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Stabilized retinoid make-up compositions |
The present invention relates to cosmetic compositions having good physical and chemical stability, comprising a retinoid and at least one coloured pigment selected from metal oxides, the said pigments being treated (or coated) with one or more hydrophilic or lipophilic components. |
1. Cosmetic composition comprising a retinoid and at least one coloured pigment selected from metal oxides, the said oxides being treated with one or more hydrophilic or lipophilic components. 2. Composition according to claim 1, wherein the metal oxides are are selected from (red, yellow and black) iron oxides, titanium dioxide, including mixtures thereof. 3. Composition according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the metal oxides are treated with one or more silicones; silicon derivatives, acrylate or derivatized acrylate polymers and copolymers, fats or oils, titanate derivatives, fatty acids, amino acids and derivatives thereof, proteins or protein derivatives, phosphatides, peptides, or peptide derivatives. 4. Composition according to claim 3, characterized in that the metal oxides are treated with one or more silicones; silicon derivatives, acrylate or derivatized acrylate polymers and copolymers, fats or oils, titanate derivatives, fatty acids, acyl amino acids, proteins or protein derivatives, hydrogenated lecithin, acyl peptides. 5. Composition according to claim 4, characterized in that the metal oxides are treated with one or more fatty acids, acylamino acids, hydrogenated lecithin, acyl collagen, or titanate derivatives. 6. Composition according to claim 5, characterized in that the metal oxides are treated with monoalkyl titanates or coordinate titanates. 7. Composition according to claim 5, characterized in that the metal oxides are treated with monoalkyl triacyl titanates. 8. Composition according to claim 5, characterized in that the metal oxides are treated with isopropyl titanium triisostearate (ITT). 9. Composition according to any of claims 1 to 8, wherein the component for treating the pigment is present in an amount which is in the range of about 0.1 to 30%, in particular from about 0.2 to 20%, more in particular from about 0.5 to 10%, further in particular from about 1 to 5%, w/w relative to the total weight of the treated pigment. 10. Composition according to any of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the retinoid is retinol. 11. Composition according to any of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that it is provided in the form of an oil-in-water emulsion, a water-in-oil emulsion or multiple emulsions. 12. Composition according to to any of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that it is provided in anhydrous form. 13. Composition according any of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises from 0.001% to 1%, preferably from 0.01% to 0.15% of retinol by weight relative to the finished product. 14. Composition according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises from 0.5% to 30%, preferably from 2% to 15% of pigments by weight relative to the finished product. 15. Composition according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises oils, in particular oils with an iodine value greater than 70. 16. Use of a composition according to any of the preceding claims, as a two-in-one product for use as a make-up product that has also activity against the effects of skin-ageing and aging spots. 17. Use according to claim 16, as foundation, tinted creams, compact forms and lipstick. 18. Use according to claim 17, as a make-up product with sunscreen properties. |
<SOH> BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION <EOH>The present invention relates to cosmetic compositions having good physical and chemical stability, comprising a retinoid and at least one coloured pigment selected from metal oxides, the said pigments being treated (or coated) with one or more hydrophilic or lipophilic components. Over the past few years, cosmetic products containing retinoids have been of increasing interest and have become highly successful with consumers. Retinoids such as retinoic acid, commonly called Vitamin A, and in particular retinol, have been used for the treatment of various skin problems, in particular acne, and for combating ageing and dryness of the skin (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,603,146 and 4,877,805). The experience acquired in the field of the formulation of products containing retinoids has made it clear that it is difficult to obtain products wherein these active ingredients have a significant shelf life for these active ingredients. Indeed, these agents have a tendency to become decomposed, resulting in their inactivation. A plurality of formulations, comprising oil-in-water emulsions or using antioxidants, have been proposed to deal with this problem. Such compositions have the advantage of offering adequate quantities of retinoids in active form by virtue of an improvement in the chemical stability of the composition. There may be mentioned, for example, oil-in-water emulsions containing retinoic acid (U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,906,108; 4,247,547; 4,826,828; 4,720,353; EP 143 444 and EP 330 196). This problem of chemical stability of retinoids has led to the development of further improved formulations, in particular to water-in-oil emulsions containing an antioxidant and a chelator (U.S. Pat. No. 5,652,263). While the solutions proposed in the state of the art have been found satisfactory for cosmetic products such as creams, milks and emulsions, they were found to be inadequate for make-up products containing coloured pigments. Indeed, it has been found, in the context of the present invention, that retinol is unstable in the presence of metal ions. Combining retinol in a make-up base containing iron and titanium oxides leads to increased instability of retinoids and in particular of retinal, than in the absence of pigments. Unexpectedly, it has been found that treating the pigments with lipophilic or hydrophilic compounds made it possible to avoid the pigment degrading the retinol: the stability of the retinol is equivalent to that in a base free of pigments. In addition, protecting one's skin is a daily occupation, requiring a certain amount of time specifically devoted thereto and further requiring the use of several cosmetic products, which may constitute a constrain for consumers. For women, the use of various make-up products may be added to this daily routine. It would therefore be useful to have available make-up products, which would also exert a beneficial effect on the skin and which could therefore replace the specific products for treating the skin mentioned above. The importance of the invention therefore consists in developing a means for formulating pigmented anti-ageing care products with an active agent whose efficacy is recognized, which makes it possible to satisfy the needs explained above. detailed-description description="Detailed Description" end="lead"? |
Diagnosis, prevention and treatment of cancer |
Methods and compositions for the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of cancer are provided. More particularly, the present invention provides methods and compositions for the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of cancer through detection and modulation of the expression of TMF/ARA160 and Fer. |
1. An antibody that binds specifically to TMF/ARA160 protein. 2. A kit for detection of TMF/ARA160 protein in a sample, the kit comprising the antibody of claim 1. 3. A method of detecting TMF/ARA160 in a biological sample, the method comprising: a. providing the biological sample, b. contacting the biological sample with the antibody of claim 1, and c. detecting binding of the antibody to the TMF/ARA160 protein in the sample. 4. A method of diagnosing a malignant tumor in an individual, the method comprising: a. providing a biological sample, b. contacting said biological sample with the antibody of claim 1, and c. detecting binding of the antibody to a TMF/ARA160 protein in said sample. 5. The method of claim 4, further comprising: d. diagnosing the malignant tumor if said binding of the antibody is absent in said sample. 6. A method of treating cancer in an individual: the method comprising: increasing a level of TMF/ARA160 protein in cells or tissues of the individual. 7. A compound 21 nucleobases in length comprising the nucleotide sequence corresponding to SEQ ID NO:2. 8. A compound 21 nucleobases in length comprising the nucleotide sequence corresponding to SEQ ID NO:3. 9. A compound 21 nucleobases in length comprising the nucleotide sequence corresponding to SEQ ID NO:5. 10. A compound 21 nucleobases in length comprising the nucleotide sequence corresponding to SEQ ID NO:6. 11. A short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule, comprising a duplex molecule of two compounds, wherein the first compound is the compound of claim 7, and the second compound is the compound corresponding to SEQ ID NO:3. 12. A short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule comprising a duplex molecule of two compounds, wherein the first compound is the compound of claim 9, and the second compound is the compound corresponding to SEQ ID NO:6. 13. A kit for the treatment of cancer comprising at least one short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule, said short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule being directed against fer mRNA, said short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule being the short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule of claim 11. 14. A kit for the treatment of cancer comprising at least one short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule, said short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule being directed against fer mRNA, said short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule being the short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule of claim 12. 15. A pharmaceutical preparation comprising at least one short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule, said short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule being directed against fer mRNA, said short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule being the short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule of claim 11 and at least one pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. 16. A pharmaceutical preparation comprising at least one short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule, said short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule being directed against fer mRNA, said short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule being the short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule of claim 12 and at least one pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. 17. A method of treating cancer in an individual, the method comprising: inhibiting the expression of fer in cells or tissues of the individual. 18. The method of claim 17, wherein said inhibiting of expression of fer in cells or tissues of the individual is accomplished by degrading fer mRNA by providing a short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule being directed against fer mRNA, said short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule being the short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule, comprising a duplex molecule of two compounds, wherein the first compound is the compound corresponding to SEQ ID NO:2, and the second compound is the compound corresponding to SEQ ID NO:3. 19. The method of claim 17, wherein said inhibiting of expression of fer in cells or tissues of the individual is accomplished by degrading fer mRNA by providing a short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule being directed against fer mRNA, said short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule being the short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule comprising a duplex molecule of two compounds, wherein the first compound is the compound corresponding to SEQ ID NO:5, and the second compound is the compound corresponding to SEQ ID NO:6. 20. A method of treating cancer in an individual, the method comprising inhibiting the expression of a gene in cells or tissues of the individual, wherein said inhibiting of expression of said gene in cells or tissues of the individual is accomplished by degrading mRNA corresponding to said gene by providing a short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule being directed against said mRNA. 21. The method of claim 20, wherein said cancer is a prostate cancer. 22. The method of claim 20, wherein said individual is a human. 23. A method of identifying a drug for treatment of a cancer, the method comprising: (a) screening a population of molecules with respect to affinity for at least a portion of a tyrosine kinase domain of Fer to identify at least one candidate molecule; (b) further assaying an effect of said at least one candidate molecule on at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of a proliferation rate and a survival rate of at least one cell culture; and (c) reaching a conclusion concerning an efficacy of said at least one candidate molecule with regard to the cancer. 24. The method of claim 23, wherein cells in said at least one cell culture are selected from the group consisting of malignant cells and non-malignant cells. 25. A method of treating a cancer, the method comprising applying said at least one candidate molecule of claim 23 to a cell so that Fer activity is reduced and at least one clinical symptom of the cancer is at least partially ameliorated. 26. A method of treating cancer in an individual, the method comprising: increasing a level of activity of TMF/ARA160 protein in cells or tissues of the individual. |
<SOH> FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION <EOH>The present invention relates to methods and compositions for the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of cancer in mammals, and in particular, humans. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods and compositions for the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of cancer through detection and modulation of the expression of TMF/ARA160 and Fer. Cancer is one of the top killing diseases in the western world and vast amounts of effort and financial resources are being invested in developing novel therapeutic approaches. However, the need for reliable diagnostic tools, is a rate-limiting step in the successful application of a cancer therapy. This is best manifested by the fact that most of the currently known markers of cancers, are reliable at the level of only 30-50%. Thus the need for new markers that could be reliably used in the detection of a wide variety of cancers, exists Further, there is a generally accepted need for improved methods of cancer prevention and treatment, devoid of the well known side effects of current therapies. There is thus a widely recognized need for, and it would be highly advantageous to have, methods and compositions for the diagnosis of cancer that can distinguish the development of the malignant state and for methods and compositions for prevention and treatment of cancer. A protein termed TMF or ARA60, which is present in a dormant form in normal mammalian cells has been recently identified (Garcia, J. A. et al. (1992) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89:9372-9376) [OMIM 601126, Locus ID 7110, GenBank L01042] Several functions have been attributed to TMF. It was initially identified as a DNA binding protein that preferentially binds to the TATA element in the human immunodeficiency 1 (HIV1) long terminal repeat (LTR) Thus, TMF/ARA160 was initially identified as a transcription factor that can suppress transcription of RNA Polymerase II genes by binding to their TATA box thus giving it the name TATA Element Regulatory Factor (TMF) (Garcia, J. A. et al. (1992) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89:9372-9376). Later, TMF was shown to function as a co-activator of nuclear receptors, particularly the androgen receptor (AR) (Hsiao, P.-W. et al. (1999) J. Biol. Chem. 274:22373-22379), a fact that gained it the name androgen receptor coactivator 160 kDa, or ARA160 (Hsiao, P.-W. et al. (1999) J. Biol. Chem. 274:22373-22379). TMF consists of 1093 amino acids with an apparent molecular mass of 160 kDa (Hsiao, P. W. at Chang, C. (1999) J. Biol. Chem. 274, 92373-29379; Garcia, J. A., Ou, S. H., Wu, F., Lusis, A. J., Sparkes, R. S. & Gaynor, R. B. (1992) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89, 9372-9376). The central and c-terminal parts of TMF/ARA160 contain coiled coil forming domains (cc) that could mediate the interaction of that protein with other cellular factors. Using a yeast two hybrid screening system (Schwartz, Y., Ben-Dor, I., Navon, A., Motro, B. & Nir, U. (1998) FEBS Lett 434, 339-345) it has been found that TMF/ARA160 interacts Edith Fer tyrosine kinases and modulates their activities. The Fer and AR binding domains in TMF/ARA160, overlap and both include cc forming sequences. Fer (p94 fer ) is an evolutionarily conserved (Pawson, T., Letwin, K., Lee, T., Hao, Q.-L., Heisterkamp, N. & Groffen, J. (1989) Mol. Cell. Biol. 9, 5722-5725; Paulson, R., Jackson, J., Immergluck, K. & Bishop, J. M. (1997) Oncogene 14, 641-652) and ubiquitously expressed tyrosine kinase that resides mainly in the cytoplasm and nucleus of expressing cells (Letwin, K., Yee, S.-P. & Pawson, T. (1988) Oncogene 3, 621-627; Hao, Q.-L., Heisterkamp, N. & Groffen, J. (1989) Mol. Cell. Biol. 9, 1587-1593; Hao, Q.-L., Ferris, D. K., White, G., Heisterkamp, N. & Groffen, J. (1991) Mol. Cell. Biol. 11, 1180-1183; Kim, L. & Wong, T. W. (1998) J. Biol. Chem. 273, 23542-23548) [OMIM 176942, Locus ID 2241, GenBank J03358]. Fer vas not detected in mourn pert and T cell lines (Halachmy, S., Bern, O., Schreiber, L., Carmel, M., Sharabi, Y., Shoham, J. & Nir, U. (1997) Oncogene 14, 2871-2880). In the cytoplasm, Fer associates with cell adhesion molecules (Kim, L. & Wong, T. W. (1998) J. Biol. Chem. 273, 23542-23548; Rosato, R., Veltmaat, J. M., Groffen, J. & Heisterkamp, N. (1998) Mol. Cell. Biol. 18, 5762-5770) and Stat3 (Priel-Halachmi, S., Ben-Dor, I., Shpungin, S., Tennenbaum, T., Molavani, H., Bachrach, M., Salzberg, S. & Nir, U. (2000) J. Biol Chem. 275, 28902-28910) and its kinase activity increases in growth factor stimulated cells (Kim, L and Wong, T. W (1995) Molecular & Cellular Biology). However, no direct role has been attributed to Fer in the establishment of adherens junctions or focal adhesions (Craig, A. W., Zimgibl, R., Williams, K. Cole, L. A & Greer, P. A. (2001) Mol. Cell Biol. 21, 603-613) , nor was Fer found to be essential for growth factor dependent activation of Stat3. The function of Fer is redundant in the mouse, and mice devoid of a functional Fer are viable and fertile (Craig, A. W., Zimgibl, R., Williams, K., Cole, L A. & Greer, P. A. (2001) Mol. Cell Biol. 21, 603-613). However, the functioning of Fer was found to be pivotal for the proliferation of malignant cell lines (Allard, P., Zoubeidi, A, Nguyen, L. T., Tessier, S., Tanguay, S., Chevrette, M., Aprikian, A. & Chevalier, S. (2000) Mol. Cell Endocrinol. 159, 63-77; Orlovsky, K., Ben-Dor, I, Priel-Halachmi, S., Malovany, H. & Nir, U. (2000) Biochemistry 39, 11084-11091) Thus, Fer could be linked to the proliferation of mammalian cells. A testis specific variant of Fer, termed p51 ferT , is encoded by an alternatively spliced FER transcript (Fischman, K, Edman, J. C., Shackleford, G. M., Turner, J. A., Rutter, W. J. & Nir, U. (1990) Mol. Cell Biol 10, 146-153; Keshet, E., Itin, A, Fischman, K. & Nir, U. (1990) Mol. Cell. Biol. 10, 5021-5025). Fer and p51 ferT share identical SH2 and kinase domains but they differ in their N-teminal tails (Hao, Q.-L., Heisterkamp, N. & Groffen, J. (1989) Mol. Cell. Biol. 9, 1587-1593; Fischman, K., Edman, J. C., Shackleford, G. M, Turner, J. A., Rutter, W. J. & Nir, U. (1990) Mol. Cell. Biol. 10, 146-153). p51 ferT accumulates in late primary spermatocytes (Hazan, B., Bern, O., Carmel, M., Lejbkowicz, F., Goldstein, R. S. & Nir, U. (1993) Cell Growth Differ. 4, 443-449). However the role of that kinase in the spermatogenic process is also not understood (Craig, A. W., Zirngibl, R., Williams, K., Cole, L. A. & Greer, P. A. (2001) Mol. Cell Biol. 21, 603-613). The activities attributed so far to TMF/ARA160 have not been linked to the Fer tyrosine kinase. Further, it has not heretofore been demonstrated that levels of expression of TMF/ARA160 can be measured or altered for diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of cancer. Specific modulation of expression of TMF/ARA160 and of Fer for prevention and treatment of cancer have not been developed Consequently there is an unmet need for agents and methods capable of effectively detecting the expression of TMF/ARA160 for the diagnosis of cancer and for modulation of expression of Fer and of TMF/ARA160 for prevention and treatment of cancer. |
<SOH> SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION <EOH>The present invention is directed to methods and compositions for the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of cancer. More particularly, the present invention provides methods and compositions for the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of cancer through detection and modulation of the expression of TMF/ARA160 and Fer. According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided an antibody that binds specifically to TMF/ARA160 protein. According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a kit for detection of TMF/ARA160 protein in a sample, the kit including the antibody that binds specifically to TMF/ARA160 protein. According to yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of detecting TMF/ARA160 in a biological sample which includes providing the biological sample, contacting the biological sample with the antibody that binds specifically to TMF/ARA160 protein, and detection binding of the antibody to the TMF/ARA160 protein in the sample. According to still another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of diagnosing a malignant tumor in an individual, which includes providing a biological sample, contacting the biological sample with the antibody that binds specifically to TMF/ARA160 protein, and detecting binding of the antibody to a TMF/ARA160 protein in the sample. According to further features in preferred embodiments of the invention described below, the method of diagnosing a malignant tumor in an individual further includes diagnosing the malignant tumor if the binding of the antibody is absent in the sample. According to an additional aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of treating cancer in an individual, which includes increasing a level of TMF/ARA160 protein in cells or tissues of the individual. According to yet an additional aspect of the present invention there is provided a compound 21 nucleobases in length having the nucleotide sequence corresponding to SEQ ID NO:2 below. According to yet an additional aspect of the present invention there is provided a compound 21 nucleobases in length having the nucleotide sequence corresponding to SEQ ID NO:3 below. According to yet an additional aspect of the present invention there is provided a compound 21 nucleobases in length having the nucleotide sequence corresponding to SEQ ID NO:5 below. According to yet an additional aspect of the present invention there is provided a compound 21 nucleobases in length having the nucleotide sequence corresponding to SEQ ID NO:6 below. According to yet an additional aspect of the present invention there is provided a short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule, which is a duplex molecule of two compounds, wherein the first compound is the compound of 21 nucleobases in length having the nucleotide sequence corresponding to SEQ ID NO:2 below, and the second compound is the compound of 21 nucleobases in length having the nucleotide sequence corresponding to SEQ ID NO:3 below. According to yet an additional aspect of the present invention there is provided a short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule, which is a duplex molecule of two compounds, wherein the first compound is the compound of 21 nucleobases in length having the nucleotide sequence corresponding to SEQ ID NO:5 below, and the second compound is the compound of 21 nucleobases in length having the nucleotide sequence corresponding to SEQ ID NO:6 below. According to yet an additional aspect of the present invention there is provided a kit for the treatment of cancer including at least one short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule, where the short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule is directed against fer mRNA, the short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule selected from the siRNAs described above. According to yet an additional aspect of the present invention there is provided a pharmaceutical preparation comprising at least one short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule, where the short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule is directed against fer mRNA, the short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule is selected from the siRNAs described above along with at least one pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. According to yet an additional aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of treating cancer in an individual, which includes inhibiting the expression of fer in cells or tissues of the individual. According to further features in preferred embodiments of the invention described below, the method of treating cancer in an individual, which includes inhibiting the expression of fer in cells or tissues of the individual, includes inhibiting of expression of fer in cells or tissues of the individual being accomplished by degrading fer mRNA by providing a short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule being directed against fer mRNA, the short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule selected from the group consisting of the short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule described above. According to still an additional aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of treating cancer in an individual animal, particularly a human, which includes inhibiting the expression of a gene in cells or tissues of the individual, wherein the inhibiting of expression of the gene in cells or tissues of the individual is accomplished by degrading mRNA corresponding to the gene by providing a short interfering ribonucleic acid molecule being directed against the mRNA. According to further features in preferred embodiments of the invention described below, the cancer or malignant tumor is a prostate cancer. The present invention successfully addresses the shortcomings of the presently known configurations by providing methods and compositions for the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of cancer in manuals, and in particular, humans. More particularly, the present invention provides methods and compositions for the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of cancer through detection and modulation of the expression of TMF/ARA160 and Fer. |
High-strength polyethylene fiber |
A high strength polyethylene filament having tenacity of at least 15 cN/dTex, which comprises a polyethylene having a weight-average molecular weight of 300,000 or less and a ratio of a weight-average molecular weight to a number-average molecular weight (Mw/Mn) of 4.0 or less as determined in a state of the filament, and containing 0.01 to 3.0 branched chains per 1,000 backbone carbon atoms. When cut fibers are obtained by cutting the polyethylene filament, a rate of dispersion-defective fibers is 2.0% or less. |
1. A high strength polyethylene filament having a tenacity of at least 15 cN/dTex, which comprises a polyethylene having a weight-average molecular weight of 300,000 or less and a ratio of a weight-average molecular weight to a number-average molecular weight (Mw/Mn) of 4.0 or less as determined in a state of the filament, and containing 0.01 to 3.0 branched chains per 1,000 backbone carbon atoms. 2. A high strength polyethylene filament according to claim 1, wherein the branched chains contain at least 5 carbon atoms. 3. A high strength polyethylene filament according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said filament has an elastic modulus of at least 500 cN/dTex. 4. A high strength polyethylene filament according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a rate of dispersion-defective fibers cut from the filament is 2.0% or less. |
<SOH> BACKGROUND ART <EOH>As a polyethylene filament with high strength, there is known a filament which is produced from an ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene by a so-called gel-spinning method and which has such a high strength and such a high elastic modulus that any of conventional filaments has never possessed, as disclosed in ,7P-B-60-47922, and this filament has already come into industrially wide use. JP-B-64-8732 discloses a filament which is made from an ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene having a weight-average molecular weight of at least 600,000 as a starting material by so-called “gel spinning method” and which has a higher strength and a higher elastic modulus than any of conventional filaments. A high strength polyethylene filament produced by melt spinning is disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,228,118. According to this patent, the high strength polyethylene filament disclosed is obtained by extruding a polyethylene having a number-average molecular weight of at least 20,000 and a weight-average molecular weight of less than 125,000 through a spinneret which is maintained at the temperature between 220 and 335° C., then taking over the polymer at the rate of at least 30 m/min. followed by drawing it at least 20 times at the temperature between 115 and 132° C. Thus the filament has a tenacity of at least 10.6cW/dTex. Moreover, JP-A-08-504891 discloses a high strength polyethylene filament which is produced by melt spinning polyethylene with high density through a spinneret, cooling the filament coming out from the spinneret, and then drawing the obtained fiber at the temperature of 50-150 C. Since a high strength polyethylene filament by gel spinning was invented, the filament has been used in all fields, and the physical properties required for the high strength polyethylene filament as a raw material became still higher in recent years. In order to deal with a wide range use, i.e. to satisfy the required performance which accompanies each use, it is required to fulfill simultaneously that in any monofilament fineness, a filament should excel in mechanical strength and an elastic modulus, the filament should be uniform, and also there should be no fusion between each monofilament, etc. For example, as far as applications such as battery separators are concerned, a high strength polyethylene filament with small single yarn fineness is desired. By contrast, for ropes or nets with which a fuzz, a rubbing and the like (a so-called wear resistance) pose a problem, the one where single yarn fineness is to some extent thicker conversely is desirable. Although it is tried to produce a high strength polyethylene filament by the so-called melt spinning, a high strength polyethylene filament which satisfies all the above-mentioned performances has not yet been obtained. It is possible to obtain a high strength polyethylene filament by using gel spinning on the other hand. However, due to the fact that a high strength polyethylene filament with a low monofilament fineness obtained with gel spinning had many fusions and press-stickings between each monofilament, the fiber fused and stuck by pressure became thickness nonuniformity to be a defect so that such a problem as a deterioration of the physical properties of a nonwoven fabric arose when this filament was used for a nonwoven fabric particularly with a low weight (METSUKE). Moreover, when the apparent diameter of the filament became thick caused by the filament fused and stuck by pressure, there was a problem such that the retention of knot strength and loop strength falls. The present inventors assume that the following are the causes for the foregoing problems. In the melt spinning, the polymer has many intertwines of molecular chains therein, and therefore, the polymer extruded from a nozzle can not be sufficiently drawn. Further, it is practically impossible to use for the reason of improving strength a polymer having such an ultra-high molecular weight of more than 1,000,000 in the melt spinning because the melt viscosity of the polymer is too high. Therefore, the resultant filament has a low strength. On the other hand, there is a gel spinning method mentioned above where a polyethylene having an ultra-high molecular weight of more than 1,000,000. However, this method has the following problems. The spinning and drawing tensions for obtaining a filament becomes higher, and the use of a solvent for spinning and the drawing of a filament at a temperature higher than the melting point of the filament cause fusions and press-stickings in the filaments. Thus, a desired filament having a uniform fineness can not be obtained. Moreover, when gel spinning was used, it was easy to produce the nonuniformity of fiber presumed to originate in spinning unstable phenomena, such as resonance, in the longitudinal direction, and thus there was a problem in respect of uniformity. The present inventors have succeeded in obtaining a polyethylene filament having a high strength which the melt spinning and the gel spinning in the art could not achieve, and thus accomplished the present invention. |
Method and means for connecting barbed tubular connectors |
A punch (1) for inserting tubular connectors (14) into plastic pipe (6) where there is a long shaft (9) that can project fully through the connector bore (13) and having sharp conical end pierce (11) directly the wall (12) of the tubular pipe (6). There is also disclosed a punch (14) with an automatic supply of tubular connectors (42). |
1. A punch having a shaft with an outermost sharp end having a diameter and shape such that it will pass fully through the bore of a barbed tubular connector, and means at an inner end of such a shaft whereby to impinge any tubular connector positioned on the shaft so as to enable such a position connector to be pushed with the shaft into an installed position in the wall of a tube. 2. A method of installing a tubular connector which includes the steps of inserting through a central bore of a connector, a shaft having an outermost sharp end and then pushing the sharp end of the shaft through the wall of a tube while, at the same time, pushing the barbed connector so that the barb of the connector passes through and past a periphery of the wall where pierced, and then withdrawing only the shaft. 3. A punch as in claim 1 further characterized in that there are means to hold the plastic tubing which is to be pierced in such a way that the sides of the tube will be retained. 4. A method as in claim 2 further characterized in that there are means to hold the plastic tubing which is to be pierced in such a way that the sides of the tube will be retained. 5. A punch which has a base, a relatively movable arm supported by the base and a shaft with an outermost sharp end having a diameter and a sharp such that it will pass fully through the bore of a barbed tubular connector, the shaft extending in the vicinity of an outer end of the arm and extending transversely to any expected relative movement of the arm with respect to the base. 6. A punch as in preceding claim 5 further characterized in that the shaft is such so that it can be positioned in at least two relative positions one being a stored position and another being an operating position. 7. A punch as in claim 5 further characterized in that there is supported on the base a channel adapted to hold tubing between oppositely facing sides and adapted to restrict outward movement of opposite sides of the wall of plastic tubing when being pierced by the shaft. 8. A punch as in claim 5 further characterized in that there is also connected to the arm, a blade adapted to be positioned in two relative positions one of which is a stored position, and another of which is an operating position, the operating position being such that when the arm is brought together with the base, the blade is adapted to cut through any plastic tubing that might be being held relative to the base. 9. A combination punch and inserter for inserting a barbed tubular connector into a larger diameter plastics tubing, the inserter having a shaft having a sharp end and being of a size and shape adapted to extend fully through from end to end of the bore of a barbed tubular connector, and means with the shaft to engage an outer end of the tubular connector when positioned with the shaft extending through the bore of the tubular connector to push against the tubular connector so that this will follow a piercing action of the shaft into the wall of a larger diameter tubing. 10. A combination punch and inserter for inserting a barbed tubular connector into a larger diameter plastics tubing as in claim 9 further characterized in that the means with the shaft being to an extend that the barb of a tubular connector can pass fully through such a wall of plastics tubing subsequent to being pierced, and then extract the shaft by pulling this back through the bore of the tubular connector thereby leaving the tubular connector installed. 11. A method of installing a barbed tubular connector in the wall of a large diameter plastics tubing which includes the steps of locating a barbed tubular connector with a shaft extending fully through a tubular bore of a connector and having an outermost sharper end which projects past the bore of the tubular connector, and then effecting a piercing action with the shaft into the wall of the tubing and effecting a pushing of the connector synchronously with the shaft so as to have its barb fully in the wall of the tubing and then extracting the shaft. 12. A tool for supporting an insertion shaft with an outermost sharp end having a diameter and a shape such that it will pass fully through the bore of a barbed tubular connector, by which the tubular connector can be impinged and caused to be inserted through the wall of a plastic tubing, characterized in that the tool is substantially formed from a single strip of metal with an attached shaft. 13. A tool as in claim 12 further characterized in that the metal is spring steel. 14. A tool as in claim 13 further characterized in that the shape of the strip metal includes at one end an open U-shape nest into which plastic tubing can be squeezed and held thereby, and at an opposite end, there being secured a shaft so that respective legs can be pressed together whereby the end of the shaft would engage any plastic tubing held by the U-shaped end portion. 15. A tool as in claim 12 further characterized in that the strip metal is of substantially uniform width throughout its length, this being provided by a lower leg, an upper leg and an apex. 16. A tool as in claim 12 further characterized in that in the vicinity of the apex, there is at least one slotted hole through the metal whereby to provide an area of weakness to assist in control of the degree of spring resistance that might be encountered by a user. 17. A tool as in claim 12 further characterized in that the area in the vicinity of the apex is wasted whereby to provide a line of weakness to assist in control of the degree of spring resistance that might be encountered by a user. 18. A punch for affecting an insertion of a barbed tubular connector through a wall of plastic tubing including; a first member adapted to hold a barbed tubular connector in a ready to be inserted position; a second member including a shaft with a shaft at the other end, held with respect to the said first member, such that it can be caused to move between any of three positions, these being a first position where the shaft is supported in a withdrawn position with respect to any connector that might be held in a ready to be inserted position by the said first member, the second position being where the shaft is inserted before any connector that might be held in a ready to be inserted position by the said first member, and the third position is where the tubular connector has been engaged, and together with the shaft, has been caused to move to a barbed tubular connector plastic tubing insertion position. 19. A punch as in claim 18 further characterized in that there is included a third member to hold, relative to the other members, the plastic tubing. 20. A punch as in claim 19 further characterized in that the third member includes a channel into which the tubing is adapted to nest such that the sides could be kept from undue spreading when subjected to an insertion of the tubular connector. 21. A punch as in claim 16 further characterized in that the first member is adapted to hold at least two barbed tubular connectors, and is such that upon a first connector being pushed into an inserted position with respect to a plastic tubing and the shaft of the second member having been withdrawn, that the second connector will then be urged into a ready inserted position with respect to the said first member. 22. A punch as in claim 16 further characterized in that the first member is arranged at the ready to be inserted position to receive a connector where this is moved laterally with respect to its tubular axis in a ready to be inserted position, and then adapted to allow this to be moved in the direction of its axis when being moved to an inserted position by the said second member. 23. A punch as in claim 16 further characterized in that the first member includes a channel to receive with sliding freedom, a plurality of tubular connectors, the channel being aligned with the ready to be inserted position, so that tubular connectors can be charged from a chute provided by the channel. 24. A punch as in claim 16 further characterized in that at the ready to be inserted position, there is a release arrangement such that, when subjected to axial pressure, a tubular connector will be able to be pushed from this position into a plastic tubing insertion position. 25. A punch as in claim 16 further characterized in that there is a resilient locator at the ready to be inserted position such that it can be deflected under axial pressure from a tubular connector so as to allow the tubular connector to be thereby moved axially relatively thereto. 26 A punch as in claim 16 further characterized in that the first and second members are held together by a pivot connection. 27 A punch as in claim 16 further characterized in that the third member is pivotally held to the said first and second members. |
<SOH> BACKGROUND ART <EOH>It is known to have thin wall plastic tubing for transmission of water for irrigation purposes and to connect at spaced apart locations, barbed tubular connectors which are inserted through pierced apertures in the wall of the tubing. The current method of installing such connectors is to first pierce the wall with a punch and then separately get a tubular barbed connector and push this through the wall to an extent where an end of the barb is passed a periphery of the pierced hole. This technique is found to be arduous when a number of connectors have to be installed and an object of this invention is to provide both a means and a method which allows the installation method to be less arduous than has hitherto been the case or, at the least, there is provided to the public a useful alternative. |
<SOH> BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS <EOH>This invention will be better understood when described with the assistance of drawings wherein: FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating in combination the punch including a tubular connector and a shaft at the point piercing into the wall of a larger diameter tubing; FIG. 2 is the same view as in FIG. 1 where the piercing action has progressed further to the stage where the tubular connector is pushed fully through the wall so that its barb is part way through the peripheral edge defined by the pierced hole of the large diameter tubing; FIG. 3 shows the position in which the barb is fully through the peripheral edge as defined by the pierced tube in the larger diameter tubing; FIG. 4 illustrates the next stage in which the punch is lifted so that the shaft extracts itself from passing through the bore of the tubular connector; FIG. 5 illustrates the position of a cutter blade being bought into an operating position, and being used to cut the larger diameter tubing; FIG. 6 illustrates a resetting of a tubular connector on the shaft ready to be further inserted into a next spaced apart location on the larger diameter tubing; and FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view through a barbed tubular connector when located on the shaft in a position pushing the tubular connector through the pierced hole; FIG. 11 is a side view of a punch in accordance with the embodiment illustrating the position of the legs prior to closing of these to effect an insertion of a tubular connector; FIG. 12 is a perspective view of the connector as shown in FIG. 11 ; FIG. 13 is the same view as in FIG. 12 with, however, the tubular connector removed from around the shaft, and the plastic tubing being shown in dotted outline in FIG. 2 being removed in FIG. 3 ; and FIG. 14 is the same view as in FIG. 11 again being shown without the tubular connector or plastic tubing. FIG. 15 is a perspective view of a punch according to the next embodiment shown in a position where it is about to insert a tubular connector into plastic tubing; FIG. 16 is a side elevation of the punch as in FIG. 15 with, however the second member fully extracted; FIG. 17 shows the next stage in the insertion action where the second member is being brought down so as to have its shaft pass fully through the tubular connector; FIG. 18 is the next stage in which the first member pushes through the second member a tubular connector so as to have this pushed through into an engaging position into plastic tubing; FIG. 19 is then the release position in which the said second member is fully extracted after having inserted the tubular connector into a position in the plastic tubing; FIG. 20 illustrates in a perspective the tubular connector with the shaft and surrounding portion of the second member entering into the tubular connector; and FIG. 21 is a perspective of the portion of the first member where a tubular connector is to be located in a ready to be inserted position so that it can be pushed through in an axial position once the tubing makes the first ready to be inserted location. detailed-description description="Detailed Description" end="lead"? |
Data-rate detection in cdma systems |
The present invention provides an improved receiver for data-rate detection in a signal received from a transmitter of a cellular radio communication system including multiple transport channels supporting variable data-rate transmissions. This is accomplished by a computationally efficient technique for data-rate detection. The improved receiver receives data and TFCI associated with each of the multiple transport channels. The receiver then obtains a maximum number of valid transport format combinations and a maximum number of TFCIs that can be formed. The receiver then computes a subset of TFCIs using the obtained maximum number of valid transport format combinations and the maximum number of TFCIs, and decodes from the computed subset of TFCIs within the frame to reduce computation during decoding and to improve data-rate detection reliability. |
1. An improved method for data-rate detection in a signal received from a transmitter of a radio communication system including multiple transport channels supporting variable data-rate transmissions, comprising: receiving the signal including a succession of frames, wherein the signal in each of the succession of frames includes data and Transport Format Channel Information (TFCI) associated with each of the multiple transport channels; obtaining a maximum number of valid transport format combinations that can be formed for the multiple transport channels from a given set of Transport Format Combination Set (TFCS) table within each frame; obtaining a maximum number of Transport Format Combination Indicators (TFCIs) that can be formed using the TFCS within the frame; computing a subset of TFCIs using the obtained maximum number of valid transport format combinations and the obtained maximum number of TFCIs within the frame; and decoding the computed subset of TFCIs within the frame to reduce computation during decoding and to improve data-rate detection reliability. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the TFCIs comprise TFCI Codewords formed using a sub-code of the second order Reed-Muller code. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the maximum number of TFCI Codewords that can be formed using the TFCIs is 1024. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein decoding of the computed subset of TFCI Codewords are performed by using the Fast Hadamard Transform (FHT). 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving the TFCI every frame. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the frame comprises a time interval of about 10 milliseconds. 7. The method of claim 1, wherein computing a subset of TFCIs further comprises: dividing the obtained maximum number of valid transport format combinations by the obtained maximum number of TFCIs to obtain a computed value; and rounding off the obtained computed value to a nearest highest integer to obtain the subset of TFCIs. 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: separating the received signal to obtain Transport Formal Combination Information associated with each of the multiple transport channels to obtain the TFCI associated with each of the multiple transport channels; obtaining a Transmission Time Interval (TTI) associated with each of the computed subset of TFCIs; obtaining a minimum Transmission Time Interval (TTI_min) and a maximum Transmission Time Interval (TTI_max) from the obtained TTI associated with each of the computed subset of TFCIs; decoding the subset of TFCIs to obtain transport formats associated with each of the computed subset of TFCIs; repeating the decoding of the subset of TFCIs after TTI_min; and repeating the above receiving, separating, decoding, obtaining, and decoding steps at the end of TTI_max. 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the TFCI includes transport formats specific to each of the transport channels. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the transport formats comprise semi-static and dynamic parts. 11. The method of claim 10, where the semi-static part includes transport properties selected from the group consisting of TTI, error protection scheme, type of error protection, coding rate, static rate matching parameter, puncturing limit, and size of extra bits. 12. The method of claim 10, wherein the dynamic part includes transport properties selected from the group consisting of transport block size and transport block set size. 13. The method of claim 8, wherein the TTI includes one or more frames. 14. The method of claim 13, wherein each of the one or more frames has a time interval of 10 milliseconds. 15. The method of claim 8, wherein obtaining the TTI_max comprises: obtaining a TTI having a maximum number of frames as the TTI_max. 16. The method of claim 8, wherein obtaining the TTI_min comprises: obtaining a TTI having a minimum number of frames as MT min. 17. The method of claim 1, further comprising: computing possible TFCIs for a next frame from the computed subset of TFCIs; and limiting the decoding of the TFCIs in the next frame to decoding the computed possible TFCIs. 18. A computer readable medium having computer-executable instructions for an improved data-rate detection in a cellular radio communication system including multiple transport channels supporting variable data-rate transmissions, comprising: obtaining a maximum number of valid transport format combinations that can be formed using the multiple transport channels from a given set of Transport Format Combination Set (TFCS) table within a frame; obtaining a maximum number of Transport Format Combination Indicators (TFCIs) that can be formed using the TFCS within the frame; computing a subset of TFCIs using the obtained maximum number of valid transport format combinations and the obtained maximum number of TFCIs within the frame; and decoding the computed subset of TFCIs within the frame to reduce computation during decoding and to improve TFCI detection reliability. 19. The medium of claim 18, further comprising: forming TFCI Codewords from the obtained TFCIs using a sub-code of the second order Reed-Muller code. 20. The medium of claim 19, wherein the maximum number of TFCI Codewords that can be formed using the TFCIs is 1024. 21. The medium of claim 18, wherein decoding of the computed subset of TFCIs is performed by using Fast Hadamard Transform (FHT). 22. The medium of claim 18, further comprising: receiving the TFCI every frame. 23. The medium of claim 22, wherein the frame comprises an approximately 10 millisecond time interval. 24. The medium of claim 18, wherein computing a subset of TFCIs further comprises: dividing the obtained maximum number of valid transport format combinations by the obtained maximum number of TFCIs to obtain a computed value; and rounding off the obtained computed value to a nearest highest integer to obtain the subset of TFCIs. 25. A computer readable medium having computer-executable instructions for an improved data-rate detection in a communication system including multiple transport channels supporting variable data-rate transmissions, comprising: receiving TFCI and data associated with each of the multiple transport channels in the cellular radio communication system; and separating the TFCI from data associated with each of the multiple transport channels to obtain the TFCI associated with each of the multiple transport channels; decoding separated TFCIs to obtain a Transmission Time Interval (TTI) associated with each of the TFCIs; obtaining a minimum Transmission Time Interval (TTI_min) and a maximum Transmission Time Interval (TTI_max) from the obtained TTI associated with each of the TFCIs; decoding a subset of TFCIs to obtain transport formats associated with each of the TFCIs; repeating the decoding of the TFCIs after TTI_min; and repeating the above receiving, separating, decoding, obtaining, and decoding steps at the end of TTI_max. 26. The medium of claim 25, wherein the TFCI includes transport formats specific to each of the transport channels. 27. The medium of claim 26, wherein the transport formats comprise semi-static and dynamic parts. 28. The medium of claim 27, where the semi-static part includes transport properties selected from the group consisting of TTt, error protection scheme, type of error protection, coding rate, static rate matching parameter, puncturing limit, and size of extra bits. 29. The medium of claim 27, wherein the dynamic part includes transport properties selected from the group consisting of transport block size and transport block set size. 30. The medium of claim 25, wherein the TTI includes one or more frames. 31. The medium of claim 30, wherein each of the one or more frames has a time interval of 10 milliseconds. 32. The medium of claim 25, wherein obtaining the TTI_max comprises: obtaining a TTI having a maximum number of frames as the TTI_max. 33. The medium of claim 25, wherein obtaining the TTI_min comprises: obtaining a TTI having minimum number of frames as TTI_min. 34. A computer system for detecting data-rate detection signal received from a transmitter capable of transmitting data at a plurality of data rates, comprising: a storage device; an output device; and a processor programmed to repeatedly perform a method, comprising: receiving the signal including a succession of frames, wherein each of the succession of frames includes data and Transport Format Channel Information (TFCI) associated with each of the multiple transport channels; obtaining a maximum number of valid transport format combinations that can be formed for the multiple transport channels from a given set of Transport Format Combination Set table (TFCS) within each frame; obtaining a maximum number of Transport Format Combination Indicators (TFCIs) that can be formed using the TFCS within the frame; computing a subset of TFCIs using the obtained maximum number of valid transport format combinations and the obtained maximum number of TFCIs within the frame; and decoding the computed subset of TFCIs within the frame to reduce computation during decoding and to improve data-rate detection reliability. 35. The system of claim 34, wherein the TFCIs comprise TFCI Codewords formed using a sub-code of the second order Reed-Muller code. 36. The system of claim 35, wherein the maximum number of TFCI Codewords that can be formed using the TFCIs is 1024. 37. The system of claim 36, wherein decoding of the computed subset of TFCI Codewords is performed by using the Fast Hadamard Transform FHT). 38. The system of claim 34, further comprising: receiving the TFCI every frame. 39. The system of claim 38, wherein the frame comprises a time interval of about 10 milliseconds. 40. The system of claim 34, wherein computing a subset of TFCIs further comprises: dividing the obtained maximum number of valid transport format combinations by the obtained maximum number of TFCIs to obtain a computed value; and rounding off the obtained computed value to a nearest highest integer to obtain the subset of TFCIs. 41. The system of claim 34, further comprising: separating the received signal to obtain Transport Formal Combination Information associated with each of the multiple transport channels to obtain the TFCI associated with each of the multiple transport channels; obtaining a Transmission Time Interval (TTI) associated with each of the computed subset of TFCIs; obtaining a minimum Transmission Time Interval (TTI_min) and a maximum Transmission Time Interval (TTI_max) from the obtained TTI associated with each of the computed subset of TFCIs; decoding the subset of TFCIs to obtain transport formats associated with each of the computed subset of TFCIs; repeating the decoding of the subset of TFCIs after TTI _min; and repeating the above receiving, separating, decoding, obtaining, and decoding steps at the end of TTI_max. 42. The system of claim 41, wherein the TFCI includes transport formats specific to each of the transport channels. 43. The system of claim 42, wherein the transport formats comprise semi-static and dynamic parts. 44. The system of claim 43, where the semi-static part includes transport properties selected from the group consisting of TTI, error protection scheme, type of error protection, coding rate, static rate matching parameter, puncturing limit, and size of extra bits. 45. The system of claim 43, wherein the dynamic part includes transport properties selected from the group consisting of transport block size and transport block set size. 46. The system of claim 43, wherein the TTI includes one or more frames. 47. The system of claim 46, wherein each of the one or more frames has a time interval of 10 milliseconds. 48. The system of claim 41, wherein obtaining the TTI_max comprises: obtaining a TTI having a maximum number of frames as the TTI _max. 49. The system of claim 41, wherein obtaining the TTI_min comprises: obtaining a TTI having minimum number of frames as TTI_min. 50. The system of claim 34, further comprising: computing possible TFCIs for a next frame from the computed subset of TFCIs; and limiting the decoding of the TFCIs in the next frame to decoding the computed possible TFCIs. 51. A receiver for data-rate detection in a cellular radio communication system including multiple transport channels supporting variable data-rate transmissions, comprising: a demodulator to receive TFCI and data associated with each of the transport channels from a transmitter and to further separate the received TFCI from the data; a TFCI decoder to receive the separated TFCI, comprising: a TFCI Selection Logic Device to obtain a maximum number of valid TFCs that can be formed using the transport channels from a given set of TFCS within a frame, wherein the device further obtains a maximum number of TFCIs that can be formed using the TFCS within the frame, and the device further computes a subset of TFCIs using the obtained maximum number of valid TFCIs and the maximum number of TFCIs that can be formed using the TFCS; and a FHT decoder to decode the computed subset of TFCIs within the frame to reduce computation during decoding and to further improve data-rate detection reliability; and a transport channel multiplexer to receive the separated data and output the data to respective transport channels using the decoded subset of TFCIs. 52. The receiver of claim 51, wherein the TFCIs comprises TFCI Codewords formed using a sub-code of the second order Reed-Muller code. 53. The receiver of claim 52, wherein the FHT decoder decodes the subset of TFCIs using the Fast Hadamard Transform (FHT). 54. The receiver of claim 51, wherein the receiver receives TFCIs every frame. 55. The receiver of claim 54, wherein the frame comprises a time interval of about 10 milliseconds. 56. The receiver of claim 51, wherein the device divides the obtained maximum number of valid transport format combinations (valid TFCIs) by the obtained maximum number of TFCIs to obtain the subset of TFCIs. 57. The receiver of claim 51, wherein the TFCI Selection Logic Device obtains a Transmission Time Interval associated with each of the computed subset of TFCIs, and obtains a maximum Transmission Time Interval (TTI_max) and a minimum Transmission Time Interval (TTI_min) associated with each of the computed subset of TFCIs, wherein the FHT decoder decodes the subset of TFCIs to obtain transport formats associated with each of the computed subset of TFCIs at the beginning of the fire, and the FHT decoder further decodes the subset of TFCIs again after the completion of minimum Transmission Time Interval, and wherein the FHT decoder and the TFCI selection Logic Device repeats the computation of the maximum and minimum Transmission Time Intervals and decoding of the subset of TFCIs at the end of the maximum Transmission Time Interval. 58. The receiver of claim 57, wherein the TFCI includes transport formats specific to each of the transport channels. 59. The receiver of claim 58, wherein the transport formats comprises semi-static and dynamic parts. 60. The receiver of claim 59, wherein the semi-static part includes transport properties selected from the group consisting of TTI, error protection scheme, type of error protection, coding rate, static rate matching parameter, puncturing limit, and size of extra bits. 61. The receiver of claim 60, wherein the dynamic part includes transport properties selected from the group consisting of transport block size and transport block set size. 62. The receiver of claim 57, wherein the TTI includes one or more frames. 63. The receiver of claim 62, wherein the each of the one or more frames has a time interval of 10 milliseconds. 64. The receiver of claim 57, wherein obtaining the TTI_max comprises: obtaining a TTI having a maximum number of frames as the TTI_max. 65. The receiver of claim 57, wherein obtaining the TTI_min comprises: obtaining a TTI having a minimum number of frames as the TTI_min. 66. The receiver of claim 51, wherein the TFCI selection Logic Device computes possible TFCIs for a next frame from the computed subset of TFCIs, and limits the decoding by the FHT decoder to the TFCIs in the next frame to computed possible TFCIs. |
<SOH> BACKGROUND <EOH>As radio communication becomes more widely accepted, it will be desirable to provide various types of radio communication services to meet consumer demand. For example, support for facsimile, e-mail, video, Internet access, etc., via radio communication systems are envisioned. Moreover it is expected that users may wish to access different types of services at the same time. For example, a videoconference between two users would involve both speech and video support. Some of these different services will require relatively high data-rates compared with speech service that has been conventionally supplied by radio communication systems, while other services will require variable data-rate service. Thus, it is anticipated that future radio communication systems will need to be able to support high data-rate communications as well as variable data-rate communications. Currently 3G wireless systems support such a variety of applications that need different Quality of Services (QoS). The Direct Sequence Code Division Multiple Access (DS-CDMA) based 3G system has greater flexibility in offering variable data-rates, which are particularly important for multimedia and Internet services. The DS-CDMA system applies pilot-symbol-assisted coherent detection to achieve coherent reverse and forward links. Known pilot symbols are multiplexed with a coded data symbol sequence to make it possible at the receiver to estimate the time varying radio channel gains associated with each resolved multipath component, and then to combine the resolved multi-path components coherently in the Rake receiver. During communication, the transmitting data-rate may vary every frame. For example, variable-rate voice codec (codec is a generally abbreviated word for COder-DECoder) is used to reduce the average bit rate. The radio link capacity of cellular DS-CDMA mobile radio is limited mainly by the multiple access interference (MAI) from other users transmitting at the same carrier frequency in the same and other cells. The use of discontinuous transmission to match the varying data-rate can reduce the interference to other users. Furthermore, discontinuous transmission is an effective means for prolonging the battery life of mobile terminals. To recover variable-rate data, reliable detection of the data-rate is necessary at the receiver end. Regardless of the particular technique adopted in a radio communication system for providing variable rate transmission capability, the receiver must know the particular data-rate at which a signal is transmitted in order to properly detect and decode the received signal. Current methods for informing the receiver of the instantaneous data-rate of received signal generally fall into following two categories. Some systems that explicitly transmit bit rate information (also referred to as Transport Formal Combination Information (TFCI)) along with the data (transmitted signal). Normally, Forward Error Correction (FEC) coding is used on TFCI before transmission. Also, the TFCI is transmitted at a much higher power compared to the user data. On the receiver, a suitable decoder is used so that the TFCI is decoded with sufficient reliability. The TFCI is used in order to inform the receiving side of the currently valid Transport Format Combination, and hence how to decode, de-multiplex and deliver the received data on the appropriate Transport Channels. Other systems provide the receiver with the capability to “blindly” determine the rate at which data has been transmitted. Such systems do not transmit any TFCI information along with the data. The receiver operates, for example, by decoding for different possible rates and checking for correct Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC). U.S. Pat. No. 5,566,206 to Butler et al. provides an example of blind rate detection. Generally, blind rate detection schemes are used only when there are fewer possible rates (when there are fewer TFCIs). Both of the above current techniques have drawbacks. For example, blind rate detection results in relatively complex receivers due to the additional circuitry/logic needed to correctly identify one of a plurality of possible data transmission rates. Also, the blind rate detection scheme assumes that the data-rate changes every frame, which might not be the case, and this can result in increased False Detection Rate (Detection of wrong data-rate), slowing the process of data-rate detection and generally requiring more computation. The transmission of explicit TFCI also creates design issues. For example, the TFCI is transmitted in the same data frame as the data and they not only include data-rate information but also include spreading factor (SF) information, which is required for decoding data symbols. Therefore, SF is needed for proper decoding of data symbols and the TFCI has to be decoded as fast as possible to avoid storing of the received data. That is, as soon as the data for a frame is available in the transmitter, the TFCI for that frame has to be computed, decoded, and transmitted. Any delay in decoding the TFCI can be undesirable for low-delay services like speech, especially for large frame lengths. When the TFCI is transmitted in the same frame as the data, and if there is any undesirable delay in the decoding, the receiver has to buffer the received signal until it has detected and decoded the TFCI for that frame. Buffering the data in the receiver requires additional cost and complexity. Also, explicit TFCI is transmitted every 10 milliseconds (every frame) and is similarly decoded once every frame on the receiver side. During bad channel conditions, this method of coding and decoding (where it is assumed that data-rate changes every frame) yields poor results as every 10 milliseconds one of many possible explicit TFCIs has to be detected by searching for the maximum output across all encoded bits. Generally, this method requires more computation and can result in slower data-rate detection. Therefore, there is a need in the art for efficient and reliable data-rate detection to detect at what variable rate a signal is transmitted, in order to properly detect and decode the received signal. |
<SOH> SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION <EOH>A receiver detects a data-rate in a signal transmitted by a cellular radio communication system including multiple transport channels supporting variable data-rate transmissions. In one example embodiment, this is accomplished by receiving the signal including a succession of frames. Each of the received succession of frames includes data and the Transport Formal Combination Information (TFCI) associated with each of the multiple transport channels. The receiver then obtains a maximum number of valid transport format combinations that can be formed for the multiple transport channels from a given size of Transport Format Combination Set TFCS) table within each frame. The receiver then obtains a maximum number of TFCIs that can be formed using the TFCS with the frame. The receiver further computes a subset of the TFCIs using the obtained maximum number of valid transport format combinations and the obtained maximum number of TFCIs within the frame. The receiver then decodes the received TFCI using the computed subset of TFCIs to reduce computation during decoding and to improve the data-rate detection reliability. Another aspect of the present invention is a method for data-rate detection in a signal received from a transmitter of a radio communication system including multiple transpsport channels supporting variable data-rate transmissions. The method is performed by receiving the signal including a succession of frames, wherein the signal in each of the succession of frames includes data and the TFCI associated with each of the multiple transport channels. Using the received data and TFCI a maximum number of valid transport format combinations that can be formed for the multiple transport channels from a given size of TFCS table within each frame is obtained. The obtained TFCS within each frame is used to further obtain a maximum number of TFCIs. The obtained maximum number of TFCIs is used to compute a subset of TFCIs. Then the computed subset of TFCIs are decoded to reduce computation during decoding and to improve data-rate detection reliability. Another aspect of the present invention is a computer readable medium having computer-executable instructions for an improved data-rate detection in a communication system including multiple transport channels supporting variable data-rate transmissions. According to the method, a signal including a succession of frames is received, wherein the signal in each of the succession of frames includes data and the TFCI associated with each of the multiple transport channels. Using the received data and the TFCI a maximum number of valid transport formal combinations that can be formed for the multiple transport channels from a given size of TFCS table within each frame is obtained. The obtained TFCS within each frame is used to further obtain a maximum number of TFCIs. The obtained maximum number of TFCIs is used to compute a subset of TFCIs. Then the computed subset of TFCIs are decoded to reduce computation during decoding and to improve data-rate detection reliability. Another aspect of the present invention is a computer system for detecting data-rate detection signal received from a transmitter capable of transmitting data at a plurality of data rates. The computer system comprises a storage device, an output device, and a processor pro gramed to repeatedly perform a method. According to the method, a signal including a succession of frames is received, wherein the signal in each of the succession of frames includes data and the TFCI associated with each of the multiple transport channels. Using the received data and the TFCI a maximum number of valid transport formal combinations that can be formed for the multiple transport channels from a given size of TFCS table within each frame is obtained. The obtained TFCS within each frame is used to further obtain a maximum number of TFCIs. The obtained maximum number of TFCIs is used to compute a subset of TFCIs. Then the computed subset of TFCIs are decoded to reduce computation during decoding and to improve data-rate detection reliability. Other aspects of the invention will be apparent on reading the following detailed description of the invention and viewing the drawings that form a part thereof. |
Certain 1-(D-cycloproplyglycinyl)-4-piperidin-4-yl)piperazine compounds as inhibitors of the serine protease factor xa |
The compounds of formula (I) in which R represents a hydrogen atom or a fluorine atom, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof are Factor Xa inhibitors useful in the treatment of thrombotic disorders. |
1. A compound of formula (I) in which R represents a hydrogen atom or a fluorine atom, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof. 2. A compound as claimed in claim 1, in which R represents a hydrogen atom. 3. A compound as claimed in claim 2, which is selected from:— 1-(4-methoxybenzoyl-D-cyclopropylglycinyl)-4-(1-methylpiperidin-4-yl)piperazine and the hydrochloride, fumarate and maleate acid addition salts thereof. 4. A compound as claimed in claim 3, which is selected from the dihydrochloride, difumarate and dimaleate acid addition salts in crystalline form. 5. A compound as claimed in claim 4, which is 1-(4-methoxybenzoyl-D-cyclopropylglycinyl)-4-(1-methylpiperidin-yl)piperazine difumarate in crystalline form. 6. A compound as claimed in claim 1, in which R represents a fluorine atom. 7. A compound as claimed in claim 6, which is selected from:— 1-(3-fluoro-4-methoxybenzoyl-D-cyclopropylglycinyl)-4-(4-methylpiperidin-4-yl)piperazine; and the hydrochloride acid addition salts thereof. 8. A pharmaceutical composition, which comprises a compound as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7, together with a pharmaceutically acceptable diluent or carrier. 9. A process for preparing a compound as claimed in claim 1, which comprises: (a) reacting a compound of formula (II) a salt thereof, with a compound of formula (III) or a reactive derivative thereof; or (b) reacting a compound of formula (IV) or a salt thereof, with a compound of formula (V) or a reactive derivative thereof; followed, if a pharmaceutically acceptable salt is desired, by forming a pharmaceutically acceptable salt. 10. A compound of formula (II) or a salt thereof. 11. A compound of formula (V) in which R represents a hydrogen atom or a fluorine atom. 12. (canceled): 13. (canceled): 14. A method of treating a thrombotic disorder in a subject requiring treatment, which comprises administering an effective amount of a compound as claimed in claim 1. |
Device for the coating of objects |
An apparatus for coating objects having a single microwave source, two or more coating chambers, and an impedance structure or a waveguide structure. The coating chambers are connected to the single microwave source. The impedance structure or waveguide structure divides the microwave energy in order to generate plasmas in the coating chambers. |
1. An apparatus for coating objects, comprising: a single microwave source; two or more coating chambers, the two or more coating chambers being connected to the single microwave source; a structure for dividing microwave energy from the single microwave source in order to generate plasmas in each of the two or more coating chambers. 2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the structure comprises a waveguide structure comprising at least one component for dividing the microwave energy. 3. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the at least one component for dividing the microwave energy is a y-divider. 4. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the waveguide structure comprises a rectangular waveguide. 5. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the waveguide structure comprises circular waveguides. 6. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the waveguide structure comprises dielectric windows or coaxial conductor structures for introducing the microwave energy into the two or more coating chambers, respectively. 7. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the structure comprises an impedance structure comprising at least one component for dividing the microwave energy. 8. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein the impedance structure comprises a coaxial conductor structure for each of the two or more coating chambers, the coaxial conductor structure comprising a metallic inner conductor and a dielectric as an outer conductor. 9. The apparatus as claimed in claim 8, further comprising means for altering an electrical length of the metallic. 10. The apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein the coaxial conductor structure comprises a first conductor section connecting the single microwave source and a branching point. 11. The apparatus as claimed in claim 9, further comprising an H-shaped conductor structure having a web and two limbs, the H-shaped conductor being connected upstream of the two or more chambers, the web being connected to the single microwave source via an input conductor, and each of the two limbs having a first section remote from the two or more coating chambers and a second section which faces the two or more coating chambers. 12. The apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the first section has an adjustable electrical length. 13. The apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein the input conductor has an adjustable electrical length. 14. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13, wherein the means for adjusting the electrical length are formed from a displaceable sleeve which surrounds the inner conductor. 15. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13, wherein the means for adjusting the electrical length of the metallic inner conductor is a screw which can be screwed into the metallic inner conductor. 16. The apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the web is connected to a further limb. 17. The apparatus as claimed in claim 16, wherein the further limb is connected to the web substantially in the center of the web between the two limbs. 18. The apparatus as claimed in claim 16, wherein the further limb has an adjustable electrical length. 19. The apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the H-shaped conductor structure comprises waveguides and/or coaxial conductors. 20. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the two or more coating chambers are shielded from one another. 21. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the two or more coating chambers can accommodate an object to be coated. 22. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising separate vacuum and gas supply devices for each of the two or more coating chambers. 23. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising separate detection units for each of the two or more coating chambers, the separate detection units for recording thermal and/or electromagnetic emission originating from the plasma or the substrate to be coated. 24. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a pulsed microwave source. 25. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the structure comprises rigid conductors. |
Micronutrient phosphates as dietary and health supplements |
There is provided a dietary or health supplement comprising an effective amount of a micronutrient selected from the group consisting of phosphate derivatives of tocopherol, ubiquinol, ascorbic acid, tocotrienol, retinol and mixtures thereof delivered with an acceptable carrier. |
1. A dietary or health supplement comprising an effective amount of a micronutrient selected from the group consisting of phosphate derivatives of ubiquinol, ascorbic acid, tocotrienol, retinol and mixtures thereof delivered with an acceptable carrier. 2. A dietary or health supplement according to claim 1 wherein the micronutrient is ubiquinyl phosphate. 3. A dietary or health supplement according to claim 1 wherein the micronutrient is a phosphatidyl derivative of ubiquinol, ascorbic acid, tocotrienol, retinol and mixtures thereof. 4. A dietary or health supplement according to claim 1 wherein the one or more phosphate derivatives of a micronutrient is added at a concentration of from 10 ppm to 10,000 ppm % (w/w). 5. A dietary or health supplement according to claim 4 wherein the micronutrient is added at a concentration of from 50 ppm to 1,000 ppm % (w/w). 6. A dietary or health supplement according to claim 1 selected from the group consisting of capsule, tablet, powder, food additives, cookie, biscuit, breakfast cereal, sports drink and sports food bar. 7. A dietary or health supplement according to claim 6 being a capsule. 8. A dietary or health supplement according to claim 7 containing ubiquinyl phosphate. 9. A dietary or health supplement according to claim 6 being a sports drink. 10. A dietary or health supplement according to claim 9 containing ubiquinyl phosphate. 11. A dietary or health supplement according to claim 6 being a cookie containing ubiquinyl phosphate. 12. A dietary or health supplement according to claim 11 containing ubiquinyl phosphate. 13. A method for supplementing a subject's intake of a daily allowance of a micronutrient selected from the group consisting of ubiquinol, ascorbic acid, tocotrienol, retinol and mixtures thereof, said method comprising administering to said subject a dietary or health supplement comprising an effective amount of the micronutrient in the form of a phosphate derivative of the micronutrient delivered with an acceptable carrier. 14. Use of an effective amount of one or more phosphate derivatives of one or more micronutrients together with an acceptable carrier in the manufacture of a dietary or health supplement for supplementing a subject's intake of a daily allowance of the micronutrient, wherein the micronutrient is selected from the group consisting of ubiquinol, ascorbic acid, tocotrienol, retinol and mixtures thereof. 15. A dietary or health supplement when used for supplementing a subject's intake of a micronutrient selected from the group consisting of ubiquinol, ascorbic acid, tocotrienol, retinol and mixtures thereof, the dietary or health supplement comprising an effective amount of one or more phosphate derivatives of one or more micronutrients and an acceptable carrier. 16. A dietary or health supplement comprising an effective amount of a micronutrient selected from the group consisting of complexes of phosphate derivatives of ubiquinol, ascorbic acid, retinol, tocotrienol, tocopherol and mixtures thereof delivered with an acceptable carrier. 17. A dietary or health supplement according to claim 16 wherein the micronutrient is selected from the group consisting of the reaction product of (a) a micronutrient selected from the group consisting of tocopheryl phosphate, retinyl phosphate, ascorbyl phosphate, tocotrienyl phosphate, ubiquinyl phosphate or mixtures thereof; and (b) a complexing agent selected from the group consisting of arginine, lysine or lauryliminodipropionic acid. 18. A dietary or health supplement according to claim 17 wherein the micronutrient is ubiquinyl phosphate arginine complex. 19. A dietary or health supplement according to claim 17 wherein the micronutrient is tocopheryl phosphate arginine complex. 20. A dietary or health supplement according to claim 16 wherein the complexes of phosphate derivatives of a micronutrient is added at a concentration of from 10 ppm to 10,000 ppm % (w/w). 21. A dietary or health supplement according to claim 20 wherein the micronutrient is added at a concentration of from 50 ppm to 1,000 ppm % (w/w). 22. A dietary or health supplement according to claim 16 selected from the group consisting of capsule, tablet, powder, food additives, cookie, biscuit, breakfast cereal, sports drink and sports food bar. 23. A dietary or health supplement according to claim 22 being a capsule. 24. A dietary or health supplement according to claim 23 containing tocopheryl phosphate arginine complex. 25. A dietary or health supplement according to claim 22 being a sports drink. 26. A dietary or health supplement according to claim 25 containing tocopheryl phosphate arginine complex. 27. A dietary or health supplement according to claim 22 being a cookie containing ubiquinyl phosphate. 28. A dietary or health supplement according to claim 27 containing tocopheryl phosphate arginine complex. 29. A method for supplementing a subject's intake of a daily allowance of a micronutrient selected from the group consisting of tocopherol, ubiquinol, ascorbic acid, tocotrienol, retinol and mixtures thereof, said method comprising administering to said subject a dietary or health supplement comprising an effective amount of the micronutrient in the form of one or more complexes of phosphate derivatives of the micronutrient delivered with an acceptable carrier. 30. Use of an effective amount of a micronutrient together with an acceptable carrier in the manufacture of a dietary or health supplement for supplementing a subject's intake of a daily allowance of the micronutrient, wherein the micronutrient is selected from the group consisting of complexes of phosphate derivatives of ubiquinol, ascorbic acid, retinol, tocotrienol, tocopherol and mixtures thereof. 31. A dietary or health supplement when used for supplementing a subject's intake of a micronutrient, the dietary or health supplement comprising an effective amount of one or more complexes of phosphate derivatives of ubiquinol, ascorbic acid, retinol, tocotrienol, tocopherol and mixtures thereof and an acceptable carrier. 32. A method for supplementing a subject's intake of a daily allowance of CoQ10, said method comprising administering to said subject a dietary or health supplement comprising an effective amount of a mixture of ubiquinyl phosphate and di-ubiquinyl phosphate delivered with an acceptable carrier. 33. A method for supplementing a subject's intake of a daily allowance of vitamin E, said method comprising administering to said subject a dietary or health supplement comprising an effective amount of tocopheryl phosphate arginine complexes delivered with an acceptable carrier. |
<SOH> BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION <EOH>In this specification, where a document, act or item of knowledge is referred to or discussed, this reference or discussion is not an admission that the document, act or item of knowledge or any combination thereof was at the priority date: (a) part of common general knowledge; or (b) known to be relevant to an attempt to solve any problem with which this specification is concerned. Whilst the following discussion mainly concerns ubiquinol and tocopherol, it is to be understood that this is merely illustrative and that the invention is not limited to these electron transfer agents. Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ 10 ) or ubiquinone is lipophilic because it has ten repeating isoprene units. It is an endogenous essential cellular constituent that is present in every cell of the body and serves as a coenzyme for several key steps in the production of energy within the cell. CoQ 10 is regarded as being of fundamental importance as it is reported to play an important physiological role in the mitochondrial transport of electrons and production of energy within mitochondria of each cell. CoQ 10 is made available to the body through endogenous biosynthesis and dietary intake. Folkers suggests that a CoQ 10 deficiency leading to evidence of a clinically significant disease state may occur because of: insufficient dietary CoQ 10 impairment in CoQ 10 biosynthesis, excessive utilization of CoQ 10 by the body, or any combination of the three. As CoQ 10 is essential to the optimal function of all cell types, it is not surprising to find a seemingly diverse number of disease states which respond favorably to CoQ 10 supplementation. All metabolically active tissues may therefore be highly sensitive to CoQ 10 deficiency. It is reasonable to assume that optimal nutrition (which may in future include optimal levels of CoQ 10 ) is generally beneficial in many disease states. As CoQ 10 improves the cell respiratory chain and stabilizes mitochondrial membranes, it has a potential role in some cardiac insufficiency diseases associated with aging. CoQ 10 is known to be highly concentrated in heart muscle cells due to the high energy requirements of this cell type. Whether primary, secondary or both, this deficiency of CoQ 10 may be a major treatable factor in the otherwise inexorable progression of heart failure. Other nutrients reported to be of potential use in treatment of cardiovascular diseases including vitamin E, inosine, cytochrome C, or treatment of hyperhomocysteinemia with oral folate, betaine and/or pyridoxine therapy could also be considered. These nutrients may assist in treating a range of diseases associated with age and stimulate endogenous CoQ 10 production. Dietary Supplement CoQ 10 shows a high variability in its absorption, with some subjects attaining good blood levels of CoQ 10 on 100 mg per day while others require two or three times this amount to attain the same blood level. All CoQ 10 presently available in the United States is manufactured in Japan and is distributed by a number of companies who place the CoQ 10 either in pressed tablets, powder-filled capsules, or oil-based soft gel capsules. CoQ 10 is fat-soluble and absorption should be improved when administered with dietary fat. Published data on the dosage of CoQ 10 relates almost exclusively to the treatment of disease states. There is no information on the use of CoQ 10 for prevention of illness. This is an extremely important question which, to date, does not have an answer. Absorption is reported to take place through: (a) the formation of micelles with biliary salts in a similar fashion to vitamin A; or (b) after direct adhesion of CoQ 10 to the intestinal membrane, by passive transport (that is strongly inhibited by its high molecular weight); and/or (c) lipoprotein transport. However, when administered orally, absorption is highly variable and dependent upon formulation parameters. CoQ 10 is a poorly soluble quinone. Intestinal absorption of CoQ 10 can be improved with effective formulation. There is evidence that fat soluble nutrients are better absorbed from aqueous or emulsified vehicles than from oily preparations. Baseline CoQ10 Peak CoQ10 Blood % Change Formulation Daily Dose Blood level level (@ C Max ) Powder 100 mg capsule 16525 ± 1598 μg l −1. h 21197 ± 2046 μg l −1. h 28% (particle size <125 μm) Powder 60 mg tablet 0.45 μg/ml 0.98 μg/ml 118% Powder 100 mg capsule 630 ± 165 nmol/L 736 ± 156 nmol/L 17% Granular 90 mg 1.08 ± 0.31 μmol/l 1.81 ± 0.82 μmol/l 168% change Oil suspension 120 mg soft gel 0.40 ± 0.11 μg/ml 1.26 ± 0.50 μg/ml 215% Oil base 90 mg capsule 1.07 ± 0.34 μmol/l 1.90 ± 0.97 μmol/l 178% change Oil base 90 mg soft gel 0.98 ± 0.29 mg/l 2.03 ± 0.58 mg/l 107% Oil suspension 100 mg soft gel 16525 ± 1598 μg l −1. h 24941 ± 3528 μg l −1. h 51% (Glyceryl monoleate) Lipid Microsphere 60 mg soft gel 0.70 μg/ml 2.62 μg/ml 274% (Soy oil + egg phospholipids) Oil emulsion 100 mg soft gel 605 ± 121 nmol/L 1534 ± 384 nmol/L 253% (MCT + surfactant) Oil emulsion 120 mg soft gel 0.38 ± 0.11 μg/ml 2.80 ± 0.80 μg/ml 637% (MCT + surfactant + Vit E) Oil emulsion 100 mg capsule 16525 ± 1598 μg l −1. h 52857 ± 1948 μg l −1. h 220% (Soy lecithin + Gelucire) Plasma Vit E & Vit C — — No change Despite these increases in bioavailability, it is important to note that absolute absorption still remains less than optimal. It is suggested that the increase in bioavailability noted in the above table is due to the oil emulsion surfactant system increasing solubility and dissolution rate, or the ability of surfactants to penetrate and disrupt biological membranes increasing permeability of the drug load. This assumes that uptake through the intestinal membrane is a passive process. A leading American CoQ 10 (Q-Gel) soft gelatine capsule uses a proprietary formula containing CoQ 10 in a blend of sorbitan monooleate, polysorbate 80, medium chain triglycerides (MCT's), propylene glycol, d-alpha tocopherol, PVP (Plasdone) and annato seed extract which has been reported to increase CoQ 10 bioavailability compared to other commercial formulations in U.S. Pat. No. 6,056,971. Other methods of solubilising CoQ 10 have been reported including hydrogenated castor oil (HCO-60) and ethanol-water (1:5 by vol) and other lipoidal drug delivery systems incorporating stable sub micron range particles in lecithin as discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,989,583. Lipid microspheres may enhance the absorption of CoQ 10 . Other parameters important to CoQ 10 absorption include: (a) awareness of the micelle size as a function of bioavailability, (b) HLB value of surfactants as a function of bioavailability, as high HLB numbers may improve bioavailability (Pozzi et al. 1991, Weis et al. 1994), and (c) CoQ10 granule size. The intestinal absorption of lipid-soluble drugs can be markedly influenced by the oral dosage form as well as the formulation factors. Many commercial vitamin preparations are formulated as compressed tablets, hardshell gelatin capsules or soft gelatin capsules which contain a complex matrix of excipients, fillers and other adjuvants. Compounds formulated in soft gelatin capsules representing liquid fills tend to be better absorbed than hard gelatin capsules, which encapsulate a dry powder blend, however little attention has historically been given to bioavailability of dietary supplements. In a recent study conducted by Walhqvist, the bioavailability of CoQ 10 from two different preparations was compared in order to ascertain if the emulsified preparation had higher bioavailability of CoQ 10 than a powdered preparation. Two different gelatin capsules containing 50 mg of CoQ 10 were used in this study. The first preparation was crystalline CoQ 10, with dicalcium phosphate as a filler and magnesium stearate as an excipient, filled in a hard gelatin capsule. The other contained CoQ 10 as a complex micelle in an emulsion encapsulated into a soft gelatin capsule. The conclusion of the study was that the emulsified soft gel capsule had a higher bioavailability than the powder in hard gel formulation used in this study. The presence of surfactants in the soft gel formulation would contribute to the enhanced solubilisation and release of CoQ 10 . Despite all this research into delivery of CoQ 10 , the absorption levels which have been achieved are not yet optimal. Foods with Additional Micronutrients Appreciation of dietary CoQ 10 intake is important when considering formulation of dietary supplements and functional foods for a number of reasons. The chemistry of the compound is also important and can indicate preferred forms utilized by the body. Vitamin B6 for example, can be found in the free form (pyridoxine), a glycoside (pyridoxamine) and supplied in dietary supplements as a hydrochloride salt (pyridoxine hydrochloride). In foods, the vitamin primarily exists as a phosphate (pyridoxal 5-phosphate). Bioavailability varies depending upon the type of food and method of preparation but typically the phosphate is better ingested. Finished product formulations should be representative of the original food source to be certain that other compounds accompanying CoQ 10 originally present in the food are present. These dietary compounds are important to consider as they can dramatically alter bioavailability of the finished product. So where possible consideration should be given to what compounds are also present. For example foods rich in CoQ 10 are typically fatty eg: oily fish and soy oil. It is therefore not surprising then that bioavailability of CoQ 10 is reported to improve when formulated with a lipid vehicle. Consideration of food sources rich in CoQ 10 will help identify normal dietary intake levels. In peer reviewed literature there is some variance in opinion on what constitutes an adequate or effective dose of CoQ 10 and some thought that dietary intake could uniformly be low. Food preparation is also important to consider and can assist with knowing how these methods affect absorption. For example, the effect of cooking is a 14-32% destruction of CoQ 10 by frying, and no detectable destruction by boiling. This suggests that CoQ 10 is likely to be heat stable, may be utilized in hot beverages and is likely to be successfully concentrated by moderate heat extraction. Regular food intakes are important to consider and indicate that in normal individuals a low intake is adequate or that bioavailability is optimal because naturally co-administered compounds present in the food improve absorption. Reduced CoQ 10 (ubiquinol) delivered in supplements has been reported to increase circulating levels of reduced CoQ 10 . How the molecule is changed into an oxidised form is becoming clearer. Analysis of the actual form of ubiquinol in foods has not been undertaken, nor is it clear what form is preferred by the body. However, it is thought that to act effectively as an electron transfer agent CoQ 10 must remain in a reduced form. There is thus a need for an improved delivery system for micronutrient compounds such as reduced CoQ 10 and other important dietary or health supplements. Vitamin E Vitamin E is a potent electron transfer agent capable of protecting polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUPA) within phospholipids of biological membranes and plasma lipoproteins. Vitamin E also stabilizes membranes, modulates protein kinase C activity and positively influences immune response. Although supplementation is popular, only higher dietary consumption is reliably associated with lower risk of coronary heart disease in both men and women on a cross cultural basis. When provided as a supplement, vitamin E is provided as tocopherol. When delivered as an isolated nutrient, vitamin E is poorly absorbed due to its lipid solubility and chemically unstable due to primary oxidation of the phenolic group. To improve delivery, vitamin E is esterified and presented as simple substituted esters—either succinate or acetate derivatives. While this pro-drug strategy is primarily undertaken to prevent oxidation of the phenolic group, improve lymphatic transport, and enhance stability, increase in tissue tocopherol may take many weeks to achieve. Although dietary supplementation with vitamin E esters—particularly the natural form—RRR-stereoisomer, may increase the content of α-tocopherol in blood plasma and erythrocytes, bioavailability is still significantly less than optimal with blood levels being subject to wide inter-patient variability and clinical efficacy disappointing. Luminal events in gastrointestinal lipid digestion have been well studied and a micellar hypothesis of fat absorption established. A number of attempts have therefore been made to enhance α-tocopherol acetate lymphatic transport via lipid formulation approaches. Despite improvements, food can still have a significant impact increasing the extent of α-tocopheryl ester absorption after oral administration, indicating that factors other than dispersion, digestion and solubilisation may be responsible for intestinal uptake of vitamin E. Other lipophilic drugs and nutrients are also subject to poor and variable absorption properties following oral administration including vitamin A, indicating that current self emulsifying drug delivery formulation approaches as well as other lipid-based formulations may be of limited value in increasing bioavialability of poorly soluble lipid compounds. Being fundamentally important to cellular viability, vitamin E must be transported efficiently and mobilised on demand to act as an electron transfer agent and not reach too high a concentration to become pro-oxidant. This delicate biological balance must start with effective transport across the small intestine mucosa, yet this process is currently not well understood. Tocopheryl phosphate (TP) is a more water-soluble analogue of tocopherol and proposed to have higher bioavailability than tocopheryl acetate (TA) most likely because of more efficient intestinal uptake. As a water-soluble analogue TP is easier to formulate in functional foods, and dietary supplements but many enzymes in the gastrointestinal tract have phosphorylase activity and reduce the amount of TP delivered to the small intestine. TP also forms acid insoluble complexes that may reduce the amount of product available for transport across the intestinal wall. There is a need for a delivery system which effectively provides improved delivery of a portion of the daily allowance of micronutrient compounds such as vitamin E and CoQ 10 . |
<SOH> SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION <EOH>It has been discovered that the provision of a dietary or health supplement comprising micronutrient compounds is markedly improved by use of the micronutrient in the form of phosphate derivatives. According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a dietary or health supplement comprising an effective amount of a micronutrient selected from the group consisting of phosphate derivatives of ubiquinol, ascorbic acid, tocotrienol, retinol and mixtures thereof delivered with an acceptable carrier. Preferably, the micronutrient is ubiquinyl phosphate. The term “phosphate derivatives” comprises compounds covalently bound by means of an oxygen to the phosphorus atom of a phosphate group. The oxygen atom is typically derived from a hydroxyl group on the micronutrient. The phosphate derivative may exist in the form of a free phosphate acid, a salt thereof, a phosphate ester having two molecules of micronutrient, a mixed phosphate ester having two different micronutrients, a phosphatidyl compound wherein the free phosphate oxygen forms a bond with an alkyl or substituted alkyl group and complexes with amphoteric surfactants, cationic surfactants, amino acids having nitrogen functional groups and proteins rich in these amino acids. Preferably, the phosphate mixtures consist of one mono-micronutrient phosphate derivative and one di-micronutrient phosphate derivative wherein the amount of mono-micronutrient phosphate derivative is no less than equimolar to the amount of di-micronutrient phosphate derivative as disclosed in international patent application no PCT/AU01/01475. For example, a mixture containing 70% ubiquinyl phosphate and 26% di-ubiquinyl phosphate. Phosphorylation may be accomplished by any suitable method. Preferably, the hydroxyl group-containing micronutrient is phosphorylated using P 4 O 10 according to the method in international patent application no PCT/AU00/00452. Excess diphosphate derivatives may be hydrolyzed using methods known to those skilled in the art. In some situations, it may be necessary to use a phosphate derivative such as a phosphatide where additional properties such as increased water solubility are preferred. Phosphatidyl derivatives are amino alkyl derivatives of organic phosphates. These derivatives may be prepared from amines having a structure of R 1 R 2 N(CH 2 ) n OH wherein n is an integer between 1 and 6 and R 1 and R 2 may be either H or short alkyl chains with 3 or less carbons. R 1 and R 2 may be the same or different. The phosphatidyl derivatives are prepared by displacing the hydroxyl proton of the micronutrient with a phosphate entity that is then reacted with an amine, such as ethanolamine or N,N′ dimethylethanolamine, to generate the phosphatidyl derivative of the micronutrient. One method of preparation of the phosphatidyl derivatives uses a basic solvent such as pyridine or triethylamine with phosphorous oxychloride to prepare the intermediate which is then reacted with the hydroxy group of the amine to produce the corresponding phosphatidyl derivative, such as P cholyl P ubiquinyl dihydrogen phosphate. According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for supplementing a subject's intake of a daily allowance of a micronutrient selected from the group consisting of ubiquinol, ascorbic acid, tocotrienol, retinol and mixtures thereof, said method comprising administering to said subject a dietary or health supplement comprising an effective amount of the micronutrient in the form of a phosphate derivative of the micronutrient delivered with an acceptable carrier. Use of an effective amount of one or more phosphate derivatives of one or more micronutrients together with an acceptable carrier in the manufacture of a dietary or health supplement for supplementing a subject's intake of a daily allowance of the micronutrient, wherein the micronutrient is selected from the group consisting of ubiquinol, ascorbic acid, tocotrienol, retinol and mixtures thereof. A dietary or health supplement when used for supplementing a subject's intake of a micronutrient selected from the group consisting of ubiquinol, ascorbic acid, tocotrienol, retinol and mixtures thereof, the dietary or health supplement comprising an effective amount of one or more phosphate derivatives of one or more micronutrients and an acceptable carrier. According to a third aspect of the invention there is provided a dietary or health supplement comprising an effective amount of a micronutrient selected from the group consisting of complexes of phosphate derivatives of ubiquinol, ascorbic acid, retinol, tocotrienol, tocopherol and mixtures thereof delivered with an acceptable carrier. The term “complexes of phosphate derivatives of a micronutrient” refers to the reaction product of one or more phosphate derivatives of ubiquinol, ascorbic acid, tocotrienol, retinol, tocopherol and mixtures thereof and one or more complexing agents selected from the group consisting of amphoteric surfactants, cationic surfactants, amino acids having nitrogen functional groups and proteins rich in these amino acids as disclosed in international patent application no PCT/AU01/01476. The preferred complexing agents are selected from the group consisting of arginine, lysine and tertiary substituted amines, such as those according to the following formula: in-line-formulae description="In-line Formulae" end="lead"? NR 1 R 2 R 3 in-line-formulae description="In-line Formulae" end="tail"? wherein R 1 is chosen from the group comprising straight or branched chain mixed alkyl radicals from C6 to C22 and carbonyl derivatives thereof; R 2 and R 3 are chosen independently from the group comprising H, CH 2 COOX, CH 2 CHOHCH 2 SO 3 X, CH 2 CHOHCH 2 OPO 3 X, CH 2 CH 2 COOX, CH 2 COOX, CH 2 CH 2 CHOHCH 2 SO 3 X or CH 2 CH 2 CHOHCH 2 OPO 3 X and X is H, Na, K or alkanolamine provided R 2 and R 3 are not both H; and wherein when R 1 is RCO then R 2 may be CH 3 and R 3 may be (CH 2 CH 2 )N(C 2 H 4 OH)—H 2 CHOPO 3 or R 2 and R 3 together may be N(CH 2 ) 2 N(C 2 H 4 OH)CH 2 COO—. Examples of such complexes of phosphate derivatives of a micronutrient are formed by the reaction of any combination of A) tocopheryl phosphate, retinyl phosphate, ascorbyl phosphate, tocotrienyl phosphate, ubiquinyl phosphate or mixtures thereof with B) arginine, lysine or lauryliminodipropionic acid where complexation occurs between the alkaline nitrogen center and the phosphoric acid ester to form a stable complex. According to a fourth aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for supplementing a subject's intake of a daily allowance of a micronutrient selected from the group consisting of tocopherol, ubiquinol, ascorbic acid, tocotrienol, retinol and mixtures thereof, said method comprising administering to said subject a dietary or health supplement comprising an effective amount of the micronutrient in the form of one or more complexes of phosphate derivatives of the micronutrient delivered with an acceptable carrier. The term “effective amount” refers to a portion or multiple of the daily allowance of each micronutrient which provides a bioactive effect on the subject. It is recognized that lipophilic substances are not readily excreted or metabolised so it is unusual to supply a large multiple of the recommended daily allowance (RDA) in a food source. It is recommended that typically any non medical use of dietary supplements should contain less than the recommended than the RDA and typically a third of the RDA. But it is recognised that for chronic medical uses, it is desirable to supply large multiples of the RDA for rapid increase in recovery. The effective amount of the one or more phosphate derivatives of a micronutrient may be a concentration in the range of from 10 ppm to 10,000 ppm (w/w) of the dietary or health supplement. Preferably, the one or more phosphate derivatives of a micronutrient is added at a concentration of 50 ppm to 1,000 ppm (w/w) in accordance with the need to supply the recommended daily allowance or a small multiple thereof. The term “dietary or health supplement” as used in this description refers to all forms of supplying micronutrient compounds. For example, tablets, powders, chewable tablets, capsules, nasal delivery solutions, food additives, oral suspensions, children's formulations, enteral feeds, parenteral nutrition (for example, intravenous feeds), nutraceuticals and functional foods. Preferably, the dietary or health supplement is in a form selected from but not limited to the group consisting of capsule, tablet, powder and foods such as cookie, biscuit, breakfast cereal, sports drink and sports food bar. A person skilled in the art would know the acceptable carriers and other excipients which could be used in the invention. Typically, if the one or more phosphate derivatives of a micronutrient, such as ubiquinyl phosphate, is lipophilic then there is a lipidic carrier used such as medium chain triglycerides. Use of an effective amount of a micronutrient together with an acceptable carrier in the manufacture of a dietary or health supplement for supplementing a subject's intake of a daily allowance of the micronutrient, wherein the micronutrient is selected from the group consisting of complexes of phosphate derivatives of ubiquinol, ascorbic acid, retinol, tocotrienol, tocopherol and mixtures thereof. A dietary or health supplement when used for supplementing a subject's intake of a micronutrient, the dietary or health supplement comprising an effective amount of one or more complexes of phosphate derivatives of ubiquinol, ascorbic acid, retinol, tocotrienol, tocopherol and mixtures thereof and an acceptable carrier. detailed-description description="Detailed Description" end="lead"? |
Image projector |
An image projection apparatus of the present invention provided with a case 21 a projection lens 38 for projecting an image from a projection opening 2h of the case; an opening/closing plate 3 for opening or closing the projection opening 2h for the protection of the projection lens 38; an adjuster mechanism 50 having a projecting member 20 projecting from a bottom surface of the case 2 to adjust an elevation angle and adjusting the projection amount of the projecting member 20 to adjust the elevation angle of the projection lens 38; a control device 30 for controlling the drive of an adjuster mechanism 50; an electric motor 51; and a linkage mechanism 60 for operating the opening/closing plate 3 for opening or closing the projection opening in accordance with an elevation of the projecting member 20, wherein the elevation angle of the case 2 is adjusted by moving up and down the projecting member 20, the opening/closing plate 3 is operated in accordance with the movement of the projecting member 20 to open and close the projection opening 2h. |
1. An image projection apparatus comprising: a case having a projection opening at a first side; a projection lens contained in said case and projecting an image through the projection opening of said case; an adjuster means having an elevation member, lifting said elevation member from a first position where a lower end of the elevation member does not contact a setting surface of the bottom of said case, through a second position where the lower end of said elevation member contacts the setting surface of said case and raises a first side of said case by using a bottom of said case on a second side facing the first side of said case as a fulcrum and starts generation of an elevation angle, to a third position for further enlarging the elevation angle over that of said second position, and adjusting the elevation angle of said projection lens in accordance with this elevation; a drive control means for controlling the drive of said adjuster means; an opening/closing member located at a front surface of said projection lens for opening or closing said projection opening; and a linkage means operating linked with said adjuster means to move said opening/closing member so as to open said projection opening during a period where said elevation member is moved from said first position to said third position by said drive control means to move said opening/closing member so as to close said projection opening when said elevation member returns from said third position to said first position. 2. An image projection apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said linkage means moves said opening/closing member to open said projection opening when said elevation member moves from said first position to said second position and moves said opening/closing ember to close said projection opening when said elevation member returns from said second position to said first position. 3. An image projection apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said apparatus further has elevation instruction buttons for instructing elevation of said elevation member, and said drive control means controls the drive of said adjuster means to elevate said elevation member in accordance with operation of said elevation instruction buttons during said operation. 4. An image projection apparatus as set forth in claim 3, wherein said elevation instruction buttons are provided at a top surface or side surface of said case at the second side of said case near said fulcrum. 5. An image projection apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein: said drive control means comprises a motor and a screw means for elevating said elevation member in accordance with rotation of said motor, and said linkage means has an elastic member biasing said opening/closing member to a side closing or opening said projection opening, and a link means engaging with a projection of said elevation member to suppress movement of said opening/closing member against the elastic force of said elastic member when said elevation member is positioned at said first position and disengaging with said projection of said elevation member to make said opening/closing member move by the elastic force of said elastic member to open or close said projection opening when said elevation member moves from said first position to said second position. 6. An image projection apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said apparatus further comprises: a position detecting means for detecting an elevation position of said elevating means, and a storage means for storing a setting of an elevation angle or a setting of an elevation position of said elevation member or an adjusted elevation angle or elevation position of said elevation member, and wherein said drive control means controls the drive of said adjuster mechanism with reference to a detected value of said position detecting means so as to give the set elevation angle or set elevation position stored in said storage means when restarting said image projection apparatus. 7. An image projection apparatus as set forth in claim 6, wherein said drive control means returns said elevation member of said adjuster means to said first position and closes said projection opening by said opening/closing member when power off. 8. An image projection apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said drive control means returns said elevation member of said adjuster means to said first position and closes said projection opening by said opening/closing member when power is turned off. 9. An image projection apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said apparatus further comprises a position detecting means for detecting an elevation position of said elevating means, and a storage means for holding a detected value of said position detecting means right before the power of said image projection apparatus was turned off, and wherein said drive control means refers to a detected value of said position detecting means and adjusts the position of said elevation member to the position stored in said storage means when power of said image projection apparatus is turned on again. 10. An image projection apparatus as set forth in claim 4, further comprising a switch provided in the vicinity of said elevation instruction buttons for turning the power of said image projection apparatus on and off. 11. An image projection apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said apparatus further comprises a video modulating means for modulating a video signal to generate an image and make it strike said projection leans, and wherein said drive control means turns on the power of said video modulating means when power is turned on by said power switch and cuts off the power of said video modulating means when the power is turned off. 12. An image projection apparatus comprising: a case having a projection opening at a first side; a projection lens contained in said case and projecting an image through the projection opening of said case; an adjuster means having an elevation member, lifting said elevation member from a first position where a lower end of the elevation member does not contact a setting surface of the bottom of said case, through a second position where the lower end of said elevation member contacts the setting surface of said case and raises a first side of said case by using a bottom of said case on a second side facing the first side of said case as a fulcrum and starts generation of an elevation angle, to a third position for further enlarging the elevation angle exceeding that of the second position and adjusting the elevation angle of said projection lens in accordance with this elevation; a drive control means for controlling the drive of said adjuster means; and elevation instruction buttons provided on a top surface or a side surface of said case at a second side of said case in the vicinity of said fulcrum and instructing elevation of said elevation member. 13. An image projection apparatus as set forth in claim 12, further having a switch provided in the vicinity of said elevation instruction buttons for turning the power of said image projection apparatus on and off. 14. An image projection apparatus comprising: a case having a projection opening on a first side; a projection lens contained in said case and projecting an image through the projection opening of said case; an adjuster means having an elevation member, lifting said elevation member from a first position where a lower end of the elevation member does not contact a setting surface of the bottom of said case, through a second position where the lower end of said elevation member contacts the setting surface of said case and raises the first side of said case by using a bottom of said case on a second side facing the first side of said case as a fulcrum, and starts generation of an elevation angle, to a third position for further enlarging the elevation angle exceeding that of the second position, and adjusting the elevation angle of said projection lens in accordance with this elevation; a drive control means for controlling the drive of said adjuster means; a position detecting means for detecting the elevation position of said elevation member; and a storage means for storing the adjusted or set elevation angle or the elevation position of said elevation member, wherein said drive control means controls the drive of said adjuster means with reference to a detected value of said position detecting means so that it returns to the elevation angle or the elevation position of said elevation member stored in said storage means. 15. An image projection apparatus as set forth in claim 14, wherein said control drive means controls the drive of said adjuster means to return said elevation member to said first position when power is turned on. |
<SOH> BACKGROUND ART <EOH>In liquid crystal projectors and other image projection apparatuses having video modulating means, an image projection apparatus provided with an adjuster for adjusting the degree of elevation of the apparatus in order to adjust the height of the projected image on the screen has been known. The adjuster is usually operated manually. In an image projection apparatus provided with an adjuster, however, when adjusting the height of the projected image on the screen, it is necessary to tilt the image projection apparatus and view the image on the screen while adjusting the amount of the height of the adjuster, so there were the disadvantages that the operation was difficult and fine adjustment was hard. Further, there was also the disadvantages that whenever the position of the screen was changed, adjustment of the degree of elevation of the image projection apparatus was necessary, a long time was needed for the settings for projecting the image onto the screen from the image projection apparatus, and also storage of the adjuster into the case was troublesome. On the other hand, the projection lens of an image projection apparatus is an optical lens, so care must be taken so as not to scratch or dirty it. Therefore, many image projection apparatuses provide lens caps on the projection lenses for protection. For this reason, in order to project an image onto a screen from the image projection apparatus, detachment of the lens cap was necessary every time. On this point as well, there existed the disadvantages that a long time was needed for the settings and also storage of the adjuster into the case was troublesome. |
<SOH> BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <EOH>FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the appearance of an image projection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a state where the image projection apparatus projects an image. FIG. 3 is a view for explaining an example of adjustment work of an elevation angle of an image projection apparatus. FIG. 4 is a view of a schematic configuration of an inside of an image projection apparatus. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the structure of a movement mechanism and a linkage mechanism. FIG. 6 is a view for explaining the operation of the linkage mechanism. FIG. 7 is a flow chart of an example of a series of operations from turning on power of the image projection apparatus to shutting off the power. detailed-description description="Detailed Description" end="lead"? |
Adhesive sheet stamping device, adhesive sheet stamping method, part mounter display panel manufacturing method |
An adhesive sheet attaching device is provided with: a stage (6); a feeder (10) for feeding adhesive sheet (8) onto the stage (6); a cutter (16); a pressurizer (7) for attaching the adhesive sheet (8) to a target object mounted on the stage (6); a detector (11) for detecting a connecting portion (18); and a controller. When the detector (11) detects the connecting portion (18), the controller stops the operation of the feeder (10) after adhesive sheet (8) of an attachable length up to the connecting portion (18) has been attached. This makes it possible to reliably prevent adhesive sheet (8) containing a connecting portion (18) from being attached to a target object, and to effectively use the adhesive sheet up to the connecting portion (18), thus making it possible to suppress resource loss. |
1. An adhesive sheet attaching device that attaches an adhesive sheet with an attached release sheet supplied continuously in a longitudinal direction to a target object, and discharges a release sheet peeled off from the adhesive sheet, wherein the adhesive sheet is provided with at least one of a connecting portion in which ends of adhesive sheets that are continuous in the longitudinal direction are joined, and an end portion that indicates an end position of the supply in the longitudinal direction, wherein the adhesive sheet attaching device comprises: a feeder for moving while holding a release sheet peeled off from the adhesive sheet, and feeding the adhesive sheet onto the target object; a cutter for cutting a length of the fed adhesive sheet that is required for attachment; an attacher for attaching the cut adhesive sheet to the target object; a detector for detecting the connecting portion or the end portion; and a controller for controlling at least an operation of the feeder, the cutter, and the attacher; and wherein the controller, when the detector detects the connecting portion or the end portion, stops the operation of the feeder and the attacher after an adhesive sheet of an attachable length up to the connecting portion or the end portion has been attached. 2. The adhesive sheet attaching device according to claim 1, wherein the controller, when the detector detects the connecting portion or the end portion, judges whether or not a length necessary for a single attachment to the target object is ensured in the adhesive sheet between the end face on the discharge side of the release sheet and the connecting portion or the end portion; wherein, when it is judged that such a length is ensured, operation of the feeder and the attacher is continued until the single attachment length of adhesive sheet is attached to the target object; and when it is judged that such a length is not ensured, the movement of the feeder is stopped. 3. The adhesive sheet attaching device according to claim 1, wherein there are two or more attachment locations of the adhesive sheet to the target object, wherein, when the detector detects the connecting portion or the end portion, the controller judges whether or not a length necessary for a single set of attachments to the target object is ensured in the adhesive sheet between the end face on the discharge side of the release sheet and the connecting portion or the end portion, wherein, when it is judged that such a length is ensured, operation of the feeder and the attacher is continued until the single set of adhesive sheet is attached to all the attachment locations of the target object, and when it is judged that such a length is not ensured, the movement of the feeder is stopped. 4. The adhesive sheet attaching device according to claim 1, wherein the controller, when the detector detects the connecting portion, and after an adhesive sheet of an attachable length up to the connecting portion is attached, causes the feeder to move until a position of the connecting portion is on the discharge side of the release sheet with respect to a cutting position of the cutter, and the adhesive sheet is cut by the cutter. 5. The adhesive sheet attaching device according to claim 1, comprising: a stage onto which the target object is mounted, wherein the attacher comprises a press that presses the target object mounted on the stage with the adhesive sheet fed onto the target object in between. 6. The adhesive sheet attaching device according to claim 5, further comprising: a discarding stage that is capable of moving over the stage and withdrawing from the stage, and wherein the controller, after causing the feeder to move until a position of the connecting portion is on the discharge side of the release sheet with respect to a cutting position of the cutter, causes the adhesive sheet to be cut by the cutter, the discarding stage to move over the stage, and the adhesive sheet to be attached to the discarding stage by the press. 7. The adhesive sheet attaching device according to claim 6, wherein a release sheet is attached to the discarding stage, and the adhesive sheet is attached to the release sheet. 8. The adhesive sheet attaching device according to claim 6, comprising a notification means for notifying when a predetermined number of the adhesive sheets is attached to the discarding stage. 9. The adhesive sheet attaching device according to claim 6, wherein the discarding stage is attached to a supporter that is rotatable by a movement enabling means, and can be moved over the stage and withdrawn from the stage with the rotation of the supporter. 10. A component mounting device that uses an adhesive sheet attaching device of claim 1, and fixes a mounted component to the adhesive sheet that has been attached to the target object by the adhesive sheet attaching device. 11. A display panel production method that uses an adhesive sheet attaching device of claim 1, and wherein the target object is a display panel, and the adhesive sheet is an anisotropic conductive film. 12. An adhesive sheet attaching method that attaches an adhesive sheet with an attached release sheet supplied continuously in a longitudinal direction to a target object, and discharges a release sheet peeled off from the adhesive sheet, the method comprising: supplying, as the adhesive sheet, an adhesive sheet that is provided with at least one of a connecting portion in which ends of adhesive sheets that are continuous in the longitudinal direction are joined, and an end portion that indicates an end position of the supply in longitudinal direction; feeding the adhesive sheet by holding the release sheet peeled off from the adhesive sheet and moving it with a feeder; cutting a length of the fed adhesive sheet that is necessary for attachment with a cutter, and attaching the cut adhesive sheet to the target object with an attacher; and when the connecting portion or the end portion is detected by a detector, stopping the operation of the feeder and the attacher after an adhesive sheet of an attachable length up to the connecting portion or the end portion has been attached. |
<SOH> BACKGROUND ART <EOH>Conventionally, component mounting devices are known in which an adhesive sheet for fixing a mounted component is attached to a display panel such as a liquid crystal panel, and the mounted component is pressed onto the adhesive sheet. For example, there are electronic component mounting devices in which, after attaching ACF (anisotropic conductive film) with attached release sheet to a liquid crystal panel, and then peeling off the ACF's release sheet, a TCP (thin LSI-chip package) is pressed onto the ACF, and the TCP is mounted onto the liquid crystal panel. FIG. 12 shows process drawings of a conventional ACF attaching device. A head 101 is arranged facing a stage 100 . The head 101 is provided with a pressure applying surface 101 a . A reel 104 is arranged on the supply side of an ACF 102 . The ACF 102 with attached release sheet is wound around the reel 104 . The ACF 102 is supplied onto the stage 100 via supply rollers 105 a to 105 d. FIG. 12A shows the initial state of an ACF attaching operation. The leading edge of the ACF 102 is positioned at a cutter 108 . In the step of FIG. 12B , a predetermined length of the ACF 102 is drawn out onto the stage 100 by a feed chuck 107 . The drawing out of the film is performed by the feed chuck 107 moving in the direction of arrow a with a chuck portion of the feed chuck 107 clamping the release sheet 103 . As can be seen in FIG. 12B , with the ACF 102 drawn out by a predetermined length required for a single attachment (hereafter, “single attachment unit”), the ACF 102 is cut by the cutter 108 , leaving the release sheet 103 intact. After cutting, the cutter 108 withdraws from above the stage 100 . In this condition, a substrate is supplied onto the stage. FIG. 12C shows a single attachment unit of the ACF 102 being pressed onto a substrate 110 by the head 101 . Here, the pressure applying surface 101 a is heated to a predetermined temperature, and presses the substrate 110 with the ACF 102 inbetween. The ACF 102 is attached to the substrate 110 , and the head 101 moves up. After this, while a sheet lock 109 clamps and holds the release sheet 103 , and while the feed chuck 107 is open, the feed chuck 107 is moved toward the supply side of the ACF 102 , and peeled off from the ACF 102 that is attached to the substrate 110 . After this peeling off, successive single attachment units of ACF 102 are attached to the remaining attachment locations on the substrate 110 by repeating the steps shown in FIGS. 12B and 12C . When all ACF attachments for the substrate 110 are complete, the substrate 110 is transported to the next process. Here, ACF 102 is wound onto the reel 104 , but in order to supply as much ACF as possible with a single reel, sometimes a reel is used wound with ACF that is made of multiple continuous connected ACFs. When such a reel is used, a joint is formed at the connecting portion between the ACFs, but because the length of ACF wound around the single reel becomes longer, the number of reel replacements can be reduced. Furthermore, whether using a reel on which multiple continuous ACFs are not connected, or whether using a reel on which multiple continuous ACFs are connected by a joint, in either case an end mark is formed on the end position of the ACF on the single reel, and it can be confirmed that the ACF on the reel has run out when this end mark appears. However, conventional ACF attaching devices such as those described above have the following problems. When using a reel wound with joined ACF, a portion containing a joint cannot be used for attachment to a substrate. For this reason, when a joint appears, it is necessary to stop production temporarily, and peel off the portion containing a joint. If production is set up for the joint to appear when production is finished, reductions in the operation ratio can be suppressed by using the periods in which the equipment is not operative, peeling off the portion containing a joint, and setting the equipment to an initial state as in FIG. 12A . However, the time when the joint appears varies depending on the length of attachments, and the type of reel, and in most cases it is impossible to ensure that the joint appears at the end of production. For this reason, it is necessary to stop the ACF attaching device temporarily during production when a joint appears. In this case, the ACF containing a joint is peeled off from the release sheet, and in many cases an attachment length longer than a single attachment unit remains in this peeled off portion, so that there are many cases of wastefully peeling off more film than necessary and not making use of and attaching to a substrate the usable limit of ACF up to the joint. Thus there is the problem of resource loss. Furthermore, there is also the problem that, after the joint appears, the successive operation of peeling off the joined portion of ACF is a manual task, and therefore takes time in preparation. Furthermore, when the ACF is provided with an end mark, the usable limit of ACF up to the end mark is not made use of and attached to a substrate when the end mark is recognized. Thus there is the problem of wasting resources. |
<SOH> BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS <EOH>FIG. 1 is an oblique view of a component mounting device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an oblique view of an ACF attaching device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a cross-section of the main parts of an ACF used in embodiments of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a process drawing of an ACF attaching device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a process drawing of an ACF attaching device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a process drawing of an ACF attaching device according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a top view of an example substrate with multiple attachment locations of ACF. FIG. 8 is a process drawing of an ACF attaching device according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention. FIG. 9 is a process drawing of an ACF attaching device according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention. FIG. 10 is a process drawing of an ACF attaching device according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention. FIG. 11 is an oblique view of the main parts of an ACF attaching device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 12 is a process drawing of an example of a conventional ACF attaching device. detailed-description description="Detailed Description" end="lead"? |
Catalyst featuring silicone dioxide based support material for the purification of exhaust gases |
The present invention relates to a catalyst for the purification of exhaust gases from an internal combustion engine, which comprises a catalytically active coating on an inert ceramic or metal honeycomb body, said coating comprising at least one platinum group metal selected from the group consisting of platinum, palladium, rhodium and iridium on a fine, oxidic support material. As an oxidic support material, the catalyst comprises a low-porosity material on the basis of silicon dioxide that comprises aggregates of essentially spherical primary particles having an average particle diameter of between 7 and 60 nm. |
1. A catalyst for the purification of exhaust gases from an internal combustion engine said catalyst comprising a catalytically active coating on an inert ceramic or metal honeycomb body, said coating comprising at least one platinum group metal selected from the group consisting of platinum, palladium, rhodium and iridium on a fine, oxidic support material, wherein the oxidic support material is a low-porosity material on the basis of silicon dioxide and comprises aggregates of essentially spherical primary particles having an average particle diameter of between 7 and 60 nm. 2. The catalyst according to claim 1, wherein the oxidic support material has an average particle diameter of the primary particles of between 20 and 50 nm. 3. The catalyst according to claim 2, wherein the oxidic support material has a pore radius distribution with a maximum above 20 nm. 4. The catalyst according to claim 3, wherein the oxidic support material has a pore volume, wherein the portion of the pore volume with pore diameters of less than 30 nm is less than 0.2 ml/g. 5. The catalyst according to claim 4, wherein the pH value of a 4 weight-% aqueous dispersion of the support material is less than 6. 6. The catalyst according to claim 1, wherein the support material is doped with one or more oxides selected from the group consisting of aluminum oxide, zirconium oxide, alkaline-earth metal oxides and rare earth oxides and wherein the total weight of all doping elements is between 0.01 and 20 wt.-%, based on the total weight of the support material. 7. The catalyst according to claim 6, wherein the support material is doped with aluminum oxide in an amount of between 0.05 and 1 wt.-%. 8. The catalyst according to claim 1, wherein the oxidic support material is a silicic acid pyrogenically prepared by means of flame oxidation of flame hydrolysis. 9. The catalyst according to claim 1, wherein one of the platinum group metals is platinum. 10. The catalyst according to claim 9, wherein the catalytically active coating further comprises one or more zeolites on which platinum is present in a highly disperse form. 11. The catalyst according to claim 10, wherein one of the one or more zeolites is a dealuminated Y-zeolite with a modulus of more than 40, a beta-zeolite with a modulus of more than 40, or a ZSM-5 zeolite with a modulus of more than 40. 12. The catalyst according to claim 10, wherein the weight ratio of the oxidic support material to the one or more zeolites is 6:1 to 1:2. 13. The catalyst according to claim 10, wherein at least 1 wt.-% but not more than a maximum of 20 wt.-% of the total amount of platinum present in the catalytically active coating is present on the one or more zeolites. 14. The catalyst according to claim 1, wherein the catalytically active coating is present on the honeycomb body in a concentration of 40 to 300 g/l honeycomb body volume. 15. The catalyst according to claim 14, wherein the platinum group metals are present in a concentration of 0.01 to 8 g/l honeycomb body volume. 16. The catalyst according to claim 1, wherein the oxidic support material has the following properties: a) it comprises aggregates of essentially spherical primary particles having an average particle diameter of between 15 and 60 mm, b) the specific surface area is between 30 and 150 m2/g, c) the maximum of the pore radius distribution is above 20 nm, d) the total volume of pores having a pore diameter of less than 30 nm is less than 0.2 ml/g, and e) the pH value of a 4 weight-% aqueous dispersion of the support material is less than 6. 17. The catalyst according to claim 16, wherein the specific surface area of the silicon dioxide is less than 100 m2/g. 18. The catalyst according to claim 16, wherein the catalyst additionally comprises one or more zeolites, wherein the weight ratio of silicon dioxide to the one or more zeolites is between 6:1 to 1:2. 19. The catalyst according to claim 18, wherein the platinum group metal comprises platinum, said platinum being present both on the silicon dioxide and on the one or more zeolites, wherein at least 1 wt.-% but not more than a maximum of 20 wt.-% of the total amount of platinum present in the catalyst is present on the one or more zeolites. 20. A process for the preparation of a catalyst for the purification of exhaust gases from an internal combustion engine comprising a catalytically active coating on an inert ceramic or metal honeycomb body, said coating comprising at least one platinum group metal selected from the group consisting of platinum, palladium, rhodium and iridium on a fine, oxidic support material, wherein the oxidic support material is a low-porosity material on the basis of silicon dioxide and comprises aggregates of essentially spherical primary particles having an average particle diameter of between 7 and 60 nm, the method comprising the step of coating the honeycomb body with a coating suspension containing the oxidic support material, wherein the oxidic support material is used in spray-dried form having a compacted bulk density of more than 200 g/l for the preparation of the coating suspension. 21. The process according to claim 20, wherein the compacted bulk density is more than 500 g/l. 22. The process according to claim 20, wherein at least one platinum group metal is applied to the oxidic support material before preparation of the coating suspension. 23. The process according to claim 22, wherein the coating suspension further comprises one or more zeolites in a weight ratio of the oxidic support material to the one or more zeolites of 6:1 to 1:2. 24. The process according to claim 23, wherein at least one platinum group metal comprises platinum. 25. The process according to claim 24, wherein platinum is present on the one or more zeolites in an amount of 1 to 20 wt.-%, based on the total amount of platinum on the oxidic support material and the one or more zeolites. 26. The process according to claim 20, wherein after coating the honeycomb body with the coating suspension containing the oxidic support material, the coated honeycomb body is dried and calcined and subsequently the thus prepared coated honeycomb body is impregnated with a precursor of at least one platinum group metal. 27. The process according to claim 26, wherein at least one platinum group metal comprises platinum. 28. The process according to claim 27, wherein the coating suspension additionally comprises one or more zeolites in a weight ratio of the oxidic support material to the one or more zeolites of 6:1 to 1:2. 29. A method of purifying exhaust gas, said method comprising exposing exhaust gas to the catalyst of claim 1. |
The use of a polyster composition as a hydraulic fluid |
The present invention relates to the use of polyesters which consist of at least one carbohydrate and at least one carboxylic acid, and mixtures thereof, as a hydraulic fluid. |
1. A method for making a base fluid for a hydraulic oil said method comprising: (a) forming a polyester a polyester derivative or a polyester mixture from a carbohydrate which has been esterified with at least one material selected from the group consisting of a carboxylic acid, a carboxylic acid derivative and mixtures thereof: (b) producing a rapidly biodegradable composition comprising at least one polyester at least one polyester derivative or a polyester mixture wherein said polyester is formed as described in step (a): and (c) preparing a base fluid for a hydraulic oil comprising said rapidly biodegradable composition. 2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the carbohydrate is a monosaccharide, disaccharide, trisaccharide, a sugar alcohol, a starch hydrolyzate, a fruit oligosaccharide, a hydrogenated product thereof, a mixture thereof or a dehydrogenated carbohydrate. 3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the carbohydrate is xylose, arabinose, ribose, maltose, lactose, sucrose, raffinose, glucose, mannose, galactose, sorbose, fructose, isomaltulose, trehalulose, lactitol, maltitol, hydrogenated maltotriose, sorbitan, xylitol, sorbitol, mannitol, erythritol, arabitol, xylitol, isomalt, 6-O-α-D-glucopyransoyl-D-sorbitol (1,6-GPS), 1-O-α-D-glucopyranosyl-D-mannitol (1,1-GPM), 1-O-α-D-glucopyranosyl-D-sorbitol (1,1-GPS) or a mixture thereof. 4. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the carbohydrate is a dehydrogenated carbohydrate and wherein the dehydrogenated carbohydrate is the an hydro or dianhydro compound of sorbitol or mannitol. 5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the carbohydrate is esterified with at least one carboxylic acid and wherein said carboxylic acid is an unbranched or branched, saturated or unsaturated monocarboxylic acid, dicarboxylic acid, tricarboxylic acid, a derivative thereof or an isomer thereof. 6. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the carboxylic acid is a monocarboxylic acid and wherein the monocarboxylic acid is a C2-C24-monocarboxylic acid. 7. The method as claimed in claim 5 wherein the carboxylic acid is a monocarboxylic acid and wherein the monocarboxylic acid is a C4-C18-monocarboxylic acid. 8. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the carboxylic acid is a monocarboxylic acid and wherein the monocarboxylic acid is acetic acid, butyric acid, isobutanoic acid, valeric acid, isovaleric acid, caproic acid, enanthic acid, caprylic acid, 2-ethylcaproic acid, pelargonic acid, capric acid, isostearic acid, lauric acid, myristic acid, myristoleic acid, palmitic acid, palmitoleic acid, stearic acid, oleic acid, elaidic acid, ricinoleic acid, linoleic acid, linolenic acid, eleostearic acid, arachic acid, behenic acid or erucic acid or a mixture thereof. 9. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the derivative of the carboxylic acid is an anhydride, mixed anhydride, an alkyl ester or a carbonyl chloride. 10. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the isomer of the carboxylic acid is a cis/trans isomer within the structure or at a geometric position. 11. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least 75% of all free hydroxyl groups of the carbohydrate have been esterified. 12. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein all free hydroxyl groups of the carbohydrate have been esterified. 13. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the polyester can be prepared by esterifying or transesterifying the carbohydrate or a mixture comprising a plurality of carbohydrates with a saturated or unsaturated carboxylic acid, a derivative thereof or a mixture thereof in the presence of a catalyst. 14. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the catalyst is a transition metal compound, a mineral acid, an organic acid, an acidic ion exchanger, an alkali metal salt, a zeolite or a mixture thereof. 15. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the transition metal compound is a salt, an oxide or an alkyl of Sn, Ti or Zn/Cu. 16. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the mineral acid is HCl, H2SO4 or H3PO4. 17. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the organic acid is p-toluenesulfonic acid, methanesulfonic acid or sulfosuccinic acid. 18. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the alkali metal salt is the hydroxide, carbonate, methoxide or ethoxide of sodium or potassium. 19. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the catalyst is p-toluenesulfonic acid or a tin oxalate catalyst. 20. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the esterification or transesterification is effected in one or more solvents or without solvent. 21. The method as claimed in claim 20, wherein the solvent is an organic solvent such as toluene, DMSO, pyridine or DMF. 22. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the temperature for the esterification or transesterification is from 120° C. to 280° C. 23. The method as claimed in claim 22, wherein the temperature for esterification or transesterification is from 160° C. to 250° C. 24. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the ratio of hydroxyl groups to carboxylic acid groups in the reaction is from 1:1 to 1:10. 25. The method as claimed in claim 24, wherein the ratio of hydroxyl groups to carboxylic acid groups in the reaction is from 1:1.5 to 1:7. 26. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the reaction time for the esterification or transesterification is from 2 to 36 h. 27. The method as claimed in claim 26, wherein the reaction time for the esterification or transesterification is from 4 to 26 h. 28. The method as claimed in claim 27, wherein the reaction time for the esterification or transesterification is from 8 to 10 h. 29. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the polyester composition has a kinematic viscosity at 40° C. of from 20 to 120 mm2/s. 30. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the polyester composition has such a long-term cold stability that it is still free-flowing after 3 days at −25° C. 31. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the pour point of the polyester composition is less than −25°. 32. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the polyester composition has a load-bearing capability of at least load stage 10, determined in the FZG A/8.3/90 test method. 33. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the polyester composition has such an aging resistance that more than 1800 hours are required in the turbine oil stability test without the addition of water to attain an acid number of 2 mg KOH/g. |
Dicing adhesive sheet and dicing method |
A dicing adhesive sheet having a base film and an adhesive layer formed on the base film is characterized in that the thickness of the adhesive layer ranges from 1 to 10 μm and the adhesive layer has an sticking temperature such that the adhesion measured when 180° peeling at 23° C. of the dicing sheet is conducted (the peeling rate is 300 mm/min) after it is applied to a silicon mirror wafer is 10 N/25 mm or more. In a dicing method using such a dicing adhesive sheet, the production yield of a diced body such as a semiconductor wafer is high, and chipping the dicing is prevented. |
1. A dicing adhesive sheet, comprising a base film and an adhesive layer formed on the base film, wherein the adhesive layer has a thickness of 1 μm to 10 μm, the adhesive layer is made of a radiation-curable adhesive and the dicing adhesive sheet has a sticking temperature that will produce an adhesion of 10 N/25 mm or more when the dicing adhesive sheet is stuck on a silicon mirror wafer and then peeled off (at a peeling rate of 300 mm/minute) at 180° at 23° C. 2. The dicing adhesive sheet according to claim 1, wherein the sticking temperature at which the dicing adhesive sheet is stuck on the silicon mirror wafer is in the range from 20° C. to 80° C. 3. (canceled) 4. A dicing method, comprising the steps of: sticking the dicing adhesive sheet according to claim 1 on a body to be cut at a temperature that will produce an adhesion of 10 N/25 mm or more when the sheet is stuck on a silicon mirror wafer and then peeled off (at a peeling rate of 300 mm/minute) at 180° at 23° C.; and then dicing the body. 5. The dicing method according to claim 4, wherein the temperature is in the range from 20° C. to 80° C. 6. A dicing adhesive sheet, comprising a base film and an adhesive layer formed on the base film, wherein the adhesive layer has a thickness of 1 μm to 10 μm, the adhesive layer is made of a radiation-curable adhesive, and the dicing adhesive sheet has an adhesion of 10 N/25 mm or more when the dicing adhesive sheet is stuck on a silicon mirror wafer at a predetermined sticking temperature and then peeled off at a peeling rate of 300 mm/minute, at an angle of 180° and at a temperature of 23° C. 7. The dicing adhesive sheet according to claim 6, wherein the sticking temperature is from 20° C. to 80° C. 8. A dicing method, comprising the steps of: sticking the dicing adhesive sheet according to claim 6 on a body to be cut at a predetermined temperature; and dicing the body, wherein the predetermined temperature is a sticking temperature such that the dicing adhesive sheet has an adhesion of 10 N/25 mm or more when the dicing adhesive sheet is stuck on a silicon mirror wafer at the sticking temperature and then peeled off at a peeling rate of 300 mm/minute, at an angle of 180° and at a temperature of 23° C. 9. The dicing method according to claim 8, wherein the sticking temperature is from 20° C. to 80° C. |
<SOH> BACKGROUND ART <EOH>Conventionally, a semiconductor wafer made of a material such as silicon, gallium, arsenic or the like is produced with its large diameter scale and then cut and divided (diced) into device pieces, which are then transferred to a mounting step. In such a process, the semiconductor wafer, which is stuck to an adhesive sheet and held on it, is subjected to a dicing step, a cleaning step, an expanding step, a picking up step, and a mounting step, respectively. The dicing adhesive sheet generally comprises a plastic film base and an about 10 to 30 μm thick adhesive layer that is formed on the base and made of an acrylic adhesive or the like. For example, such an adhesive sheet that exhibits a peeling adhesion of about 1.5 to 6 N/25 mm to a silicon mirror wafer (sticking at 23° C. and peeling at 23° C.) is generally employed. In the dicing process, the wafer is cut with a rotating and moving circular blade. A dominant cutting technique for such a process has been the so-called full-cut technique in which cutting is also performed on the inner part of the base of the dicing adhesive sheet that holds the semiconductor wafer. When the semiconductor wafer is cut by the full-cut method using a conventional dicing adhesive sheet that has an about 10 to 30 μm thick adhesive layer and exhibits a peeling adhesion of about 1.5 to 6 N/25 mm, a crack called chipping can occur on the back side face of the semiconductor device (wafer). In recent years, as IC cards have become widely used, thin semiconductor devices have been developed and used. Chipping of such semiconductor devices can cause to a serious reduction in the strength of the semiconductor devices and cause to a significant reduction in reliability. It is assumed that the mechanism of chipping in the dicing process should generally be as shown below. Referring to FIG. 2 , in the full-cut process, a circular blade 3 cuts into a base film 11 of a adhesive sheet 1 , so that an adhesive layer 12 or the base film 11 is pressed by the circular blade 3 to be deformed in the direction of the rotation and the forward direction. In such a process as shown in FIG. 2 , separating occurs in a minute area (a) at the interface between the adhesive layer 12 and a semiconductor wafer 2 both being cut with the circular blade 3 , so that the edge of the semiconductor wafer 2 is placed and left in the space. As a result, the rotation of the circular blade 3 causes the cut portion of the semiconductor wafer 2 to irregularly vibrate during the cutting process. It is assumed that such irregular vibration of the body interferes with the normal cutting process so that chipping can occur. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H05-335411 (1993) discloses a technique (Dicing Before Grinding Process) for solving such a problem. The proposed process includes the steps of performing dicing to form grooves with a certain depth in a semiconductor wafer in which devices have been formed and then back-grinding the wafer (grinding the back surface of the wafer) to the bottom of the grooves formed by dicing, so that thin semiconductor device pieces are produced. Such a process can suppress chipping. In a transferring step before the back-grinding step, however, the semiconductor wafer can easily break at the cut portions, which have been formed with a depth of several tens to hundreds μm in the semiconductor wafer by dicing. Therefore, such a process can reduce the production yield with respect to the semiconductor wafer. It is an object of this invention to solve the above problems with the prior art and to provide a dicing adhesive sheet, wherein the production yield of a deiced body such as a semiconductor wafer is high, and chipping during the dicing is prevented. It is another object of this invention to provide a dicing method using such a dicing adhesive sheet. |
<SOH> BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS <EOH>FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional diagram showing an example of the inventive dicing adhesive sheet. A dicing adhesive sheet 1 includes a base film 11 and an adhesive layer 12 , which is accompanied by a separator 13 . FIG. 2 is a diagram for showing the mechanism of chipping in the process of cutting a semiconductor wafer 2 with a circular blade (dicing blade) 3 , wherein a dicing adhesive sheet 1 is used to fix the wafer 2 . detailed-description description="Detailed Description" end="lead"? |
Method and control, means for route planning in a mass transport system |
The invention relates to a mass transport system and to a method of providing transportation. In the disclosed method and system, a route using mass transport resources is planned for a user in response to a request for transportation and the user is informed of the planned route. The system subsequently tracks the progress of the user along the planned route and optimizes the planned route in real-time. The invention enables the provision of transportation services using mass transport resources combining efficiency in the use of the mass transport resources and convenience for the user. |
1. A method of route planning, in a mass transport system for providing transportation from a respective location to a respective destination for each of a plurality of users using a plurality of mass transit resources traveling along predetermined routes, wherein each of the users has a user device, the method comprising: determining a planned route for a user from location to destination using at least one of the plurality of mass transit resources; providing the user with information relating to the planned route; and receiving information communicated from the user device of the user so as to automatically track the progress of the user along the planned route; and optimizing the planned route during progress of the user along the planned route. 2. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the step of optimizing the planned route may be carried out in response to one or more of the following: the rate of progress of, or the position of, the user along the planned route; the progress or availability of transit resources; traffic conditions; notified change in user destination or other requirements. 3. The method as claimed in claim 1 further including the steps of determining whether information relating to the planned route is to be updated and, if necessary, providing updated information to the user. 4. The method as claimed in claim 3 wherein the step of determining whether information relating to the planned route is to be updated may depend on one or more of: the rate of progress of, or the position of, the user along the planned route; the progress of one or more transit resources along their predetermined routes; the traffic or other conditions; the optimization of the trip plan. 5. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising the step of providing instructions relating to the planned route for the user to at least one of the transit resources. 6. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising the step of determining whether instructions relating to the planned route for the user for any transit resource are to be provided or updated and, if necessary, providing initial or updated instructions to at least one of the transit resources. 7. The method as claimed in claim 6 wherein the step of determining whether instructions relating to the planned route for the user for any transit resource are to be provided or updated may depend on one or more of: the rate of progress of, or position of, the user along the planned route; the progress of one or more transit resources along their predetermined routes; the traffic or other conditions; the optimization of the trip plan. 8. The method as claimed in claim 1 also comprising the step of receiving from a user a request for transportation services from a location to a destination in response to which the planned route is determined. 9. The method as claimed in claim 1 also comprising a further step of determining that the initial location and/or the final destination of the user is not proximate a predetermined route of any of the plurality of mass transit resources and providing instructions to an additional transport resource to transport the user from the initial location to a location proximate a mass transit resource route and/or providing instructions to an additional transport resource to transport the user from a destination proximate a mass transit resource route to the final destination of the user. 10. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the progress of the user along the planned route comprises is tracked by creating a trip record from received information relating to the user's progress along the planned route. 11. The method as claimed in claim 10 further comprising the step of determining the charge for the trip based on the trip record. 12. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising the step of maintaining information relating to mass transit resource positions or timing. 13. A control means, for a mass transport system for providing transportation from a respective location to a respective destination for each of a plurality of users using a plurality of mass transit resources traveling along predetermined routes, wherein each of the users has a user device, comprising a route planner means comprising: means for determining a planned route for a user from location to destination using at least one of the plurality of mass transit resources; means for providing the user with information relating to the planned route; means for receiving information communicated from the user device of the user so as to automatically track the progress of the user along the planned route; and means for optimizing the planned route during progress of the user along the planned route. 14. The control means for a mass transport system as claimed in claim 13 further comprising a user communication interface means coupled with the route planner means for communicating information between the user and the route planner means. 15. The control means for a mass transport system as claimed in claim 14 wherein the user communication interface means is used to communicate one or more of the following information between the user and the route planner means: a request for transportation services from a location to a destination; current location of the user; initial information relating to the planned route; updated information relating to the planned route. 16. The control means for a mass transport system as claimed in claim 14 wherein the information is exchanged between the user and the route planner means using one or more of a WAP connection; a wireless messaging service; a Bluetooth™ connection; a wireline connection; RF-ID. 17. The control means for a mass transport system as claimed in claim 13 also comprising a transit resource communication interface means coupled with the route planner means for communicating information between the route planner means and the plurality of mass transit resources. 18. The control means for a mass transport system as claimed in claim 17 wherein the transit resource communication interface means is used to communicate one or more of the following information between a mass transit resource and the route planner means: initial instructions relating to the planned route for the user; updated instructions relating to the planned route for the user; information relating to the progress of the user along the planned route. 19. The control means for a mass transport system as claimed in claim 17 wherein the information is exchanged between the route planner means and the plurality of mass transit resources using one or more of a wireless connection; a Bluetooth™ connection; a wireline connection; RF-ID. 20. The control means for a mass transport system as claimed in claim 13 also comprising user information means coupled to the trip planner means for storing information relating to the planned route and information relating to the user's progress along the planned route. 21. The control means for a mass transport system as claimed in claim 13 also comprising transit resource information means for storing information relating to position and timing of the plurality of mass transit resources. 22. The control means for a mass transport system as claimed in claim 13 wherein the transit resource information means is coupled to the transit communications interface to receive information on progress of the mass transit resources therefrom. 23. A method of operation of a personal device adapted for operation in a mass transport system having a trip planner section and at least one mass transit resource, comprising sending a request for transportation services to the trip planner means; receiving from the trip planner means information relating to the planned route; and communicating with at least one of the trip planner means and the mass transit resource during execution of the planned route. 24. A personal device adapted for operation in a mass transport system having a trip planner section and at least one mass transit resource, comprising means for sending a request for transportation services to the trip planner means; means for receiving from the trip planner means information relating to the planned route; and means adapted for communicating with at least one of the trip planner means and the mass transit resource during execution of the planned route. 25. A mass transit vehicle or terminal of a mass transport system for providing transportation for a plurality of users having a user device, the mass transit vehicle or terminal having means for communicating with a user device of a user on board the mass transit vehicle or near the terminal, and means for communicating information from the user device to a trip planner means of the mass transport system. 26. The mass transit vehicle or terminal as claimed in claim 25 also comprising means for receiving user information or instructions from the trip planner means and means for providing the user information or instructions to the user when the user device is near. 27. The mass transit vehicle as claimed in claim 26, further comprising means for receiving vehicle information or instructions relating to at least one user. |
Advertising and marketing method of internet site using magic code |
Disclosed is an advertising and marketing method of an Internet site using a magic code (10), in which the winning or losing status of a gift coupon (20) employing the magic code (10) is verified by overlapping the magic code (10) on a confirmation screen (60) provided by the Internet site and using an complementary color effect between the magic code (10) and the confirmation screen (60), thereby stimulating clients' interest, and improving advertising and promotion effects. In the advertising and marketing method of the Internet site using the magic code (10), close relationships with individual registered members are effectively maintained by a customer relationship management (CRM) system using a membership database (D/B), thereby allowing a company to plan a strategic marketing system and to maximize advertising and promotional effects, and effectively creating profitability. |
1. An advertising and marketing method of an Internet site using a magic code, said method comprising the steps of: S110) distributing to clients a gift coupon (20) including a magic code (10) with a hidden message using a complementary color effect and an identification number (12) for confirming a free gift, wherein the magic code is detachably attached to the gift coupon and the identification number (12) is printed on the gift coupon (20), and the hidden message includes a name (11) of the free gift; S120) connecting a client obtaining the gift coupon (20) including the magic code (10) to a corresponding free gift-offering Internet site via wireless mobile communication equipment in order to confirm the gift; S130) verifying whether the client is a member of the Internet site; S140) displaying a main screen of a free gift event including a confirmation screen (60); S150) verifying the winning or losing status of the clients' gift coupon (20) by detaching the magic code (10) from the gift coupon (20) and overlapping the detached magic code (10) on the confirmation screen (60), wherein the hidden message is exposed to the outside by the complementary color effect between the hidden message and the confirmation screen (60); S160) inputting the name (11) of the gift shown by exposing the hidden message and the identification number (12) printed on the clients' gift coupon (20); S170) comparing the inputted identification number (12) to the corresponding number stored by an identification number management database(D/B), thereby verifying whether the inputted name (11) of the gift is equal to corresponding stored contents outputted from the identification number management database(D/B); S180) providing the corresponding gift to the client; and S190) analyzing data of individual clients via a customer relationship management (CRM) system using a membership management database(D/B) in which the data of the clients are stored in the step (S130) of verifying whether the client is a member of the Internet site. 2. The advertising and marketing method of an Internet site using a magic code as set forth in claim 1, wherein said magic code (10) of the gift coupon (20) in the step (S110) comprises: the name (11) of the gift printed on the magic code (10) in a designated colored fluorescent ink; and a domain name (13) of the Internet site printed throughout the magic code (10) with a complementary colored fluorescent ink to the color of the name (11) of the gift, wherein the printed name (11) of the gift on the magic code (10) is hidden by the printed domain name (13) of the Internet site on the magic code (10). 3. The advertising and marketing method of an Internet site using a magic code as set forth in claim 1, wherein said wireless mobile communication equipment is a personal computer (PC), a cellular phone, or a personal digital assistant (PDA). |
<SOH> BACKGROUND ART <EOH>Recently, as the number of users of various wireless communication networks including the Internet has increased tremendously, commercial activity through electronic commerce (EC) and purchases made using cyber cash have also increased. In order to keep up with these trends, on-line companies make a continuous effort to open sites on the Internet in order to capture the attention of Internet clients, and put forth all their energy to create various advertising and marketing methods. Among the various advertising methods, a method of capturing the attention of clients by offering a free gift has been popularly and widely used. This method is carried out via lotteries, quizzes, surveys, games, and so forth. However, all the conventional advertising methods are already generalized, thereby not meeting company's expectations and lowering the profits generated by the marketing activity. Accordingly, in order to overcome the aforementioned problem, an innovative profit model, which further stimulates clients' interest, has been demanded. After events for promoting the advertising effect of a company's Internet site are finished, the management of members of the Internet site tends to be neglected as well as not be customer-oriented, thereby not maintaining close relationships with the clients and consequently deteriorating the advertising effect. |
<SOH> BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS <EOH>The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an embodiment of a magic code in accordance with the present invention; FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing another embodiment of a magic code in accordance with the present invention; FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing an embodiment of a gift coupon employing the magic code in accordance with the present invention; FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing another embodiment of a gift coupon employing the magic code in accordance with the present invention; FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram showing a system environment for utilizing the magic code via an Internet in accordance with the present invention; FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a main screen comprising a confirmation screen displayed according to the system environment of the present invention; FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating an advertising and marketing method of an Internet site using the magic code in accordance with the present invention; and FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating a process of offering a free gift using the magic code via the Internet in accordance with the present invention. detailed-description description="Detailed Description" end="lead"? |
METHOD OF REPAIRING AND REINFORCING PIERS USING STONES |
A method of repairing and reinforcing a pier using stones. The method includes installing a watertight caisson around a pier and removing water from the gap between the caisson and pier prior to repairing the pier. The method can also include removing impurities from the pier's surface; arraying a plurality of reinforcing steel bars around the pier; laying stones outside the arrayed steel bars while fixing the stones to the steel bars or the pier, and filling the gap between the pier and the stones with concrete. |
1. A method of repairing and reinforcing a pier using stones, comprising the steps of: arraying a plurality of reinforcing steel bars (13) around the pier (10); laying stones (12) outside the arrayed steel bars (13) while fixing the stones (12) to the steel bars (13) or the pier (10); filling a gap between the pier (10) and the stones (12) with concrete; installing a watertight caisson (11) around the pier (11) before arraying the plurality of reinforcing steel bars (13), and removing water from the gap between the watertight caisson (11) and the pier (10). 2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising fixing the stones with an anchor bolt (14) wherein the anchor bolt (14) has a ring in one side to fix a steel bar (13) and to lock in a middle of an inside of a stone (12) and another anchor bolt (15) has a ring in one side to fix on the steel bar (13) and another side has a connection pin (16) vertically installed to lock a lower and an upper part of stones (12). 3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising fixing the stones (12) with an angle (17) wherein an anchor bolt (18) is fixed to one end of the angle (17) and a connection pin (19) is vertically installed in another end of angle (17), whereby the stones (12) located on a top and a bottom of the angle (17) are fixed. |
<SOH> BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION <EOH>1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of repairing and reinforcing a pier and, more particularly, to a method, comprising the steps of installing watertight caisson around a pier, and removing water from the gap between the caisson and pier prior to repairing the pier, further comprises the steps of: removing impurities from the pier's surface; arraying a plurality of reinforcing steel bars around the pier; laying stones outside the arrayed steel bars while fixing the stones to the steel bars or the pier, and filling the gap between the pier and the stones with concrete. 2. Description of the Prior Art In general, a pier should be reinforced immediately when the strength of covered concrete weakened by freezing or melting, corrosion of an iron reinforcement rod occurs due to separation of material and lack of covering, abrasion and erosion by collision with conveying material and whirlpool, neutralization of concrete is founded. The method to repair and reinforce the said pier has been usually performed in the under water but lately worked in a dry condition by installing water tight caisson around piers presented by present inventor. As shown in the FIG. 1 , The method to repair and reinforce the said pier is that install water tight caisson ( 101 ) around the pier ( 100 ), remove water from the gap between water tight caisson ( 101 ) and the pier ( 100 ), worker ( 102 ) comes down through the wire ( 103 ) and then fill damaged part with concrete. However, the prior art to repair and reinforce the said pier has some problems such as spots resulting from partial repairing of the pier ( 100 ), partial separation or erosion by the lack of adhesiveness with a concrete, and still the repaired pier immersed in the water after repairing. |
<SOH> BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS <EOH>FIG. 1 is a configuration showing a conventional process of repairing and reinforcing a pier. FIG. 2 is a configuration, showing a process of repairing and reinforcing a pier in the present invention. FIG. 3 is a magnified sectional view in the part of FIG. 2 . FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing the state of repairing and reinforcing a pier in the present invention. FIG. 5 is a drawing showing the process of repairing and reinforcing a pier in the present invention. FIG. 6 is a configuration, showing a process of repairing and reinforcing a pier for another example in the present invention. FIG. 7 is a configuration, showing a process of repairing and reinforcing a pier for another example in the present invention. detailed-description description="Detailed Description" end="lead"? |
Method of obtaining a cdte or cdznte single crystal and the single crystal thus obtained |
The invention relates to the field of CdTe or CdZnTe single crystal production and to an improved solid-phase method of obtaining large CdTe or CdZnTe crystals having an excellent crystalline structure. |
1. A method for obtaining a Cd1-xZnxTe single crystal, in which x is a value from 0 to 0.2, which comprises the following steps: a) obtaining a source material of Cd1-xZnxTe having a composition close to that corresponding to congruent sublimation, either by crystallization of liquid Cd1-xZnxTe using Bridgman's horizontal technique under partial cadmium pressure to adjust stoichiometry, or by annealing a Cd1-xZnxTe material pre-synthesized at 800-900° C. in an ampoule with end capillary maintained at ambient temperature, b) obtaining a polycrystalline block of Cd1-xZnxTe in which x lies between 0 and 0.2 by sublimation of a stoichiometric solid source material of Cd1-xZnxTe in a sealed chamber at a temperature of the chamber zone in which the source material is located of at between 900° C. and 1000° C., the difference in temperature ΔT between the zone of the source material and the zone of crystal deposit lying between 30° and 50° C. c) obtaining a Cd1-xZnxTe single crystal by re-crystallizing the polycrystalline block obtaining at step b), by annealing under isothermal conditions under partial Cd pressure of between 4·105 and 6·105 Pa and at a temperature of between 1000° C. and 1060° C. for a time of between 50 and 200 hours. 2. A method as in claim 1, wherein the Cd1-xZnxTe single crystal is a CdTe single crystal when x=0. 3. A method as in claim 1, step b) of which the temperature of the source material zone lies between 940° C. and 960° C. 4. A method as in claim 1, in step b) of which the distance between the evaporation surface of the source material feed and the deposit zone lies between 10 and 20 cm. 5. A method as in claim 1, in step b) of which the condensation surface is subjected to a sinusoidal temperature fluctuation of a magnitude in the order of 10° C. and whose period is approximately 20 minutes. 6. A method as in claim 1 wherein the source material is obtained by the following method: a) preparing a starting source material according to one of the following methods: i) reaction of Cd and Te, and optionally Zn, in stoichiometric quantities, in liquid phase and at high temperature; ii) reaction of Cd and Te, and optionally Zn, in stoichiometric quantities, in vapour phase; b) adjustment of Cd/Te stoichiometry in the source material obtained at step a) using one of the following methods: iii) annealing the source material at a temperature of between 800° C. and 900° C. in an ampoule with capillary, condensing any excesses of one of elements Cd and Te; iv) crystallizing the starting source material using Bridgman's horizontal method, under partial Cd pressure to permit stoichiometry adjustment. 7. A Cd1-xZnxTe single crystal in which x lies between 0 and 0.2, and which has: (i) it has pseudo-Kikuchi lines with up to 4th order resolution, and (ii) rocking-curve widths at mid-height of less than 30 arc seconds. 8. A method which comprises epitaxial depositing of a layer or plurality of layers of HgCdTe with a single crystal as claimed in claim 7 as substrate. 9. A method of fabricating an X-ray detector device or a gamma-ray detector device with a single crystal as claimed in claim 7. 10. A method for fabricating an electro-optical modulating device with a single crystal as claimed in claim 7. 11. A method which comprises fabricating a photoreactive device with a single crystal as claimed in claim 7. 12. A method for fabricating a diode element or a transistor element with a single crystal as claimed in claim 7. 13. A method as in claim 3 wherein the temperature of the source material zone is between 945° and 955° C. 14. A method as in claim 13 wherein the temperature of the source material zone is approximately 950°. 15. A method as in claim 4 wherein the distance between the evaporation surface of the source material feed and the deposit zone lies between 12 and 15 cm. |
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