The invention is directed to a hand held vibration device which imparts reciprocating motion in a guidewire while leaving the guidewire free to rotate about its longitudinal axis, to facilitate advancement of the guidewire through a highly occluded blood vessel. The vibrating device is provided with a lock ring for reversibly preventing guidewire rotation without effecting guidewire reciprocation, and the reciprocation length of the device may be varied. The length the guidewire extends past the distal end of a delivery catheter may be varied from controls on the device which do not require guidewire detachment from the reciprocating mechanism. The device may be used with or without a delivery catheter provided with a curved distal end, the curvature of which can be varied while the catheter is inside the patient.

This invention relates to the field of medical devices, and more particularly to a guidewire system for advancement through a highly occluded blood vessel.
Atherosclerosis resulting in a blockage of arteries can be a life threatening disease. Percutaneous intravascular procedures such as angioplasty and atherectomy were developed to open blocked vessels with as little trauma as possible. Angioplasty involves inflating a balloon positioned within the obstructive deposits or stenosis in the vessel, so that the stenosis is compressed against the arterial wall and the wall expanded to open up the passageway. Atherectomy involves selective excision and removal of obstructive deposits from the vessel walls.
An essential first step in these percutaneous procedures is maneuvering the distal operative extremity of the angioplasty or atherectomy catheter into position at a precise point inside the arterial occlusion. Maneuvering through small branched vessels and the stenosis itself can be very difficult and tedious. Especially difficult in this respect are chronic total occlusions (CTO). While most CTOs are not totally obstructed, only a small tortuous channel passes through the stenosis.
The guidance system used to position the catheters must be both effective and safe, because if they cannot be positioned precisely into place, the stenosis cannot be treated. Additionally, inadequate guidance carries a risk of perforation of the vessel that exceeds the benefits of recanalization.
The use of a guidewire is ideal in terms of effectiveness, safety, simplicity, and cost. Typically, a guiding catheter is inserted into the patient's aorta with its distal tip seated in the ostium of the desired coronary artery. The guidewire is then maneuvered into place while its progress is fluoroscopically monitored. Once the guidewire passes through the stenosis, the angioplasty or atherectomy catheters can be advanced over the guidewire and into place within the stenosis.
The distal end of the guidewire may be shaped, e.g. bent, at an angle up to 90.degree. from its longitudinal axis, so that torquing the proximal end of the guidewire from outside the patient can guide the distal tip of the guidewire into branch arteries. While it is known that vibrating a guidewire can help its passage through an occluded artery, such vibration has not been shown to be successful in highly occluded passageways such as CTO's.
What has been needed is a vibration device with the superior guidewire steerability and ease of use which results from having the guidewire free to rotate or move longitudinally relative to the distal tip of a guiding catheter even though the guidewire is attached to the vibrating mechanism. By providing for simultaneous manipulation of more than one variable of the guidewire, such a device gives the operator greater control over the guidewire position. Furthermore, such a device would have superior ease of use because unclasping, repositioning, and reclasping the guidewire to the vibration mechanism would not be required each time the guidewire needed to be rotated or moved relative to the guiding catheter.
Additional guidewire control would be provided by a guiding catheter with a bend in the distal tip which could be varied incrementally from 0.degree. to 90.degree. from its axis, while the catheter was inside a patient vessel. When attached to a vibrating device, a catheter with such in situ variability would allow the distal end of the guidewire to oscillate at a variety of angles to the longitudinal axis of the catheter, and would be useful in accessing off-center channels and side branches.
The vibration device of the present invention provides such a combination of desirable properties.


When operation keys are operated, a light-emitting device outputs an infrared signal corresponding to the operated operation keys. The infrared signal is applied to a light-detecting device. In response to the applied infrared signal, the light-detecting device generates a detected signal and supplies the detected signal to an amplifying circuit. The amplified detected signal from the amplifying circuit is decoded by a decoding circuit into a data code, which is supplied through an interface circuit to a computer. Based on control data supplied as the data code to the computer, the computer controls a projector to perform a process of displaying images page by page, for example.

The present invention relates to a remote control system and a receiver for controlling an electronic device connected to a computer with a wireless signal such as an infrared signal or the like.
There has been proposed a remote control system having a projector for displaying an image on a screen based on a video signal supplied from a personal computer and a remote control unit for remotely controlling the projector. For details, reference should be made to Japanese Patent laid-open No. 2002-64883.
The remote control system includes receiving means for receiving a control signal transmitted from the remote control unit and control means for controlling operation of the projector based on the received control signal, the receiving means and the control means being mounted on the projector.
The remote control system needs to have dedicated units, including the receiving means and the control means, on the projector. Therefore, the remote control system is not versatile in that it fails to remotely control projectors which do not have the receiving means and the control means.
In addition, the projector with the receiving means and the control means are relatively costly to manufacture.


Provided herein, in some aspects, are methods and compositions for cell-free production of ribonucleic acid.

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is ubiquitous to life. RNA acts as the key messenger of information in cells, carrying the instructions from DNA for the regulation and synthesis of proteins. RNA is of interest in biotechnology as synthetically modulating mRNA levels in cells (positively through the introduction of mRNA or negatively through the introduction of siRNA or dsRNA) has applications in fields such as agricultural crop protection, anti-cancer therapeutics, and vaccines. RNA interference (RNAi), for example, refers to a cellular mechanism that uses the DNA sequence of a gene to turn the gene "off"—a process referred to as "silencing." In a wide variety of organisms, including animals, plants, and fungi, RNAi is triggered by double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). Functional single-stranded (e.g. mRNA) and double-stranded RNA molecules have been produced in living cells and in vitro using purified, recombinant enzymes and purified nucleotide triphosphates (see, e.g., European Patent No. 1631675 and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0271559 A1, each of which is incorporated herein by reference). Nonetheless, the production of RNA at scales enabling widespread commercial application is currently cost-prohibitive.

Cell-free production of ribonucleic acid


A noise attenuation device for a vehicle exhaust system is provided. The device includes an exhaust pipe having a passageway for receiving exhaust gas pulses from an engine. The device further includes a plurality of vanes extending from an inner surface of the passageway and spaced apart from one another. The vanes are configured to reduce turbulence in the exhaust gas pulses flowing past the vanes to reduce noise at a downstream outlet of the exhaust pipe.

Internal combustion engines have exhaust manifolds communicating exhaust gases to emission control devices and through an exhaust pipe. The inventors herein have recognized that turbulent exhaust gas pulses exiting the outlet of the exhaust pipe can contact an outer surface of the exhaust pipe proximate the outlet and vibrate the end of the pipe. As a result, the vibrations can generate undesirable noise at the exhaust pipe outlet. Thus, the inventors herein have recognized that it would be desirable to utilize a noise attenuation device upstream of the exhaust pipe outlet configured to reduce flow through noise generated at the outlet.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Noise attenuation device for a vehicle exhaust system


An elastomeric gel-filled prosthetic implant having a shell made of a single gel barrier layer. The barrier layer is formed of a homogeneous silicone elastomer capable of sterically retarding permeation of the silicone gel through the shell and having a bleed rate that is less than about 40% of the bleed rate of current shells which use a sandwiched construction with an internal barrier layer. Further, the barrier layer shell is made of a material that exhibits a wet strength that is comparable to or greater than current shells. The silicone elastomer may be a polydimethyl siloxane, and the substituted chemical group is a diphenyl group with a minimum mole percent of at least 13%. The implant may be designed for breast reconstruction or augmentation such that the shell is accordingly shaped. The shell wall thickness is at least 0.254 mm (0.010 inches), and desirably about 0.456 mm (0.018 inches). The implant shell may be made by dip-forming, spray-forming, or rotational molding. The exterior may be smooth or textured.

Implantable prostheses are commonly used to replace or augment body tissue. In the treatment of breast cancer, it is sometimes necessary to remove some or all of the mammary gland and surrounding tissue. Reconstruction of the breast commonly involves surgical implantation of a prosthesis which both supports surrounding tissue and restores the appearance of the breast. The restoration of the normal appearance of the body has an extremely beneficial psychological effect on post-operative patients, eliminating much of the shock and depression that often follows extensive surgical procedures. Implantable prostheses are also used more generally for restoring the normal appearance of soft tissue in various areas of the body, such as the buttocks, chin, calf, etc.
Soft implantable gel-filled prostheses typically include a flexible envelope or shell made of cured silicone-based elastomer encasing a silicone gel core. Obviously, a shell that is highly resistant to both rupture and the possibility of silicone gel bleeding through the shell is highly desirable. Breast implants have been designed with these goals in mind.
Conventional breast implant shells are multilayered or laminated. Specifically, such shells include outer "rupture-resistant" layers, and an inner "barrier" layer, sandwiched between the outer layers and effective to resist gel bleed. For example, some silicone-filled breast implants available from Allergan, Inc. include a low diffusion silicone elastomer shell made with outer layers of a dimethyl-diphenyl silicone elastomer, having a diphenyl polymer mole percent of 5%, and a barrier layer of dimethyl-diphenyl silicone elastomer having a diphenyl polymer mole percent of 15%.
Mentor Corp. manufactures gel-filled breast implants which include a layered silicone elastomer shell made with outer layers of a dimethyl silicone elastomer and an intermediate barrier layer of a dimethyl diphenyl silicone copolymer having a diphenyl polymer mole percentage of 15%.
One drawback of utilizing layered or laminated implant shells is that during formation of the shell, mixing of adjacent layers may result in visible clouding. Surgeons prefer a relatively transparent shell. Moreover, a shell having a layered construction presents the potential problem of delamination.
Despite many advances in the construction of soft prosthetic implant shells, there remains a need for a more flexible gel-filled prosthesis which minimizes gel bleed.

All-barrier elastomeric gel-filled breast prosthesis


An improved tissue graft construct comprising submucosa of a warm-blooded vertebrate and a preselected group of eukaryotic cells are described. The improved tissue graft constructs can be used in accordance with the present invention to enhance the repair of damaged or diseased tissues in vivo.

The present invention relates to intestinal tissue derived tissue grafts and their use in repairing damaged or diseased tissues. More particularly, this invention is directed to intestinal submucosal tissue grafts that have been seeded with a preselected population of cells to enhance the repair capabilities of the tissue graft construct.
The present invention is directed to vertebrate submucosa-derived collagenous matrices in combination with preselected cell population as tissue graft construct for the use in the repair of damaged or diseased tissues. The collagenous matrices for use in accordance with the present invention comprise highly conserved collagens, glycoproteins, proteoglycans, and glycosaminoglycans in their natural configuration and natural concentration. The extracellular collagenous matrix for use in this invention is derived from submucosal tissue of a warm-blooded vertebrate.
In accordance with the present invention the submucosa is isolated from warm-blooded vertebrate tissues including the alimentary, respiratory, intestinal, urinary or genital tracts of warm-blooded vertebrates. The preparation of intestinal submucosa is described and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,902,508, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference. Urinary bladder submucosa and its preparation is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,554,389, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference. Stomach submucosa has also been obtained and characterized using similar tissue processing techniques. Such is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 60/032,683 titled STOMACH SUBMUCOSA DERIVED TISSUE GRAFT, filed on Dec. 10, 1996. Briefly, stomach submucosa is prepared from a segment of stomach in a procedure similar to the preparation of intestinal submucosa. A segment of stomach tissue is first subjected to abrasion using a longitudinal wiping motion to remove the outer layers (particularly the smooth muscle layers) and the luminal portions of the tunica mucosa layers. The resulting submucosa tissue has a thickness of about 100 to about 200 micrometers, and consists primarily (greater than 98%) of a cellular, eosinophilic staining (HandE stain) extracellular matrix material.
Preferred submucosal tissues for use in accordance with this invention include intestinal submucosa, stomach submucosa, urinary bladder submucosa, and uterine submucosa. Intestinal submucosal tissue is one preferred starting material, and more particularly intestinal submucosa delaminated from both the tunica muscularis and at least the tunica mucosa of warm-blooded vertebrate intestine.
As a tissue graft, submucosal tissue undergoes remodeling and induces the growth of endogenous tissues upon implantation into a host. It has been used successfully in vascular grafts, urinary bladder and hernia repair, replacement and repair of tendons and ligaments, and dermal grafts. The preparation and use of submucosa as a tissue graft composition is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,902,508; 5,281,422; 5,275,826; 5,554,389; and other related U.S. patents. When used in such applications the graft constructs appear not only to serve as a matrix for the regrowth of the tissues replaced by the graft constructs, but also promote or induce such regrowth of endogenous tissue. Common events to this remodeling process include: widespread and very rapid neovascularization, proliferation of granulation mesenchymal cells, biodegradation/resorption of implanted intestinal submucosal tissue material, and lack of immune rejection. The use of submucosal tissue in sheet form and fluidized forms for inducing the formation of endogenous tissues is described and claimed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,281,422 and 5,275,826, the disclosures of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference.
Submucosal tissue can be obtained from various sources, including intestinal tissue harvested from animals raised for meat production, including, for example, pigs, cattle and sheep or other warm-blooded vertebrates. This tissue can be used in either its natural configuration or in a comminuted or partially digested fluidized form. Vertebrate submucosal tissue is a plentiful by-product of commercial meat production operations and is thus a low cost cell growth substrate, especially when the submucosal tissue is used in its native layer sheet configuration.
The submucosa tissue graft constructs prepared in accordance with the present invention are a substantially a cellular matrix that provides a superior cell growth substrate resembling the matrix environment found in vivo. The natural composition and configuration of submucosal tissue provides a unique cell growth substrate that promotes the attachment and proliferation of cells.
It has been reported that compositions comprising submucosal tissue of the intestine of warm-blooded vertebrates can be used as tissue graft materials in sheet or fluidized form. U.S. Pat. No. 4,902,508 describes tissue graft compositions that are characterized by excellent mechanical properties, including high compliance, a high burst pressure point, and an effective porosity index. These properties allow such compositions to be used for vascular and connective tissue graft constructs. When used in such applications the preferred graft constructs serve as a matrix for the in vivo regrowth of the tissues replaced by the graft constructs. U.S. Pat. No. 5,275,826 describes use of fluidized forms of vertebrate submucosal tissues as injectable or implantable tissue grafts.
The present invention is directed to submucosa tissue graft constructs and a method of enhancing or expanding the functional properties of vertebrate submucosal tissues as an implantable or injectable tissue graft construct. The improved tissue graft constructs are prepared by seeding the submucosal tissue in vitro with preselected or predetermined cell types prior to implanting or injecting the graft construct into the host.
The present invention is directed to an improved tissue graft construct comprising vertebrate submucosa delaminated from both the external smooth muscle layers and the luminal portions of the tunica mucosa. The improvement comprises the addition of a preselected population of cells to the substantially a cellular submucosa matrix. The cells to be combined with the submucosa are selected based on the cell type of the intended tissue to be repaired. In one embodiment the preselected cells comprise primary cells isolated from epithelial, endothethial or cartilage tissues.
There are certain areas of the body that contain a combination of complex differentiated structures for which regeneration has never shown to be possible. These areas typically heal with great difficulty and damage to these structures creates significant morbidity and often mortality. Examples of such areas include the esophagus, the central nervous system, skin and its appendages, among others.
The combination of the preselected population of cells with the submucosa matrix provides an improved tissue graft construct that shows surprising improved wound healing capabilities and better restoration of tissue function when compared to the use of either component alone as a therapeutic agent. Furthermore, the composition comprising submucosa seeded with added cells can be cultured prior to the implantation of the construct into the affected region. Intestinal submucosa is capable of supporting the proliferation and growth of a wide variety of cells, including primary cells that are normally difficult to culture in vitro. The ability of submucosa to provide a substrate that supports the growth of such cells provides the opportunity to expand a population of cells prior to implantation into a host. In one embodiment the submucosa is seeded with autologenous cells isolated from the patient to be treated.
There is provided in accordance with this invention a method and composition for supporting the proliferation and inducing tissue differentiation of eukaryotic cells cultured in vitro. Generally the method comprises the step of contacting eukaryotic cells, in vitro, with a vertebrate submucosa-derived collagenous matrix under conditions conducive to eukaryotic cell growth. The term xe2x80x9ccontactingxe2x80x9d as used herein with reference to cell culture is intended to include both direct and indirect contact, for example in fluid communication, of the submucosal tissue and the cultured cells. The term xe2x80x9cconditions conducive to eukaryotic cell growthxe2x80x9d as used herein refers to the environmental conditions, such as sterile technique, temperature and nutrient supply, that are considered optimal for eukaryotic cell growth under currently available cell culture procedures. Although optimum cell culture conditions used for culturing eukaryotic cells depend somewhat on the particular cell type, cell growth conditions are generally well known in the art. However a number of differentiated cell types are still considered difficult to culture (i.e. islets of Langerhans, hepatocytes, chondrocytes, osteoblasts, etc.).
The collagenous matrix component of the present cell culture substrate is derived from vertebrate submucosa and comprises naturally associated extracellular matrix proteins, glycoproteins and other factors. Preferably the collagenous matrix comprises intestinal submucosal tissue of a warm-blooded vertebrate. The small intestine of warm-blooded vertebrates is a particularly preferred source of the cell culture substrate for use in this invention.
Suitable intestinal submucosal tissue typically comprises the tunica submucosa delaminated from the tunica muscularis and at least the luminal portion of the tunica mucosa. In one preferred embodiment of the present invention the intestinal submucosal tissue comprises the tunica submucosa and basilar portions of the tunica mucosa including the lamina muscularis mucosa and the stratum compactum which layers are known to vary in thickness and in definition dependent on the source vertebrate species.
The preparation of submucosal tissue for use in accordance with this invention is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,902,508, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference. A segment of vertebrate intestine, preferably harvested from porcine, ovine or bovine species, but not excluding other species, is subjected to abrasion using a longitudinal wiping motion to remove the outer layers, comprising smooth muscle tissues, and the innermost layer, i.e., the luminal portion of the tunica mucosa. The submucosal tissue is rinsed with saline and optionally sterilized; it can be stored in a hydrated or dehydrated state. Lyophilized or air dried submucosa tissue can be rehydrated and used in accordance with this invention without significant loss of its cell proliferative activity.
The submucosa component of the present invention can be sterilized, prior to the addition of the preselected cells, using conventional sterilization techniques including glutaraldehyde tanning, formaldehyde tanning at acidic pH, propylene oxide treatment, gas plasma sterilization, gamma radiation, electron beam, peracetic acid sterilization. Sterilization techniques which do not adversely affect the mechanical strength, structure, and biotropic properties of the submucosal tissue is preferred. For instance, strong gamma radiation may cause loss of strength of the sheets of submucosal tissue. Preferred sterilization techniques include exposing the graft to peracetic acid, 1-4 Mrads gamma irradiation (more preferably 1-2.5 Mrads of gamma irradiation) or gas plasma sterilization; peracetic acid sterilization is the most preferred sterilization method. Typically, the submucosal tissue is subjected to two or more sterilization processes. After the submucosal tissue is sterilized, for example by chemical treatment, the tissue may be wrapped in a plastic or foil wrap and sterilized again using electron beam or gamma irradiation sterilization techniques.
The submucosal tissue specified for use in accordance with this invention can also be in a fluidized form. Submucosal tissue can be fluidized by comminuting the tissue and optionally subjecting it to protease digestion to form a homogenous solution. The preparation of fluidized forms of submucosa tissue is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,275,826, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference. Fluidized forms of submucosal tissue are prepared by comminuting submucosa tissue by tearing, cutting, grinding, or shearing the harvested submucosal tissue. Thus pieces of submucosal tissue can be comminuted by shearing in a high speed blender, or by grinding the submucosa in a frozen or freeze-dried state to produce a powder that can thereafter be hydrated with water or a buffered saline to form a submucosal fluid of liquid, gel or paste-like consistency. The fluidized submucosa formulation can further be treated with a protease such as trypsin or pepsin at an acidic pH for a period of time sufficient to solubilize all or a major portion of the submucosal tissue components and optionally filtered to provide a homogenous solution of partially solubilized submucosa.
The viscosity of fluidized submucosa for use in accordance with this invention can be manipulated by controlling the concentration of the submucosa component and the degree of hydration. The viscosity can be adjusted to a range of about 2 to about 300,000 cps at 25xc2x0 C. Higher viscosity formulations, for example, gels, can be prepared from the submucosa digest solutions by adjusting the pH of such solutions to about 6.0 to about 7.0.
Applicants have discovered that compositions comprising submucosal tissue can be used for supporting growth or proliferation of eukaryotic cells in vitro. Submucosal tissue can be used in accordance with this invention as a cell growth substrate in a variety of forms, including its native sheet-like configuration, as a gel matrix, as an addition for art-recognized cell/tissue culture media, or as coating for culture-ware to provide a more physiologically relevant substrate that supports and enhances the proliferation of cells in contact with the submucosal matrix. The submucosal tissue provides surfaces for cell adhesion and also induces cell differentiation. The submucosal tissue is preferably sterilized prior to use in cell culture applications, however nonsterile submucosal tissue can be used if antibiotics are included in the cell culture system.
In one preferred embodiment cells are seeded directly onto sheets of vertebrate submucosal tissue under conditions conducive to eukaryotic cell proliferation. The porous nature of submucosal tissue allows diffusion of cell nutrients throughout the submucosal matrix. Thus, for example, cells can be cultured on either the luminal or abluminal surface of the submucosal tissue. The luminal surface is the submucosal surface facing the lumen of the organ source and typically adjacent to an inner mucosa layer in vivo whereas the abluminal surface is the submucosal surface facing away from the lumen of the organ and typically in contact with smooth muscle tissue in vivo.
Cells cultured on solid sheets of vertebrate submucosal tissue display a different growth pattern, and exhibit different interactions with the submucosal growth substrate, depending on which side of the submucosal sheet the cells are grown. Histological examination of tissue/cells cultured on intestinal submucosal tissue sheets in accordance with this invention reveals that cells that are seeded onto the abluminal surface not only grow/proliferate along the surface of the submucosal tissue, but they also more readily migrate into and proliferate within the submucosal tissue itself. The luminal surface comprises a more dense matrix than the abluminal side and thus cells are less likely to penetrate the luminal side. Cells that are seeded onto the luminal surface attach to the matrix but generally do not penetrate the surface. However certain cell types are capable of penetrating both the abluminal and luminal surfaces (eg squamous carcinoma cells and fibroblasts). In addition, certain cell types, such as fetal rat cells, when seeded on the luminal side proliferate to form a polylayer of cells. Cells of this polylayer can differentiate to perform functions characteristic of cells in vivo and indicative of their position in the polylayer.
In one embodiment of the present invention, cell growth substrates in accordance with the present invention are formed from fluidized forms of submucosal tissue. The fluidized submucosal tissue can be gelled to form a solid or semi-solid matrix. Eukaryotic cells can then be seeded directly on the surface of the matrix and cultured under conditions conducive to eukaryotic cell proliferation.
The cell growth substrate of the present invention can be combined with nutrients, including minerals, amino acids, sugars, peptides, proteins, or glycoproteins that facilitate cellular proliferation, such as laminin and fibronectin and growth factors such as epidermal growth factor, platelet-derived growth factor, transforming growth factor beta, or fibroblast growth factor. In one preferred embodiment fluidized or powder forms of submucosal tissue can be used to supplement standard eukaryotic culture media to enhance the standard media""s capacity for sustaining and inducing the proliferation of cells cultured in vitro.
In accordance with the present invention there is provided a cell culture composition for supporting growth in vitro of an eukaryotic cell population in combination with submucosal tissue of a warm-blooded vertebrate. The composition comprises nutrients, and optionally growth factors required for optimal growth of the cultured cells. The submucosa substrates of the present invention can be used with commercially available cell culture liquid media (both serum based and serum free). When grown in accordance with this invention, proliferating cells can either be in direct contact with the submucosal tissue or they can simply be in fluid communication with the submucosal tissue. It is anticipated that the cell growth compositions of the present invention can be used to stimulate proliferation of undifferentiated stems cells as well as differentiated cells such as islets of Langerhans, hepatocytes and chondrocytes. Furthermore the described cell growth composition is believed to support the growth of differentiated cells while maintaining the differentiated state of such cells.
It has been well documented that submucosal tissue is capable of inducing host tissue proliferation, remodeling and regeneration of appropriate tissue structures upon implantation in a number of microenviromnents in vivo (e.g., tendon, ligament, bone, articular cartilage, artery, and vein). The use of such tissue in sheet form and fluidized forms for inducing the formation of endogenous tissues is described and claimed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,281,422 and 5,275,826, the disclosures of which are expressly incorporated by reference.
In one embodiment of the present invention the tissue replacement capabilities of graft compositions comprising submucosal tissue of warm-blooded vertebrates are further enhanced or expanded by seeding the tissue with various cell types, prior to implantation. For example, submucosal tissue may be seeded with endothelial cells or keratinocytes and used as a vascular graft or skin replacement, respectively. In one embodiment the submucosal tissue is seeded with islet of langerhans cells for use as an auxiliary pancreas. Alternatively, the submucosal tissue can be seeded with mesenchymal cells (stem cells) initially for expansion of the cell population and thereafter for implantation into a host. Submucosal tissue can also serve as a delivery vehicle for introducing genetically modified cells to a specific location in a host. The submucosal tissue for use in accordance with this embodiment can either be in a fluidized form or in its native solid form. Optionally, after the submucosal tissue has been seeded with eukaryotic cells, the graft composition can be subjected to conditions conducive to the proliferation of eukaryotic cells to further expand the population of the seeded cells prior to implantation of the graft into the host.
In one embodiment, compositions comprising submucosal tissue and a proliferating cell population can be encapsulated in a biocompatible matrix for implantation into a host. The encapsulating matrix can be configured to allow the diffusion of nutrients to the encapsulated cells while allowing the products of the encapsulated cells to diffuse from the encapsulated cells to the host cells. Suitable biocompatible polymers for encapsulating living cells are known to those skilled in the art. For example a polylysine/alginate encapsulation process has been previously described by F. Lim and A. Sun (Science Vol. 210 pp. 908-910). Indeed, vertebrate submucosa itself could be used advantageously to encapsulate a proliferating cell population on a submucosal matrix in accordance with this invention for implantation as an artificial organ.
Submucosal tissue advantageously provides a physiological environment that supports the differentiation of cells cultured in vitro on the submucosal tissue. Thus, cell culture substrates comprising submucosal tissue can be used in combination with standard cell culture techniques known to those of ordinary skill in the art, to produce tissue grafts, in vitro, for implantation into a host in need thereof. The cells of such a tissue perform their proper natural function based on cell type and position within the submucosal tissue graft construct.
The method of forming a tissue graft in vitro comprises the steps of seeding eukaryotic cells onto a cell growth substrate comprising submucosal tissue of a warm-blooded vertebrate and culturing the cells in vitro under conditions conducive to proliferation of the eukaryotic cells. Advantageously the synthesis in vitro of a tissue graft construct, wherein the cells of the tissue perform their proper natural function, allows the generation of tissue grafts from an initially small cell population that can be expanded in vitro prior to implantation.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention an improved tissue graft construct is provided. The tissue graft construct comprises tunica submucosa delaminated from both the tunica muscularis and at least the luminal portion of the tunica mucosa of vertebrate intestinal tissue combined with a preselected population of cells. In one embodiment the preselected population of cells includes connective tissue precursor cells. Intestinal submucosa can induce the differentiation of precursor cells into cells that assist in the repair of damaged tissues. Advantageously, submucosa seeded with a population of precursor cells can be implanted into a variety of different in vivo locations and the precursor cells will differentiate into the appropriate cell type for the environment. For example, implantation of the composition adjacent to cartilage or bone will result in the graft construct remodeling into cartilage or bone.
In accordance with one embodiment vertebrate submucosa is combined with primary cells to form an improved vertebrate submucosa tissue graft construct. In one embodiment, the improved tissue graft construct comprises vertebrate submucosa delaminated from both the external smooth muscle layers and the luminal portions of the tunica mucosa and added primary cells. More particularly, in one embodiment the vertebrate submucosa comprises tunica submucosa delaminated from both the tunica muscularis and at least the luminal portion of the tunica mucosa of vertebrate intestinal tissue. The improved graft construct of the present invention are implanted into an in vivo site in need of repair to enhance the repair of the endogenous tissues. The primary cells can be selected from the group consisting of endothelial, keratinocytes, chondrocytes, epithelial and mesenchymal cells. Typically, the submucosa will be in a solid form, however in an alternative embodiment the submucosa utilized is fluidized submucosa. The submucosa can be fluidized by comminuting the tissue and/or digesting the submucosa with an enzyme for a period of time sufficient to solubilize the submucosa.
In one embodiment, the improved tissue graft construct of the present invention comprises tunica submucosa delaminated from both the tunica muscularis and at least the luminal portion of the tunica mucosa of vertebrate intestinal tissue and a population of primary cells selected from the group consisting of endothelial cells, keratinocytes and mesenchymal cells. Furthermore, the preselected cell type may include cells that have been genetically modified. For example, the cell may be modified by including genes that express proteins that enhance the repair of the damaged or diseased tissues.
The present invention further provides a method for enhancing the capabilities of a submucosa graft construct to repair articular cartilage defects. The method comprises the step of seeding the vertebrate submucosa with chondrocytes prior to implanting or injecting the graft construct into a host. Accordingly, in one embodiment of the present invention a composition for the repair of articular cartilage defects comprises tunica submucosa delaminated from both the tunica muscularis and at least the luminal portion of the tunica mucosa of vertebrate intestinal tissue and added primary chondrocyte cells.
The present invention also provides a method for enhancing the capabilities of vertebrate submucosa graft construct to repair epithelial defects (such as periodontal structures or the esophagus), said method comprising the step of seeding the submucosa with primary epithelial cells prior to implanting or injecting the graft construct into a host. The method of repairing these tissue can further comprising the step of subjecting the seeded graft construct to conditions conducive to the proliferation of the cells prior to implanting or injecting the graft material into the host.
Accordingly, in one embodiment of the present invention a composition for the repair of periodontal structures or the esophagus comprises tunica submucosa delaminated from both the tunica muscularis and at least the luminal portion of the tunica mucosa of vertebrate intestinal tissue and added primary epithelial cells, and more particularly primary epithelial cells selected from the group consisting of primary gingiva epithelial cells and primary esophageal epithelial cells.

Enhanced submucosal tissue graft constructs


A method and rotary blancher for processing food product using a heat transfer medium and directed flows of a fluid that can comprise a liquid, a gas, a vapor or a combination thereof. The directed flows can be discharged from orifices or banks of orifices that are distributed around the food products in the blancher. The flows are discharged at a high flow rate, a high pressure, or a combination of both. Where a liquid is discharged, it preferably is discharged at a flow rate of at least 20 gpm and at least 30 psi. Where a gas is discharged, it is discharged at a flow rate of at least 60 CFM at a pressure of at least 2 psi or at a flow rate of at least 10 CFM at a pressure of at least 80 psi. If desired, discharged fluid can be recirculated to save energy. To help increase agitation and help break up clumps of food products in the blancher, direct-contact mechanical agitation devices, such as baffles, can be used. Such a blancher and method can be used to process food product by blanching, cooking and pasteurizing, is suited for processing relatively heavy food products having a density of at least 55 lbs/ft3 using discharged liquid and gas, and is suited for processing food products having a lesser density using only discharged gas.

A wide variety of food products, such as pasta, beans, corn, peas, and other vegetables and fruit, are processed every day around the world by blanching or heating. For many years, the basic rotary blancher consisted of an elongate cylindrical perforate drum received in a tank filled with heated water. Food products are continuously introduced through an inlet in one end of the drum and heated by the water in the tank. During operation, flights of a helical auger in the drum rotate and urge the food products from the drum inlet toward a drum outlet.
However, food products tend to clump together as the drum rotates resulting in poor heat transfer and uneven heating, especially for those food products in the middle of the clump. To combat this problem, straight and curved baffles have been employed between adjacent flights of the auger to lift and tumble food product during rotation of the drum to help improve heat transfer and more evenly heat food product. Examples of such baffles are disclosed in Zittel, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,632,195 and 5,456,091. As a result of this improvement, blanching capacity was not only roughly doubled, but the food products were more uniformly blanched. For example, where nine inches of one specific type of food product could previously be blanched, a blancher equipped with these baffles could more uniformly blanch about eighteen inches of the same food product.
In addition to this type of mechanical agitation, other methods have also been employed to improve heat transfer. For example, as is disclosed in Zittel, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,752,431 and 5,632,195, air and steam have been introduced into the water in the tank to help increase heat transfer efficiency. Air has also been used to improve cooling efficiency in food cooling applications. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,875,344 discloses injecting relatively low volumes of low-pressure air, namely warm air into cold water, to improve cooling of food products in a rotary drum chiller. In some food product cooling applications, manifolds connected to nozzles that introduce the air into the chiller have been located between the tank and drum at the five o'clock and seven o'clock positions relative to the drum's center. However, in each of these applications, the air was injected at a pressure of no greater than 150 pounds per square inch (psi) at a flow rate no more than 25 cubic feet per minute (CFM).
Directed flows of water have also been used to increase heat transfer. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,456,091 discloses improved cooling by directing flows of water from nozzles connected to a manifold toward the drum to agitate food products in the drum. However, a relatively low volume of water of no more than 8 gallons per minute per foot of blancher length (gpm/ft) at a pressure no greater than 40 psi was used for these cooling applications. While directed flows of water have also been tried in blanchers to improve heat transfer, it has been done using pressures no greater than 8 psi and flow rates no greater than 10 gpm/ft.
It is believed that greater pressures and flow rates of directed water flows have not been tried before because the lower pressures and flow rates previously tried did not increase efficiency so dramatically as to predict a correspondingly greater efficiency increase. Moreover, the cost of bigger and more powerful pumps and other equipment needed to deliver greater flow rates, particularly at higher pressures, was thought to be so cost prohibitive that any possible performance advantage was believed not to be worth it.
It has always been very difficult for rotary blanchers to process food products that are relatively heavy, typically having a density greater than 55 pounds per cubic foot (lbs/ft3). Examples of food products that are relatively heavy include packaged meats, such as hot dogs and turkey breasts, as well as other types of food products that are not packaged. While baffles have been used to help turn over and agitate food products during operation, heavier food products tend to clump together on the bottom and along the side of the rotating drum where the drum leaves the water. This is believed to be caused, at least in part, by the increased weight of the food products causing them to sink and by the increased friction between the food products and the rotating drum.
Testing has shown that, most, if not virtually all, heavy food products congregate along one side of the drum near the bottom of the drum in a region that occupies less than about 20% of the total volume of the drum dramatically reducing the amount of food product surface area actually exposed directly to the hot water. By congregating in a clump, the food products inside the clump are not heated directly by the water but by other outer food products, which means it takes more time to heat all of the food products to the desired temperature than is acceptable. Other experiments have shown that these lower turbulence (i.e. lower volume and pressure) flows of air and water used in the past, even if the blancher is equipped with agitating baffles, will not break up and agitate heavy food products enough to achieve the desired level of heat transfer needed to make blanching of heavy food products commercially viable.
Pasta is a relatively heavy food product that has a density less than 55 lbs/ft3. Pasta, however, is relatively fragile and must be handled much more carefully during blanching than most other types of food products, which has limited attempts in the past to increase heat transfer. Past attempts to increase heat transfer include the use of baffles and the introduction of air having a pressure no greater than 2 psi at a volume no greater than 40 CFM per foot of blancher length. As a result, throughput for a 72-inch diameter blancher has been heretofore limited to about 3500 pounds of pasta per hour, making production undesirably slow.
While the food processing industry has always been driven to find ways of processing more food product faster, it has been more recently been tempered by the need to do so in a manner that ensures the food is not contaminated. Thus, there has been a move to not only heat the food products until they are cooked, but to pasteurize the food products which takes longer, requires more heat, and thus is more costly.
Consequently, there has arisen a great need for a method and rotary blancher that processes food products, including heavy and fragile food products, more efficiently and more quickly and which is capable of more cost-effectively cooking, blanching and pasteurizing food products.

Rotary blancher for processing food product


In order to correct for fixed pattern noise in the signals of an image sensor, image signal values are read out from the pixels of the sensor. Individual correction values are added as analogue quantities to the image signal values via a signal path having a defined transfer function. Parameters which are characteristic of the defined transfer function are provided in a memory and the individual correction values are calculated in a correction value calculating unit using the parameters provided.

The present invention relates to a method and an arrangement for reducing of or correcting for fixed pattern noise (FPN) in the image signals from an image sensor having a plurality of pixels.
Modern image sensors for recording images have a plurality of individual pixels which are constructed from partially light-sensitive electronic components. The pixels generate, in dependence on the light impinging on them, analogue image signals having analogue image signal values at any instant in time. The analogue image signal values are converted into digital image signal values in a subsequent processing stage by means of an A/D converter. The digital image signal values of all pixels represent a digital image of the recorded scene which can later be reproduced on a monitor, a printer and the like.
A known problem in such image sensors is the fixed pattern noise (FPN). This is the name given to inhomogeneities in an image, which are mainly caused by production tolerances of the individual pixels. In the production of CMOS image sensors having a logarithmic characteristic, for example, variations with regard to the threshold voltages of the logarithmic transistors typically occur. When a recorded image is viewed, the fixed-pattern noise caused by such production tolerances shows up in areas which are actually uniform (homogeneous) but exhibit a pattern which is not present in reality.
To reduce or eliminate the fixed-pattern noise, it is known to add individual correction values to the image signal values from the individual pixels. By adding negative correction values, a subtraction in a mathematical sense can also be achieved. The goal of this measure is to equalize the differences existing between the image signal values of the individual pixels caused by production tolerances by adding suitable correction values. The correction values for the image signal value of each pixel can be taken from a memory. Such an FPN correction is known, for example, from JP 5-137073 A, where the image signal values which are already digitized are corrected in accordance with this document.
As will be acknowledged, the quality of the FPN correction decisively depends on the selection and determination of the individual correction values. The problem is, therefore, to determine individual correction values suitable for a particular image sensor. Prior to the present invention, the present assignee has proceeded as follows:
Firstly, a uniform (static) correction value was set for all pixels of the image sensor. Then a homogeneous reference image was recorded by means of the image sensor. A suitable reference image is, for example, a uniformly illuminated area (known from the so-called white calibration in cameras). Since the correction values of all pixels are identical in the recording of this reference image, the image signal values of the individual pixels exactly reflect the fixed-pattern noise in this case.
In the next step, a mean value over all pixels was formed from the recorded image signal values of the reference image. This mean value was then used as a basis for a uniform target image value for all pixels. To determine the suitable individual correction values for all pixels, all correction values from a set of possible correction values were tested in a test run for all pixels. In the case of correction values having a width of 8 bits, this required 256 loop iterations per pixel. As suitable individual correction value, the correction value with which the associated image signal value came closest to the uniform target image value was selected for each pixel.
The method represents a simple possibility for determining suitable individual correction values with low demands on the hardware used. The fixed-pattern noise can be reduced considerably by means of the correction values found in this manner.
However, carrying out this method requires a considerable processing time due to the numerous loop iterations. The larger the set of possible correction values, i.e. the data width of the individual correction values, the greater the processing time. Therefore, an improvement in the FPN correction by increasing the data width of the correction values leads to even very much longer processing times.

Method and arrangement for FPN correction in an image signal from an image sensor


A process for producing a lithium manganese oxide which has a formula of Li.sub.x MnO.sub.2 in which x is between 0.1 and 1 and which is suitable for use as a 3 volt cathode material, which comprises mixing at least one lithium compound with at least one manganese compound at a Li/Mn atomic ratio of 0.1-1 in a solvent selected from an aliphatic lower alcohol having from 1 to 3 carbon atoms, water and a mixture of the alcohol and water, allowing the resultant mixture to form a gel-like mixture, drying the gel-like mixture as required, and calcining the resulting product in an oxidative atmosphere at a temperature of 200-350.degree. C.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process for producing a lithium manganese oxide suitable for use as a 3 volt cathode (positive electrode) material of lithium ion secondary (rechargeable) batteries. More particularly, this invention relates to a process for producing a lithium manganese oxide which has a large specific surface area and a large tap density and is suitable for use as a 3 volt high energy density cathode material of non-aqueous electrolyte (organic electrolyte) lithium ion secondary batteries easily by use of less costly starting materials,
2. Prior Art
Backed by the recent demands for small sized and high performance electronic appliances, high voltage and high energy density lithium ion secondary batteries are already in use as their power sources in some fields. Lithium ion secondary batteries are also expected to be promising as power sources for large scale electric power storage systems or electricmobiles to cope with world-wide decrease in resources and environmental pollution.
A lithium cobalt oxide, LiCoO.sub.2, has been so far used as a high performance cathode material of non-aqueous electrolyte lithium ion secondary batteries. However, since the amount of cobalt in natural resources is small and it is expensive, a lithium nickel oxide or a lithium manganese oxide has attracted attention as a cathode material of non-aqueous electrolyte lithium ion secondary batteries in the next generation.
Since the amount of mangenese is rich in natural resources and it is less expensive, the study for practical use of a 4 volt spinel lithium manganese oxide or a 3 volt layered lithium manganese oxide has been conducted. Among these oxides, the latter lithium manganese oxide has a theoretical charge-discharge capacity of 286 mAh/g and it is expected that the oxide has a charge-discharge capacity larger than the lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO.sub.2).
According to A. R. Armstrong et al., Nature, Vol. 381, Jun. 6, 1996, pp. 499-500, the solid-state reaction between stoichiometric quantities of sodium carbonate and manganese (III) oxide under an argon atmosphere provides a stoichiometric sodium manganese oxide (NaMnO.sub.2) and the ion exchange of the oxide provides a stoichiometric lithium manganese oxide (LiMnO.sub.2) which has a layered structure.
However, lithium manganese oxides including LiMnO.sub.2 for use as a cathode material of lithium ion secondary batteries have been hitherto produced by a dry calcining process or a solid-state synthesizing process wherein a powder of a lithium compound such as lithium hydroxide or lithium carbonate is dry-mixed with a powder of a manganese oxide and then the powder mixture is calcined at a temperature as high as 500.degree. C. or more, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 8-37006 or No. 8-37027.
In general, a solid-state reaction using two solid powders as reactants is carried out by heating the solid powders at high temperatures capable of moving ions or atoms constituting the reactants, and mutually diffusing the ions or the atoms between the solid phases of these two solid powders. Accordingly, the smaller the diameter of the particle of the solid reactants, the shorter the diffusion distance and the larger the diffusion surface. Thus, a dense product having a uniform composition can easily be obtained.
However, in the production of a desired oxide by the dry calcining method, it is difficult to obtain a uniform powder mixture having a particle diameter of a submicron level by dry-mixing a powder of a manganese oxide with a powder of a lithium compound since the manganese oxide and lithium compound have a particle diameter of from several microns to tens of microns, and in particular, lithium hydroxide has a particle diameter of more than about 100 microns or more. Further, since the starting materials and the resulting final products have a low thermal conductivity, it is necessary to calcine the powder mixture at high temperatures for many hours, and in addition, it is necessary to repeat such high temperature calcination in order to obtain a lithium manganese oxide by dry calcination of the powder mixture.
Thus, when the calcination temperature and time are inappropriate in the calcination of the powder mixture, undesired by-products are often formed or the surface properties of the resultant product undesirably change with the result that a high performance cathode material for lithium ion secondary batteries are not obtained.
A further method, e.g., a melt impregnation method, is also known wherein lithium nitrate is heated and melted, and manganese dioxide is impregnated with the melted lithium compound, followed by calcining the product at high temperatures (J. Power Sources, 54 (1995), 483-486). However, the method also needs to repeat high temperature calcination for many hours.

Process for producing lithium manganese oxide suitable for use as cathode material of lithium ion secondary batteries


Techniques for displaying chromatographic data using a graphical user interface are provided. Chromatographic separation data that represent a series of measurements for multiple samples at a detection location over time can be displayed on a display device as a series of bands, the bands being arranged to resemble output from an electrophoresis gel. Additionally, the chromatographic separation data may be displayed in the form of measured intensity at the detection location versus time.

The present invention relates to the graphical display of data. More specifically, the invention relates to the display of chromatographic separation data that are a series of measurements over time in a graphical format, e.g., as a series of bands.
Analysis of biological samples often requires the resolution and characterization of the constituent elements of the sample. The more interesting of these constituents are macromolecular structures, e.g., proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, and the like. Typically, analytical separation of macromolecular species is carried out using chromatographic techniques. Of particular widespread use are electrophoretic techniques that employ slab-gels disposed between two glass plates as a separation matrix. Samples containing the macromolecular species that are sought to be analyzed, are introduced into wells at one end of the slab gel. An electric current is then applied through the gel drawing the macromolecular species through the gel by virtue of a charge either on, or otherwise associated with the macromolecular species. Each sample travels through the gel substantially linearly, e.g., in a lane corresponding to its well.
As the sample progresses through the gel, molecules of different size and/or charge will have different mobilities through the gel, and will separate into bands that reflect their relative size and/or charge. Upon completion, the gel is stained or otherwise examined whereby the various bands can be visualized and compared with standard macromolecular compounds, e.g., having standard molecular weight and/or charge, e.g., isolectric point.
For example, in the case of protein analysis using sodium dodecylsulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), proteins are drawn through the gel matrix in a highly charged detergent micelle (SDS) to ensure that the proteins, regardless of charge, will electrophorese through the gel. The proteins will travel at a rate that is proportional to their size. Once separated, the protein bands are stained, e.g., with coomassie blue or silver staining, to permit analysis and recordation, e.g., as a photograph or a digital or analog scan.
Similarly, nucleic acid analyses utilize a similar gel system, e.g., agarose or polyacrylamide gel. Upon application of a current through the gel, the nucleic acid samples, again disposed in wells at one end (anode) of the gel, will electrophorese through the gel. The polymer gel presents a sieving matrix, where larger nucleic acid fragments that otherwise having the same charge:mass ratio as smaller fragments, will travel more slowly through the gel than the smaller fragments. Upon completion of electrophoresis, the lanes of samples are analyzed for the pattern of the bands (or "ladder" as it is often termed). Analysis of the bands may be carried out by adding a fluorescent intercalating agent to the gel, or by incorporating a radioactive label within the nucleic acid fragments, followed by contacting the gel with a photographic film.
Typically, electrophoresis gels run multiple samples within the same slab gel along with one or more standards or markers, which are used to characterize the sample constituents. For example, in size-based separations, standards typically have a range of known molecular weights. Sample constituents are then compared to the standards to determine their molecular weights, e.g., by interpolation. Such standards must generally be run in the same gel as the sample, in order to provide assurances that the standard was subjected to the same separation conditions, e.g., gel composition, electric current, temperature, or other parameters affecting separations.
Despite the efficacy of these slab gel electrophoresis, however, such methods are quickly being supplanted by automated procedures that generate a stream of digital data. This data, in its raw form, may exhibit the non-linearities described earlier, or different ones, or none at all. Such data may be generated, for example, by passing a sample in front of a sensor. Alternatively, it is also possible to digitize the raw information presented in a traditional gel by scanning it to produce a series of measurements. The display of such information is not provided by current systems.
What is therefore needed are techniques for displaying chromatographic separation data that are a series of measurements over time in a format similar to that of traditional gel presentations. Moreover, it would be beneficial to provide normalization of such data, if desired.

Software for the display of chromatographic separation data


The object is to enable suppression of an excessive number of changes in assignment of a server in charge of communication in response to movement of a terminal. A position-information acquisition unit in a computer acquires information on the position of a mobile terminal as a candidate for a destination of information provision. Then, a zone determination unit determines whether or not the mobile terminal is in a coverage zone or a margin zone on the basis of the information on the position. An information provision unit starts the information provision to the mobile terminal when the mobile terminal enters the coverage zone, and ends the information provision to the mobile terminal when the mobile terminal goes out of the margin zone.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information provision method, an information provision device, and a computer-readable recording medium in which the information provision program is recorded. In particular, the information provision method, the computer-readable recording medium recording the information provision program, and the information provision device are arranged for providing information to one or more mobile terminals in a coverage zone.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, when a system for a large-scale information provision service is constructed, loads are balanced in order to secure scalability of the system, where the scalability is a degree of adaptability for qualitative and quantitative changes in requests for processing. The load balancing is broadly divided into the zone-based load balancing and the content-based load balancing. In the zone-based load balancing, servers having identical content are assigned on a zone-by-zone basis, for example, on a prefecture-by-prefecture basis, i.e., servers which serve users are assigned according to the positions at which the users establish connections. In the content-based load balancing, servers are assigned on a content-by-content basis, i.e., servers which serve users are assigned according to the content which the users request.
In the case where a predetermined server is assigned for terminals in a predetermined zone according to the zone-based load balancing, errors in detection of the locations of the terminals may create a possibility that a terminal which is actually located inside the zone is determined to be located outside the zone when the location of the terminal is near a boundary of the zone. Therefore, a technique for flexibly determining whether a terminal is located inside or outside a zone is disclosed. For example, in the technique disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-27529 (hereinafter referred to as JPP 2003-27529), a hysteresis zone is defined between an operation zone and a nonoperation zone in remote control of a construction machine.
One of services using a load-balancing system is the service for providing to each user shop-information content appropriate for the location of the users' terminal. In many cases where such service is provided, the area over which information is delivered is large, and the number of content items is great. Therefore, in such cases, load balancing is necessary. In the services in which content corresponding to the location of each of users' terminals is provided, it is possible to secure scalability by combining the zone-based load balancing and the content-based load balancing.
When a server assigned to each zone manages content items related to localities in the zone and users' terminals in the zone, it is possible to combine the zone-based load balancing and the content-based load balancing. However, when a user's terminal moves from a first zone covered by a first server to a second zone covered by a second server, operations for the second server inheriting information on the user's terminal from the first server are automatically performed between the first and second servers. Thus, the second server takes charge of the user's terminal.
Nevertheless, according to the above method, the operations for transferring user information on the user's terminal from the first server assigned to the first zone to the second server assigned to the second zone are necessary when the user's terminal moves from the first zone to the second zone. At this time, if processing for data storage into or data acquisition from a database or other similar processing occurs, the calculation cost becomes particularly high. In particular, when the user's terminal continuously moves around a boundary, zone changes frequently occur, so that the loads imposed on the servers become very heavy.
According to the technique disclosed in JPP 2003-27529, when the construction machine moves from the nonoperation zone into the hysteresis zone, it is determined that the construction machine directly enters the operation zone. Therefore, when the construction machine moves around the boundary between the hysteresis zone and the nonoperation zone, the determination whether the construction machine is in the operation zone or in the nonoperation zone successively changes. That is, the technique disclosed in JPP 2003-27529 cannot solve the aforementioned problem.

Information provision method and computer-readable recording medium recording information provision program


According to an aspect of an embodiment, a signal detector device includes a first monitor unit, a second monitor unit, and a discrimination unit, wherein the discriminator unit discriminates whether an inputted light includes a signal light on the bases of the first monitor unit for monitoring an intensity of the inputted light and the second monitor unit for monitoring an alternating current component intensity of the inputted light.

The present invention relates to an input signal detection device for detecting whether or not an optical signal has been inputted to an optical device such as an optical amplifier in an optical communication system and an optical device control apparatus using the result of the detection.
FIG. 28 shows a configuration example of a related art optical communication system using the wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technology. This optical communication system includes an optical transmission device 11, transmission line fibers 12, 14, and 16, optical amplification relays 13 and 15, and an optical reception device 17.
Among these, the optical transmission device 11 includes optical transmitters 21-1 to 21-n, an optical multiplexer 22, and an optical amplifier 23. The optical reception device 17 includes an optical amplifier 24, an optical demultiplexer 25, optical amplifiers 26-1 to 26-n, variable wavelength dispersion compensators 27-1 to 27-n, and optical receivers 28-1 to 28-n. The optical amplification relays 13 and 15 and the optical amplifiers 23 and 24 each amplify a WDM signal as a single unit, while the optical amplifiers 26-1 to 26-n each amplify an optical signal of one wavelength.
One of optical amplifiers that are currently most widely used is an erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) that uses an induced emission of a rare earth element, erbium, which is added to the core of an optical fiber. The optical amplification relays 13 and 15 amplify optical signals that have been transmitted through the transmission line fibers 12 and 14, respectively, and have reduced their power.
At this time, simultaneously with the amplification of each optical signal, an amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) occurs that has a random amplitude, phase, polarized wave, and the like due to the induced emission. Thus, the optical signal to noise ratio (OSNR) is deteriorated. This ASE is amplified and accumulated each time it passes through an optical amplification relay, and is finally inputted to the optical reception device 17 together with an optical signal.
In an example shown in FIG. 28, light including a WDM signal 31 and an ASE 32 is outputted from the optical transmission device 11. Then, light including a WDM signal 33 and an ASE 34 is inputted to the optical demultiplexer 25 of the optical reception device 17 and light including an optical signal 35 of one wavelength and an ASE 36 is inputted to the optical amplifier 26-2.
A tolerance to wavelength dispersion is significantly reduced in a high-speed optical transmission system having a transmission speed per wavelength of 40 Gbit/s; therefore, a highly accurate wavelength dispersion compensation is needed. For this reason, the variable dispersion compensators 27-1 to 27-n are provided in the optical reception device 17. This allows a highly accurate wavelength dispersion compensation for each channel, as well as allows constant optimization of the amount of dispersion compensation while following temporal variations in wavelength dispersion value with time during operation of the system. Also, if signal quality significantly deteriorates due to polarization mode dispersion (PMD), a PMD compensator may be disposed between the optical demultiplexer 25 and the optical receivers 28-1 to 28-n in order to compensate for such deterioration.
However, application of the variable wavelength dispersion compensators 27-1 to 27-n or the PMD compensator may increase optical loss, thereby causing lack of light power over the input dynamic ranges of the optical receivers 28-1 to 28-n that are disposed after these components. In this case, input power to the optical receivers 28-1 to 28-n is secured by amplifying the optical signals using the optical amplifiers 26-1 to 26-n.
FIG. 29 shows a system for controlling such an optical amplifier for loss compensation. An optical amplifier 42 amplifier is provided before an optical receiver 43 so as to amplify input light. An optical coupler 41 and a photodiode (PD) 44 are provided on the input side of the optical amplifier 42 so as to monitor input light. According to a monitor signal from the PD 44, a processor 45 determines whether or not an optical signal has been inputted. The controller 46 controls operations of the optical amplifier 42 according to the result of the determination.
As shown in FIG. 30, the processor 45 sets a shutdown threshold Pth of light power near the lower limit value of the signal input range. If monitored light power is higher than the Pth, the processor 45 determines that a signal has been inputted. If monitored light power is lower than the Pth, it determines that no signal has been inputted. If a signal has been inputted, the processor 46 causes the optical amplifier 42 to operate; if no signal has been inputted, it causes the optical amplifier 42 to stop operating (that is, it shuts down the optical amplifier 42).
Therefore, if an optical signal is turned off at a time t1 and input light power 51 of the optical amplifier 42 falls below the Pth, the optical amplifier 42 is shut down and output light power 52 of the optical amplifier 42 comes close to zero.
Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2004-112427 relates to a method for monitoring the OSNR in an optical transmission system.
The above-mentioned related art optical amplifier control method has the following problem.
As shown in FIG. 31, if only one channel of a WDM signal is turned off due to breakage, removal, or the like of a optical fiber of the optical transmitter 21-2 during operation of the WDM communication system having n channels, only an ASE that has occurred and accumulated in the optical amplification relays disposed between the optical transmission unit and the optical reception unit is inputted to the optical amplifier 26-2 corresponding to that channel.
If this ASE power is larger than the lower limit value of the signal input dynamic range of the optical amplifier 26-2, input light power 61 does not fall below the shutdown threshold Pth even if the signal is turned off at the time t1, as shown in FIG. 32. As a result, a distinction cannot be made between the signal and the ASE, whereby the optical amplifier 26-2 will not be shut down.
Then, if the signal is turned on at a time t2 with the optical amplifier 26-2 operational and the optical signal is inputted to the optical amplifier 26-2, an optical surge 63 occurs as shown in output light power 62. Thus the optical receiver 28-2 disposed after the optical amplifier 26-2 will be broken.
Also, if the optical amplifier is mistakenly started when only an ASE has been inputted at an initial start of the WDM communication system, an optical surge occurs at an instant when an optical signal is actually inputted afterward. Thus, the optical receiver will be broken as well.
To prevent such an erroneous determination, a method is considered in which an input signal detection device as shown in FIG. 33 is used. An input signal detection device includes an optical coupler 72, a high-speed PD 73, a band path filter (BPF) 74, and an intensity monitor 75. A monitor signal outputted from the high-speed PD 73 is transferred to the intensity monitor 75 via the BPF 74, and the intensity monitor 75 monitors the intensity of components of the signal and outputs the monitor signal to the controller 76. According to the monitor signal from the intensity monitor 75, the controller 76 determines whether or not an optical signal has been inputted, and controls the operation of the optical amplifier 42.
Monitoring the intensity of the signal components at the input terminal of the optical amplifier 42 in this way allows determination whether a signal has been inputted or only an ASE has been inputted. However, disposing the input signal detection device 71 by the number of wavelengths requires use of many high-frequency parts. This will make the system very costly.


A method of making a polysilazane comprising forming a reaction medium comprising at least one halomonosilane, an ammonium compound, and an organic solvent for said at least one halomonosilane, carrying out the reaction between said at least one halomonosilane and said ammonium compound in the absence of any catalyst, oxygen, and moisture at atmospheric pressure and at a temperature of about -80.degree. C. to 50.degree. C. for a time sufficient to form said polysilazane, and separating said polysilazane from said reaction medium.

The instant invention relates to the method of making polysilazanes which can be thermally transformed into silicon nitride of exceptional purity in exceptionally high ceramic yield.
Difficulties inherent in traditional, powder-based techniques have fostered the investigation of chemical approaches to ceramic processing. These investigations led to the development of the "sol-gel" technique of ceramic fabrication, and the development of inorganic polymers which decompose into ceramics when heated, ("preceramic polymers"). While the sol-gel approach is most readily applied to the fabrication of oxide glasses and ceramics (e.g., silica, titania, cordierite, etc.), preceramic polymers are generally applied to the fabrication of non-oxide ceramics (e.g., silicon carbide, silicon nitride, boron nitride, etc.).
Advanced ceramics offer unique combinations of mechanical and electro-optical properties and are finding increased use in high technology applications. Current techniques of advanced ceramic component fabrication are based on pressureless green body consolidation in which voids often remain in the final microstructure. These voids have deleterious effects on the structural properties of the ceramic. Much of this residual porosity is generated when the organic binder used to consolidate the ceramic powder is burned off. One approach to minimizing void formations is through the substitution of the traditional fugitive binder with an organometallic polymer ("preceramic polymer") which will decompose into a predetermined ceramic when heated. The void space normally induced during organic binder burn-out would be replaced by the ceramic produced through the pyrolysis of the preceramic polymer.
Silicon nitride (Si.sub.3 N.sub.4) is a ceramic material in great demand for its superior high-temperature properties and excellent strength to weight ratio. Unfortunately, like other covalent materials, silicon nitride is difficult to sinter because of its low self-diffusivity. Densification can be achieved without applied pressure if sintering acids are used; however, the presence of these glassy materials in the ceramic seriously detracts from the material's high-temperature strength.
Although the utility of organometallics in the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of ceramics was demonstrated over twenty-five years ago, many difficulties were encountered, and these efforts were abandoned. While efforts to develop useful preceramic polymers continued through the 1970's, it was not until the successful development of polymeric precursors to silicon carbide, and the commercial success of the Nicalon fibers made from them, that the investigation of polymeric precursors to silicon nitride and other advanced ceramics became widespread. Reviews of preceramic polymers in general and of polymeric precursors to silicon nitride (polysilazanes) have recently been published.
Synthesis of such polysilazanes has been accomplished by use of a two-stage dehydrocyclodimerization process as well as by the use of transition metal catalyzed reactions which require the use of high pressures and temperatures.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,460,638 also sets forth procedures for preparing silizane polymers which require either that a disilizane be used as one of the reactants or that the silane used must contain a vinyl group, a C.sub.1 to C.sub.3 alkyl radical, or a phenyl group. Also, the reaction temperature in the latter reaction must be at least 25.degree. C., with much higher temperatures being utilized.
The forgoing procedures for making the polysilazane are not entirely satisfactory in that they require complex reactants, high temperature and/or pressure reaction conditions, and/or result in polymeric precursors that do not produce silicon nitride of satisfactory yield or purity.

Polysilazane precursors for silicon nitride and resultant products


A heating pad includes an envelope containing a heating unit and a phase change material which encloses the heating unit. The heating unit includes a metal plate and a resistance heating element attached to the metal plate. Flexible strips are disposed within the envelope by attachment to the envelope, and the metal plate is positioned within the envelope through the strips. A pair of electrodes are connected to the heating element and extend outwardly of the envelope. The phase change material can undergo a phase change process through the heating unit so that no external heat source is needed to heat the phase change material.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a heating pad, more particularly to a heating pad having a phase change material.
2. Description of the Related Art
A therapeutic heating pad which is made of a phase change or thermal energy storage material typically includes an envelope 1 filled with a phase change material 10, as shown in FIG. 1. The phase change material is in a solid or gel-like format normal or room temperature. When the heating pad is to be used, it is put into water and heated so that the phase change material absorbs heat and is transformed into liquid, thus storing thermal energy. At this time, the heating pad can supply heat for therapeutic purposes. When the phase change material becomes cold due to its liberation of heat, the phase change material returns to its solid or gel state. While such a heating pad has a simple construction, because the heating pad must be heated in water, it is suitable only for the household use. The application thereof is therefore limited.
FIG. 2 shows another conventional heating pad 1A which contains a liquid state phase change material 11 enclosing a metal plate 12. When it is used, a force is applied to the metal plate 12 to deform the metal plate 12. The phase change material 11 which is in the liquid state begins to liberate heat and change into a gel-like form. This heating pad 1A is also simple in construction. However, when the heating pad 1A is to be reused, it must be heated in water to cause the phase change material 11 to return to its liquid form from the gel-like form. Therefore, the application of the heating pad 1A is also limited. It is thus desirable to develop a heating pad with a self-heating means to heat a phase change material contained therein.

Heating pad having a phase change material


An actuating mechanism for a door includes a first antenna block having a first integrated microcontroller electrically connected to a first transceiver device and a first antenna. A second antenna block having a second integrated microcontroller is electrically connected to a second transceiver device and a second antenna. A processor device is electrically connected between the first and second microcontrollers and a first switch. The first and second antennas receive a first radio frequency signal from a third, mobile transceiver device. The processor device measures a time difference of arrival (TDOA) of the first radio frequency signal. The processor device computes a direction of arrival (DOA). The DOA measurement is compared against a predefined range of DOAs. The processor device sends a control signal to the first switch to actuate the door in the event of a match.

A certain percentage of every community includes individuals who have physical disabilities or are otherwise unable to perform many common and ordinarily routine physical tasks, such as opening a door. Implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has resulted in greater access that individuals with physical disabilities have to the greater community at large. For example, the Act requires that accessible doors include a large push-button switch which a disabled person can press to actuate a door opener and open the door. The switch is usually located in close proximity to the door opening.
In many cases, however, certain individuals have difficulty physically reaching or depressing the switch to actuate the door. Some persons have disabilities associated with bodily extremities, for example, the inability to move arms or hands. The disabled persons who cannot depress the switch cannot gain access to a building without additional assistance.
A wide variety of remote door opening systems can be found in the art which use wireless and/or infrared communications schemes. Companies offer, for example, wireless door opening systems that use a remote control to open a door. However, the remote controls require a disabled user to depress a button (on the remote) each time the user approaches a door, which is again difficult for many persons with disabilities. In addition, the remote controls must be programmed by the user in order for the remotes to function with each door opening motor. The prospect of programming remote controls can be intimidating, inconvenient, and time consuming to a disabled user.
A particular remote opening system having a push-button remote control is marketed which is preprogrammed compatible with every door which includes a proprietary fixed receiving unit. However, the remote opening system still requires a user to depress a button or otherwise physically exerts a user to perform the door actuating and opening function.
Finally, alternative technologies that are not specifically designed for use by people with disabilities, but rather can be activated by any user, such as infrared or microwave technologies, do not solve the problem. The technologies lack compatibility with many doors, and are typically only used on sliding doors such as those seen at airports and grocery stores. In addition, systems exhibiting the infrared or microwave technologies must be mounted in very specific locations around a door, which limits the system's ability to be installed on some doors.
Thus, a need exists for an apparatus, system, and method which serve to perform a door actuating and opening function without requiring physical exertion on the part of a user. In addition, a need exists for such an apparatus and system to be cost-efficient and effective, to encourage the implementation of the systems in as many applications and settings as possible to promote universal accessibility to people with disabilities and other users who can use assistance.


A dual-blower assembly includes a single blower housing, the single blower housing defined by a base and opposite top, a pair of opposing side walls and a pair of opposing end walls intermediate the base and the top; a pair of inlet openings in the top; a front blower and a rear blower serially packaged in the single blower housing in a same plane, each blower aligned with a respective inlet opening of the pair of inlet openings; a rear blower exhaust opening for the rear blower disposed in one of the pair of end walls proximate the rear blower; and a front blower side exhaust opening for the front blower disposed in one of the pair of opposing side walls, the front blower side exhaust opening aligned with the front blower. Both the front and rear blowers are configured to force air in a direction from the front blower to the rear blower.

Computers are customarily provided with computer cage structures, which may comprise a sheet metal framework and which may contain a backplane. A backplane is a circuit board (e.g., mother card) or framework that supports other circuit boards, devices, and the interconnections among devices, and provides power and data signals to supported devices. The mother card may be the main circuit card in the computer, which may interconnect additional logical cards and assemblies. The computer cage structure is adapted to receive and removably support at least one and preferably a plurality of options or daughter cards (blades or nodes) which when operatively installed in their associated cage structure, upgrade the operating capabilities of the computer. For example, it is known to place an assembly, including a backplane and various circuit boards, such as a processor card, an input-output card and a so-called memory riser card, within an open cage. This forms a so-called central electronics complex (CEC) or cage of a computer system. The cage is subsequently fixed within a computer housing.
A standard containing enclosure or cage protects the mother card and individual daughter cards and facilitates the easy insertion and removal of the daughter cards from a mother card (mother board) or backplane slot. These daughter cards may be installed in the computer during the original manufacture of the computer and or subsequently installed by the computer purchaser. The cage serves to position and mechanically support the circuit boards within the computer housing, and acts as an electromagnetic compatible (EMC) shield. An EMC shield allows operation in an electromagnetic environment at an optimal level of efficiency, and allows static charges to be drained to a frame ground. Moreover, the cage helps to protect the components contained therein from environmental damage, for example, vibrations, which could cause the components to fail.
Additionally, the cage is typically fixed within a so-called system chassis, which is a frame that provides further support for the cage, and which is removably stacked upon other system chassises within a system rack. The chassis may contain other components and sub-systems, such as power supplies and cooling fans, for example, which are connected to the components within the cage using cables, for instance.
A daughter card may include a relatively small rectangular printed circuit having a connecter along one side edge. A 20″×24″ node or server may weigh over a hundred pounds, for example. The mother card or system backplane slot has an electrical connector. The daughter card connector plugs into a corresponding electrical connector of the mother card to operatively couple the daughter card to the mother card or system backplane slot. In order to allow the circuit boards or daughter cards to be connected to the backplane, it is also typical to position the backplane at a middle of the cage, and in a vertical position. This allows the circuit boards or daughter cards to be plugged into the card slots of the backplane through the open front, for example, of the cage.
Data processing systems in general and server-class systems in particular are frequently implemented with a server chassis or cabinet having a plurality of racks. Each cabinet rack can hold a rack mounted device (e.g., a daughter card, also referred to herein as a node, blade or server blade) on which one or more general purpose processors and/or memory devices are attached. The racks are vertically spaced within the cabinet according to an industry standard displacement (the "U"). Cabinets and racks are characterized in terms of this dimension such that, for example, a 42U cabinet is capable of receiving 42 1U rack-mounted devices, 21 2U devices, and so forth. Dense server designs are also becoming available, which allow a server chassis to be inserted into a cabinet rack, thus allowing greater densities than one server per 1U. To achieve these greater densities, the server chassis may provide shared components, such as power supplies, fans, or media access devices which can be shared among all of the blades in the server blade chassis.
Problems have arisen, for example, with the advent of employing daughter cards such as the large massive Processor-Memory cards. Recent system architectures have migrated to using multiples of these large cards (parallel to each other) installed in a vertically orientation and perpendicular to the CEC motherboard. However, inherent in such an architecture are difficulties in cooling these cards and CEC board.
For example, with the advent of multichip modules (MCMs), containing multiple integrated circuit (IC) chips each having many thousands of circuit elements, it has become possible to pack great numbers of electronic components together within a very small volume. As is well known, ICs generate significant amounts of heat during the course of their normal operation. Since most semiconductor or other solid state devices are sensitive to excessive temperatures, a solution to the problem of the generation of heat by IC chips in close proximity to one another in MCMs is of continuing concern to the industry.
Current state-of-art cooling requires either staggering the MCMS away from the midplane connector if air cooled or using water or refrigerant cooling when the MCMs are optionally placed next to the midplane. Air cooling multiple high powered MCMs in series along the midplane is ineffective due to air temperature rise and serial airflow impedances.
Since high-end server performance often requires placing numerous high powered logic modules in close proximity to a common vertical midplane, prior art central electronic complexes (CECs) have been unable to be air cooled in such an arrangement due to an inability of removing heat by serial airflow through these logic modules or MCMs.
Secondly, and perhaps more critical to server performance, as the logic voltage drops with new chip generations, higher currents and I2R losses result. In particular, the printed circuit board midplane that delivers the power from power supplies to the logic modules and interconnects can generate 1000 watts to 2000 watts due to high currents and I2R losses. With low voltages in new CMOS, the currents are increasing dramatically. These currents are carried from the power supplies through the midplanes that interconnect the nodes. Even if prior art water or refrigeration cooling is used on the logic modules, such cooling is unable to cool more than 200 to 300 watts effectively as the conductive thermal path from the power planes to the aluminum stiffener and the convective performance of the stiffener are both limited.
Prior art midplanes have been cooled by airflow flowing over the stiffener parallel to the midplane. Midplane heat is removed via conduction through the insulative epoxy glass where the stiffener may contact the electrically isolated epoxy glass. Unfortunately, because of the insulative properties of the epoxy glass, this approach works for only about 200 watts or at most 300 watts under most reasonable airflows and temperature specifications.
For the foregoing reasons, therefore, there is a need for enabling significantly higher heat loads of logic, I/O memory, and power supplies. Further, there is a need to more efficiently cool the components of the CEC with a symmetrical, balanced airflow through the various nodes to support higher generated power and which enables low temperature specifications on components placed at the logical end of heated exhaust air.

System for airflow management in electronic enclosures

International Business Machines Corporation


A method for detecting malware device drivers includes the steps of identifying one or more device drivers loaded on an electronic device, analyzing the device drivers to determine suspicious device drivers, accessing information about the suspicious device drivers in a reputation system, and evaluating whether the suspicious device driver include malware. The suspicious device drivers are not recognized as not including malware. The reputation system is configured to store information about suspicious device drivers. The evaluation is based upon historical data regarding the suspicious device driver.

Kernel mode malware is very hard to detect and to repair. When a device driver is loaded, an anti-virus engine or other anti-malware software may not have enough information about the device driver to decide whether it is malicious or not. After a device driver is loaded, it is almost impossible to repair the device driver malware without requiring a system reboot. In addition, a device driver malware can attack the anti-virus engine and disable its functionality.
Malware may include the varieties described above. Malware may also include, but is not limited to, spyware, rootkits, password stealers, spam, sources of phishing attacks, sources of denial-of-service-attacks, viruses, loggers, Trojans, adware, or any other digital content that produces unwanted activity.

System and method for proactive detection of malware device drivers via kernel forensic behavioral monitoring and a back-end reputation system