbers related to the last-dialed number from a memory storing telephone numbers related to a specific telephone number. The retrieved telephone numbers can be read out sequentially at each push of the redial-next key.
In the case where the user wants to see telephone numbers related to a telephone number other than the last-dialed number, however, it is necessary to manually retrieve a phone directory. Such a manual search operation is inconvenient for the user.

Mobile telephone having a redial function relating multiple redial numbers to a selected redial number and redial method therefor


A method of making polyetherimide foam precursors and flexible polyetherimide foams having improved specific tensile strength, resistance to high temperatures and flame, low density and flexibility at both high and cryogenic temperatures. 4,4'-oxydiphthalic anhydride (ODPA) is reacted with an alcohol to produce a diester, which is then reacted with a suitable monomeric polyamine such as meta phenylene diamine to produce a precursor. This material is dried to a solid block or powder. Upon heating, foaming occurs, resulting in a fine celled white friable mass. The foam is cured by heating for a suitable period and is ready for use.

This invention relates in general to methods of producing polyimide foam products and, more specifically, to the production of a foam having improved physical characteristics.
A number of methods of manufacturing polyimide foam products have been developed, such as those described by Lavin in U.S. Pat. No. 3,554,939, by Gagliani et al in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,394,464 and 4,407,980 and by Long et al in U.S. Pat. No. 4,476,254.
Lavin et al in U.S. Pat. No. 3,483,144 describes a process for preparation of a polyimide foam which is the reaction product of a tetracarboxylic acid or tetracarboxylic acid dianhydride and a polyamine containing from 2 to 6 amino groups per molecule. The preferred tetracarboxylic acid is 3,3,4',4'-benzophenone tetracarboxylic acid. A polyimide foam on the basis of 4,4'-oxydiphthalic acid or anhydride is not disclosed.
Other prior methods of making polyimide foam such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,554,939 generally combined a single monomeric polycarboxylic acid ester component, such as 3,3', 4,4' benzophenone tetracarboxylic acid dianhydride (BTDA) converted to the half-ester, with one or more monomeric polyamine components. Others reflux a dianhydride such as BTDA with an oxoimine or lactame such as caprolactam, until esterification is complete, then add the diamine or diamines. The resulting precursor is dried and can be caused to spontaneously foam by heating to an appropriate temperature.
While these prior techniques often produce foam products having excellent characteristics for particular purposes, we have found they do not have the specific tensile strength and flexibility and low density desired for many applications. Thus, there is a continuing need for improved polyimide foams and methods of making them.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a process for the preparation of polyimide foams having improved flexibility, low density and specific tensile strength.
It is a further object of this invention to provide such polyimide foams.

Polyetherimide foam precursors and foams having improved physical properties and methods of making them


This disclosure relates to unmanned aerial vehicles with parallax disparity detection offset from horizontal. The unmanned aerial vehicles use two optical elements, which are arranged to be separated by a horizontal distance and a vertical distance when the unmanned aerial vehicles operate leveled with respect to ground, to determine parallax disparity of an object.

It is known that unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, may be equipped with optical elements that guide light to image sensors, and that images of an object captured by the image sensors may be used to determine parallax disparity of the object. In such UAVs, the optical elements are arranged so that they are level/horizontal, like human eyes, when the UAVs operate leveled with respect to ground, e.g., not producing horizontal thrust.

Unmanned aerial vehicle with parallax disparity detection offset from horizontal


A solar heater adapted to be made as an integral, sealed unit for installation in a building exterior wall or for use in an existing window opening or the like. A collector is operative to transfer solar heat to an adjacent evaporator to heat and vaporize a liquid refrigerant. The refrigerant vapor rises naturally into a condenser disposed in intimate contact with a solid phase change material carried in a plurality of spaced containers. The refrigerant is condensed and flows by gravity back to the evaporator, giving up its heat of vaporization to the phase change material, resulting in melting of a portion of the material, and thereby storing heat. Air circulating past the containers receives heat from the material for heating the building interior during the night as well as the day. Stackable, nestable units are disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to solar heaters, and particularly to solar heaters of the type utilizing a vaporizable refrigerant to effect heat transfer to a heat storage means.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional solar heating systems can be broadly categorized as either passive or active. A passive system is effective to collect heat during the day to heat the building interior, but during the night an unacceptable heat loss occurs unless the collector air space is manually or automatically covered with insulation during the night. This introduces an undesired system complexity. In addition, the enclosed air spaces in a typical passive system become uncomfortably hot during the day in order to store enough heat for significant heating at night.
Active heating systems require circulation of fluids such as air, water, ethylene glycol and the like, through the collector portion of the system during the day. This makes the system complex and expensive since recirculation pumps or fans are required. In addition, associated controls are required to halt such fluid circulation at night. The added components and moving parts in such a system typically result in a much shorter service life compared to passive heating systems.
An interesting variation on the foregoing systems is an apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,073,284, issued Feb. 14, 1978, and entitled "Process and Device for Utilizing Meteorlogical Radiations". This system uses a heat storage material to store energy in the form of latent heat rather than sensible heat, thereby tending to avoid some of the problems of passive systems. A heat storage material is used whose temperature of crystallization coincides with the desired process temperature. Heat is stored in the material by changing its phase from solid to liquid at a predetermined process temperature. However, the system utilizes wicking to effect movement of refrigerant in opposition to the force of gravity, and this results in a relatively complex structure. An important consideration in a suitable solar heater is simplicity of construction to reduce initial cost and prolong service life.


A truncated right circular conical cage for trapping crustaceans comprises circumferential spaced fill wires converging from a circular base of the cage to a reduced diameter upper opening of the cage. Mutually spaced line wires encircle the cage and intersect the fill wires at cross over locations to thereby define discrete openings. The line wires are secured to the fill wires at the cross over locations, and are indented between the cross over locations to accommodate the convergence of the fill wires.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to submersible traps that are deployed on a sea bed to capture crabs and other like crustaceans, and is concerned in particular with improvements in the construction and manufacture of such traps.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The submersible crab traps currently in use typically comprise truncated right circular conical cages, with an enlarged diameter bottoms close by seines, and reduced diameter top openings supporting entry funnels. Bait is suspended in the cages to attract crabs. The crabs crawl up the sides of the cages and enter via the entry funnels. Once in the cages, the crabs are prevented from escaping by the reverse slope of the cage walls.
The trap cages are conventionally constructed of steel reinforcing bar and nylon netting. As such, they are expensive to produce, in addition to being relatively heavy, cumbersome, and difficult to deploy and retrieve in the rough seas and adverse weather conditions often encountered by crab fisherman.
A need exists, therefore, for an improved cage structure that is less expensive to produce, lighter, and thus easier to deploy and retrieve.
A crab trap cage in accordance with the present invention includes circumferential spaced fill wires converging from an enlarged diameter circular base to a reduced diameter upper opening. Mutually spaced line wires encircle the cage and intersect the fill wires at cross over locations to thereby define discrete openings. The line and fill wires are preferably drawn from steel rod, and are secured to each other as by welding at the cross over locations. The line wires are indented between the cross over locations to accommodate the convergence of the fill wires.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawing, wherein:


A process for stabilizing polymers is provided comprising:. (1) contacting at least one hindered phenolic compound and an organic phosphite to form a stabilizing mixture, PA1 wherein said contacting is at a temperature sufficient to at least partially dissolve said hindered phenolic compound, PA1 wherein said stabilizing mixture is essentially free of organic solvent; and PA1 (2) contacting said stabilizing mixture and a polymeric composition comprising a monovinylarene/conjugated diene copolymer; PA1 wherein said organic phosphite and said at least one hindered phenolic compound are present in step (2) in an effective amount sufficient to stabilize said polymeric composition. In accordance with another aspect of this invention a method for preparing a stabilizing mixture essentially free of organic solvent is provided.

Monovinylarene polymers and monovinylarene/conjugated diene copolymers are known and useful for a variety of purposes, It is also known to add various stabilizers to the polymers to prevent deterioration from prolonged use or processing at high temperatures, Previously stabilizers were dissolved in an organic solvent and added to the reaction solution prior to recovery of the polymer. A problem is encountered when employing certain stabilizers because of their low solubility in various typical organic solvents, Dissolving such stabilizers in solvent requires large amounts of organic solvent and high temperatures and pressures. Addition of such stabilizers is impractical in commercial processes and would require pressurized equipment. Employing solvents at elevated temperatures requires special considerations and handling techniques which contribute to the complexity and expense of commercial processes. Another disadvantage of employing such stabilizer solvent solutions, is that the stabilizers can precipitate from solution causing plugging of transfer lines and equipment.
It would therefore be desirable to develop a simple, inexpensive, and safe process for stabilizing polymers such as monovinylarene/conjugated diene copolymers.

Method for stabilizing monovinylarene/conjugated diene copolymers and a method for preparing a stabilizing mixture


A service description may be used in network virtualization in order to specify requirements of an application. In order to provide network virtualization for generic networking components, including legacy networking components, the service description is mapped to a logical network implementation and then subsequently mapped to a physical implementation.

Data centers provide physical network infrastructure to multiple customers or tenants. Due to the sharing of the physical infrastructure of the data center among the multiple tenants, resource as well as service isolation between tenants is a requirement for data centers. The required isolation may be achieved using network virtualization that configures the physical infrastructure to provide separate isolated virtual networks.
Network virtualization may be achieved using various techniques and technologies such as Openflow, Overlay or other proprietary technologies such as CISCO ACI. However, these techniques depend strongly on underlying technology support and may rely on the use of specialized hardware. Accordingly, in order to support network virtualization, networking equipment may need to be upgraded, which may increase both operating expenses as well as capital expenses.

Network virtualization for network infrastructure


A vacuum tank is used to suck slop over 100 feet from a basin attached to the well head of an oil well. A vacuum is initiated in a vacuum tank by a vacuum pump and maintained when liquid flows into the vacuum tank by pumping liquid from the vacuum tank into a holding tank. The liquid from the holding tank is transferred to a truck tank by which it is carried to a place of disposal. The vacuum pump and liquid pump attached to the vacuum tank are powered by a diesel engine through a hydraulic power transmission system. The diesel engine is remotely controlled from the well-head area by a remote control which operates a starting relay at the diesel engine and also which regulates the speed between idle and operating speeds. The remote unit also has a light which indicates if the diesel engine is running.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to diesel engines and oil rigs for producing oil wells. Particularly, this invention relates to a remote control for a diesel engine used to transfer sludge and other waste material which flow from an oil casing during maintenance thereof. Also more particularly, this invention relates to preventing pollution of the environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
Often oil is produced from deep within the earth by pumps which pump the oil to the surface of the earth. The pumps, being mechanical devices, often need repair and maintenance. This is normally done with a work-over rig which normally will have a derrick to pull sucker rod and tubing from the casing within an oil well. Often, as the sucker rod or the tubing and pump are pulled from the well, oil will be forced out of the well. Particularly if the tubing is pulled the tubing will often be full of crude oil and as each joint of tubing is disconnected, crude oil within the tubing will run out of the tubing. If the oil spills upon the earth it will often be washed by rain water into streams or percolate through the earth into underground aquifers. In either event, pollution of the water in the stream or in the aquifer will occur.
In addition, the crude oil will often have with it many other substances many of which are more harmful than the petroleum products themselves. In addition, many wells produce noxious if not toxic gases. On some wells it is necessary that the workers wear protective breathing equipment.
Many people have previously attempted to control leaks and spills around oil wells. For example, the DEWEY U.S. Pat. No. 113,638 issued in 1871, discloses a bag or rubber sock which may be connected around the top of the tubing on an oil well to prevent leakage from an operating oil well from running upon the ground. DYER U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,353,606, in 1967 and JOHNSTON 3,270,810 in 1966, show similar flexible containers to prevent the loss of oil. Likewise, BEARD U.S. Pat. No. 1,418,612 in 1922, and RETHERFORD U.S. Pat. No. 4,665,976 in 1987, show rigid containers surrounding the tops of operating oil wells to prevent loss.
EVANS, U.S. Pat. No. 4,949,784 issued in 1990, discloses a basin or vat attached around the top of an operating oil well to catch any leakage therein. In this instance the leakage is drained by gravity into an open pit dug in the ground which is lined with a material such as Fiberglass to prevent the crude within the sump from seeping into the earth. It is suggested that the sump be emptied by a hose to suck the material from the bottom of the sump. Petroleum products that had leaked from the well would pass through the surface pump.
SCHUYLER, U.S. Pat. No. 1,507,628, in 1924 devised a vat to attach around the casing. The oil was sucked from the bottom of the vat using an aspirating device which produced a suction by the flow of oil from a pumping oil well. SCHUYLER would operate only when there was a flow of fluid from the oil well.
My prior patent application identified above, described how a vat could be placed around the casing; the vat included a lip to prevent liquid from sloshing out over the edges of the vat. Also the vat was emptied by sucking the fluids into a vacuum tank which pulled the fluids by pulling gas off the top of the vacuum tank. However, in some wells that produced an excess of liquids, there was a problem of the vacuum tank being filled up and the work delayed while the tank was being emptied. Also, the prior application did not disclose a vacuum line directed directly to the casing of the well.
Also, the prior application disclosed only an electric motor to power a vacuum pump.


A color converting member is capable of suppressing deterioration in a phosphor by a simple manufacturing process. A method of manufacturing a color converting member includes a process of molding a resin material into a shape. In the process, molding the resin material and the phosphor integrally into a shape is performed, after kneading a phosphor that converts one color light to another color light into the resin material.

The present disclosure relates to a color converting member for performing color conversion by using a phosphor, a method of manufacturing the same, a light emitting device using the color converting member, and a display device.
Previously, a liquid crystal display (LCD) is used as a thin-type display device. In the liquid crystal display, a backlight for irradiating an entire liquid crystal panel from the back side is used. According to the structure of the backlight, liquid crystal displays may be broadly divided into the direct type and the edge light type. In the edge light type, a light emitting element is provided for a side face of a light guide plate provided on the entire face of a display region. Light which is incident from the side face of the light guide plate is made propagate and, after that, is extracted from the top face of the light guide plate. On the other hand, in the direct type, for example, by disposing a plurality of light emitting elements on a substrate, plane emission is performed as a whole.
As such a backlight, there is proposed a light emitting device realizing pseudo white light by providing a phosphor layer for performing color conversion on the light outgoing side of a blue light emitting diode as a light emitting element and mixing converted color light and blue light (refer to, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 2006-49657, 2004-352928, and 2007-23267.
Concretely, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-49657, by potting resin mixed with a YAG phosphor on a GaN-based blue light emitting diode chip, a part of blue light is converted to yellow light in the phosphor layer, thereby obtaining white light.
However, such a phosphor layer is vulnerable to oxygen and moisture in atmosphere. There is a problem such that when the phosphor layer is exposed to oxygen, moisture, and the like, it deteriorates. The color conversion efficiency of the phosphor decreases, and light emission luminance and chromaticity of the light emitting device deteriorates. Such deterioration in the phosphor is conspicuous particularly under high-temperature high-humidity environments. In Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-352928, a method of applying a phosphor layer on an exterior cap that seals a blue light emitting diode and, after that, hermetically sealing the resultant in vacuum or inert atmosphere is used. In Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-23267, a method of sealing a phosphor layer by sandwiching it between two glass substrates is proposed. However, the methods of Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 2004-352928 and 2007-23267 have a problem such that the manufacturing process is complicated.
It is therefore desirable to provide a color converting member capable of suppressing deterioration in a phosphor by a simple manufacturing process, a method of manufacturing the same, and a light emitting device and a display device each using the member

Color converting member, method of manufacturing the same, light emitting device, and display device


Included are embodiments for a color calibration device formed from a flexible, elongate strip of material that is formable into a headband. The color calibration device includes a first color correction region comprising a plurality of color chips and a second color correction region comprising a plurality of color chips, wherein the first color correction region and the second color correction region are positioned on opposite sides of a mid-point of the flexible, elongate strip of material.

Countless individuals all over the world seek to improve their physical appearance and health through the use of medical and cosmetic products, such as color cosmetics, skin care products, body care products, hair care products, etc. Many of these products are available through retail stores and/or pharmacies, where a live consultant may be available to assist with the selection of the most appropriate product. In some instances, virtual consultations may be provided in the retail store to assist with the product selection. However, oftentimes, these consultations may be difficult and/or embarrassing for the user to complete at the retail establishment. Further, oftentimes the user has no place to store, share, compare, or otherwise utilize the consultation analysis and/or product recommendations.
In addition, there is a continuing desire to provide systems, devices, and methods that enable a consumer to track his/her usage of cosmetic products at dates, times, and locations of his/her choice. Still further, there is continuing desire to provide systems, devices, and methods that provide ubiquitous access to product recommendations, data associated with a consumer's use of cosmetic products, and/or data associated with the state of the consumer's skin. Still yet further, there is a continuing desire to provide systems, devices, and methods that can accommodate the use of different image capture devices at disparate locations as part of the tracking and/or consultation experience.

Systems, devices, and methods for providing products and consultations


The variable bitrate coding method according to the invention includes an iterative process including a first coding pass and a second prediction pass. The coding pass allows for a picture coding of a sequence with a constant quantization stepsize (and quality) and the prediction pass allows for a matching of the stepsize to the wanted target bitrate. After some iterations, a last step allows for a finer adjustment of said stepsize with respect to said target bitrate.

The present invention relates to a variable bitrate video coding method and to a corresponding video coder allowing to carry out said method.
As described in the document  less than  less than MPEG Video coding: a basic tutorial introduction greater than  greater than , S. R. Ely, BBC Research and Development Report, BBC-RD-1996/3, pp. 1-10, MPEG activities started in 1988 with the aim of defining standards for digital compression of video and audio signals. The first goal was to define a video algorithm for digital storage media such as the CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read-Only Memory), but the resulting standard was also applied in the Interactive CD system (CD-I). Allowing transmission and storage of picture data at bit rates in the range of 1 to 15 Mbits/s, this standard is based on a data compression achieved by using a block-based motion compensation for the reduction of the temporal redundancy and a discrete cosine transformation (DCT) for the reduction of the spatial redundancy.
With conventional CD standards such as CD-I and CD-ROM, the transmission bit rate is fixed and pictures can therefore only be coded at a constant bit rate. New standards such as the Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) allow for transmission of data at a variable bit rate (VBR): complex scenes can be coded at a higher bitrate than scenes containing less information, in order to maintain a constant quality.
An object of the invention is to propose a VBR video coding method allowing to obtain such a constant quality of the coded sequence, but under the constraint of a given total bit budget (i.e. according to a predetermined target bitrate).
To this end the invention relates to a VBR video coding method characterized in that it comprises:
(a) a coding step, for coding a picture sequence with a constant quantization step and generating a bitstream for which the average bit rate of the sequence does not fulfil necessarily a required constraint of a specific size;
(b) a prediction step, for predicting the quantization stepsize which must be used to code the bitstream according to a predetermined target bit rate;
(c) at least one repetition of said coding and prediction steps in order to get a more precise estimation of said stepsize;
(d) a final control step, relying on a comparison of the cumulative bit rate for all previous frames with the cumulative predicted bit rate, in view of an adjustment of the stepsize so that said target bit rate is matched.
Another object of the invention is to propose a VBR video coder provided for implementing said coding method.
To this end the invention relates to a variable bit rate video coder characterized in that it comprises:
(a) a coding branch, including in series at least a quantization circuit and a variable length circuit;
(b) a prediction branch, including in series at the output of said quantization device at least an inverse quantization device and a prediction sub-system and defining by subtraction the signal to be coded by said coding branch;
(c) a control circuit provided for carrying out the implementation of the following operations:
a coding operation of a video sequence with a constant quantization stepsize;
a prediction operation for an estimation of a quantization stepsize allowing to code the bitstream with a specified target bitrate;
at least one repetition of said operations;
a final controlling operation in order to match the total number of bits spent during the coding operation to said target bitrate.

Variable bitrate video coding method and corresponding video coder


An specimen cup holder is provided which permits a person to position a conventional specimen gathering device, such as a specimen cup, for receipt of a specimen without contact with the specimen. The specimen cup holder is provided with a specimen cup engaging assembly having a handle member connectable thereto such that the handle member extends outwardly from the specimen cup engaging assembly. The connector assembly, which connects the handle member to the specimen cup engaging assembly, is provided with a female member and a male member. The interconnection of the handle member to the specimen cup engaging assembly via the male and female members of the connector assembly enables a person to grasp a gripping portion of the handle member and easily position the specimen cup for receipt of the specimen.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to specimen gathering devices, and more particularly but not by way of limitation to an improved holder for a specimen cup.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Specimen cups and other specimen gathering devices have heretofore found wide use in the medical profession for obtaining specimens, such as urine, which must be analyzed to diagnose illnesses prior to implementing a desired medical treatment. The procedure for obtaining a specimen is often difficult and unpleasant because the person gathering the specimen often comes into contact with the specimen.
The unpleasant and often difficult process involved in gathering a specimen has been overcome to a large extent by the improved specimen cup and holder disclosed in our copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/679,267 filed Apr. 2, 1991. The holder disclosed in Ser. No. 07/679,267 also provides improved stability to the specimen cup during receipt of the specimen. However, a need remains for a specimen cup holder for a conventional specimen cup which is simple in construction and economical to manufacture, while at the same time permitting persons of all ages to assemble the specimen cup holder and to employ same to support the specimen cup. It is to such an improved specimen cup holder that the subject invention is directed.