The invention discloses systems for mounting heat shields onto a spacecraft. It shows a number of ways to attach heat shield tiles in a way that allows for and accommodates the thermal expansion and contraction of the tiles without overstressing them and without loosing them due to delamination of adhesives. Shown also are various fasteners, which are flexible in several directions and which should preferably be oriented to provide the least resistance to the expected deformations of the tiles.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to means and methods for attaching devices to each other, and attaching plates to other bodies, where the assemblies and/or the assemblies members get exposed to harsh operating or environmental conditions, such as when they get exposed to varying temperatures simultaneously or at varied times and varied temperature levels, and more particularly to cases where the various members of the assemblies have different thermal coefficients of expansion (TCE), what is referred to as TCE Mismatch.
More particularly, the present invention relates to attaching heat shielding and/or heat shield tiles and the like to the body of space vehicles or spacecrafts in general, in a way so as to prevent the premature failure, delamination or separation of such shielding or tiles.
2. Description of Related Art
Introduction:
Several months ago, NASA suffered a big loss. The space shuttle Columbia had an accident, it disintegrated and the astronauts perished.
To my knowledge, up to this date, a number of theories or speculations have been presented, but there has not been any conclusive determination as to the exact cause of the accident.
One of the theories points to the heat shield tiles, stating that one (or more?) tile(s) or "foam" slabs had dislodged, hit the wing or other parts of the space vehicle?, created a hole in the outside skin of the vehicle, raising the temperature, etc. etc.
The incident started me thinking about some ways to reduce the chances of such catastrophes from re-occurring, and I have applied some of my concepts in my latest patent applications to hopefully provide some options to the NASA people to consider using them.
Prior Art
A patent search using the keywords "heat shield" and "space vehicle" showed over 50 patents, many of them showing prior art in the general area of the technology. However, only one patent comes somewhat close to the invention in this application, but not close enough to create any infringement, in my opinion. Obviously, I will defer to the opinion of the Examiner to decide on this point.
1. U.S. Pat. No. 5,489,074 to Arnold et al, entitled Thermal Protection Device, In Particular For An Aerospace Vehicle.
The other patents in the prior art, listed below, were very helpful to me in learning more about this area of technology. I want to thank the authors/inventors of these patents and I will use some of the information in their patents to explain my invention here.    1. U.S. Pat. No. 3,920,339 to Fletcher et al. entitled "Strain Arrestor Plate For Fused Silica Tile",    2. U.S. Pat. No. 4,124,732 to Leger entitled "Thermal Insulation Attaching Means",    3. U.S. Pat. No. 4,151,800 to Dotts et al. entitled "Thermal Insulation Protection Means",    4. U.S. Pat. No. 4,338,368 to Dotts et al. entitled "Attachment System For Silica Tiles",    5. U.S. Pat. No. 4,439,968 to Dunn entitled "Pre-Stressed Thermal Protection Systems".    6. U.S. Pat. No. 4,358,480 to Ecord et al. entitled "Method of Repairing Surface Damage To Porous Refractory Substrates",    7. U.S. Pat. No. 4,706,912 to Perry entitled "Structural External Insulation For Hypersonic Missiles",From these patents, I learned that, at different times, some parts of the spacecrafts can reach low temperatures as low as −270° F., and as high in excess of 2,300° F., or can reach up to 3,000° F. Some parts reach only 2,800° F., while other parts reach only 1,200° F., or even to 700° F. only. All these various temps are depending on the location of the part on the body of the spacecraft. So ideally, the heat shield protection has to be "tailored" to suit the specific location on the spacecraft. For this reason, I have provided the options of having either one single layer of shielding, or multiple layers of shielding, depending on the need.
Also, the shape or contour of the spacecraft varies along its outside surface, and I have provided solutions for that too.
Definitions:
I will use the words "shuttle" or "vehicle" or "spacecraft", interchangeably, to represent/designate any space vehicle of this kind, where high amount of heat is generated during reentry from space into the earth atmosphere, or the like, i.e. any body in general that needs to have a heat shield, and where some layer(s) of heat insulation material(s) are required to be mounted on the outside of the vehicle body or the like, to act as a heat shield and to protect the insides of the vehicle from such a high level of heat and/or temp.
Tile will stand for any individual section or segment of the heat shield material, used mainly to prevent large amount of heat or cold to transfer from the outside of the space vehicle, inwards towards the vehicle body and its contents. The definition includes also any "foam" or "foam slab" or the like.
Joint will stand for any combination, where a tile is attached on to the vehicle body, the joint being considered the combination of the tile, the section or area of the vehicle body corresponding to the area of the tile and to the means of holding the tile to that area of the vehicle body, such as glue or adhesive etc. My understanding is that the tiles are simply "glued" on to the vehicle body.
Adhesive, and/or glue will stand for any method used presently to attach the heat shield tiles to the body of the space vehicle.
TCE will stand for "Temperature Coefficient of Expansion"
TR will stand for "Tie-Rod"
Each TR has two ends and I will designate them as follows. The lower end of any TR, i.e. the end near the vehicle body, will be called the "Vehicle End" or "VE". The other end of any TR, i.e. the end near the tile, will be called the "Tile End" or "TE". See also "Definitions".
VE will stand for "Vehicle End" of a Tie-Rod, i.e. the end of the tie rod that is closest to the body of the vehicle.
TE will stand for "Tile End" of a Tie-Rod, i.e. the end of the tie rod that is closest to the heat shield tile.
wrt will stand for "with respect to"
L is the original length of a body under consideration,
Δt is the temperature change (increase or decrease) of the body,
k is the TCE of the material of the body,
ΔL is the change (increase or decrease) in the length L of the body, due to the given temp change.
Temp will stand for temperature.
Anchor TR is the TR that would be considered to be holding the tile more rigidly in place wrt to the rest of the members in the arrangement. Usually, it would be preferred to place the anchor TR close to the geometric center of the tile, which could also be considered the thermal center of the tile. However, in certain situation, it would be better to place the anchor TR at a strategic corner or edge of the tile.
Deformation: When a heat shield system is exposed to thermal fluctuations and other influences, causing the heat shield system to change its dimensions relative to the body of the spacecraft, said relative dimension changes will be referred to as deformation.
The Problem:
I think that one of the problems with most conventional methods of attaching/joining such tiles to the body of the shuttle is the effect of the temperature difference between one component of the "joint" and the other components. An example of such a joint, is when a tile is glued to the body or to a support member using some kind of an adhesive. Add to this problem, the effect of any mismatch in the Temperature Coefficient of Expansion (TCE) that could exist between the components of such a joint. The fact that some adhesives that are used loose their elasticity at a specific low temperature does not help the problem either.
Let me explain.
Please see FIG. 1.
Let us consider a tile 111, which is "glued" to the shuttle/vehicle body 113, as shown in the upper portion of FIG. 1.
Let's say that at Room Temperature (RT) or rather at Ambient Temperature (AT), the tile length is T1 115 and the length of the vehicle body portion or section that corresponds to this tile length is B1 117. The tile is attached to the body by some means, such as an adhesive 119 or glue or the like. The body is also at RT or AT.
At RT/AT, both parts have the same length, i.e. T1=B1.
The tile has the proper shape to match the shape of the body at this location, whether straight or curved, and the "adhesive" is holding the tile to the body.
Now, let's look at what happens when the vehicle is going through re-entry. The temperature of the tile rises to a very high level. But the tile is supposed to protect the body underneath it by preventing the heat from penetrating through. Hence, the body temperature underneath the tile is much lower.
Let's assume that the temperature difference between the tile and the body of the vehicle is 1,000° C., although it is understood that the temp difference can be much higher.
My understanding is that the tiles are made of a ceramic material, which has an average TCE of approximately 6 ppm/° C. This means that if the tile's temperature rises by 1° C., then the length of that tile would increase by 6 units of length for every 1 million unit of length of its original length.
In other words, if the tile's original length is 1 foot, and its temp rises by 1 degree C., then the tile's length would increase by [(1/1,000,000)×6] of one foot, or by [(1/1,000,000)×6×12] of one inch. This equals 0.072 of one thousandth of an inch for this 1° C. temp rise.
Now if the tile's temp rises by 1,000° C., then the tile length would increase by [0.072×1,000] of an inch, or approx. 0.072 inch.
If the tile were twice as long, i.e. 2 feet long, then the increase in its length would be twice as much, i.e. approx. 0.144 inch.
If the temp rise were twice as high, i.e. 2,000° C., then, for the 2 feet long tile, the increase in length would again be twice as much, i.e. 0.288 of an inch, i.e. over one quarter of an inch.
The physical relation is represented by the following equation:
ΔL=L×Δt×k
Where:
L is the original length of the body,
Δt is the temperature change (increase or decrease) of the body,
k is the TCE of the material of the body,
ΔL is the change (increase or de crease) in that length L of the body, due to the given temp change or thermal dimensional change or deformation.
ΔL for the tile 111 is represented in FIG. 1 by the difference between the distances 125 and 115, which is the total of the distances 131 and 133.
Note that if the tiles were made of some other material, then the k value would be different, and could possibly be larger yet than that of ceramic. Hence, the thermal dimensional change or deformation ΔL would be larger than the ones shown above.
The purpose of all this analysis is to show that the expansion of the tiles is fairly large for those high temp rises.
If the tile is attached to a substrate that remains at room temperature, because the tile is doing a good job insulating the substrate, then the difference in length between the tile and the substrate will be equal to the numbers shown above. But if, say, the substrate's temperature rises is about one half of the temp difference between the tile and the substrate, and if the TCE of the substrate is identical to the TCE of the tile, then the length difference would be one half of the numbers shown above.
However, if the TCE of the substrate is different than that of the tile, then we need to repeat the above calculations to find the changes in the substrate itself, and then determine the different in the lengths of the tile and the substrate.
Now, if we consider that the "adhesion" is the only means that is holding the tiles to the substrate, which is the body of the shuttle, then we can expect that, under these harsh temp conditions, the adhesive could break down, especially at the edges of the tiles, where the expansion is largest. Eventually, the tile could separate from the adhesive and/or the body of the shuttle. The result is that the tile would delaminate, especially at the edges of the tile. The delamination could propagate towards the center of the tile, and the end result could be that the tile could become loose and could fall off, if the rest of the adhesive is not strong enough to hold the tile down in place. This is more apt to occur, especially after some time or some repeated heating and cooling, such as after several "re-entries".
Of course if the adhesive degrade when its temp gets below its glass transition, then the problem become much worse yet.


Aspects of the present invention relate to systems and methods by which a player may remotely participate in casino gaming activity. Such aspects may include a video camera configured to provide visual data concerning the casino gaming activity to the player, a microphone configured to provide audio data concerning the casino gaming activity to the player, and a data network coupled with the video camera and the microphone. In such aspects, the player may be located in a hotel guest room, the hotel guest room may include a video display coupled with the data network, and one or more buttons of a remote control device associated with said video display may be configured to control said player's remote participation in the casino gaming activity.

In jurisdictions where casino gambling and slot machines are legal, slot machines account for the majority of gaming revenues. In a casino, it is common to see 70% or more of the gaming floor space dedicated to slot machines, both of the reel spinning and video varieties. Typically these machines make their return on investment based on two to four hours of play per day. They offer an experience tailored to individual play. The popularity of these machines is related to the variety of the games offered, the simplicity of the rules, and the attraction of the themes. In addition to the experience offered by the game, the player is assured that the game offers a reasonable chance of winning. This assurance is due to the game being subject to a variety of governmental and regulatory oversight. Wagering devices are highly regulated, and each machine must pass governmentally dictated requirements or it will not be approved for use. Although these regulatory requirements often vary from one gaming jurisdiction to another, the player is assured of a fair game of chance as dictated by that jurisdiction's governing regulatory body, regardless of the jurisdiction in which the machine and the player are located.
Remote-based gaming offers gaming operators the opportunity to offer gaming to remote locations and, correspondingly, provide remote users with access to gaming. The increasing popularity and number of Internet-based casinos confirms this proposition. Remote-based gaming to date has been based either on live events such as horse racing and sports wagering, or virtual games replicating the games played in traditional casino games. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,800,268, to Molnick, 5,762,552, to Vuong et al., and 4,467,424, to Hedges et al., which are incorporated by reference in their entirety. Virtual games offer an operator the distinct advantage of allowing an unlimited number of users to access one software-based game. A single computer server can host a suite of games that may be accessed by a theoretically unlimited number of players. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,586,937, to Menahse, 6,080,063, to Khosla, and 6,117,011, to Lvov, which are incorporated by reference in their entirety. The use of virtual games for wagering has three major disadvantages for the operator and the player: high software development costs, the time and costs associated with the regulatory approval process, and lack of consumer confidence in the honesty of the game. The present invention alleviates these disadvantages while providing a higher return on investment than found in a traditional casino.


A rosin-modified phenol resin (A) is a reaction product of a rosin (b), a phenol (c), a formaldehyde (d) and a polyol (e), wherein the rosin (b) contains 0.1 to 3.5% by mass of a monoterpene (a1) and a sesquiterpene (a2) relative to the total weight of the rosin, and Mw/Mn which is the ratio of the weight average molecular weight (Mw) and the number average molecular weight (Mn) is 10 to 60.

The lithographic printing ink is an ink having a high relative viscosity of 5 to 100 Pa·s. In the mechanism of a lithographic printing machine, ink is supplied from an ink fountain of a printing machine via a plurality of rollers to an image area on a plate surface, and dampening water is supplied to the non-image area of the plate surface. Furthermore, an image formed on the plate surface is transferred to a blanket, and is then transferred to the paper.
In recent years, there has been an increasing demand for personnel saving, labor saving, automation, and high speed at the time of printing. Further, the technology which can print on a wide range of paper from coated paper to non-coated paper has been demanded. Moreover, there is a desire for an ink by which a high quality printed matter can be stably obtained over a long period of time without the generation of soiling under various printing conditions. Specifically, there is a strong desire for an ink which has a good fluidity of the ink, an excellent gloss on the printed material, and which can reduce printing troubles such as blanket residue. Blanket residue means that a mixture of the ink and paper powder is deposited at the boundary of the image area of the blanket and the non-image area during printing, and a large deposition amount of the mixture causes poor image formation.
Conventionally, in order to improve the gloss of a printed material, a method which reduces the viscosity of the ink by increasing the blending amount of petroleum-based solvent or vegetable oil and the like to improve the smoothness of the print surface, and a method which uses a low molecular weight highly soluble resin or a petroleum resin and the like to increase the resin component in the ink system in order to strongly control the penetration of ink into the printing paper substrate to maintain the ink coating film thickness, and the like have been used.
However, when increasing the blending amount of the petroleum-based solvent or the vegetable oil in order to reduce the ink viscosity, the tack value of the ink tends to decrease, and the transfer between rollers on the printing machine deteriorates. Further, when using the low molecular weight highly soluble resin or the petroleum resin or the like to increase the resin component in the ink system, the tack value of the ink tends to increase too much which causes paper peeling, or the control of emulsification becomes difficult which interferes with the printability of the ink. Therefore, improving the gloss of a printed material while maintaining the printability was limited.
Other than the methods, there is also a method which uses a petroleum-based solvent having a high solubility with respect to the resin component in the ink system to increase the compatibility in the ink system so as to ensure a low ink viscosity and a high concentration of the resin component. However, the gloss effect cannot be sufficiently obtained due to the solubility of the petroleum-based solvent in the resin. Further, many petroleum-based solvents having a high solubility in the resin component are mainly composed of aromatic hydrocarbons which have adverse effects on the human body. Petroleum-based solvents during printing are a cause of environmental load such as the printing work environment and atmospheric pollution, thus, recently the usage thereof has been suspended.
Further, offset ink compositions having excellent gloss and prepared using fatty acid esters as ink components have been disclosed (Patent Documents 1 and 2). However, with these ink composition, it is difficult to control the penetration of fatty acid ester into the paper, and the situation is such that the paper which can be used during printing is limited, and the dryness of the ink is not sufficiently satisfactory.
Improvements have been made in regards to the rosin-modified phenol resin used as an ink component. Patent Document 3 discloses a method for reacting a monoester obtained by partially esterifying a mixture of a rosin and an animal or vegetable oil fatty acid with a monoalcohol with a polyhydric alcohol and a phenol formaldehyde initial condensate. However, with this method, in order to use a monoalcohol for esterification, there can be no cross-linking with the rosin and the animal or vegetable oil fatty acid, which makes it difficult to control the molecular weight.
Patent Document 4 discloses a rosin-modified phenol resin obtained by reacting a cyclic terpenyl phenol. However, a high cost is necessary in order to obtain the cyclic terpenyl phenol by the reaction or extraction. Furthermore, Patent Document 4 does not disclose the suppression of soiling and the behavior on the printing machine which are required in the market, and does not provide an ink which is desired in the market.
Patent Document 5 discloses a resin metallic salt obtained by performing a neutralization reaction of an α,β-unsaturated carboxylic acid adduct of a rosin reduced in the low boiling components to 2% or less with two or more metallic compounds. However, since this is a resin for gravure printing and not for printing via a blanket, it does not solve the problem with lithographic printing. Further, it is not possible for the resin metallic salt to obtain the viscosity and elasticity necessary for a lithographic ink, and thus, is not suitable as a resin for a lithographic printing ink. Furthermore, in Patent Document 5, the resin is heated at 250° C. to 300° C. in order to reduce the low boiling components in the α,β-unsaturated carboxylic acid adduct of a rosin to 2% or less. However, when heated to such a temperature, the resin acid in the rosin changes to a less reactive dehydroabietic acid, and the reactivity at the time of resin preparation cannot be ensured.

Rosin-modified phenol resin, lithographic printing ink, and printed product


A light guide plate includes two opposite incident surfaces for receiving light beams, an emitting surface joining the two incident surfaces and a bottom surface opposite to the emitting surface. The emitting surface has a V-shaped profile defined by two symmetric oblique surfaces slanting down toward each other at a predetermined angle. Further, each of the oblique surfaces defines a plurality of grooves extending therein and being arranged along an oblique direction thereof. The surface light source incorporating the light guide plate is inexpensive and has higher intensity of illumination at the center region thereof. Thus a liquid crystal display incorporating the surface light source satisfactorily illuminates a main visible range thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light guide plate and a surface light source device incorporating the light guide plate, especially to a light guide plate configure to provide high light intensity at a center thereof.
2. Prior Art
Liquid crystal displays are thin, lightweight, and have low power consumption. Owing to these characteristics, liquid crystal displays have been widely used in the fields of communications and consumer products, in devices such as personal computers, liquid crystal TVs, image telephones, PDAs (personal digital assistants), etc. The liquid crystal display is a passive device, which must usually incorporate a surface light source device in order to provide images.
A conventional surface light source device 10 is illustrated in FIG. 9. The surface light source device 10 includes a light guide plate 1, a reflector 2 arranged on a bottom surface 11 of the light guide plate 1, a diffuser 3 arranged on an emitting surface 12 of the light guide plate 1, a light source 6 positioned adjacent to an incident surface 13 of the light guide plate 1, a reflector positioned behind the light source 6, and two prism sheets 4, 5 arranged on the diffuser 3. In operation, light beams coming from the light guide plate 1 are scattered by the diffuser 3, and uniformly emit from the diffuser 3. The light beams are then converged by the prism sheets 4, 5 to improve the intensity of illumination. However, the surface light source device 10 has numerous elements, which makes it unduly thick and costly. The light beams must pass through a plurality of interfaces before emitting from the prism sheet 5, which reduces the intensity of the emitted light.
FIG. 10 shows a surface light source device 20 as disclosed in China Patent No. CN99214211. The surface light source device 20 includes a light guide plate 21, a reflector 22, a light source 24, and a diffusing film 23. A plurality of terraced printing lines 261 is defined on an emitting surface 26 of the light guide plate 21, to enhance the light intensity thereof. However, light beams from the light source 24 are converged only along a direction of the printing lines 261. Therefore, the light beams cannot be utilized efficiently, and the light intensity of the surface light source device 20 is relatively poor.
In order to solve these problems, China Patent No. CN98207946 provides a light guide plate which comprises a prism array with single axis on an emitting surface, in order to increase the intensity of emitted light. Alternatively, a prism array with two axes can be defined on the emitting surface. However, a liquid crystal display generally needs a higher intensity of illumination in a center region of a display screen thereof, in order to satisfactorily illuminate a main visible range of the liquid crystal display. The light guide plate does not provide the required illumination.

Light guide plate with narrowed center and surface light source device incorporating same


A television apparatus comprises a support frame and a leg member extending from the support frame to support the support frame in an inclined orientation. The television apparatus further comprises a display panel unit having a chassis movably mounted to the support frame via a first coupling assembly mounted between a right side edge portion of the chassis and a right side section of the support frame, and a second coupling assembly mounted between a left side edge portion of the chassis and a left side section of the support frame.

1. Field
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a support frame to support a display unit on which an image is displayed and a display device including the support frame.
2. Description of the Related Art
Display devices, such televisions, generally include electronic display panel units to display moving images.
To achieve an optimal viewing condition, a display unit preferably needs to be disposed at a certain desired height so that a user can comfortably and clearly view images appearing thereon.
To position a display unit at a certain desired height, in general, the display unit may need to be placed on a top of a desk or shelf via a stand connected to the display unit or the display unit may need to be installed on a fixed bracket fixed to a wall and used as a wall-mounted type.

Support frame and display device including the same


The present invention relates to absorbent articles, typically for feminine protection, comprising a topsheet, a backsheet, and an absorbent element positioned between the topsheet and the backsheet. The absorbent article also comprises edge barrier elements for intercepting fluids. The edge barrier elements comprise a liquid absorbent thermoplastic composition comprising a polymeric base material having particles of water-insoluble water-swellable absorbent material dispersed therein, and are provided with a basis weight gradient along their respective width or length in the liquid absorbing thermoplastic composition and/or in the particles of water-insoluble water-swellable absorbent material dispersed therein.

Although absorbent articles, such as sanitary napkins or panty liners, have improved a lot the last years with respect to various features like protection and comfort in use, there is still a consumer need for further improvements in these two directions.
Indeed, there exists a real consumer need for absorbent articles, typically for feminine protection articles, having improved liquid handling properties, namely enhanced liquid distribution properties and a liquid holding and containing capacity high enough for use without consumer fears of leakage or staining especially after prolonged period of wearing time, yet which are thin and flexible, thereby offering enhanced fit and comfort.
Leakage of body fluids from the absorbent article typically occurs once the article becomes saturated with absorbed fluid. However in practice leakage of body fluids from the article can also often occur before saturation of the article is reached. Leakage causes staining of the support or associated garments and therefore frequent changing of the absorbent article is often necessary to prevent such staining. Leakage before saturation of the article can be typically caused by exuding body fluid contacting and temporarily saturating the top layers of absorbent material at a central area of the absorbent article, which then causes the body fluid to migrate by wicking or flowing across the upper surface of the article from the central area to the side edges thereof, typically the longitudinal side edges, but also the transverse side edges, before it has penetrated and/or fully diffused within the main bulk of the absorbent core. This effect can be also increased by the presence in absorbent articles of well known fluid acquisition/distribution layers in addition to the main absorbent core, which while on one hand improve the distribution of the absorbed body fluid across a greater surface area of the absorbent core, by also increasing its migration speed, can also bring the fluid more rapidly toward the edges of the absorbent article before it is fully absorbed in the absorbent core, hence potentially causing leakage. This may occur for example with modern, very thin absorbent cores comprising fibres and particles of absorbent gelling material, for example constituted by a laminated structure of at least two fibrous layers with particles of absorbent gelling material comprised therebetween. Such structures have a great capacity of absorbing and retaining fluid, but owing to the relatively slow absorption mechanism of the absorbent gelling material particles, are typically advantageously associated to fibrous substrates, such as for example one or more fluid acquisition/distribution layers, to promote and increase the diffusion of the fluid, and a more efficient subsequent absorption in the core.
Of course leakage can be also promoted by user's movements during wear which cause the absorbent article to be deformed and compressed, and possibly the fluid to be squeezed out of the core. Particularly for sanitary napkins, prevention of leakage, typically side leakage in the lateral direction, but also in the longitudinal direction, is of primary importance for users.
A known solution to the problem of leakage in absorbent articles such as sanitary napkins is for example described in patent application GB 2019727, disclosing a sanitary napkin provided with a barrier sheet which is wider than the garment facing surface of the absorbent core and which has longitudinal edge portions which cover the longitudinal sides and preferably also the side margins of the body facing surface of the absorbent core. This solution has however the disadvantage of a relatively complicated structure, especially for application to modern thin absorbent articles, also comprising wings. Moreover, the portions of the barrier sheet folded over part of the body facing surface of the absorbent core actually limit the surface area of the core which is available for direct fluid acquisition.
Alternative types of barriers against leakage in absorbent articles are also described in prior art, constituted for example by seal lines or areas made e.g. by embossing, melting or heat sealing, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,275,591, or by application of a water impermeable hot melt adhesive in selected locations, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,718,898. All these solutions have the common disadvantage that in any case they create areas in the absorbent structure where absorption is actually inhibited.
Still a further approach to the problem of leakage, and more typically of side leakage in absorbent articles is the provision of physical barriers on the body facing surface of the absorbent article, such as raised elements, or alternatively cuffs or walls which are capable of standing upwards from the body facing surface of the absorbent article during wear. This type of self standing cuffs, preferably also provided with elastic elements, are described for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,074,856, 5,490,847, 5,810,800. The drawbacks of physical barriers are in the rather cumbersome construction, also implying complex manufacturing processes, particularly when present in combination with other rather usual features in absorbent articles, such as for example side wings. They could also be improved for what concerns conformability and comfort in use.
EP 1013291 A1 discloses a hot melt adhesive with superabsorbent polymers. The resulting thermoplastic hot melt adhesive material can be used to provide additional absorption capacity to absorbent structures in absorbent articles, as well as to adhesively bond substrates in the absorbent article, i.e. as an absorbent construction adhesive. The thermoplastic absorbent hot melt adhesive material can be also applied in form of longitudinal and/or transverse edge stripes generically over the core or over the topsheet, in order to provide some sort of barrier effect to body fluids. However, the absorbent articles disclosed in EP 1013291 A1 present the disadvantage of a far less than optimal liquid handling capability, particularly they have a poor capacity of effectively preventing liquid leakage from the longitudinal and/or transverse sides, while at the same time they are not efficient in diffusion and distribution of liquid.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an absorbent article having an improved capability of minimizing the risk of edge leakage, particularly from the longitudinal side edges, hence providing a better handling and containment of the absorbed liquid in use.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an absorbent article that in addition has an improved capability of effectively acquiring, distributing and absorbing fluid.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide an absorbent article that takes advantage of the unique characteristics of thermoplastic materials which are also absorbent by incorporating absorbent gelling materials in providing increased absorbency and leak prevention capability where it is most needed in the article.

Absorbent article comprising improved edge barriers comprising a liquid absorbent thermoplastic composition


A composition of (i) an organometallic precursor containing a hydrazine compound coordinating with a central metal thereof and (ii) an organometallic compound of a main group metal and a method of forming metal film or pattern using this composition.

This non-provisional application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a) on Patent Application No. 2003-43564 filed in Korea on Jun. 30, 2003, which is herein incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organometallic precursor composition and a method of forming a metal film or pattern using the same. More specifically, the present invention relates to a composition comprising (i) an organometallic precursor containing a hydrazine compound coordinating to a central metal thereof and (ii) an organometallic compound of a main group metal and a method of forming a metal film or pattern using the composition.
2. Description of the Related Art
A metal pattern to be formed on a substrate continues to get smaller in accordance with the recent trend of an increase in the degree of integration and a decrease in the size of electronic devices, such as integrated circuits (IC) and Liquid crystalline displays. Usually, metal patterns are formed on a substrate through a photolithography process using a photoresist and generally include the steps of a) forming a metal layer on a substrate via a chemical vapor deposition process (CVD process), a plasma deposition process or an electrical plating process; b) coating a photoresist on the metal layer; c) exposing the coated photoresist to UV-radiation under a photomask having a pattern; d) developing the photoresist layer to obtain a patterned photoresist layer; and e) etching the metal layer under the pattern of the photoresist with, for example, a reactive ion-etching process to form a metal pattern on the substrate. Since the photolithography process involves many complicated steps and requires the use of a large amount of fine chemicals such as expensive photoresist compositions and etchants, it is undesirable in terms of cost and environmental protection. Especially, in the photolithography process, there are many steps such as depositing or etching that should be conducted at a high temperature and/or high pressure, and thus, the operational costs become very high. Also, metal vapor diffusion into the substrate, which frequently occurs under a high temperature process, brings about a malfunction or defect in the final electronic device. On the other hand, for a flexible display or a TFT-LCD to achieve a high quality picture and a large-scaled screen, technology is urgently required for developing a gate dielectric layer of high quality and a source/drain electrode region with low resistance. Under these circumstances, many studies have been made on the formation of a metal film or pattern through a simple procedure at a relatively low temperature.
As an alternative technology for the photolithography process, soft-lithography and ink-jet printing draw attention because they form a very fine pattern on a substrate through relatively simplified procedures requiring low operational costs. However, these two technologies still have the problems that a film or a pattern obtained should be heat-treated, or additionally oxidized or reduced at a high temperature in order for the film or pattern thus obtained to have a lower resistivity. But considering the materials currently used for the substrate, a heat treatment at high temperatures is not advantageous so there remains a need to develop a novel ink which allows the formation of a metal pattern with high durability and high conductivity at a high resolution via a more simplified process requiring a low temperature.
In this regard, IEEE Transactions on component Hybrids and Manufacturing Technology 12(4), 1987 ("Liquid ink-jet printing with MOD inks for hybrid microcircuits", Teng, K. F. and Vest, R. W.) discloses organometallic compounds that can be thermally decomposed at low temperatures and converted into metals or metal oxides, i.e., so-called metallo-organic decomposition (MOD) compounds, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,882,722 discloses a technology of forming a metal film or pattern using these MOD compounds. However, this technology has the drawback that the metal film or pattern thus formed tends to melt before thermal-decomposition so it is very difficult to secure the required thickness of the metal film or pattern. Also, the resistivity of the metal film or pattern thus obtained is quite high. To avoid these problems, multiple coating has been proposed as an alternative, but it is not preferable because multiple coating entails many complicated steps and high costs. U.S. Pat. No. 5,173,330 discloses a method using organometallic precursors to form a thin metal film or nuclei that is normally used in an electrolytic plating process but this method is undesirable because of the low conductivity of the obtained film or pattern. Further, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,186,244 and 4,463,030 disclose a process of forming a metal film at a low temperature by using silver (Ag) powder and a surfactant wrapping the silver powder. However, this process is disadvantageous in that, after formation, the metal film should be exposed to a high temperature of 600° C. or higher in order to remove the surfactant. If the metal film is not exposed to this high temperature, the specific resistivity of the metal film becomes undesirably high because of organic materials remaining on the metal film.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 6,036,889 discloses a process of forming a highly conductive metal pattern with a specific resistivity of about 3.0 μΩcm−1 on a polymer substrate at the low temperatures of 350° C. or lower using a mixture of MOD compounds, metal flakes and metal colloid. In the mixture, the MOD compounds lowers the required temperature for the heat treatment and facilitates the formation of a coating on the substrate, while the metal flakes promote the solidification of a precursor so as to prevent the MOD compounds from melting before the formation of a metal film. This process attempts to overcome the problems in the prior art by using a multi-component mixture, in which one compound helps avoid the problems of other compounds so as to obtain a metal pattern with excellent properties. However, there is a limitation in improving the properties of the metal pattern because this process does not address the fundamental problems in the prior art and every component in the mixture has its upper limit in its content. Hence, it is impossible to form a metal film or pattern with a high conductivity corresponding to a pure metal at a temperature of 250° C. or lower through this process.
On the other hand, as a highly integrated circuit is developed, an extremely fine metal pattern is required. In such a pattern, poor adhesion or surface morphology may result in serious problems such as disconnection of the circuit. Thus these characteristics are important.
Therefore, there remains a need to develop a method of forming a metal film or pattern with high conductivity corresponding to that of a pure metal and a desired thickness via a simple procedure using a relatively low temperature, wherein the film or pattern thus obtained shows both an excellent adhesion and a good surface morphology.
The present inventors have conducted extensive studies and have found that a highly conductive metal film or pattern having a specific resistivity of 2.5 to 3.0 μΩcm−1, an excellent adhesion and a good surface morphology can be obtained through a simple procedure at a relatively low temperature, by using a composition comprising (i) an organometallic precursor containing a hydrazine compound coordinating to a central metal thereof and (ii) an organometallic compound of a main group metal, such as Si, Ge, Sn or Bi.

Organometallic precursor composition and method of forming metal film or pattern using the same


A driving support equipment for a vehicle is provided, the equipment comprising a frontward information recognition unit for recognizing environs information at the front of the vehicle; a preceding vehicle information detection unit for detecting preceding vehicle information from the environs information at the front of the vehicle; an eye motion detection unit for detecting an eye motion of a driver who drives the vehicle; a dispersion value processing unit for processing a value showing a dispersion of the eye motions regarding the preceding vehicle, detected by the eye motion detection unit; an attention state estimation unit for estimating an attention state of the driver regarding the preceding vehicle, using the value showing the eye motion dispersion; and an alarm control unit for varying a vehicle alarm according to the estimated attention state of the driver.

In recent years, as driving support equipment for vehicles, various technologies have been developed and put to practical use. They include placing cameras, etc. in vehicles, for detecting the forward travel environments, and controlling alarms regarding frontward obstacles. They also include technologies for detecting preceding vehicles in the travel environment and controlling the following or alarms regarding such preceding vehicles.
Additionally, technologies have recently been developed for estimating the driver's attention, and varying alarms based on such attention.
For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 11-276461A1 discloses a technology wherein the driver's eyeball transfer movements are detected, the driver's attention level is estimated from such eyeball transfer movements, and then information is presented earlier when such attention levels are lower.
When a preceding vehicle exists at the front, a necessity arises for the driver to provide enough attention within his forward sight to this preceding vehicle.
However, according to the driver's condition, such attention may be aimless. In the reverse, there may be cases where he invests too much in the attention on the preceding vehicle and be negligent regarding other surrounding information.
The above-mentioned prior art has difficulty distinguishing such changes in the attention relating to preceding vehicles. Technologies for adequately providing alarms to the driver when such preceding vehicles exist, are highly desired.


An apparatus for notifying presence of a vehicle to a periphery of the vehicle includes a control unit that controls an operating unit that operates to cause the vehicle to drive, generating an operation sound; a judging unit that judges whether it is necessary to notify the presence of the vehicle to the periphery of the vehicle; and a notifying unit that notifies, when the judging unit judges that it is necessary to notify the presence of the vehicle to the periphery of the vehicle, the presence of the vehicle to the periphery of the vehicle using the operation sound, by changing a content of a control by the control unit.

1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for notifying presence of a vehicle to a periphery of the vehicle appropriately.
2) Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in place of automobiles that use a gasoline engine (an internal combustion engine) as a power source, hybrid automobiles that include both a gasoline engine and an electric motor as power sources, fuel-cell-powered automobiles that travel while generating electric power with a fuel cell using a hydrogen gas as a fuel, electric automobiles that use a battery (an electric motor), which is charged by a charger, as a power source, and the like have started to be widely used.
An advantage in driving a vehicle with such an electric motor is that a traveling sound is small (a silence characteristic is high). However, a pedestrian or a bicycle rider may judge whether an automobile (a vehicle) is present around the pedestrian or the bicycle rider or assume a distance between the vehicle and the pedestrian or the bicycle rider according to an engine sound emitted from the vehicle.
Since the pedestrian or the bicycle rider makes his/her judgment based on a traveling sound of an engine driven vehicle, which has been generally used in the past, there is a problem in that the pedestrian or the bicycle rider may be slow in noticing presence of an electric motor driven vehicle (or a hybrid automobile or a fuel-cell-powered automobile) with a high silence characteristic or may make an error in assumption of a distance.
Usually, a pedestrian walking on a street or a bicycle rider can recognize approach or the like of an automobile (a vehicle) according to an engine sound or the like of the vehicle. However, in the case of the hybrid automobile, since the hybrid automobile is in a mode of traveling by an electric motor rather than traveling by an engine at the time of low-speed traveling, no engine sound is emitted, which causes a near collision or the like. Similarly, in the case of the electric automobile or the fuel-cell-powered automobile, the automobile is always in a mode of traveling by an electric motor. Thus, since a pedestrian cannot recognize approach of the electric automobile or the fuel-cell-powered automobile, which causes a near collision as in the case of the hybrid automobile.
Therefore, vehicle-presence notifying apparatuses for solving the problems caused by the silence characteristic provided in the hybrid automobiles, the fuel-cell-powered automobiles, the electric automobiles, and the like have been disclosed in patent documents.
Concerning this type of a conventional technique, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H11-27810 discloses a technique for an electric automobile that gives an alarm by voice using a speaker or the like to a pedestrian and a driver around its vehicle when the vehicle detects a human body (a pedestrian) with a photographing camera or a radar provided in the vehicle. Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H7-322403 discloses a technique for notifying a driving state of an electric automobile to a pedestrian or a driver with sound. Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H10-83187 discloses a technique for a hybrid automobile that emits different artificial sounds according to a driving mode at the time of traveling. Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H10-178704 discloses a technique for a hybrid automobile that reduces an engine sound When a road, on which a vehicle is traveling, is congested.
However, vehicle-presence notifying apparatuses according to the conventional techniques have problems as described below. In the case of the conventional technique disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H11-27810, it is necessary to provide a sound source for the speaker or the like anew in the electric automobile, which causes an increase in cost. In the case of the conventional techniques disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H7-322403 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H10-83187, an artificial sound for notifying a driving state of the vehicle to a pedestrian or a driver is simply emitted or an artificial sound is emitted according to a driving mode, which only prevents a silence characteristic originally provided in the hybrid automobile and the fuel-cell-powered automobile. In addition, in the case of such conventional techniques, it is possible to notify approach of a vehicle to a pedestrian with an artificial sound or the like emitted from the speaker. However, in the notifying by such an artificial sound, since a pedestrian not in a traveling direction of the vehicle can also hear an alarm sound, the technologies are contrary to the silence characteristic originally provided in the hybrid automobile and the fuel-cell-powered automobile. In residential areas in the suburbs rather than a city where there is heavy traffic of pedestrians, noise caused by automobiles is a problem. Thus, notifying by an alarm sound using the speaker or the like is not so preferable in terms of the environment.

Vehicle-presence notifying apparatus and vehicle-presence notifying method


The present invention is directed to the transdermal administration of at least one drug together with a suitable amount of a permeation enhancer comprising monoalkyl ethers of polyethyleneglycol and their alkyl or aryl carboxylic acid esters and carboxymethyl ethers. The invention includes a transdermal drug delivery device comprising a matrix adapted to be placed in drug- and- permeation enhancer- transmitting relation with a skin site. The matrix contains sufficient amounts of the permeation enhancer and drug, in combination, to continuously administer drug to the systemic circulation of a patient at a therapeutically effective rate. The invention is also directed to compositions and methods for transdermal administration of at least one drug together with a permeation enhancer of this invention, alone or in combination with other enhancers.

The transdermal route of parenteral delivery of drugs provides many advantages, and transdermal systems for delivering a wide variety of drugs are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,598,122; 3,598,123; 3,731,683; 3,797,494; 4,286,592; 4,314,557; 4,379,454; 4,435,180; 4,559,222; 4,568,343; method U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,573,999; 4,588,580; 4,645,502; 4,704,282; 4,816,258; 4,849,226; 4,908,027; 4,943,435; 5,004,610; 5,314,694; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,411,740, for example, all of which are incorporated herein by reference. In many cases, drugs which would appear to be ideal candidates for transdermal delivery are found to have such low permeability through intact skin that they cannot be delivered in therapeutically effective amounts from reasonably sized devices.
In an effort to increase skin permeability so that drugs can be delivered in therapeutically effective amounts, it has been proposed to pretreat the skin with various chemicals or to concurrently deliver the drug in the presence of a permeation enhancer. Various materials have been suggested for this, as described in U.S. Patent Nos. 3,472,931; 3,527,864; 3,896,238; 3,903,256; 3,952,099; 4,046,886; 4,130,643; 4,130,667; 4,299,826; 4,335,115; 4,343,798; 4,379,454; 4,405,616; 4,568,343; 4,746,515; 4,764,379; 4,788,062; 4,820,720; 4,863,738; 4,863,970; 4,865,848; 4,900,555; 4,940,586; 4,973,468; 5,053,227; 5,059,426; 5,378,730; WO 95/09006; and British Pat. No. 1,011,949, all of which are hereby incorporated in their entirety by reference. Williams et al. "Skin Absorption Enhancers" Critical Review in Therapeutic Drug Carrier Systems, pp. 305-353 (1992) and Santus et al. "Transdermal Enhancer Patent Literature", Journal of Controlled Release, pp. 1-20 (1993) also provide a recent review of transdermal permeation enhancers.
To be considered useful, a permeation enhancer should have the ability to enhance the permeability of the skin for at least one and preferably a significant number of drugs. More importantly, it should be able to enhance the skin permeability such that the drug delivery rate from a reasonably sized system (preferably 5-60 cm.sup.2) is at therapeutically effective levels. Additionally, the enhancer when applied to the skin surface, should be non-toxic, non-irritating on prolonged exposure and under occlusion, and non-sensitizing on repeated exposure. Preferably, it should be odorless, physiologically inactive, and capable of delivering drugs without producing burning or tingling sensations.
In addition to these permeation enhancer-skin interaction considerations, a permeation enhancer must also be evaluated with respect to possible interactions within the transdermal system itself. For example, the permeation enhancer must be compatible with the drug to be delivered, the adhesive, and the polymer matrix in which the drug is dispersed. The permeation enhancer should also be selected so as to ensure a suitable balance among tack, adhesion, and cohesive strength of the adhesive.

Permeation enhances for transdermal drug delivery compositions, devices and methods


A method for operating a time-of-flight sensor system includes by an array of pixels of a time-of-flight sensor of the time-of-flight sensor system, generating signal data representative of reflected light from an environment; generating an intensity representation of an object in the environment based on the signal data representative of the reflected light from the environment; determining that the intensity representation indicates that an object in the environment includes a target object; and responsive to the determining, generating a three-dimensional representation of the environment based on the data representative of the reflected light.

Three-dimensional (3D) imaging enables a depth representation of a scene to be captured. 3D sensing systems, such as time-of-flight (ToF) systems, employ an illumination source, e.g., in the infrared, and a sensor. The illumination source of a 3D sensing system can be a modulated illumination source with dedicated pixels, such as lock-in pixels or single photon avalanche diodes. The modulation frequency or pulse length for the illumination can depend on factors such as the distance range and the desired precision of the resulting image, and can range as high as several hundred megahertz (for the modulation frequency) or as short as several picoseconds (for the pulse length).

Three dimensional imaging with intensity information


The present invention relates to the technical field of liquid crystal and discloses a liquid crystal compound and a method for producing the same, a liquid crystal composition and a method for producing the same, and a liquid crystal display panel. The structure of the liquid crystal compound is represented by the following formula. Since the liquid crystal compound has a higher clearing point and exhibits excellent physical and chemical stability, the liquid composition formed from the liquid crystal compound has a higher clearing point. When such a composition is used for preparing a liquid crystal layer, the crystal display panel comprising the liquid crystal layer can exhibit excellent displaying performances and thus can be used for various application fields.

The thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) is dominantly used in a flat panel display device due to its various advantages, such as small volume, low power consumption, comparatively lower manufacture cost, free of radiation, etc.
LC displays have been widely used for various applications in the life. With the development of the LC display techniques, a variety of LC compounds have been used in practical applications. The properties of an LC compound concerned in these applications include phase transition temperature, optical anisotropy, dielectric anisotropy, viscosity, specific resistance of the LC compound. It is important in the art to develop a novel LC compound and a composition comprising the LC compound, so as to improve the properties thereof and further improve the application performances of the LC display.
The clearing point of the existing LC material is typically about 100° C., which is relatively low such that the application range of the LC display is limited.

Liquid crystal compound, liquid crystal composition and methods for preparing the same, liquid crystal display panel


A method including receiving data corresponding to an original three-dimensional (3D) reconstructed image, smoothing homogenous areas and enhancing edges of the original reconstructed image using edge enhancing diffusion (EED) to create edge-enhanced image data, and calculating a structural importance map. The structural importance map includes a measure of structural importance for each voxel of data in the original reconstructed image. Voxel intensities to be used to create a filtered image are determined according to at least one rule applied to the measure of structural importance.

Computer X-ray tomography (CT) is a 3D viewing technique for the diagnosis of internal diseases. FIG. 1 shows an example of a prior art CT system 100. The system includes an X-ray source 105 and an array of X-ray detectors 110. In CT, the X-Ray source is rotated around a subject 115 by a CT scanner. The X-ray source 105 projects radiation through the subject 115 onto the detectors 110 to collect projection data. The subject 115 may be placed on a movable platform 120 that is manipulated by a motor 125 and computing equipment 130. This allows the different images to be taken at different locations. The collected projection data is then transferred to the computing equipment 130. A 3D image is then reconstructed mathematically from the rotational X-ray projection data using tomographic reconstruction. The 3D image can then be viewed on the video display 135.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a diagnostic 3D viewing technique where the subject is placed in a powerful uniform magnetic field. In order to image different sections of the subject, three orthogonal magnetic gradients are applied in this uniform magnetic field. Radio frequency (RF) pulses are applied to a specific section to cause hydrogen atoms in the section to absorb the RF energy and begin resonating. The location of these sections is determined by the strength of the different gradients and the frequency of the RF pulse. After the RF pulse has been delivered, the hydrogen atoms stop resonating, release the absorbed energy, and become realigned to the uniform magnetic field. The released energy can be detected as an RF pulse. Because the detected RF pulse signal depends on specific properties of tissue in a section, MRI is able to measure and reconstruct a 3D image of the subject. This 3D image or volume consists of volume elements, or voxels.
Imaging in MRI and CT is complicated by image noise in the resulting reconstructed images. There are several sources of noise in MRI. Examples of noise sources include electronic thermal noise in the MRI detectors and noise caused by Brownian motion of ions in bodily fluids of the patient. In CT, noise, resolution, and radiation dose are closely related. Noise is primarily determined by the total amount of information (i.e. radiation) that reaches the detectors after being attenuated by the patient. The uncertainty per voxel (the noise) will be higher if the resolution is increased while keeping the radiation dose constant. Likewise, the uncertainty per voxel will also increase if the radiation dose is lowered or if there is a higher attenuation of the X-ray beams. While increasing radiation dose improves image quality, lowering the dose decreases the risk of possible harmful side effects in patients from ionizing radiation. The diagnostic capabilities of CT can be increased by decreasing noise on and around important internal structures while preserving the spatial resolution of the structures. Maintaining the spatial resolution during noise filtering results making smaller details easier to distinguish, thereby improving diagnosis.
All methods of spatial filtering of 3D images typically involve some type of trade off between computational speed and image quality. Currently, filtering methods that give the best results in image quality are those that use algorithms that are computationally complex and are not regarded as useful in clinical applications.

Image enhancement using anisotropic noise filtering


The present invention relates to a method, a system and a computer-readable medium storing computer-executable components in connection with transfer of information data to a recipient. The invention is based on the idea that generation of random number data and the calculation of digital signatures are performed before information data is accessible to a digital pen. Since asymmetric encryption of data is a demanding operation for said digital pen to perform in terms of processing power, a lot of time can be saved if the generation of random number data and asymmetric encryption of said random number data is performed in advance, when the pen is in an idle, non-communicating mode, for example during battery loading of the pen or when the pen is lifted from the position-coded paper. This alleviates delay times when the pen is in its communicating mode.

Traditionally, information is written and distributed by means of pen and paper. However, such paper-based information is difficult to manage and communicate in an efficient way.
Computers are to an ever-increasing extent used for management and communication of information. The information is typically input by means of a keyboard and stored in the computer memory, for example on a hard disk. However, it is a slow process to input information with a keyboard, and there is a significant risk of errors occurring in the process. Graphic information, such as drawings and images, is normally fed to the computer through a separate device, such as a scanner or the like. The process of feeding such information to the computer is time consuming, lengthy, and often yields unsatisfactory results. When the information eventually is located in the computer, it can easily be communicated to others, for example as an e-mail or SMS via an Internet connection, or as a fax via a fax modem.
The present Applicant has proposed a remedy to this problem in the international application WO 01/16691, which is incorporated herein by this reference and in which the Applicant envisages the use of a product having a writing surface which is provided with a position code. The position code, which codes a plurality of positions on the surface, enables electronic recording of information that is being written on the writing surface. The information is written on the surface by means of a digital pen. The pen has a sensor, which detects the position code on the surface. The pen records information by recording the detected position code. The position code is capable of coding coordinates of a large number of positions, much larger than the number of necessary positions on one single product. Thus, the position code can be seen as forming a virtual surface which is defined by all positions that the position code is capable of coding, different positions on the virtual surface being dedicated for different functions and/or actors. The pen communicates with a server with knowledge of the functionality of every position on the virtual surface and any actor associated with each such position.
The above concept can be used for a number of different purposes. The combination of pen and position coded product can be used as an input device to a computer, a PDA, a mobile phone or the like. For example, text and sketches written on a position-coded notepad can be transferred via the pen to a computer. Additionally, the combination of pen and position-coded product allows for global communication, directly from the product via the pen, by the position code on the product being dedicated for such communication. For example, the information registered by the pen can be transformed to a fax message, an e-mail or an SMS, and then be sent from the pen to a recipient. Further, the combination of pen and position-coded product can be used in e-commerce. For example, the digital pen can be used to order an item from a position-coded advertisement in a magazine, by the position code in the advertisement being dedicated for such a service.
In the communication between the different participants in the above concept, it is desirable that the information is sent in a secure way, i.e. by using encryption and digital signatures. If the pen sends confidential information to a recipient, the pen encrypts the information and the recipient will, in order to decipher the information, decrypt it. The pen can use both symmetric and asymmetric encryption. Both types of encryption provides confidentiality (the information is kept secret during transmission) and authentication (assuring the receiver that the identity of the sender of the information is not false). Authentication protects two parties exchanging data from a third party, but it does not protect the two parties from each other. Typically, it should not be possible for any one of the two parties to deny having received or transmitted certain information. When there is not complete trust between the receiver and transmitter, digital signatures are preferably used. By employing asymmetric encryption it is possible to assign digital signatures to the information sent, thereby obtaining non-repudiation (neither the sender nor the recipient of information is able to deny the transmission) of received or transmitted information. The integrity (the information has not been altered during the transmission) of the information must also be guaranteed. This is achieved by using hash functions.
When using symmetric encryption, the same key is used for both encryption and decryption, i.e. the transmitter and receiver shares two copies of the same key. The key is used in conjunction with an algorithm, and different keys will produce different output results from the algorithm. The security of the encryption depends on the secrecy of the key, not the secrecy of the algorithm. This makes it possible to use powerful standard algorithms, such as the Triple Data Encryption Standard (3-DES) algorithm, the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm or the International Data Encryption Algorithm (IDEA). The security also depends on the length of the key. The longer the key, the more difficult it is to break the cipher.
Asymmetric encryption works in a similar way, but are based on a pair of keys; one secret, private key and one public key. Often four keys are used, one public key and one private key for confidentiality and one public key and one private key for authentication and digital signature. The sender uses the public key of the receiver to encrypt the information and the receiver uses its private key to decrypt the information. Only a receiver with a private key corresponding to the public key can read the information, thus providing confidentiality. For authentication and digital signature, the sender uses its private key to encrypt the information and the receiver uses the public key of the sender to decrypt the information. If the receiver is able to decrypt the information, it is ascertained that it was encrypted with the corresponding private key, and thus by the corresponding sender. Commonly used public-key algorithms are, for example, the Diffie-Hellman (DH) algorithm and the Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) algorithm.
Although the legitimate person has signed the information, it is not possible to know from digital signatures alone if the information has been delivered in its entirety. What is needed is a mechanism that delivers some kind of fingerprint of the unique information. Mathematically, these mechanisms are called hash functions. Hash functions take variable-length input strings and convert them to fixed-length output strings, so called hash values. The hash value can then be used to indicate whether a candidate input is likely to be the same as the real input. One-way hash functions are functions that easily compute hash values from the input strings, but with which it is computationally hard to generate another input value that hashes to the same value. This way, hash functions can be used when sending information to ensure the receiver the integrity of the information. The hash value of the information is calculated and sent along with the information. The receiver can then simply make a hash value of the received information and compare this to the hash value sent. If these match, the recipient is also guaranteed a match between the information received and the information sent, on condition that the hash value itself, or the information sent along with the hash value, is protected. Protection of the hash value, or the information sent along with the hash value, is necessary because the hash function itself is not considered to be secret.
In many encryption algorithms random number data is used for different reasons. One is that random data by its nature is difficult to determine or guess, making random numbers suitable as keys.
A problem that has to be solved is that the provision of confidentiality, authentication, non-repudiation and integrity with asymmetric encryption is computationally difficult to perform and requires relatively much processing power.


Apparatus for providing a boundary between on-board CPU memory and slot bus (EMS) memory is disclosed. A programmable comparator compares the CPU address with a pre-determined address in order to permit the memory array to be accessed by the CPU address or the EMS register, thus preventing the same memory array from being accessed by both the CPU address and the EMS register.

When microcomputers were introduced, as little as 16 Kbytes of memory resided in the central processing units. Eventually, a fully expanded 8-bit processor offered 64 Kbytes of addressable memory, which was very adequate for users needs. The subsequent development of personal computers resulted in computers having typically ten times the system memory of the foregoing microcomputers and employing a powerful disk operating system (DOS) which was quickly recognized as the standard of the industry. One of the basic limitations of DOS is that it operates within the 1 megabyte limit with no capability for utilizing memory beyond this limit. In order to solve the problems associated with this memory limitation, expanded memory specification (EMS) was developed. The 1 megabyte address space was divided into random access memory from 0 to 640 Kbytes leaving 384 Kbytes of memory remaining. This 384 Kbyte portion of memory was divided into six equal portions of 64 Kbytes of memory each referred to as A, B, C, D, E and F for their hexadecimal representations. These portions of memory are typically used for various purposes. For example, portions E and F are reserved for BIOS ROM memory, while video adapters and other interface adapters are placed into other portions. Expanded memory specification (EMS) utilizes three of these portions, i.e., portions C, D, and E. Basically, EMS translates an address below 1 Mbyte into memory above 1 Mbyte, thus bypassing the foregoing DOS limitation
In memory arrays, it is possible that a portion of the array can be accessed by both CPU addresses and the expanded memory specification (EMS) registers. In such a case, because the same memory space can be accessed by both CPU addresses and EMS registers, data integrity is difficult to maintain. Typically, this problem of joint accessibility is eliminated through various software techniques. These techniques, however, may not provide the data integrity, reliability and ease of use desired. Because of this, it has become desirable to develop hardware which inhibits access to portions of memory by both CPU addresses and the EMS registers simultaneously.

Programmable boundary between system board memory and slot bus memory


The invention is directed to a model system for structure-activity relationship analysis of peptide or protein molecules involved in important biological processes. Provided by the invention are combinatorial peptide libraries comprising peptides with a novel “tryptophan zipper” scaffold (trpzip) that forms stable β-hairpin structure in solution. Methods of selecting and using such scaffold are provided herein, which are useful for mimicking native protein structures and interactions and designing therapeutic agents. Thus, the invention has profound utility for biological studies and drug development.

Structure-Activity Relationship (SAR) studies provide valuable insights for understanding intermolecular interactions between bioactive molecules. In their natural states, bioactive molecules often adopt unique, conformationally-constrained structures in order to recognize and bind to their binding partners, to form a molecular complex therewith, and in turn to elicit specific activities. In particular, protein-protein interactions are crucial events involved in most biological and pathological processes, and are therefore logical targets for drug design. Important protein-protein interactions occur between such binding partners as enzyme-substrate, ligand-receptor, and antigen-antibody complexes.
One of the revolutionary advances in drug discovery is the development of combinatorial libraries. Combinatorial libraries are collections of different molecules, such as peptides, that can be made synthetically or recombinantly. Member peptides in a combinatorial peptide library include amino acids incorporated randomly into certain or all positions of their sequences. Such libraries have been generated and used in various ways to screen for peptide candidates which bind effectively to target molecules and to identify such sequences.
Many methods for generating peptide libraries have been developed and described. For example, members of the peptide library can be created by split-synthesis performed on a solid support such as polystyrene or polyacrylamide resin, as described by Lam et al. (1991) Nature 354:82 and PCT publication WO 92/00091. The method disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,833,092 involves the synthesis of peptides in a methodical and predetermined fashion, so that the placement of each library member peptide gives information concerning the synthetic structure of that peptide.
Phage display of peptide libraries has become a powerful tool for rapidly screening and identifying novel ligands of virtually any protein target. Of particular interests are display methods using filamentous bacteriophages. U.S. Pat. No. 5,821,047. This method allows the preparation of libraries as large as 1010–1012 unique peptide members, many orders of magnitude larger than libraries that may be prepared synthetically. In addition to large library sizes, advantages of phage display include ease of library construction (Kunkel mutagenesis), coupling of the binding entity (displayed peptide) to a unique identifier (its DNA sequence), a selection protocol for amplifying rare binding clones in a pool, and the high fidelity of biosynthesis (compared to synthetic methods). Furthermore, rapid and inexpensive selection protocols are available for identifying those library members that bind to a target of interest. However, only natural peptides composed of L-amino acids may be displayed on phage, so the problem of defining three-dimensional structure-activity relationships is more difficult than it might be for a constrained peptidomimetic containing non-naturally occurring amino acids or nonpeptide components.
One possible solution to this problem is to use the structural constraints of a folded protein to present small variable peptide segments. Considerable effort has been devoted to introducing structural constraints into combinatorial peptide libraries so that the member peptides represent more closely their native states. Several protein scaffolds capable of presenting a sequence of interest in a conformationally-restricted fashion have been identified, including minibody structures (Bianchi et al. (1994) J Mol Biol 236:649–659), β sheets, coiled-coil stem structures (Myszka & Chaiken (1994) Biochem 33:2363–2372), zinc-finger domains, cysteine-linked (disulfide) structures, transglutaminase linked structures, cyclic peptides, helical barrels or bundles, leucine zipper motifs (Martin et al. (1994) EMBO J 13:5303–5309), etc.
A number of identified scaffolds have been used in the construction of combinatorial peptide libraries with structural constraints. U.S. Pat. No. 5,824,483 describes a synthetic peptide library containing peptides featuring α-helical conformation and thus capable of forming coiled-coil dimers with each other. McBride et al. (1996) J Mol Biol 259:819–827 describe a synthetic library of cyclic peptides mimicking the anti-tryptic loop region of an identified proteinase inhibitor. WO 00/20574 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,180,343B1 describe fusion constructs using scaffold proteins such as green fluorescent protein (GFP). Several small protein domains have also been proposed as peptide display scaffolds. Nygren & Uhlen (1997) Curr. Opin. Struct. Biol. 7:463–469; Vita et al. (1998) Biopolymers 47:93–100; Vita et al. (1999) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96:13091–13096; Smith et al. (1998) J. Mol. Biol. 277:317–332; Gururaja et al. (2000) Chem. & Biol. 7:515–527; Christmann et al. (1999) Protein Engng. 12:797–806.
Among the identified protein scaffolds, β-turns (hairpins) have been implicated as an important site for molecular recognition in many biologically active peptides. Smith & Pease (1980) CRC Crit Rev Biochem 8:315–300. Thus, peptides containing conformationally-constrained β-turns are particularly desirable. The great majority of the identified β-turn bearing peptides are cyclopeptides which have been generated by the cyclization of a peptide similar to a sequence in the natural substrate. Milner-White (1989) Trends Pharmacol Sci 10:70–74. These cyclopeptides, however, may still retain significant flexibility. For this reason, many studies have attempted to introduce rigid, nonpeptide compounds which mimic the β-turn. Peptides with such nonpeptide β-turn mimic provide useful leads for drug discovery. Ball & Alewood (1990) J Mol Recog 3:55–64; WO 94/03494. The structural mechanisms by which β-turns are stabilized, and specific strand registers are selected, continue to be the subject of considerable interest.
Several examples have been reported of disulfide-constrained peptides intended to mimic protein hairpins or as de novo designed hairpins. In many cases the design includes D-cysteines at one or both ends, as it was initially thought that disulfide bond geometry was not compatible with the cross-strand geometry of hairpins. However, there are some examples that do use L-cys. Evidence for structure is lacking in most studies of disulfide-cyclized peptides. Examples listed here are those whose structures have been experimentally determined, or that use no unusual amino acids and have potency close to a larger, hairpin-containing natural protein in a biological assay.
The structure of a hexapeptide (Boc-CL-Aib-AVC-NMe) SEQ ID NO: 11 was determined crystallographically, revealing a type II′ turn and β-sheet geometry. Kane et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. (1988) 110:1958–1963. An octapeptide with the same cysteine spacing was studied by NMR, and has a similar structure with a turn centered on Pro-Gly. Walse et al. (1996) J. Comput.-Aided Mol. Des. 10:11–22. Peptides of the form Ac-CXPGXC-NMe SEQ ID NO: 12 were evaluated by measurement of disulfide exchange equilibria, which indicated turn preferences between peptides of as much as 1 kcal/mol. Milburn et al. (1987) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 109:4486–4496.
An eleven-residue cyclic peptide, CGVSRQGKPYC, based on the gene 5 protein from M13 is stably structured in aqueous solution, as demonstrated by NMR analysis. The cyclic peptide adopts a structure that is quite similar to the corresponding protein loop. The authors claim that well-defined β-hairpin structure had not been previously reported for any unprotected disulfide-constrained cycle. Rietman et al. (1996) Eur. J. Biochem. 238:706–713. This peptide has a Val-Pro pair at the nonhydrogen-bonded sites nearest to the cysteines.
Disulfide-cyclized peptides from the hairpin region of a rabbit defensin have antibacterial activity exceeding (about 5 to 10-fold) that of the linear analogs. Circular dichroism spectroscopy indicates some non-random structure in phosphate buffer. The more potent peptide (CAGFMRIRGRIHPLCMRR) SEQ ID NO: 13 has a Gly-Pro pair at the nonhydrogen-bonded sites nearest to the cysteines. Thennarasu & Nagaraj (1999) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 254:281–283.
Several peptides from the loops of domain 1 of human CD4 have been studied in Zhang et al. (1996) Nature Biotechnology 14:472–475; Zhang et al. (1997) Nature Biotechnology 15:150–154. In addition to a disulfide constraint, the authors have added exocyclic aromatic amino acids to the peptide termini. No evidence for structure is given, but one cyclic peptide was reported to antagonize both normal CD4 interactions and those involved in CD4-mediated cell entry by HUV.
Few examples exist of small peptides that form a stable tertiary structure without assistance from disulfide bonds or metal ions. Most natural peptides encompassing hairpins are mainly devoid of structure in water or form aggregates. Ramirez-Alvarado et al. (1997) Protein Sci. 6:162–147. A hairpin peptide derived from the B1 domain (the 41–56 residue fragment) of protein G (GB1) has been reported to form a well-populated hairpin (about 50%) in water. Blanco et al. (1994) Nat. Struct. Biol. 1:584–590. The GB1 hairpin has four threonine residues at hydrogen-bonded sites in the strands, including one Thr-Thr cross-strand pair. This is generally believed to be an unfavorable pairing. In addition, there are Trp-Val and Tyr-Phe pairs at adjacent nonhydrogen-bonded sites that might interact to form a small hydrophobic core.
Analysis of hairpin sequences in crystal structures has allowed the de novo design of a series of β-hairpin peptides based on the BH8 peptide. Ramirez-Alvarado et al. (1996) Nat. Struct. Biol. 3:604–612. The target structure was a type I′ turn flanked by three-residue strands. Arg-Gly sequences were added to the ends to improve solubility. One peptide was partially folded into a hairpin conformation (about 30%) as determined by NMR. The importance of inter-strand side chain-side chain interactions was indicated by replacement of certain strand residues with alanine. None of the alanine-substituted peptides showed any tendency to form a hairpin. The same authors reported a second series of experiments in which position i+1 of the turn was varied. Ramirez-Alvarado et al. (1997) J. Mol. Biol. 273:898–912. No peptide was more structured than the original sequence with Asn in the turn. A review describing this work suggested that adding Glu-Lys pairs to the termini of the model peptide may help to stabilize the hairpin. Ramirez-Alvarado et al. (1999) Bioorg. Med. Chem. 7:93–103.
A peptide comprising the N-terminal 17 residues of the globular protein ubiquitin has been shown to form a native-like hairpin in both aqueous methanol and water, albeit at low apparent population. Zerella et al. (1999) Protein Sci. 8:1320–1331. A recent study, Zerella et al. (2000) Protein Sci. 9:2142–2150, focused on the contributions to the stability of the isolated peptides by residues within the turn region. The data indicated that in a peptide where Thr at position 9 was replaced by Asp, U(1-17)T9D, the native conformation was stabilized significantly over that of the wild type sequence. The estimated population of the folded hairpin was only 64%. Moreover, as the authors noted, the structure of the folded state of U(1-17)T9D may be more dynamic than indicated by the final ensemble. The reason for the greater stability upon substitution of the turn residue remains uncertain.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a simple model system for displaying small peptides with stable hairpin structure and methods of using such a model system in constructing and screening constrained peptide libraries useful in biological and therapeutic applications.

Hairpin peptides with a novel structural motif and methods relating thereto


A film end holder includes a rectangular and hollow main body and a guide plate projected upward from the main body. First and second film end holders are attached to both sides of the work table of a photographic printer. The trailing end portion of a developed photographic film is inserted in the main body of the first film end holder while the leading end portion is inserted in the passage of the film carrier of the work table. Accordingly, in the beginning of printing, the developed photographic film is looped between the first film end holder and the film carrier. The leading end portion being advanced from the film carrier during printing is guided by a guide plate to enter the main body of the second film end holder. Thereafter, a loop is formed between the film carrier and the second film end holder. Therefore, the photographic film will never be brought into contact with the floor and is thus protected from dust and scratches.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a film end holder for a photographic printer and more particularly to a film end holder which is attached to a photographic printer to prevent a developed photographic film from coming into contact with the floor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Minilabs which include a photographic film processor and a photographic printer are well known. In such a device, the photographic film is pulled out of a cassette developed by the film processor, and subsequently is subjected to a printing process by the printer.
The printer has a compact main body and a work table which is mounted to the front of the main body and provided with a film carrier. The main body has an exposure section and a developing section. An exposure opening is formed in the film carrier. In printing, the leading end of the developed photographic film is inserted into the film carrier, which then feeds the developed photographic film to position frames thereof one by one at the exposure opening to print the images of the frames onto a color paper in a sequential manner.
The entire length of the developed photographic film is often longer than the height of the work table and the width of the printer. Therefore, when printing several frames located in the leading or trailing ends portions of the developed photographic film, the other opposite end portion of the film hangs down from the work table onto the floor. As a result, the opposite portion is subjected to dust and scratches may be formed thereon.
In view of the above problem, there was introduced a clamp device as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,931,831 (corresponding to Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 1-222251). The clamp device consists of a roller for pressing and end portion of a developed photographic film with its own weight and a bracket for supporting the roller so as to rotate and move up and down. The bracket is attached to a work table. The roller presses the end portion of the developed photographic film to loop the photographic film to make the length of the developed photographic film less than half the entire length of the developed photographic film. However, such a device is complex and expensive.
Further, U.S. Pat. No. 5,138,371 discloses an L-shaped clamp arm attached rotatably to a work table. A portion of the clamp arm presses an end portion of a developed photographic film to form a loop. The end portion of the developed photographic film slips off the clamp arm when the loop is gone. This clamp device requires an exclusive work table, similar to the device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,931,831. Therefore, it cannot be used with printers now in operation.

Film end holder for photographic printer


A scan flip-flop, which performs a normal operation latching a data input and a scan operation latching a scan input, includes a first circuit, a second circuit and a latch. The first circuit determines a voltage of an intermediate node based on a clock signal, one of the data input and the scan input, and data of a latch input node. The second circuit determines the data based on the clock signal, the voltage of the intermediate node and the data input during the normal operation, and determines the data based on the clock signal and the voltage of the intermediate node during the scan operation. The latch latches the data based on the clock signal.

1. Field
Apparatuses and methods consistent with exemplary embodiments of the inventive concept relate to a scan flip-flop, and more particularly, to a high-speed low-power scan flip-flop, an operating method thereof and data processing devices having the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
To design a high speed operation chip, designing a high speed flip-flop may be required. A related-art master-slave flip-flop is widely used due to its small size and low power consumption. However, using the master-slave flip-flop in the high-speed operating chip reaches a limit due to data-to-output latency. To improve the limit of the master-slave flip-flop, a pulse flip-flop or a semi-dynamic flip-flop is developed. However, a yield of a chip using the pulse flip-flop or the semi-dynamic flip-flop is not good because of unstable characteristics of a pulse, and it is not easy to integrate the pulse-flip-flop or the semi-dynamic flip-flop on the chip because of a long hold time.

Scan flip-flop, method thereof and devices having the same


An electrode template apparatus, comprises a three dimensional support member having opposite surfaces, a plurality of bores extending through the support member and through the opposite surfaces, a plurality of conductors on the member separately connected to the plurality of bores, a plurality of electrodes selectively insertable in the plurality of bores so that each electrode is connected to at least one conductor for connecting the electrodes to a power supply.

The present invention relates to electroporation and pertains particularly to an apparatus with connective electrode template for electroporation therapy.
The present invention relates to the treatment of ailments in humans and other mammals, and more particularly, to an improved method and apparatus for the application of controlled electric fields for in vivo delivery of genes and pharmaceutical compounds into live cells of a patient by electroporation.
A cell has a natural resistance to the passage of molecules through its membranes into the cell cytoplasm. Scientists in the 1970's first discovered "electroporation", where electrical fields are used to create pores in cells without causing permanent damage to them. This discovery made possible the insertion of large molecules directly into cell cytoplasm. Electroporation was further developed to aid in the insertion of various molecules into cell cytoplasm by temporarily creating pores in the cells through which the molecules pass into the cell.
Electroporation has been used to implant materials into many different types of cells. Such cells, for example, include eggs, platelets, human cells, red blood cells, mammalian cells, plant protoplasts, plant pollen, liposomes, bacteria, fungi, yeast, and sperm. Furthermore, electroporation has been used to implant a variety of different materials, referred to herein as "implant materials", "implant molecules", "implant agents". These materials have included DNA, genes, and various chemical agents.
Electroporation has been used in both in vitro and in vivo procedures to introduce foreign material into living cells. With in vitro applications, a sample of live cells is first mixed with the implant agent and placed between electrodes such as parallel plates. Then, the electrodes apply an electrical field to the cell/implant mixture.
With in vivo applications of electroporation, electrodes are provided in various configurations such as, for example, a caliper that grips the epidermis overlying a region of cells to be treated. Alternatively, needle-shaped electrodes may be inserted into the patient, to access more deeply located cells. In either case, after the implant agent is injected into the treatment region, the electrodes apply an electrical field to the region. Examples of systems that perform in vivo electroporation include the Electro Cell Manipulator ECM 600 product, and the Electro Square Porator T820, both made by and available from the BTX Division of Genetronics, Inc.
Electroporation has been recently suggested as an alternate approach to the treatment of certain diseases such as cancer by introducing a chemotherapy drug directly into the cell. For example, in the treatment of certain types of cancer with chemotherapy it is necessary to use a high enough dose of a drug to kill the cancer cells without killing an unacceptable high number of normal cells. If the chemotherapy drug could be inserted directly inside the cancer cells, this objective could be achieved. Some of the best anti-cancer drugs, for example, bleomycin, normally cannot penetrate the membranes of certain cancer cells effectively. However, electroporation makes it possible to insert the bleomycin into the cells.
A number of experiments have been conducted to test therapeutic application of electroporation for cancer treatment in a process now termed electrochemotherapy. This treatment is carried out by infusing an anticancer drug directly into the tumor and applying an electric field to the tumor between a pair of electrodes. The field strength must be adjusted reasonably accurately so that electroporation of the cells of the tumor occurs without damage to any normal or healthy cells. This can normally be easily carried out with external tumors by applying the electrodes to opposite sides of the tumor so that the electric field is between the electrodes. The distance between the electrodes can then be measured and a suitable voltage according to the formula E=V/d can then be applied to the electrodes. It would be desirable to have an electrode apparatus having electrodes that can be inserted into or adjacent to tumors so that predetermined electric fields can be generated in the tumor tissue for electroporation of the cells of the tumor.
One type of in vivo electroporation application presently under active research under the direction of the applicant is electro-chemotherapy, which uses electroporation to deliver chemotherapeutic agents directly into tumor cells. This treatment is carried out by infusing an anticancer drug directly into the tumor and applying an electric field to the tumor between a pair of electrodes. The molecules of the drug are suspended in the interstitial fluid between and in and around the tumor cells. By electroporating the tumor cells, molecules of the drug adjacent to many of the cells are forced or drawn into the cell, subsequently killing the cancerous tumor cell.
Electroporation in this application is especially beneficial because electroporation can help minimize the amount of implant agent used, these chemicals frequently being harmful to normal cells. In particular, less of the implant agent can be introduced into the tumorous area because the electroporation will enable more of the implant agent to actually enter the cell. Electroporation is also beneficial for chemotherapy because some of the most promising anti-cancer drugs, such as Bleomycin, normally cannot penetrate the membranes of certain cancer cells effectively. However, recent experiments with electroporation demonstrated that it is possible to insert the Bleomycin directly into the cells.
Known electroporation techniques (both in vitro and in vivo) function by applying a brief high voltage pulse to electrodes positioned around the treatment region. The electric field generated between the electrodes causes the cell membranes to temporarily become porous, whereupon molecules of the implant agent enter the cells. In known electroporation applications, this electric field comprises a single square wave pulse on the order of 1000 V/cm, of about 100 .mu.s duration. Such a pulse may be generated, for example, in known applications of the Electro Square Porator T820, made by the BTX Division of Genetronics, Inc.
Although known methods of electroporation may be suitable for certain applications, the electric field may actually damage the electroporated cells in some cases. For example, an excessive electric field may damage the cells by creating permanent pores in the cell walls. In extreme cases, the electric field may completely destroy the cell.

Electroporation apparatus with connective electrode template