A method of recovering coal liquids and producing metallurgical coke utilizes low ash, low sulfur coal as a parent for a coal char formed by pyrolysis with a volatile content of less than 8%. The char is briquetted and heated in an inert gas over a prescribed heat history to yield a high strength briquette with less than 2% volatile content.

The present invention is directed to a process which utilizes the apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,151,159 which is commonly owned with the instant application and which is incorporated herein by reference. Although numerous other attempts have been made at producing alternate fuels from coal, the known methods and processes leave something to be desired in terms of the volatile content of the coke and the heat history of the process which in turn reflects the cost and efficiency of the process.
Coal heated to selected temperatures in the absence of air yields coal gas, coal liquids and a residue char. Yield of the three products will vary with the temperature at which the coal is heated and the duration of time such heating is conducted. Typically such a process is facilitated by repetitively introducing batches of coal into a retort wherein the coal is heated for a period of up to 18 hours. Volatile hydrocarbon gases are released from the heated coal and are condensed into coal liquids. The remaining char is mixed with various binders and calcined to form coke for use in a blast furnace.
The batch process is usable, however, under the current economic environment, is not efficient enough to produce a satisfactory amount of coke or coal fuel to economically justify its practical application as an alternative fuel producing mechanism.
In response to this economic dilemma, various apparatus for continuously conveying coal through a retort have been devised. Conveyors and screw mechanisms are the most common. The most visible problem with these conveying apparatus is that coal assumes a plastic consistency during the pyrolyzation stage and clings to the conveyor or screw to form a residue layer that reduces the rate of conveyance of coal through the retort and eventually impairs the efficient distribution of heat through the coal being conveyed therethrough. The plasticity of heated coal also creates technical problems that hinder the continuous conversion of the char produced in the retort into an industrial metallurgical coke.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,481,627 issued to Smith discloses a method for treating coal and manufacturing briquettes wherein briquettes are calcined at approximately 1850.degree. F. Pitch is added to char to bind the briquette and to raise the percentage of volatile hydrocarbons comprised therein.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,178,361 issued to Bailey discloses apparatus having a plurality of screws for facilitating the continuous carbonization of coal. The coal is heated at temperatures ranging from 500.degree. to 600.degree. F.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,251,751 issued to Lindahl et al. discloses a process for carbonizing coal using screws for conveying the coal through a retort.
U.S Pat. No. 3,401,089 issued to Friedrich et al. discloses a process for making form coke by agglomerating discrete carbonaceous particles in a tumbling zone of a rotating retort including carbonaceous particles previously subjected to agglomeration in said tumbling zone. The process includes the steps of introducing finely divided caking bituminous coal, pitch binder and solid distillation residue of coal into the tumbling zone and calcining the mixture to form coke.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,403,989 issued to Blake et al. discloses a process for producing briquettes from calcined char, wherein the briquettes comprise 75% to 90% char.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,094,746 issued to Masciantonio et al. discloses a coal conversion process using liquefaction techniques and gas separation of coal liquids liberated by such liquefaction processing.
Exemplary of current coal conversion processes and apparatus is U.S. Pat. No. 4,395,309 issued to Esztergar. Esztergar teaches means for conveying coal over a screen encased within a retort. Heating elements above the screen pyrolyze coal causing volatile hydrocarbon to escape the retort for separation into various grades of oil.
It is very important that a chosen pyrolyzation and coke forming process produce coke that has a coke reactivity index (CRI) less than 30 and a coke strength after reaction (CRS) greater than 55. Though no official standard has been recognized to indicate at what grades coke is satisfactory for use in a blast furnace, it is recognized that coke having the aforementioned CRI and CSR ratings is high grade coke that is more than adequate for use in blast furnace operation.
CRI is determined by reacting 200 grams of 3/4".times.7/8"dry coke with carbon dioxide adjusted to a flow rate of 5 liters/minute for two hours at 1100.degree. C. (2012.degree. F.). CRI is reported as the percent weight loss of the coke sample after this reaction.
CSR is determined by tumbling the coke used during the CRI test in a drum for 600 revolutions at 20 RPMs. The cumulative percent of plus 3/8" coke after tumbling is reported as the CSR.
Variations in carbonization and calcining temperatures, residency time, briquetting pressures and the selection of binding materials mixed with the char to form coke all effect the resultant CRI and CSR of the resultant coke. Closely controlled manipulation of the coal throughout the entire procedure is a necessity for producing a high grade coke having minimal CRI and maximum CSR levels.

Process for converting coal into liquid fuel and metallurgical coke


Plastic powder/dust is cyclonically pulled into the loading chamber by vacuum. The finer dust rises due to the flow of air upwardly through a separation chamber, and a coaxially arranged intensifying chamber communicates with the lower portion of the loading chamber by a tube that recovers the finer dust. At least two filters between the vacuum unit and the separator, are sequentially activated during phases of successive cycles, so the inactive filter can be cleared of dust by admitting ambient air so the cleared dust is delivered to the loading chamber. Multiple miniature cyclonic separators are provided atop the primary loader in a version without filters.

For many years ColourMate of Woodbridge, Ontario Canada has manufactured and sold filter-less vacuum loaders to operators of plastic molding machines. ColourMate's FL-110 is designed for delivering granulated plastic particles to such machines. The FL110 conveys plastic pellets, or free flowing reground plastic particles to plastic molding machines, and in this prior art loader, material enters the frusto-conical vacuum receiver through a tangentially oriented inlet. The air swirls around inside this receiver, so that the plastic pellets separate out and fall downwardly in a cyclonic material/air separation process. Air is drawn through the receiver by a conventional vacuum power unit connected to the closed top of the receiver. Dust entrained in the air exiting the loader, is readily filtered out by a conventional vacuum power unit.


A method for displaying information includes identifying computer-readable service code at a service site, which code, when read by a client computer via a network, causes the computer to display at least one service page containing service information. At least a portion of the service code is selected for inclusion in a service component containing at least a portion of the service information that corresponds to the selected code. A pointer is generated, indicating a location at which the service component is accessible, for inclusion of the pointer in host code accessible to the client computer from a host site, which is separate from the service site and is accessible via the network, the host code, when read by the client computer, causing the computer to display a host page containing host information. An invocation of the pointer by the client computer is received at the location when the client computer accesses the host page. The selected service code is then conveyed to the client computer, such that responsive to the selected service code, the client computer displays the service component on the host page.

Web site operators have come to realize that creating partnerships with other, complementary Web sites can help to increase marketing reach, create brand recognition and build sales. These partnerships enable a service site, having products or services to sell and wishing to reach larger numbers of potential customers, to establish a "presence" on other, host sites.
The most common partnership model at present is based on placing a banner or other descriptor on the host site, with a hyperlink to the service site. This model is simple and easily scalable to include large numbers of affiliated host sites. It typically generates only a low rate of response, however, and gives the service provider no real presence on the host site. On the other side, it does not give the host any way of participating in or monitoring the activities of the service site. In fact, as soon as a user clicks on the link to the service site, that user is carried away from the host site, and may not return.
Other models have been developed attempting to provide closer integration between the service and host sites. For example, some Web development tools allow the host site to define a window, or frame, on a host Web page. A Web page from the service site can then be displayed in the frame, in this case without carrying the user away from the host site. Framing the service site's Web page in this manner, however, uses up substantial "real estate" on the host Web page and creates an inconsistent look. Users generally find these frames unappealing and difficult to navigate in. The frame remains a separate entity, in effect a browser within and browser, disconnected from the context of the host Web site. Aspects of frames and their disadvantages are described by Nielsen in an article entitled "Why Frames Suck (Most of the Time)", available at http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9612.html, which is incorporated herein by reference.
As an alternative to framing, some large service sites offer their own Web page templates, and attempt to induce host sites to build their Web pages into the templates. See, for example, the "barnesandnoble.com Magazine Store" operated by eNews.com, at http://barnesandnoble.enews.com. This type of template-based "co-branding" requires a dedicated development effort for each host site, making the template approach difficult to scale and to maintain. At best, the template provides a "page within a page," with no real integration of the functionalities of the host and service sites. Functional collaboration between the host and service sites can only be achieved by back-end integration, wherein the two sites jointly develop a shared application. The infrastructure needed for collaborations of this last sort, however, can be created only one by one, with high development costs, long time-to-marker and complex maintenance requirements.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


The present invention provides a rubber composition for a studless tire, which can achieve sufficient abrasion resistance, performance on ice and snow, and wet grip performance in a balanced manner, and a studless tire having a tread produced from the above composition. The rubber composition for a studless tire contains a rubber component including natural rubber and butadiene rubber; aromatic oil; silica; and carbon black, wherein the total amount of the natural rubber and the butadiene rubber is 30% by mass or more based on 100% by mass of the rubber component, the amount of the aromatic oil is 12-85 parts by mass and the amount of the silica is 12-85 parts by mass, per 100 parts by mass of the rubber component, and the proportion of the silica is 45% by mass or more based on 100% by mass of the total of the silica and the carbon black.

Use of spike tires has been banned by law in Japan so as to prevent powder dust pollution resulting from the use of spike tires, and thus studless tires are now used instead of the spike tires in cold regions. Studless tires have been improved in their materials and designs for driving icy or snowy roads having a rougher surface than that of a usual road. For example, a rubber composition has been developed which contains diene rubber having excellent low-temperature properties and contains a softening agent in an increased amount so that a softening effect increases. Here, mineral oil is generally used as the softening agent in order to improve low-temperature properties.
If the amount of mineral oil is increased to improve low-temperature properties, abrasion resistance usually deteriorates. One way of solving such a problem is to change the mineral oil to aromatic oil; however, this way deteriorates low-temperature properties and thus makes it difficult to achieve sufficient performance on ice and snow. In contrast, combination use of aromatic oil and silica allows improvement of low-temperature properties without a decrease in abrasion resistance, but still cannot achieve sufficient levels of these performances. Further, improvement in wet grip performance, as well as performance on ice and snow and abrasion resistance, is also desired.
Patent Document 1, for example, discloses a rubber composition for a tread, which contains ingredients such as natural rubber, butadiene rubber, silica, and aromatic oil. This composition can still be improved in terms of achieving wet grip performance in addition to both abrasion resistance and the performance on ice and snow (low-temperature properties).    Patent Document 1: JP H06-240052 A

Rubber composition for studless tire and studless tire


A method and an apparatus for inductively heating a refractory shaped member provided with an internal space, particularly for a metallurgical vessel, enable as rapid, uniform heating of the shaped member as possible. An inner inductor is introduced into the internal space, the shaped member is heated from the interior by such inductor, and the inductor then is removed from the internal space.

The invention relates to a method and apparatus of inductively heating a refractory shaped member which has an internal space, e.g. a tubular internal space or a space forming a passage.
Such shaped members are in particular part of a melt discharge device or a melt dispensing device of a metallurgical vessel. They are preheated in order to prevent undesired cooling down of the melt flowing through them, particularly freezing thereof.
A refractory discharge for a continuous casting installation is disclosed in DE 38 42 690 A1, corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,597. The discharge passage is surrounded from the exterior by an induction coil with which the outer wall within it may be inductively heated in a controlled manner. The coil is a component of the discharge unit. Such arrangement therefore is complex and expensive, which is of particular significance because such refractory shaped discharge members are wear members that must be replaced.
Refractory shaped discharge members, particularly immersed discharge members, are commonly heated by means of gas burners. This has the disadvantage that carbon, which is a material component of the shaped member, can burn out. It is also unfavorable that a non-uniform temperature distribution in the shaped member can occur during the heating process. Temperature differentials of, for instance, about 400 K have been observed. Furthermore, the heating process requires a considerable period of time.

Method and apparatus for inductively heating a refractory shaped member


A method for monolithically depositing a monocrystalline IV-IV layer that glows when excited and that is composed of a plurality of elements of the IV main group, in particular a GeSn or Si—GeSn layer, the IV-IV layer having a dislocation density less than 6 cm−2, on an IV substrate, in particular a silicon or germanium substrate, including the following steps: providing a hydride of a first IV element (A), such as Ge2H6 or Si2H6; providing a halide of a second IV element (B), such as SnCl4; heating the substrate to a substrate temperature that is less than the decomposition temperature of the pure hydride or of a radical formed therefrom and is sufficiently high that atoms of the first element (A) and of the second element (B) are integrated into the surface in crystalline order, wherein the substrate temperature lies, in particular, in a range between 300° C. and 475° C.; producing a carrier gas flow of an inert carrier gas, in particular N2, Ar, He, which in particular is not H3; transporting the hydride and the halide and decomposition products arising therefrom to the surface at a total pressure of at most 300 mbar; depositing the IV-IV layer, or a layer sequence consisting of IV-IV layers of the same type, having a thickness of at least 200 nm, wherein the deposited layer is, in particular, a SiyGe1−x−ySn layer, with x>0.08 and y≤1.

The deposition of gallium arsenide layers is already known from "DEPOSITION OF HIGH QUALITY GaAs FILMS AT FAST RATES IN THE LP-CVD SYSTEM", Journal of crystal grows 94 (1989) 607-612". Gallium is introduced in the form of a chloride into a process chamber, and arsenic is introduced in the form of a hydride. The growth rate reduces with decreasing temperature and with decreasing total pressure. The dependency of the growth rate on the total pressure has a minimum at approximately 100 mbar and rises by more than a factor of 10 at lower total pressures up to 10 mbar.
The majority of semiconductor components used in the industry and in particular integrated circuits, in particular logic circuits or circuits used in microprocessors, are produced using silicon technology. A silicon substrate on which doped or undoped silicon layers or silicon oxide layers are deposited is used. In spite of the different lattice constants, it is also possible to deposit other IV-IV alloys in a crystalline manner on a silicon crystal, for example germanium or germanium tin. A technical disadvantage of previously produced IV-IV crystals is the absence of a direct electronic band transfer. Both silicon and germanium, but also thermodynamically stable germanium tin or silicon have no direct band transfer suitable for the manufacture of optically activatable components, for example LEDs or lasers.
It is assumed that an unstrained germanium tin alloy as crystal could have a direct band transfer outside the thermodynamic equilibrium, specifically at tin concentrations of at least approximately 20%. The equilibrium tin concentration in a germanium tin alloy, however, is less than 1%. It is assumed that an increase in the tin concentration with formation of a thermodynamically metastable crystal would lead to a reduction of the conduction band in the region of the ┌ valley which is greater than the reduction of the conduction band in the └ valley. In the ┌ valley a direct band transfer would then form, which would provide the crystal with the desired optical properties.
The deposition of germanium tin layers or silicon germanium tin layers on silicon substrates or on germanium buffer layers is described in "SiGeSn growth studies using reduced pressure chemical vapor deposition towards optoelectronic applications" in Thin Solid Films 2013 (S. Wirths, et al., Thin Solid Films (2013), http://dx.doi.Org/10.1016/j.tsf.2013.10.078)". The 45 nm or 65/100 nm thick layers deposited there having an Sn proportion of at most 11% did not demonstrate any luminescence. A pseudomorphous growth was found. The experiments described there were carried out at substrate temperatures between 350° C. and 475° C. Si2H6 (60 Pa), Ge2H6 (120 Pa) and ScCl4 (0.6 Pa) were used as process gases.
The experimental construction of a CVD reactor with which germanium layers can be deposited on silicon substrates and germanium tin layers can be deposited on silicon substrates is described in "Reduced Pressure CVD Growth of Ge and Gei-xSnxAlloys" (ESC Journal of Solid State Science and Technology, 2(5) N99-N102 (2013))".
The following publications also belong to the prior art and describe the deposition of non-luminescent GeSn layers:
"Band engineering and growth of tensile strained Ge/(Si)GeSn heterostructures for tunnel field effect transistors" (Applied Physics Letters 102, 192103 (2013)),
"Tensely strained GeSn alloys as optical gain media" (Applied Physics Letters 103, 192110 (2013)),
"Low temperature RPCVD epitaxial growth of Sii-xGexusing Si2H6 and Ge2H6" (Solid-State Electronics 83 (2013) 2-9),
"Epitaxial Growth of Gei-xSnxby Reduced Pressure CVD Using SnCk and Ge2H6" (ECS Transactins, 50 (9) 885-893 (2012) © The Electrochemical Society).
A device for depositing layers or layer sequences containing silicon and germanium is described in DE 10 2004 034 103 A1. The use of radicals in a CVD process is already known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,200,893.

Method for depositing a crystal layer at low temperatures, in particular a photoluminescent IV-IV layer on an IV substrate, and an optoelectronic component having such a layer


Disclosed herein is an RGD-enriched solubilized extracellular matrix composition derived from endothelial cell culture that can be used to modify the immunogenicity or thrombogenicity of an organ intended for transplant. The RGD-enriched solubilized extracellular matrix composition is applied to the lumen of the vasculature of the organ, thereby placing a barrier between the antigens on the lumenal surfaces of the transplanted organ and the blood of the recipient.

Organ transplantation is the therapy of choice for endstage organ failure. In the case of kidney failure, for example, transplantation provides for increased life expectancy, enhanced quality of life, and is more cost-effective than maintaining patients on hemodialysis. In the case of extrarenal organs, transplantation is life-saving since no equivalent to hemodialysis exists for these organs.
Rejection of the transplanted graft is an immunological response in which the recipient's immune system recognizes the graft as "foreign" and attempts to eliminate the transplanted graft. Part of the response involves binding of the recipient's antibodies to the donor's vascular endothelial cells lining the blood vessels within the transplanted graft. Antibody deposition leads to the activation of the complement cascade which mediates a cytotoxic phenomenon which can directly damage or kill the endothelial cells.
In addition the complement cascade leads to the activation of the endothelial cells which causes subsequent change in the anticoagulant environment. More specifically, the vascular endothelium normally provides a nonthrombogenic surface; however, when activated by the immune system during the rejection process, the endothelial lining transforms into a procoagulant environment. The resultant prothrombotic (thrombogenic) surfaces then attract polymorphonuclear cells and platelets, resulting in the endothelium being damaged and causing separation from the underlying substratum, and ultimately, severe thrombosis of the graft.
The standard approach to mitigating the rejection process is to treat the transplant recipient daily with an immunosuppressive regimen. However, currently immunosuppressive regimens are systemic; i.e., in addition to suppressing immune function against the transplanted graft, immune function which protects the recipient from other processes (such as infections) is suppressed. Further, the currently available immunosuppressants may cause substantial non-specific, toxic effects on cell types other than cells of the immune system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,643,712 describes a method for treating and rendering grafts nonthrombogenic and substantially nonimmunogenic using an extracellular matrix coating. Disclosed is a material that can be applied to the luminal surface of the blood vessels of a vascularized tissue or organ.

Methods and compositions to modify the immunogenicity of a vascularized organ or tissue


Jorumycin, renieramycin, safracin and saframycin related compounds formulations, methods of preparing the same, articles of manufacture and kits with such formulations, and methods of treating proliferative diseases with the same formulations are provided.

Jorumycin is a natural compound isolated from the skin and from the mucus of the Pacific nudibranch Jorunna funebris (Fontana A., et al., Tetrahedron (2000), 56, 7305-8). In addition, the family of renieramycins is disclosed as being isolated from sponges and tunicates (James M. F. et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. (1982), 104, 265-269; Oku N., et al. Journal Natural Products (2003), 66, 1136-9). Safracin and saframycin compounds are disclosed in Manzanares I., et al. Curr. Med. Chem. Anti-Cancer Agents (2001), 1, 257-276, as well as in WO 00/18233 and WO 01/87894.
Because of the detailed description provided in such references and citations therein, the structural characterizations of such compounds are not given again explicitly herein; any person of ordinary skill in this technology is capable of obtaining such information directly from the sources cited here and related sources. At least two of such compounds, PM00104 and PM00121 will be referred to specifically herein to illustrate features of this invention.
PM00104 and PM00121 are synthetic alkaloids related to jorumycin and renieramycins, and also to safracin and saframycin compounds. They show the following chemical structures:

A pharmaceutical composition comprising PM00104 or PM00121 together with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier is claimed in WO 01/87894.
PM00104 has demonstrated a significant in vitro activity against solid and non-solid tumor cell lines as well as significant in vivo activity in several xenografted human cell lines in mice, such as breast and prostate. Preliminary insights into the mechanism of action of PM00104 suggested cell cycle changes, DNA binding properties and transcriptional inhibition. In addition, clinical phase I studies are currently ongoing with PM00104. For further activity data details of PM00104 and PM00121 see WO 01/87894
PM00104 and PM00121, as well as related compounds, are complex chemical entities, as revealed by their structural features. In addition, they exhibit limited aqueous solubility, and their stability, particularly in biocompatible forms and formulations, is difficult to predict and achieve. These characteristics challenge the ordinary skills and conventional methodologies in this technology, particularly when it comes to the preparation of formulations of these compounds that are to be readily used for medical purposes. Such uses preferably rely on formulations whose characteristics include one or more of the following: biocompatibility, stability under ambient conditions, or under conditions that are as near to ambient conditions as possible, with a shelf life that is as long as possible, and easy reconstitutability to form reconstituted solutions that are as stable under ambient, or near ambient conditions, for as long as possible.
In view of the potential of these compounds as antitumoral agents, there is a need to provide a formulation that can solve problems that conventional formulations and manufacturing methodologies do not address or do not completely solve. These problems include the problem of stability of these compounds. Embodiments of PM00104, PM00121 and related compounds formulations should preferably exhibit favourable freeze-drying properties, should preferably be susceptible of ready reconstitution, and they should preferably exhibit dilution properties, such as upon dilution with infusion fluid, while presenting as many of the desirable characteristics of formulations for medical use as referred to herein. As indicated above, embodiments of these formulations should be stable during long term storage. In addition, the formulation and its manufacturing methodology should satisfy biocompatibility standards and should thus allow for the effective use of a formulation vehicle that is non-toxic, at least at the concentrations used for infusion.
A general review of excipient-drug interactions in parental formulations is provided by Akers M. J., in Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 91, 2002, 2283-2300. This reference provides, inter alia, a section on bulking agents and lyoprotectants, including this subject matter in the context of lyophilisation.
It is envisaged that the methodologies and formulations developed in the context of this invention are applicable to other related compounds, in addition to PM00104 and PM00121.

Formulations comprising jorumycin-, renieramycin-, safracin- or saframycin-related compounds for treating proliferative diseases


A plastic catheter system for irradiation therapy by the afterloading method, made from:. a flexible plastic matrix having one or more catheters or sheaths embedded therein, and having a synthetic fabric contained within the plastic matrix or on a side of the plastic matrix, wherein:. a) when the plastic matrix has all flat surfaces, the synthetic fabric is located on a side opposite the location of the one or more catheters and covers the entire side in area, PA2 b) when the plastic matrix is cylindrical in shape, the synthetic fabric is located in a lower portion of the cylindrical plastic matrix and coaxially arranged, and PA2 c) when the plastic matrix is of a shape other than a) and b), the synthetic fabric is located on a side facing away from a side from which irradiation occurs.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plastic catheter system useful for the accurate insertion of catheters for radiotherapy by the afterloading method.
2. Discussion of the Background
Radiotherapy is of proven use for the treatment of tumors. The recognized method for radiation treatment in body cavities, such as in the throat, bowel or vaginal region, and in regions of the body opened surgically, is brachytherapy, in which one or more radiation sources is brought, controlled by an afterloading device, in a precise and metered manner to the site of treatment in the body. The radiation source is then moved to provide a previously calculated isodose contour, as described in D. E. Wazer, R. Schmidt-Ullrich, W. Chasin, A. Wu, M. Buscher, Am. J. Otolaryngology 10 (3), (1989), 173 and R. Stepan, P. Lukas, U. Fink, P. Kneschaurek, Ir. Siewert, M. Molis, "Intraoperative Radiotherapy with High Dose Afterloading (Flabs Method) in Colorectal Carcinoma", in F. W. Schildberg, N. Willich, H. -J. Kramling (Editors) "Intraoperative Radiation Therapy", Proceedings 4th International Symposium IORT, Munich 1992, Verlag Die Blaue Eule, Essen.
In order to avoid harming the patient and to guarantee the requirements for accurate irradiation, the catheters must be accurately positioned and, in addition, fixed on or in the body. Only when this is ensured can programming of the required isodose contour take place and pre-planned irradiation be guaranteed.
It must also be ensured that the mobility of the radiation sources guided by the catheters is not impaired either by kinks, constrictions or excessively severe radii of curvature of the catheters. If the radiation source becomes trapped, there may be considerable overdosage, with serious risk of harm to the patient. The emergency measures which are then necessary are those associated with unavoidable exposure of staff to radiation (Isabel Gosh, Sicherheitstechnisch bedeutsame Ereignisse an Afterloadinganlagen: Untersuchungen zur Strahlenexposition, Folgerungen zur Sicherheit von Personal und Patient [Events with relevance to safety in afterloading systems: investigations on radiation exposure, consequences for safety of staff and patient] Diplomarbeit Berufsakademie, Karlsruhe, 1991).
In the event of repeated radiation treatments, where a reduced radiation dose is given in each subsequent treatment, secure fixation of the catheters at the site of treatment over a lengthy period is particularly important. Moreover, accurate catheter fixation is necessary so that external and convenient preparation of patients who live some distance away from the radiotherapy centers is possible. In addition, this makes it possible for a much larger number of patients to be referred for radiotherapy treatment than previously possible.
The conventional practice for producing fixed catheter sets is to cut rubber-like standard flat blocks (1 to 3 cm high, area: 30.times.30 cm.sup.2, available from Quandt Medizintechnik, Hamburg, or Mick RadioNuclear Instruments Inc., Bronx, N.Y., for example) to size and then to bore through by hand using a hollow needle in order to fit the catheters therein. These operations are time-consuming, tie up staff and result in inaccurate embedding of the catheters. For example, as the length of the needle increases, the friction on the outer wall of the needle increases, the material of the flat block deforms, and the pierced channels are no longer parallel.
In addition, these blocks containing the catheters, so-called "flabs" in the industry, cannot be securely fixed to the intended site of administration. Tears occur in the holes pierced by the fixing threads and thus the flab becomes displaced or entirely detached. This results in the catheters changing position overall or with respect to one another and the irradiation fails. It is then necessary to carry out a new localization to establish the exact displacement of the catheters. Reoperation is then often necessary, with all the additional risks associated therewith. By contrast, if the catheter fixation can be made secure, some of the patients could also be looked after at their local hospital between irradiation treatments, with a concurrent reduction in costs.
Cylindrical plastic catheter systems are likewise unavailable. Recourse is made to plastic parts with self-drilled holes, as described in the publication by D. E. Wazer et al., cited above, page 177. In the throat, recourse is made to fixation of individual catheters which are equipped with anchors and are sutured in a manner that is time-consuming and considerably stressful for the patient, as described in P. C. Levendag, L. L. Visch, N. Doiver, The Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry, 63 (6), (1990), p. 665.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,963,128 discloses a soft flab equipped with catheters, but it does not yet fully meet practical requirements. The radii of curvature of the outer catheters are small and endanger the mobility of the sources. The loops for fixing the so-called flab are readily torn and often cannot be used fully for fixation because they may be located also in regions where suturing is impossible. The extremely soft material of the flab also does not permit fundamentally secure fixation via the four loops. Furthermore, because of the geometric differences of the areas to be treated, it is necessary to store, at great cost, many different-sized flabs equipped with catheters in this way.
The flabs of the prior art can be used only for treatment points which are extensively flat or have only moderate curvature. Flabs of this design are in principle unsuitable for narrower body cavities or highly curved body and tissue surfaces.

Flexible, adaptable plastic catheter system for inserting catheters for radiotherapy and method of use thereof


Systems and methods are provided which implement a bridge server to provide user access to one or more secure applications. A bridge server of embodiments is disposed between a user and a secure application and invokes bridge server security protocols with respect to the user and secure application security protocols with respect to the secure application. In operation according to embodiments, client applications will link into a bridge server, the user will be authenticated by the bridge server, and a valid user will be correlated to an account of the secure application by the bridge server. Bridge servers of embodiments facilitate providing features with respect to secure application user access unavailable using the secure application security protocols.

Various secure applications provide restrictions on user access and user access protocols for a number of reasons. User access is restricted in order to protect sensitive data, value in an account, etcetera. User access protocols are adopted to ensure compliance with governmental regulations or requirements, business goals, etcetera. As user needs change, regulations or requirements are revised, and business goals change it may be burdensome to alter the secure interface of many secure applications.
As but one example of a secure application, postage printing applications provide user control and access to postage value for generating and printing postage indicia. Online postage generation and printing is provided through the use of secure postal servers having crypto vaults for storing postage credit. Postal clients, uniquely configured to implement the security protocols of the secure postal servers, allow a user to remotely access a postal server and perform functions with respect to an associated account, such as query a balance, add postage value, and deduct postage value and generate a postage indicia.
User access to such secure postal servers has been tightly controlled, such as by postal service rules and regulations establishing the types of user credentials that are to be used, the number of user credentials allowed to be active with respect to an account, etcetera. For example, current configurations of secure postal servers, in accordance with postal regulations, provides a single customer identifier (e.g., a business in the case of a commercial account or an individual in the case of a private user account) in association to a postal account. However, for various reasons (e.g., internal accounting reasons), a customer may desire to provide multiple uniquely identified users access to the postal account. At present, the solution has been to allow users of the postal account to input reference information (e.g., notes for identifying a business department, project, user, etcetera) in association with certain operations (e.g., printing postage). Such reference information may easily be erroneously input or even maliciously misinput, thus often resulting in it being of little value.
Many such secure applications have substantial amounts of code dedicated to implementing particular security protocols and user access restrictions known to meet applicable rules, regulations, and objectives and which are acceptable to the appropriate entities (e.g., governmental agencies, business partners, etcetera). As new security protocols are determined to be acceptable, as new user access scenarios are identified, and/or new technologies are developed it can be difficult and costly to implement changes in the secure applications to facilitate use of these developments.
For example, as postage printing applications providing remote user access over a public network, such as the Internet, were being developed, a lack of history with respect to security protocols may have suggested that clients should be utilized by users which employ security protocols unique to the secure postal servers. Such clients require that a user obtains client software, such as by disk or download, in order to be able to access the corresponding secure server, thus making their use somewhat inconvenient for users, at least initially. Clients employing proprietary security protocols (referred to hereinafter as proprietary clients) are also more difficult to integrate into other products, such as software providing symbiotic functions, and thus presents a barrier to adoption and integration by third party vendors. Moreover, various embodiments of such security protocols may have implemented features which made them unique to the particular terminal using the security protocol, requiring re-registration when the same user (or user accessing the same account) attempts to access the secure postal server from a different user terminal.
As security technology improves and as historical information is developed with respect to remote user access to such secure applications, it may be determined that one or more of the secure access protocol features is not necessary. However, the secure access protocol may be deeply embedded in the secure application and/or tightly coupled to the operation of various features thereof, requiring substantial time and effort to implement even seemingly simple changes. Moreover, because it is generally the secure application itself which is to be altered in such situations, any changes to the secure access protocol may require testing and approval by particular entities prior to its implementation, such as to confirm that overall security with respect to accounts etcetera has not been compromised.


A distributed database management system may comprise a plurality of computing nodes. A request to update an item maintained by the system may be acknowledged as durable and committed once an entry corresponding to the request has been written to a log file and quorum among the computing nodes has been achieved. Improved consistency may be achieved by maintaining snapshots of committed item states within queryable in-memory snapshot data structures. Range queries may be performed by merging a secondary index with the snapshots and applying filters. Projections may be completed by retrieving additional data from an item collection maintain on one or more storage devices.

Updates to data maintained by a distributed database management system ("DBMS") may be subject to a delay between the time the request to update data is received and the time the update has been fully processed. A distributed DBMS may comprise a collection of items that can be both distributed and replicated across a number of computing nodes. On each computing node, a subset of the item collection as well as various index structures may be maintained on one or more storage devices. Processing an update may involve communication between the computing nodes as well as various high-latency write operations on the storage devices. These factors may contribute to the delay in processing an update.
The delay in processing updates may contribute to data consistency issues. One such issue involves clients being unable to read their own updates. A client may submit a request to change an item of data to a distributed DBMS. Immediately or soon thereafter, the client may issue a request to read the same item. Depending upon the amount of delay, the computing node processing the request and the time the computing node receives the read request, the results may be consistent or inconsistent with the client's most recent update.


The present invention has a configuration such that a plurality of leg portion elastic members are arranged around the respective leg openings of a disposable diaper so that the respective leg portion elastic members are not connected or cross each other in a crotch portion, the minimum width of an absorbent article body at the crotch portion is within the range of from 250 to 350 mm, and the opposite side edges in the width direction of the absorbent article body in the crotch portion bend towards the external surface of the diaper, when worn. As a result, the ability for absorbing a large amount of body waste can be easily ensured, and the performance of preventing leakage from the crotch portion can be easily improved.

In the field of disposable diapers, preventing leakage of body waste is one important problem, while improvement in a wearer's comfort of the disposable diaper is another important problem. The comfortableness of the disposable diaper can be improved by narrowing the width of an area (crotch portion) where the diaper is applied to the crotch of a wearer while wearing, but if the width of the crotch portion is narrowed, the width of the absorbent article at the crotch portion is also narrowed. Since the absorption of the diaper is determined by the volume of the absorbent article, in a diaper in which the width of the absorbent article at the crotch portion is not sufficient, the absorption is insufficient, and leakage is likely to occur.
For example, in Japanese Patent Publication No. 5-33630, there is described a disposable diaper, in which an absorbent article is formed of a central absorbing portion having a width suitable for the crotch of a wearer, and outside absorbing portions provided outside thereof in the width direction, thereby the adhesion of the absorbent article to the crotch and the inner parts of the thighs is improved, while maintaining high absorption of the absorbent article, thereby improving the prevention of leakage. At the time of wearing this disposable diaper, the outside absorbing portions abut against the inner parts of the thighs of the wearer.
In this disposable diaper, however, since it is difficult to make the outside absorbing portions adhere to the inner parts of the thighs of the wearer sufficiently, leakage may occur via a gap formed between the outside absorbing portion and the inner part of the thigh.
In Japanese Patent No. 3242532, there is described a disposable diaper in which a first elastic member which can extend from the front of the thigh of one lower limb of the wearer through the crotch to the front of the thigh of the other lower limb, and a second elastic member which can extend from the back of the thigh of one lower limb of the wearer through the crotch to the back of the thigh of the other lower limb are arranged so that the first elastic member and the second elastic member cross each other in the crotch portion, and a third elastic member crossing the first elastic member and the second elastic member is arranged outside of the absorbent article in the crotch width direction, thereby enhancing the adhesion of the absorbent article around the legs of the wearer.
At the time of wearing this disposable diaper, the absorbent article is substantially divided into two kinds of portions, that is, a central absorbing portion applied to the crotch of the wearer and the outside absorbing portions applied to the inner parts of the thighs, by the first elastic member and the second elastic member.
In Japanese Patent Publication No. 11-1010007, there is described a disposable diaper ("pull-on" type paper diaper) in which the width of the outer layer sheet defining the external shape of the diaper is less than the width of the absorbent article at least in the crotch region, and an elastically flexible portion for fastening the right and left leg portions is provided from the front section to the back section respectively in the right and left leg portions.
In the disposable diapers described in the above patent publication, however, when the body waste absorbed by the outside absorbing portions moves towards the central absorbing portion, the first elastic member and the second elastic member may be obstructive and stagnate movement, and hence, there is still room for improvement both in its absorbing performance and amount absorbed. Similarly, in the disposable diaper ("pull-on" type paper diaper) disclosed in the above Patent Publication, since the elastically flexible portion is provided from the front section to the back section respectively in the right and left leg portions, the elastically flexible portion may become obstructive and stagnate the movement of the body waste, and hence, there is still room for improvement both in its absorbing performance and amount absorbed.

Disposable diaper having leg flap absorbent articles


A trailer tongue jack system which in an exemplary embodiment has separable upper and lower housings which must be coupled together to form a complete operable system, and a driveshaft with a recessed non-standard coupling which must be coupled in order to allow the housings to be coupled.

This invention relates to instruments for applying pressure and more particularly to jacks for trailer tongues.
Standard trailer tongue jacks sometimes pose two significant problems, interference with lowering of tailgates of towing vehicles and lack of effective security against theft. A trailer jack that allows for lowering of a tailgate while the trailer is attached to the vehicle is known. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,314,692. A vehicle jack with anti-theft features is known. See, for example. U.S. Pat. No. 5,782,115. It would be desirable to have a trailer jack with both features in a convenient combination.
In an exemplary embodiment, a trailer jack system for a trailer tongue is provided with convenient tailgate non-interference and convenient anti-theft features in a single package. The trailer jack system includes separable top and bottom housings which must be aligned and engaged to render the system operable for raising or lowering of a trailer tongue. The bottom housing is adapted to be permanently affixed to a trailer tongue. The top housing is rapidly and easily separable from the bottom housing for allowing a motor vehicle tailgate to be lowered while the trailer is attached to the motor vehicle and for providing security against theft of the trailer when the trailer is left unattached and unattended.
The top housing has a rotary driveshaft therein, a first coupling on a lower end of the driveshaft, the coupling having a first set of engagement surfaces of a non-standard shape. The bottom housing has a selectively downwardly extendable and retractable jack having a jackscrew with an upper end within the housing. A second coupling is provided on the upper end of the jackscrew. The second coupling has a second set of engagement surfaces of a non-standard shape configured to mate with and engage the first set of engagement surfaces. A releasable connector is provided for selectively, and rapidly connecting and disconnecting the upper and lower housings so as to securely maintain the engagement of the first and second couplings and yet allow for rapid disconnection to conveniently disengage the first and second couplings Optionally, a lockable cover for the bottom housing is provided to prevent unauthorized access to the second coupling


In a hydrogen-containing tantalum powder of the present invention, a value obtained by dividing the hydrogen content (ppm) by the specific surface area (m2/g) is in the range of 10 to 100. This tantalum powder has a large specific surface area, and when the tantalum powder is used as an anode of a solid electrolyte capacitor, a solid electrolyte capacitor having a large capacitance and a low leakage current can be obtained.

Recently, in electronic integrated circuits, operation at a lower voltage, an increase in the operation frequency, and a reduction in noise have been desired. In solid electrolyte capacitors, demands for reducing equivalent series resistance (ESR) and for reducing equivalent series inductance (ESL) have been increasing. Examples of a metal powder that is preferably used as an anode material of a solid electrolyte capacitor include powders composed of tantalum, niobium, titanium, tungsten, or molybdenum. Among these, in particular, capacitors including tantalum have become rapidly widespread as components of cell phones, personal computers, and the like because of their low ESR and high capacitance. Recently, a further increase in the capacitance and a further decrease in ESR of capacitors have been desired. In order to further increase the capacitance of a capacitor, tantalum powders having a large specific surface area and a fine particle size have been developed as an anode material of the capacitor. However, when the specific surface area of the powder is increased, the oxygen content of the powder is also increased. Consequently, a crystalline oxide is easily produced during heat treatment and anodic oxidation, resulting in a problem of an increase in leakage current. When the rated voltage of a capacitor is set to a low value, the anodic oxidation voltage at which a dielectric oxide film is formed can be decreased. However, when the anodic oxidation voltage is decreased, the thickness of the resulting dielectric oxide film tends to be decreased, resulting in an increase in leakage current. Thus, such a capacitor is disadvantageous in that a long-term reliability is not satisfactory. In order to suppress such an effect of oxygen and to improve the reliability of a thin film, a method of doping a non-oxidizing gas or various types of element is known.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 2001-223141, 2001-345238, 2002-30301, and 2003-55702 describe techniques for doping nitrogen into a tantalum powder.
According to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-223141, an anode having a high capacitance and a low leakage current can be produced by adding 50 to 20,000 ppm of nitrogen to tantalum in the form of a solid solution.
According to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-345238, 50 to 10,000 ppm of nitrogen is contained in tantalum, thereby decreasing the shrinkage percentage in sintering at high temperatures. As a result, a capacitor including an anode composed of a sintered body of this powder easily has a high capacitance and a low leakage current. Thus, a capacitor having high reliability can be produced.
According to a technique disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-30301, 500 to 30,000 ppm of nitrogen is contained in a tantalum powder, and the variation in the nitrogen content between tantalum particles is controlled to 100% or less. When this material is sintered, an excessive sintering can be suppressed to obtain a porous sintered body that evenly includes voids having a size suitable for forming a solid electrolyte. The patent document discloses that the resulting porous sintered body is most suitable for a high capacitance voltage (CV) capacitor.
According to an example disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-55702, nitrogen is contained in a tantalum powder having a specific surface area in the range of 1.0 to 4.0 (m2/g) such that a value obtained by dividing the nitrogen content (ppm) by the specific surface area is in the range of 500 to 3,000. This patent document describes that when this tantalum powder is used as an anode material of a solid electrolyte capacitor, a solid electrolyte capacitor having a high capacitance, a low leakage current, and excellent long-term reliability can be obtained.
Regarding doping of other elements, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-178935 discloses doping of phosphorus, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-173371 discloses doping of zirconia, carbon, boron, or sulfur, and Japanese Patent No. 2632985 discloses doping of titanium, zirconium, or hafnium.
A tantalum powder used for an anode of a solid electrolyte capacitor is prepared by performing anodic oxidation of a tantalum powder in an electrolytic solution to form a dielectric oxide film on the surface of the powder. Accordingly, it is known that the capacitance correlates with the specific surface area of the tantalum powder, and that a large specific surface area can provide a solid electrolyte capacitor having higher capacitance. However, in the case where the tantalum powder has a large specific surface area, even when nitrogen or another element is doped using the above-described doping techniques according to the descriptions of Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 2001-223141, 2001-345238, 2002-30301, 2003-55702, 2003-178935, and 2002-173371, and Japanese Patent No. 2632985, a solid electrolyte capacitor having a high capacitance and low leakage current is not always obtained. The present inventors have found that, in particular, when the specific surface area of the tantalum powder is 4 m2/g or more, the above tendency is significant.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a tantalum powder having a large specific area wherein when the powder is used as an anode of a solid electrolyte capacitor, a tantalum solid electrolyte capacitor having a large capacitance and a low leakage current can be obtained. Furthermore, another object of the present invention is to provide an anode for a solid electrolyte capacitor produced by sintering the tantalum powder and a solid electrolyte capacitor including the anode.

Tantalum powder and solid electrolyte capacitor including the same


Disclosed is a secondary battery including a cathode, an anode, and an electrolyte including a lithium salt and a non-aqueous organic solvent, wherein the electrolyte includes an electrolyte additive to be decomposed at 4.5 V or higher to less than 5.5 V vs. reduction voltage of Li+.

As mobile device technology continues to develop and demand therefor continues to increase, demand for secondary batteries as energy sources is rapidly increasing. Among these secondary batteries, lithium secondary batteries, which exhibit high energy density and operating potential, have long cycle lifespan, and have a low self-discharge rate, are commercially available and widely used.
In addition, as recent interest in environmental problems is increasing, research into electric vehicles (EVs), hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), and the like that can replace vehicles using fossil fuels, such as gasoline vehicles, diesel vehicles, and the like, which are one of the main causes behind air pollution, is actively conducted. As a power source of EVs, HEVs, and the like, a nickel-metal hydride (Ni-MH) secondary battery is mainly used. However, research into lithium secondary batteries having high energy density, high discharge voltage, and high output stability is actively carried out and some of the lithium secondary batteries are commercially available.
A lithium secondary battery has a structure in which an electrode assembly, which includes: a cathode prepared by coating a cathode active material on a cathode current collector; an anode prepared by coating an anode active material on an anode current collector; and a porous separator disposed between the cathode and the anode, is impregnated with a lithium salt-containing non-aqueous electrolyte.
Such secondary batteries generate gas due to reaction between an electrode and an electrolyte due to various causes. Such gas may cause swelling of a battery and, in severe cases, leads to explosion.
Therefore, there is a need to develop a technology that can resolve the above-described problems.

Secondary battery including electrolyte additive


A separator for solid polymer-type fuel cell is produced by molding the resin composition which comprises an electroconductive agent and a radical-polymerizable thermosetting resin system by a resin molding method. The electroconductive agent comprises a carbon powder. The radical-polymerizable thermosetting resin system may comprise a radical-polymerizable resin (especially, a vinyl ester-series resin) and a radical-polymerizable diluent. It is preferred that the double bond equivalent of the radical-polymerizable resin may about 200 to 1,000 and that the hardened radical-polymerizable thermosetting resin system has a glass transition temperature of 120° C. or more. The weight ratio of the electroconductive agent to the radical-polymerizable thermosetting resin system may be about 55/45 to 95/5. Such a separator is suitable for fuel cell (in particular, solid polymer-type fuel cell), and can be produced with advantageous for commercial production.

A solid polymer-type fuel cell comprises a solid polymer electrolytic membrane composed of an ion exchange membrane (a polymer membrane having ion conductivity) such as perfluorocarbonsulfonic acid in which a sulfonic acid group is introduced into a fluorocarbon backbone such as a polytetrafluoroethylene backbone, two electrodes disposed on both sides of the electrolytic membrane, separators with grooves for supplying a gas such as hydrogen gas and oxygen gas to each electrode, and two current collectors disposed on backside of these separators.
Among these constituting members, the separator is required to have gas-imperviousness, low electrical resistance (electrical conductivity), resistance to sulfuric acid, and high mechanical strength. Traditionally, there is studied a method for molding a plate member made of titanium or graphite by a mechanical processing such as a cutting processing. However, this process lacks mass-productivity and it is difficult to carrying out on industrial scale.
Moreover, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 334927/1998 (JP-10-334927A) discloses a separator of a solid polymer-type fuel cell obtained by molding a resin composition which comprises a carbon powder, a thermosetting resin (phenolic resin, polyimide resin, epoxy resin, furan resin) by means of a resin molding process. However, the slow hardening of a phenolic resin used as the thermosetting resin results in the low productivity. For example, in Example 10 of the patent literature, post-hardening for 10 hours or more is required. Moreover, a gas such as water vapor generates as accompanied with hardening the phenolic resin so that warp forms in the hardened material and gas-imperviousness is deteriorated.
Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 267062/1992 (JP-4-267062A) discloses a gas separator for a fuel cell composed of stainless-steel or copper. However, although industrial productivity is high by the metal material, cell properties significantly lower due to deterioration of the material.

Separator for solid polymer type fuel cell and process for producing the same


The present invention provides a system for releasing an acid from acid precursors using an esterase enzyme (i.e., enzyme having esterase activity) as the activator.

The present invention relates to a system for enhancing release of acids into a wash from anhydride precursors found in the wash (e.g., an acyl anhydride) using esterases as activators for the anhydride precursors. In particular, acid release is enhanced under relatively neutral conditions (i.e., about pH 7).
Acids, e.g., carboxylic acids, have long been employed in numerous cleaning applications including the washing and prewashing of fabrics as well as in other applications such as hard surface cleaning. In these applications, the acids are used, for example, for buffering and enzyme stabilization.
Although acids are formed from the hydrolysis of anhydrides, this reaction is generally very slow under neutral conditions (i.e., about pH 7) and can be accelerated only by using harsher conditions such as very low (e.g., below pH 5) or very high (e.g., above pH 10) pH conditions.
In a related application, U.S. Ser. No. 841,395 to Kaiserman et al., applicants disclosed the use of enzyme activators to release bleach from bleach precursors. There was no teaching in that application regarding production of acids from anhydride precursors.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for accelerating production of acids from anhydride precursors.
Unexpectedly, applicants have discovered a system whereby acids are released more quickly from acid precursors (i.e., anhydrides) using esterase enzymes (i.e., any enzyme having esterase activity). The acceleration of acid formation can be noted at all pH ranges relative to not using esterase at all, but is especially striking in that it allows acid to be formed from anhydride even at neutral pH ranges (i.e., pH 7) where it was not previously believed that acid release from these acid precursors was achievable. That is formation of the acid from anhydrides at neutral pH was previously believed nonexistent or negligible at best.
The present system may be used in liquid or powder detergent systems such as are well known to those skilled in the art.

System for enhancing release of acids from anhydride precursors using esterase catalysts

Lever Brothers Company, Division of Conopco, Inc.


A measuring device for measuring aquatic creatures such as fish, crustaceans and shellfish. The measuring device includes a planar element having an elongated body that extends between two ends. At least one marking disposed on said elongated body between the two ends. A predetermined distance exists between each marking and one of said ends. Each predetermined distance corresponds to the legal minimum length of at least one species of fish. Protrusions extend from the elongated body of the planar element. A predetermined distance exists between each protrusion and one of the ends of the planar element. The predetermined distance corresponds to the minimum acceptable length of either a crustacean or a shellfish. As such, the present invention measuring device can be utilized as a yes/no gauge for a plurality of different species of fish, crustaceans and shellfish without the need for adjustment.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to measurement devices for measuring fish, crustaceans and shellfish. More particularly, the present invention relates to measurement scales that inform a fisherman as to whether a fish, crustacean or shellfish is larger than the legal size permissible for capture.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are many federal, state and local laws and regulations that limit the size of fish, crustaceans and shellfish that can be caught by a fisherman. The purpose of placing limits on the size of different species is to ensure that juvenile animals are not harvested before they have been given a chance to reproduce. This ensures that the population of the various fish, crustaceans and shellfish will not be depleted to a point where that species will become endangered.
The legal size limit for different species of sea life vary from species to species. Fish are typically measured by the length of there bodies between their nose and tail. Different species of fish have different minimum acceptable lengths.
Crustaceans such as lobsters and crabs are measured in different ways. Lobsters are measured from the collar of the neck to the tip of the tail. Crabs are measured by the width of their shells. Different species of crabs have different acceptable minimum shell sizes.
Shellfish, such as clams, scallops, muscles and the like are measured by either the width, thickness or girth of their shells, depending upon the species of shellfish and the local regulations. However, commonly if the shells of the shellfish can be passed through an aperture of a predetermined diameter, then they are too small to harvest.
When a fisherman goes to the beach and fishes or goes to a lake to fish, that fisherman never knows what kind of species of fish he/she will catch. A fisherman must therefore have the ability to measure that fish and determine if that fish meets the legal length limit. In the prior art, there have been many measurement devices designed for fishermen. Such prior art devices are exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 5,097,617 to Craven, entitled Apparatus For Measuring Fish; U.S. Pat. No. 5,339,532 to O'Keefe, entitled Fish Length Measuring Device; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,228,226 to Porosky.
Although such prior art measurement devices give a fisherman the ability to measure different fish, such prior art devices are not designed to accommodate crustaceans or shellfish. When a fisherman fishes at the beach, the fisherman will often reel in a lobster or a crab that has snagged on the bait. If the fisherman had a prior art measuring device, the fisherman would not be able to accurately determine if the crustacean is of a legal size. Similarly, fisherman who fish with nets from ships often net numerous crustaceans along with fish. The fisherman must then have different measurement scales to determine if the fish and crustaceans are legal catches.
Fish and crustaceans that are pulled from the water must be measured and returned to the water rapidly so that the creatures do not die or otherwise become injured. Measuring devices must therefore be easy and quick to use. Many prior art measurement devices require that the measurement device be adjusted for each different species of fish. Obviously, such measurement devices are not useful for net fishermen who catch a large number of fish at the same time and the species of fish caught are widely varied.
Fisherman who fish at the beach often search for clams and collect muscles as they wait for fish to strike at the bait. In such a manner, a fisherman can return home with a catch of both fish and shellfish. The measurement devices used to measure shellfish are quite different than those used to measure fish. Shellfish are not measured by their length. Measuring scales for shellfish contain apertures for measuring the girth of the shells of the different species. As a result, a length measuring device designed for measuring fish is not very useful in measuring the girth of shellfish.
A need therefore exists in the art for a measuring device that can be used by fishermen that quickly and easily can be used to measure many different species of fish, crustaceans and shellfish. This need is met by the present invention as described and claimed below.


A method includes monitoring data associated with an electronic conference session between a plurality of users during the electronic conference session. The method further includes determining that an electronic conference termination event has been triggered based on the monitored data and in absence of a user selection to terminate the electronic conference session. Responsive to determining that the electronic conference termination event has been triggered, an electronic conference session ending event is initiated.

Online and virtual meetings have become a prominent feature of conducting business in light of the multi-locational aspect of most businesses. Use and importance of online and virtual meetings have been heightened due to shelter-in-place restrictions that were instituted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, along with a concomitant trend towards companies allowing more remote working and the resulting migration of many employees to more remote suburbs, or even different cities, states, or countries.
It is not uncommon for a virtual or online meeting, e.g., a videoconference, a webinar session, etc., to effectively conclude without the host explicitly ending the meeting, e.g., by pressing "End Meeting", or before the session's scheduled end time. Accordingly, some participants, e.g., present in the physical venue, may casually speak amongst themselves by being under the impression that the meeting has ended even though the virtual or online meeting is still being broadcast, e.g., audio, video, etc., or even recorded. As such, participants may make off-the-cuff remarks, which may be inappropriate, embarrassing, or even offensive to some. In certain situations, participants may even disclose confidential information unintentionally, which may be broadcast to unintended other participants. Unfortunately, there are currently no safeguards against remarks being made after a virtual meeting has effectively ended but the host has inadvertently left the online meeting on (i.e. the online meeting remains unterminated), thereby broadcasting and/or recording communications among one or more participants after the meeting has effectively ended.

System and method for detecting the end of an electronic conference session


The present disclosure describes roadway map updating using vehicle performance and location information from plural vehicles.

Vehicles are becoming increasingly artificially intelligent with wireless communication capabilities. Most vehicles on the road today are controlled, in whole or part, by computers. This intelligence has been underutilized for applications largely unrelated to vehicle control.
Satellite positioning systems have enabled not only a vehicle to locate itself but also a vehicle operator to navigate his or her trip to a selected destination. On board maps can, however, be obsolete due to temporary or permanent changes in road networks.
There is a need for a vehicle that can communicate with other vehicles and provide updated mapping information to an operator.

Method and system for vehicle data collection


Systems and methods are described for managing communications of an access node and a relay node. Data may be communicated between an access node and a plurality of wireless devices over a first frequency band. Data may also be communicated between the access node and a relay node over the first frequency band, where the relay node may communicate with wireless devices over a second frequency band. It may be determined that a utilization of the second frequency band meets a criteria. Data may then be communicated between the access node and at least one of the plurality of wireless device over the second frequency band based on the determination that the utilization of the second frequency band meets the criteria.

Telecommunication systems, such as cellular networks or other wireless networks, use various network links throughout the network to communicate. For example, an access node may use a network link to communicate with another access node while using a separate network link to communicate with another processing node. Accordingly, the system may rely on a well-established network to provide efficient communication services.
In certain circumstances, a portion of the network may experience high load (e.g., load above a threshold). For example, a communication link may experience large amount of data traffic. Here, the efficiency of the system may suffer due to excessive load on a portion of the system. Accordingly, a system that effectively balances load may be able to provide a high quality service to users of the system.
Overview
Systems and methods are described for managing communications of an access node and a relay node. Data may be communicated between an access node and a plurality of wireless devices over a first frequency band. Data may also be communicated between the access node and a relay node over the first frequency band, where the relay node may communicate with wireless devices over a second frequency band. It may be determined that a utilization of the second frequency band meets a criteria. Data may then be communicated between the access node and at least one of the plurality of wireless device over the second frequency band based on the determination that the utilization of the second frequency band meets the criteria.

Systems and methods for managing communication between an access node and a relay node


The invention is directed to a stable formulation of a biologically active protein useful for aerosol delivery to the respiratory tract of a patient in need of treatment comprising:                (a) a carrier liquid comprising from about 10% to from about 100% V/V water and from about 0% to from about 90% V/V of an organic liquid;        (b) a biologically effective amount of a protein suspended or dissolved in a carrier liquid; and        (c) a stabilizing effective amount of a derivatized carbohydrate stabilizing agent suspended or dissolved in said carrier liquid.The stable formulations of the invention may optionally contain about 0.1% to about 5.0% W/V of a pharmaceutically acceptable excipient.

This invention relates generally to the stabilization of biomolecules in solvent systems compatible with electrostatic or electrohydrodynamic aerosol devices, and specifically to the stabilization of biologically active proteins such as insulin in liquid systems.
Pulmonary delivery of therapeutic agents by means of inhaled aerosols is an area of increasing importance in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Electrostatic or electrohydrodynamic devices which are capable of generating inhalable aerosols with certain preferred properties frequently require liquid formulations containing one or more solvents such as water, an organic solvent such as an alcohol, or a mixture of water and at least one organic solvent.
Biological molecules, ("biomolecules") are frequently difficult to formulate in certain solvents or solvent systems (e.g., mixtures of water and organic solvents) because organic solvents tend to compromise the stability of the biomolecule in solution. Biomolecules dissolved or suspended in liquid solvent systems typically suffer from chemical or physical degradation, thereby resulting in a formulation with little or no shelf life. Stabilization of the biomolecule in a given solvent system is therefore necessary to sustain the activity a given biomolecule. In formulations for use with electrostatic or electrohydrodynamic aerosol devices, non-ionic stabilizers are preferable to ionic compounds.
Regarding proteins used in pharmaceutical applications, processing and storage conditions, which do not diminish a given protein's biological function, must be achieved. To prevent the loss of native conformation, proteins must be protected from the chemical decomposition (e.g. by deamidation) and physical instability, which results from the disruption of noncovalent interactions. Aggregation (fibrillation), precipitation, and adsorption (especially on hydrophobic surfaces) are examples of such disruption.
One of the most important and commonly used therapeutic proteins is insulin. Insulin tends to polymerize and form microscopic aggregates, which prevent the delivery of insulin in certain drug delivery systems. This aggregated insulin may not have required pharmacological properties and may induce abnormal immune response (Chawla et al., Diabetes 34: 420–425, 1985). Thus, maintenance of insulin's biological activity is essential for more traditional insulin administration such as portable/implantable continuous infusion pumps and controlled release polymeric devices and systems. Furthermore, insulin aggregation leads to significant reductions in biological potency and obstruction of delivery routes, thereby creating serious complications for drug delivery systems and diminishing the patient's abilities to control their blood glucose levels."Sluzky et al., Biotechnology and Bioengineering 40: 895–903 (1992). Thus, there is a need for a method for stabilizing insulin and other biomolecules in liquid formulations utilized in drug delivery systems.
Stabilization methodologies for certain biological molecules are known in the art. For example, WO 98/29097 discloses compositions for increasing bioavailabilty through muscosal delivery, which includes mixtures of bioactive agents, and hydrophobically derivatized carbohydrates in powdered form. Similarly, WO 99/33853 discloses derivatized carbohydrates, which can be used to form a variety of materials, including solid delivery systems.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,439,421 issued to Hooper et al. (1984) discloses a stabilized gamma globulin concentrate in dry form, which utilizes polysaccharides including, branched and unbranched polymers of five and/or six carbon sugars. U.S. Pat. No. 5,547,873 issued to Magneson et al. (1996) discloses a composition for stabilizing proteins for long-term dry storage, which includes a glass-forming sugar.
While being effective at stabilizing certain biomolecules under certain conditions, the related art deals primarily with dry power or other solid systems, and do not offer methods or compositions for stabilizing biomolecules in liquid solvent systems suitable for use in liquid-based aerosol systems, including electrostatic and electrohydrodynamic devices and systems.

Method for stabilizing biomolecules in liquid formulations


Described is a low voltage, pulsed electrical stimulation device for controlling expression of, for example, follistatin, a muscle formation promotion protein, by tissues. Epicardial stimulation is especially useful for heart treatment. Follistatin controlled release is also useful for treating other ailments, such as erectile dysfunction, aortic aneurysm, and failing heart valves.

Various organs of the body lose, e.g., muscle function due to aging, disease, low blood flow, injury or blood vessel blockage(s). For example, the heart can become subject to heart failure. Realizing this, attempts have been made to address the issue with, e.g., electrical stimulation. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,483,749 to Leonhardt et al. (Jan. 27, 2009), the contents of which are incorporated herein by this reference, provided a method for enhancing myogenesis in a subject's injured myocardium, which method comprised identifying an injury or degeneration site in the myocardium and applying electrical stimulation to the site to enhance myogenesis. The method could be used in combination with implantation of myogenic cells into the myocardium, and the electrical stimulation could be applied before or after the implantation of myogenic cells. While good for its time, the method could be improved upon.
Prior art devices either did not produce follistatin at all or were of very high voltages (10 to 40V), which could lead to electrical disturbances in the heart tissue and which could be painful in use for applications such as treating erectile dysfunction.


Systems and methods of generating and executing customized variants of a software application are provided. The customized variants include customization of user interfaces, data processing logic, and data models. Customization is accomplished by overlaying custom metadata on base metadata. The base metadata characterizes the software application and the custom metadata characterizes variants of the software application. The custom metadata and base metadata have an object-oriented relationship. Related variants are optionally applied as a set to assure compatibility between variants of the same software application.

Embodiments of the invention generally relate to computer processing systems and software. More specifically, embodiments of the invention relate to configurable software systems.
Generally, large scale software applications are developed to provide support for practices and processes needed for the operation of an organization. For example, a company often procures packaged "Ready to Use" software applications designed to help the company manage business needs such as payroll, manufacturing, scheduling, etc. Such packaged software applications are often procured from software companies who write, debug and compile the software application.
To benefit from the economics of scale, consistent with the marketing practices in many industries, such software companies seek to develop generic software application packages that cover a broad range of software application needs. Due to variations in business practices and operations of different types of industries, such as electronic manufacturing, chemical manufacturing, real estate sales, etc., software applications are often tailored and packaged to suit a particular type of industry, business sector, etc.
Unfortunately, due to the virtually unlimited practices and operational variations between different types of industries, businesses, business units, business operations, and end-user needs, etc., the packaged software application generally does not perfectly match a particular company's, or even a particular industry's operational needs. For example, consider the case of a United States based company that manufactures electronic equipment. The company procures a software application designed to assist them in their United States based electronic equipment manufacturing operation. This software application is designed with features and options that work for the electronic manufacturing side of their business. Then, after the company has implemented the software application, the company may acquire an overseas subsidiary. Unfortunately, the same software application that worked for the electronic equipment manufacturing part of the business may be partially or wholly incompatible with the overseas subsidiary. This incompatibility may arise because of different customs, laws, because the overseas subsidiary is in a different industry, and/or because the overseas subsidiary is involved in a different part of the business.
The customization often required to satisfy the needs of varying business practices and operations involves more than just changes in end-user interfaces. This customization often requires changes in underlying system logic, data processing or data structures. Therefore, systems which merely allow customization of an end-user interface do not satisfy these needs.
Companies generally have three options with regard to packaged software applications that do not meet their operational needs. First, the company can try to upgrade the software application to an updated version (if available) that can support their operations. Second, the company can try to adapt itself to work with the software application without modification. Or third, the company may attempt to customize the software application to more closely match their overall operational needs. Unfortunately, all three options require some level of company adaptation and are, therefore, generally costly to implement and time consuming.
When a company chooses to customize their software application, this customization may not be compatible with later upgrades to the original software. The customization may also result in significant costs for merging different customizations or retraining end-users to use a newer version. In addition, a customization requested by one department within a company may not be accepted or endorsed by other departments or end users who are affected by the customization. For example, a department operating under one set of accounting rules may not support a customization needed by a department operating under another set of accounting rules.
The business software industry has provided some conventional solutions to incompatibilities with software applications. For example, software companies developing enterprise software have developed conventional software tools to allow a company to customize their software application to more closely match company business practices. Unfortunately, such conventional software tools are either limited to configuration of an end-user interface or require skilled computer programmers and/or highly trained personnel to implement changes to the software application.
Further, due to the complex nature and interrelationships between various software modules of the software application, customizing a software application often has a ripple effect. For example, customizing one department's data processing rules may cause other software modules and processes to operate differently or may even provide faulty information to other users of the software application. Generally, the solution to this type of problem has been for the company and/or the software developer to go through lengthy and expensive processes of testing the customizations and then releasing verified versions of the software application. Unfortunately, the process of software change verification, unless carefully controlled, can lead to numerous business infrastructure issues and a loss of business productivity. Therefore, many companies are reluctant to make changes to their software applications due to such ripple effect, especially once they believe that the software application is operating at an acceptable level. In the above example of an electronics manufacturing company with both US and oversees operations, this approach requires maintaining two different sets of software programs to accommodate the various needs of the US and overseas operations.
Therefore, there is a need for improved methods and systems that allow for customization of a software application, including underlying data processing and data structures, in an uncomplicated and efficient manner. There is also a need for systems that allow a user to simply and easily modify a software application to suit particular needs without adversely affecting other users thereof.

Configurable and customizable software application system and metadata


Methods and kits-of-parts for determining the quantity of HbA1c relative to the concentration of haemoglobin in a blood sample which includes less than 200 μl of blood, the method including the steps of adding the fluorophore to the sample and measuring the fluorescence at one or more time points within the time interval, at which the change in fluorescence over time is >0, followed by measurements of haemoglobin by adding a haemoglobin-binding agent and measuring the change in transmission at approximately 570 nm and comparing the obtained results with an internal standard.

Glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c or haemoglobin A1c, HbA1c, A1C, or Hb1c) is a natural form of haemoglobin that is measured primarily to identify the average plasma glucose concentration over prolonged periods of time in humans. HbA1c is formed in a non-enzymatic glycation pathway by haemoglobin's exposure to plasma glucose. As the average amount of plasma glucose increases, the fraction of glycated haemoglobin increases in a predictable way. Thus, the blood level of HbA1c serves as a marker for the average glucose concentration in the blood of a patient in the months prior to the measurement, and is relatively insensitive towards natural daily fluctuations in the glucose level, e.g. due to exercise, rest, meals and other behavioural influences on the glucose level. Thus, HbA1c has been suggested as a marker of the general health state of the individual patient.
Correctly assessing the quantity of HbA1c in blood samples from patients poses ubiquitous challenges to medicinal practitioners. A high amount of glycated haemoglobin indicates poor control of blood glucose levels, which has been associated with cardiovascular disease, nephropathy, and retinopathy. Especially in type 1 and 2 diabetic patients, the monitoring of HbA1c may improve diagnosis and treatment.
Conventional methods for measuring HbA1c in blood samples include column-based borate affinity, HPLC affinity, immunoassay and borate fluorescence quenching methods where a change in fluorescence in liquids containing fluorophores is induced by the selective binding of HbA1c to the fluorophore. The change in measurements of fluorescence after exposure to the HbA1c-containing sample is evaluated and correlated with the relative presence of haemoglobin.
US 2009/0176309 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,877,025 disclose such methods and describe the use of photoluminescent or chemiluminescent marker compound containing a boronic acid group that reacts selectively with a glycated protein (such as HbA1c).
A method for determining the concentration of total haemoglobin is to use conventional photometric measurements of the absorbance at 405 or 415 nm as disclosed e.g. in EP 0 772 779. Another method is to measure total haemoglobin at the isosbestic point (nm).
However, conventional methods provide unsatisfactory results in terms of accuracy and reproducibility, especially when used in connection with small volume samples. Reproducibility is particularly important for using the HbA1c analyte as a monitoring tool for diabetes patients. It is preferable to have % CV-values below 4%, such as less than 3.5% (NGSP standard).
Thus, there is a constant need in the art for alternative methods for determining HbA1c, especially methods that provide increased accuracy and give increased reproducibility. The aspects of the disclosed embodiments are directed to providing such methods.
Measurements of analytes in blood samples by patient- and user-friendly equipment conventionally aim at analysing blood samples consisting of less than 200 μl blood. Such quantities are easily obtained by the individual patients without being associated with serious health risks.
Thus, there is a need in the art for methods and devices capable of analysing HbA1c quantities in blood samples comprising less than 200 μl blood. Even more specifically, there is a need in the art for methods and devices capable of analysing HbA1c quantities in blood samples comprising less than 180 μl blood, such as less than 150 μl, such as less than 100 μl, such as less than 50 μl, such as less than 20 μl, such as less than 10 μl, such as less than 9 μl, such as less than 8 μl, such as less than 7 μl, such as less than 6 μl, such as less than 5 μl, such as less than 4 μl, such as less than 3 μl, such as 2 μl or less blood. It is an object of the invention to provide such methods.
Another challenge is to increase the ease of each analysis, preferably to a level at which measurements of HbA1c in blood can be made by the patient without the assistance of medicinal practitioners. Further, it is also a challenge to bring down the costs to a level at which each measurement is affordable by the consumer.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for methods and patient-friendly kits-of-parts allowing individual patients to accurately and easily measure the level of HbA1c in blood samples. Further, there is a need in the art for methods and kits-of-parts that allow for a simple and easy handling of samples and blood analysis. The aspects of the disclosed embodiments are directed to providing such methods and kits-of-parts.

Method for determining the quantity of an HbA1c in a blood sample


A cross-point switch fabric slice (100) includes multistage gated buffer tree (135) incorporating at least first and second serially connected gated buffer stages (136, 138). N inputs (102-116) connect to preselected gated buffers (146-160) in the first gated buffer stage (136). The multistage gated buffer tree provides a signal path from any of the N inputs (102-116) to at least one switch output (118) in response to gated buffer stage control signals for the first gated buffer stage (136) and gated buffer stage control signals for the second gated buffer stage (138). Generally, the number of gated buffers decreases from that of the previous stage. As an input signal propagates through the cross-point switch fabric slice (100), longer internal connections are driven by more capable buffers.

Cross-point switches are critical elements in modern communication networks. In general, a cross-point switch allows a signal present at any of N input ports to be redirected to any of M output ports. As a result, a cross-point switch provides a sophisticated routing function underlying data flow through advanced communication networks.
The performance of a cross-point switch, however, is limited by the signal quality present on the cross-point switch inputs and the effect of the cross-point switch itself on the signal as the signal traverses the switch. In particular, the design and construction of prior cross-point switches placed certain limits on the data rate of signals that could reliably traverse the core switch fabric in the cross-point switch. Thus, for example, the parasitic effects of buffers, multiplexers, and signal traces inside the switch were often data rate limiting factors, particularly with input signals already attenuated by transmission through long coaxial input connections to the cross-point switch.
However, driven in part by established optical networking technologies, data rates and signal frequency are ever increasing. Networks that can meet the potentially available data rates will benefit through increased throughput and, ultimately, increased revenue. However, as noted above, past cross-point switches were unduly limited in the data rate of signals that could traverse the cross-point switch.
A need has long existed in the industry for a cross-point switch that addresses the problems noted above and others previously experienced.

Cross-point switch fabric and switch fabric slice

Northrop Grumman Space & Mission Systems Corp.