This invention is directed to the providing of a transcutaneous nerve stimulator which is designed to be utilized in T.E.N.S. (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) therapy. T.E.N.S. therapy is based on a non-invasive, non-narcotic concept of pain management which is non-addictive, is not subject to abuse, and does not interact with drugs. T.E.N.S. therapy has already proven to be an effective modality in treating the organic pain problems associated with the following conditions: chronic lumbar and cervical strains or sprains, degenerating disc disease, degenerative arthritic disease, neuropathies, neuralgias, post-lumbar laminectomy syndrome, post-thoracotomy syndrome, bursitis, postphlebitis syndrome, phantom limb syndrome, and tension and migraine headaches.
Early attempts to suppress organic pain and other neurophysical effects utilizing electrical stimulation occurred as early as about 2,000 years ago when it was discovered that gout apparently cuold be successfully treated by placing the diseased extremities in a tub of water filled with electric eels. Later, headaches were treated using a similar approach. A detailed, scientific investigation was finally conducted by Professor Galvani of the University of Bologna, which investigation is credited with ultimately leading to the development in the 1800's of electrical equipment for suppression of organic pain.
The earliest therapeutic devices utilizing electrical simulation for the most part featured a constant amplitude and rate. Examples of the early art are Benz, U.S. Pat. No. 646,793; Raymond et. al., U.S. Pat. No. 872,148; Tibbals, U.S. Pat. No. 1,059,090; and Call, U.S. Pat. No. 1,908,688. A major problem with electrical stimulation therapy was, and still is, accommodation, whereby the nerve being stimulated in effect accommodates itself over time to the electrical charge, such that the effectiveness of the treatment is diminished.
It took scientists a long time to discover, and attempt to address the problem. Nemec, U.S. Pat. No. 2,622,601; DiPerma, U.S. Pat. No. 2,624,342; and Gratzl, U.S. Pat. No. 2,771,554 all disclose electrotherapeutic devices with at least one including means to vary the rate, amplitude or pulse width of the generated electrical pulse. However, merely being able to change either the rate, amplitude or pulse width still resulted in the problem of accommodation occurring, unless an individual manually adjusted the controls prior to the occurrence of accommodation. The process was both labor intensive and inefficient, with respect to the quality of the therapy, since maximum pain relief was not being provided.
In 1967, a Dr. Sweet at Massachusetts General Hospital developed the first T.E.N.S. unit. The effectiveness of T.E.N.S. therapy is based on its incorporating two major pain control theories. Under the so-called Gate Control Theory, pain can be inhibited and suppressed by "closing the gate" on pain signals as such signals arrive at Central Nervous System centers. This theory postulates that by providing electrical stimulation of a sufficiently high amplitude, the electrical signals race up large myelinated fibers faster than the pain signals travel up smaller myelinated or unmyelinated fibers. The neutral impulses transmitting pain information to the brain thus become interrupted, and since the brain fails to receive the pain signals, no pain is perceived. The other theory incorporated in T.E.N.S. units is the Endorphin Theory, also known as the Endogenous Opiate Theory. This theory postulates that the sustained input of T.E.N.S. signals triggers the release of naturally occurring pain making endorphins and enkephalins (morphine-like substances). These natural substances seemingly block pain signals by a mechanism similar to conventional drug therapy, and inhibit pain information from reaching the brain.
However, T.E.N.S. units, like all electrotherapeutic devices, have suffered problems with accommodation. For example, Geerling, U.S. Pat. No. 4,019,519 issued in 1977, disclosed a unit having only its amplitude adjustable. Miller, U.S. Pat. No. 4,084,595 issued in 1978, disclosed a unit having its rate, amplitude, and pulse width all independently, manually adjustable. However, even this advancement resulted in a less than efficient treatment of the problem of accommodation, since either the therapist or the patient had to, in theory, repeatedly adjust the controls in an attempt to avoid accommodation.
Although variation enables one to deal with the problem of accommodation, pain relief is sacrificed. This is in part due to the interaction between amplitude and pulse width. There is a clinical correlation between amplitude and pulse width with regard to the efficacy of the stimulus. As one shortens the duration of a pulse, its amplitude must be increased to maintain the efficacy of the stimulus. This relationship when plotted graphically is known as a strength-duration curve. Thus not only must the ideal T.E.N.S. units have adjustable amplitude and pulse width, but it must also be able to modulate those values in such a way as to approximate the A-gamma-motor strength-duration curve.
In addition to amplitude and pulse width approximating the strenght-duration curve, the rate of the pulses must vary so as to eliminate any potential for accommodation. This explains the short-comings in Reiner, U.S. Pat. No. 2,808,826 which disclosed a unit which permitted instantaneous changes in pulse width and amplitude to two pre-set points along the strength-duration curve, and Maurer, U.S. Pat. No. 4,340,063 which disclosed a unit having its amplitude modulate in response to modulations in pulse width so as to approximate a portion of the strength-duration curve. The rate in Maurer was adjustable, but only to the extent taught by Miller, such that the problem with accommodation still existed.


The present invention is generally directed to a device for injecting heated residual oil into a coke drum as part of a delayed coking process. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a retractable center feed injection device which allows feeding the residual oil into the coke drum from a bottom and center of the coke drum using side-feed entry.
Delayed coking is one process by which petroleum coke can be produced. As a brief overview, the delayed coking process involves heating byproducts of the oil refining process, known as residual oil, in a furnace to its thermal cracking temperature of approximately 485° to 505° C. This heated residual oil is then pumped into a coke drum where the heat and pressure that build up within the coke drum complete the thermal cracking process. As the heated residual oil cools, petroleum coke is formed which can then be removed from the coke drum.
It is typically desirable to feed the heated residual oil from the bottom and center of the coke drum. One reason for this is to minimize the uneven heating of the walls of the coke drum that may otherwise occur if the residual oil is fed towards one side of the wall. To accomplish feeding the residual oil from the center, various so-called “center feed” systems have been developed. These center feed systems employ an injection nozzle which can be inserted into and retracted from the center of the coke drum. Examples of center feed systems are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,702,911 and 8,545,680.
These prior art center feed systems employ an injection nozzle that is contained within an inlet sleeve through which the heated residual oil is fed into the injection nozzle. In other words, the combination of the inlet sleeve and the injection nozzle forms the feedline. As a result, all components, including those used to extend and retract the injection nozzle must be configured to withstand the high temperature and pressure of the heated residual oils that they carry and are therefore relatively costly. Additionally, due to the harsh environment in which these components operate, they can require frequent maintenance leading to downtime in the delayed coking process.


Device-to-device (D2D) communications may be utilized for various purposes, such as public safety communications. D2D communications may be associated with standardized technologies, such as LTE, IEEE, etc. In LTE systems, access control and/or priority handling may be used to arbitrate access to and/or usage of wireless resources by terminals.


Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an insecticidal water-in-oil (W/O) formulation with at least one insecticidal active substance and at least one burning salt and to the preparation of this formulation. The formulation according to the invention is particularly suitable for the treatment of suitable supports, in particular of paper supports, in an economical one-step process with the aid of conventional application processes. In addition, the present invention relates to insecticidal, smoulderable products which can be prepared by treating a support with the formulation according to the invention.
Description of Related Art
US-A-2009/0163582 describes a water-in-oil (W/O) formulation in which a polyglycerol fatty acid ester or a sorbitan fatty acid ester is employed as emulsifier, a pesticide, for example a pyrethroid, as active substance and acetyl ester, a methyl ester, an acetyl tributyl citrate, a white mineral oil or a combination of these as the solvent. This formulation takes the form of an aerosol formulation for the end user.
WO-A-2007/131679 describes a paper impregnated with an insecticidal active substance. The paper here is prepared in a two-step process in which the paper is first pretreated with an aqueous 6% strength potassium nitrate solution and then dried, and then, in a further step, impregnated with active substance solution. WO-A-2007/131679 does not disclose any formulation in which the paper can be treated in a one-step process, in particular with an insecticidal active substance and the potassium nitrate salt.
WO-A-2011/092722 describes a paper impregnated with an insecticidal active substance, which paper, again, is prepared in a two-step process. Analogously to the process of WO-A-2007/131679, the paper is first treated with a potassium nitrate before being dried and then impregnated with the active substance.


Aspects of the disclosure relate to electrical computers, digital processing systems, and multicomputer data processing. In particular, one or more aspects of the disclosure relate to enabling multicomputer processing and authentication of user data received from a telephone call forwarding system.
As computer systems are increasingly utilized to provide automated and electronic services, such computer systems may obtain and maintain increasing amounts of various types of sensitive information, and ensuring the safety, security, and accuracy of this information may be increasingly important. In many instances, however, it may be difficult to ensure the safety and security of such information while also optimizing the efficient and effective technical operations of the computer systems that process such information and/or provide such automated and electronic services.


The present invention is directed to the transmission of data to and from a computer, and more particularly to a system for performing real-time signal processing of data that is serially transmitted to and from a computer.
Various devices are known for transmitting data between a computer and a remote site via wide-area telecommunications networks. One of the most widely used devices of this type is the modem, which enables data to be transmitted to and from a computer over a wide-area analog telephone network. Generally speaking, the modem includes one or more sets of registers, typically embodied in an UART or an USART, for storing bits of digital data transmitted to or from the computer, a processor for implementing modem operations, such as dialing a telephone number or answering a ringing signal, in response to commands sent from the computer and stored in the UART, and a modulator/demodulator for converting digital bits of data to be transmitted into analog signals, and vice versa. Originally, all of these features were hardwired in a separate peripheral device that could be externally connected to the computer via a serial I/O port, or internally connected to the computer""s data bus. More recently, some of the functions associated with these features, most notably the processing of commands to implement modem operations, have been removed from the hardwired configuration and incorporated into the computer itself. This approach has increased the versatility of the modem. For example, while the hardwired modem configuration had to be specifically designed for the telephone system requirements of a particular country, the later approach could enable a single product to be used in a variety of countries, each of which might have different telephone signaling requirements. Similarly, since the computer itself was handling the data to be transmitted, additional services, such as the ability to send information as a facsimile transmission, in which graphical data is processed, became feasible. However, the presence of the UART, or similar such device through which the data must flow, still limits the effective rate at which the data can be exchanged between the computer and the telephone lines.
To enhance the performance of modems, a digital signal processor (DSP) has been incorporated into its structure. In this arrangement, the modem software was designed to cooperate with the DSP to provide data thereto for processing prior to transmission or after reception over the telephone line. While the addition of the DSP provided increased capabilities in terms of the speed at which the data could be transmitted over a telephone network and the ease with which the modem could be configured, it was still limited in the types of data that could be processed. More particularly, because of the restrictions imposed by passing the data through an UART or the like, even the most modem modems are only capable of effectively transmitting data in the range of 9.6-14.4 Kb/sec. While this rate of data transfer may be useful for transmitting static information such as text files or the like, it is not suitable for many real-time applications in which the data is provided at much higher rates, such as speech or video conferencing.
Further in this regard, the modem control software had to be designed to work with the specific DSP incorporated into the computer. If a different DSP was to be used, the modem control software had to be reprogrammed to work with the new DSP.
While the analog telephone network was the only practical medium for transmitting information between geographically distributed computers for quite some time, more recently other, non-analog transmission mediums have become available. Examples of these other mediums include the integrated services digital network (ISDN), private branch exchange (PBX) telephone systems, and TI digital data links. Since information is transmitted over these mediums as digital data, conventional analog modem circuits are not suited for use with them. Thus, for example, a standard Group III facsimile machine cannot operate on a digital PBX system.
Similarly, digital signal processing systems which are designed to work with PCM-encoded analog data that is received and transmitted via a modem are likewise not suited for use with these other types of transmission mediums. While it is possible to incorporate another DSP system into a computer that can handle data transmitted via any of these digital networks, it would be more desirable to provide a single system that can process data that is received over any type of transmission medium, whether it be digital or analog. Further in this regard, it is desirable to provide a signal processing system that is not limited to one specific DSP, but rather one that can operate with any of a variety of different types of signal processors.
When personal computers communicate with one another through non-modem transport facilities, they typically operate in a burst mode. While this mode of operation enables data to be transferred at much higher rates than with modems, it is still not suitable for applications such as video or speech processing. These types of applications require isochronous data handling, i.e. data that is transmitted at a constant bit rate and that must be processed in real time. Generally speaking, therefore, it is desirable to provide a serial data transmitting and receiving system that is capable of processing real-time isochronous data.
Further in this regard, it is desirable to provide such a system that is capable of handling streams of data pertaining to different functions. For example, in a video conferencing application, speech data is transmitted at the same time as video and other graphic information. However, each of these types of data must be processed separately in real time. It is desirable, therefore, to provide a data transfer system that can handle each of two or more types of data at isochronous rates.
The present invention provides a data transmission system having a real-time data engine for processing isochronous streams of data. An interface device provides a physical and logical connection of the computer to any one or more of a variety of different types of data networks, including analog telephone, ISDN, PBX and the like. Data received at this device is presented to a serial driver, which disassembles different streams of data for presentation to appropriate data managers, such as the operating system of the host computer, a service provider or an application program. A device handler associated with the interface device sets up data paths and issues service requests. The device handler also presents data and commands from the data managers to a real-time data processing engine, that can be used for a variety of applications such as voice recognition, speech compression, and fax/data modems. This real-time engine can be shared by any application program running on the host computer.
The invention enables any arbitrary type of data, such as voice, facsimile, multimedia and the like, which is transmitted over any type of communication network, to be handled with any type of real-time engine, by abstracting the functions of each of the elements of the system from one another. This abstraction is provided through suitable interfaces that isolate the transmission medium, the data managers and the real-time engine from one another. The data is provided to the real-time engine as multiple streams of isochronous data, i.e. it is delivered as it arrives over the network without data handling delays. This feature allows more complex applications, such as speakerphones, videophones and high-speed modems to be readily implemented.
These features of the invention, as well as the advantages offered thereby, are described in greater detail hereinafter with reference to a specific embodiment illustrated in the accompanying figures.


A polybutylene terephthalate resin is excellent in an injection molding property, mechanical characteristics, a heat resistance, electric characteristics, a resistance to chemicals, etc. Utilizing these properties, the polybutylene terephthalate resin has been widely utilized as products by an injection molding in fields of automobile parts, machine parts, electro-communication parts, etc. Further, it is also excellent in a mold transfer property and is advantageously used also in lamp members such as extension uses of automobiles for which a good external appearance is particularly demanded. Furthermore, in view of its use, it is necessary to highly control the heat resistance of the resin, and a suppression of gas generation (low gas emission) upon the molding, etc.
On the other hand, an LED light has been installed for headlamps of high-class automobiles in recent years and a lamp design has been also started in a drastic change from the former one. For example, in a reflector type (a type wherein a light from a light source is irradiated by means of reflection using a reflector), it is necessary that an area around the light source is metallized with aluminum. Recently, a new design has been appearing wherein the reflector type is changed to a projector type (a type wherein the light from the light source is irradiated by condensing to a front lens) and the area around the light source is changed to a black colored design. However, due to this change, there has been resulted a problem of condensation of a sunlight. That is, when the sunlight is reflected by a projector lens and is condensed to a surrounding black area, a temperature of the condensed area becomes very high whereby a surface melting occurs. (Such a phenomenon itself has been known from old time already but, up to now, it has not caused any particular problem in view of a lamp design.) Taking such a problem into consideration, there has been a demand for materials which transmit infrared light so that the temperature does not increase even by the condensation of the sunlight and also for materials which have a heat resistance resulting in no surface melting even at the high temperature.
As to a technique for transmitting the infrared light, there are disclosures, for example, in Patent Documents 1 to 3 for a resin composition containing a resin consisting of polybutylene terephthalate or of polybutylene terephthalate and a polybutylene terephthalate copolymer together with a noncrystalline resin such as a polycarbonate resin, a styrene acrylonitrile resin, a polyester resin containing 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol ingredient, etc. However, although this technique is useful for enhancing the infrared light transmittance of the resin of a polybutylene terephthalate type, a heat deflection temperature significantly lowers by addition of the noncrystalline resin. Accordingly, it is difficult to practically use this resin composition particularly as a lamp part.
In addition, as to a technique for preparing a black colored polyester resin composition which suppresses a temperature rise due to irradiation of a sunlight, there is disclosed, for example, in Patent Document 4 for a polyethylene terephthalate resin composition which does not contain carbon black but contains a pigment which is made into black color by mixing several pigments. According to this invention, it is possible to lower a temperature corresponding to a heat quantity accumulated by an infrared light-absorbability of carbon black, as a result of the use of the pigment of a non-carbon black type. However, an effect of suppressing the temperature rise thereby is small and, accordingly, there is yet a room for improvement.


To satisfy the increasing demand of bandwidth and speed, pluggable transceiver modules are used in line cards on various network devices (e.g., switches, routers, etc.). The pluggable transceiver modules are used to convert electrical signals to optical signals or in general as the interface to a network element copper wire or optical fiber. There are tests that need to be performed on the interface between the transceiver and a host for compliance with standards and to ensure that the transceiver will work properly with the host. Conventional testing is time intensive and involves high costs, and may not be scalable in a manufacturing and production environment.
Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.


The vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGFs) are a major family of angiogenic proteins involved in endothelial cell activation, proliferation, and survival, particularly during retinal proliferative diseases and tumorigenesis. VEGFs belong to the VEGF-PDGF (platelet-derived growth factor) super-gene family, and are small glycoprotein dimers that bind receptors expressed on vascular and lymphatic endothelial cells. There are currently seven known ligands in the VEGF family: VEGF-A (VEGF), VEGF-B, VEGF-C, VEGF-D, VEGF-E (viral-derived), and placental growth factor (PlGF)-1 and -2. These VEGF ligands mediate their effects by binding to one or more of the three known VEGF receptors (VEGF-Rs), each of which possess receptor tyrosine kinase activity. VEGF-R1 (Flt-1) is predominantly expressed on endothelial cells and monocytes, binds VEGF and VEGF-B, and appears to mediate endothelial and monocyte migration. VEGF-R2 (i.e., human KDR or murine Flk-1) is mainly expressed on endothelial cells, is selective for VEGF (and particular fragments of VEGF-C and VEGF-D), and mediates VEGF-induced endothelial cell proliferation, survival, and migration, as well as vascular permeability. VEGF-R3 (Flt-4) is mainly expressed on lymphatic endothelial cells and binds VEGF-C and VEGF-D to promote lymphangiogenesis. VEGF-R1, -R2, and -R3 are each expressed on some tumor cells. Binding of VEGF to the VEGF receptors triggers receptor dimerization, leading to subsequent receptor activation and signal transduction. VEGF binding to VEGF-R2 initiates a signal transduction pathway that is dominant in promoting angiogenesis. This pathway involves receptor activation with subsequent induction of intracellular signaling. Receptor activation in this case entails three basic events: (i) VEGF binding to VEGF-R2, (ii) receptor dimerization, and (iii) receptor autophosphorylation (and hence activation) of the receptor tyrosine kinase. Intracellular messengers such as phospholipase C and phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase bind directly to the autophosphorylated form of VEGF-R2 and become phosphorylated by the receptor tyrosine kinase, which subsequently triggers an intracellular cascade of signaling events leading to nuclear signals that ultimately promote cell proliferation, migration, and survival (anti-apoptosis), and increase vascular permeability.
Aberrant angiogenesis is associated with a variety of disease states, including cancer (Holash 2002). VEGF signaling has been verified to play a role in both normal vascular development and the pathologic angiogenesis associated with various diseases (Erikkson 1999; Ferrara 1999; Yancopoulos 2000). VEGF promotes vascular endothelial cell growth and increases vascular permeability (Ferrara 2004).
Previous studies have revealed elevated VEGF expression levels in a majority of tumor types (Berkman 1993; Brown 1993; Brown 1995; Dvorak 1995; Mattern 1996). Studies have also revealed increased VEGF levels in subjects with ocular angiogenic diseases such as wet AMD. Wet AMD accounts for only around 10% of total AMD cases, but causes approximately 90% of blindness arising from AMD. Wet AMD is characterized by choroidal neovascularization (CNV), the development of abnormal blood vessels beneath the retinal pigment epithelium layer of the retina. VEGF-A is believed to play a major role in the formation of these vessels, which leak beneath the macula and cause retinal distortion and vision deterioration.
Therapeutic anti-VEGF antibodies are currently available. For example, the humanized IgG1 monoclonal antibody Bevacizumab (a.k.a., Avastin®, sold by Genentech, San Francisco, Calif.; also referred to herein as BM-1) binds human VEGF with an affinity (KD) of approximately 500 pM. While Bevacizumab has been used to treat a variety of cancers, there is a need in the art for antibodies with greater in vivo efficacy. Such antibodies present significant technical challenges and are highly elusive because merely increasing the binding affinity of a VEGF antibody does not necessarily increase its in vivo efficacy (Liang 2006).


This invention relates to the creation of Bragg gratings in photosensitive optical waveguides. It is known that such a grating can be created by illuminating the photosensitive waveguide from the side, writing the lines simultaneously with an interferometrically generated grating fringe pattern of light. Such a fringe pattern can be created using two-beam interferometry, or as a fringe pattern generated in the vicinity of a diffraction grating, typically a phase grating, through which light is caused to pass.
Two broad regimes for producing gratings in photosensitive optical waveguides are known, respectively characterised as type I and type II. A type I grating is created by relatively low fluence exposure to a fringe pattern, and the refractive index change that is produced grows towards a saturation level with increasing fluence, which is normally, but not necessarily, provided on a cw basis. The manufacture of such type I gratings is for instance described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,474,427 (K O Hill et al) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,725,110 (W H Glenn et al). A type II grating is created by significantly higher fluence exposure to a fringe pattern, and the effect has been attributed to some `damage` effect upon the core of the fibre. The manufacture of such a type II grating is for instance described by J L Archambault in a paper entitled `High Reflectivity and Narrow Bandwidth Fibre Gratings Written by Single Excimer Laser Pulse`, Electronics Letters (7 Jan. 1993), Vol. 29 No. 1, pp 28-29. Published papers on type II grating creation have recited the use of ultra-violet radiation at 248 nm from a KrF excimer laser, the fluence being confined to a single pulse typically of about 20 ns duration. The suggestion that the observed effect is a `damage` effect is based upon observation of the effects of such fluences incident upon fibre preforms similar to those from which the optical fibres themselves were drawn. Damage is inferred when ablation from the surface of preforms is detected using a sensor that directs an interrogation beam of laser light laterally through a zone just above the point where the 248 nm ultra-violet light is incident upon the preform surface. When using a KrF excimer laser in this way, it is found that there is a relatively narrow safety margin between the fluence necessary to reach the lower threshold of the onset of refractive index modifying `damage`, and the fluence necessary to reach the upper threshold at which catastrophic disruption of the fibre is liable to occur.
For the purpose of this invention the term `damage`, as used in the context of Bragg grating creation, is defined to cover a process of creating a Bragg grating in a photosensitive waveguide using a fluence sufficient to produce ablation effects when applied to an optical fibre preform having the same optical core composition as that of the waveguide.


The present invention relates to orthopedic treatment processes and, in particular, the present invention relates to preparing orthopedic treatment protocols used in conjunction with computerized or digitalized orthopedic treatment devices.
Orthopedic treatment historically involved a physician examining and diagnosing an orthopedic injury in a patient, prescribing a treatment protocol of activities or exercises for the patient to follow in order to facilitate healing, and subsequent re-examination to assess patient progress. Additionally, the patient was traditionally guided and assisted in following the prescribed treatment protocol by trained medical professionals, such as physical therapists, who could inform and advise the attending physician concerning patient compliance with the protocol and communicate and assist with the patient to provide desired activity details and elicit patient response. The traditional treatment path often included either hospitalization or patient visits at a physical therapy facility.
In modern times, financial pressure upon the medical arts and the surrounding medical industry has increased the number of patients each physician must treat and reduced the rate of hospitalization and tendency to employ physical therapy facilities, as well as reduced the direct supervision of the patient activities by the physical therapist. Computerized devices have been developed that at least partially substitute for the physical therapist contact, and yet monitor patient activities under a treatment protocol. One particularly innovative device system, the IZEX sensor-instrumented orthosis and associated Smart IDEA(trademark) computer/conununicator, not only replace much of the physical therapist""s function of (1) advising and instructing the patient and (2) advising the attending physician of patient compliance, but also allow an improved measuring and monitoring of patient rehabilitation activities and exercise parameters, such as effort exerted in rehabilitation exercises or stress applied to the orthopedic injury. This improved monitoring enables exploitation of a long observed and literature documented phenomenon of improved recovery in response to appropriately applied exercises to orthopedic injuries. The topic of accelerated and improved recovery through the use of controlled bio-feedback based rehabilitation has been reviewed extensively by one of the present inventors in patents U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,375; U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,546; U.S. Pat. No. 5,484,389; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,823,975, and the entire disclosures of these patents are incorporated herein by reference.
The ultimate goal of efficiency and optimal and accelerated recovery outcomes still remains elusive, however, since the utilization of the IZEX(trademark) orthosis brace system and Smart IDEA(trademark) computer/communicator continues to rely upon physician examination, diagnosis and prescription of a treatment protocol for the injured patient. The physician may not readily know nor have available information concerning the optimal treatment protocol for an accurately diagnosed injury. It would be a significant advance in orthopedic treatment if a physician or other treatment professional could be rapidly advised concerning optimal treatment information based upon up-to-date experiential outcomes of similar treated injuries. It would also be a significant advance if the physician or treatment professional could leverage their own expertise and their colleagues"" most recent knowledge to appropriately modify and adapt previously successful protocols to fit a new patient. It would also be a significant advance if the protocol could be installed in a handheld computer (monitoring device/computer/communicator) device with ease and efficiency. Additionally, it would be a significant advance to allow modification, particularly real-time modification, of rehabilitation exercise protocols by a user or in response to a user request, with such modification being limited by reasonable constraints. The following invention provides such advances to the orthopedic arts.


As compared with red sulfide low voltage electroluminescent phosphor Zn1-xCdxS (x=0˜1.0), titanate substrate has a good chemical stability, and the phosphor obtained by doping rare earth luminescent center ions, such as CaTiO3, has a better color purity. The coordinates of red color of Pr3+ excited by photoluminescence and cathode ray are: x=0.680, y=0.311, which are very close to that of the ideal red according to NTSC color gamut. Considering the material stability and luminous colors, the titanate substrate phosphor activated by rare earth ion is expected to replace red sulfide phosphor Zn1-xCdxS and become a new generation of non-toxic, highly stable red FED phosphor material. Accordingly, it is the goal of researchers for further improving the luminescent properties of this material.


Soft tissue replacement methods are commonly used for a wide variety of clinical and cosmetic purposes. One use involves reconstructive applications that rebuild and restore a body part or structure to correct deformities from congenital anomalies, trauma, cancer, infections, disease, or medication side effects. The replacement tissue serves to support surrounding tissue and to maintain the normal appearance of the body. The restoration of this normal appearance has an extremely beneficial psychological effect on post-operative patients, alleviating much of the shock and depression that often follows extensive surgical procedures. Another use involves augmentation applications that alter a body part or structure usually to improve its cosmetic or aesthetic appearance. Augmentation of the appearance also has beneficial psychological effects that improve self-esteem, well-being, and confidence of an individual. A third use involves structural applications that provide support to a body part or structure to improve its function, thereby alleviating a symptom associated with a disorder involving soft tissue loss. Examples of such disorders include, without limitation, stress urinary incontinence, fecal incontinence, vocal cord paralysis, vocal atrophy, vocal implantation, intubation trauma, post-hemilaryngectomy defects, irradiation damage, lumbar disc repair, and plantar footpad repair.
Soft tissue replacement methods currently rely on two general approaches: 1) implantation of artificial or alloplastic fillers like soft tissue implants, and injectable polymers and hydrogels; and 2) transplantation of tissue like tissue flaps and autologous tissue transfers. A drawback to the use of artificial or alloplastic fillers it that these inorganic materials lack any metabolic activity, do not become physiologically incorporated into the body, and as such, surrounding tissue and blood supply does not develop within the implanted material. In addition, artificial or alloplastic fillers risk migration and/or extrusion from the implant site. Furthermore, many of these fillers produce only temporary effects because the body rapidly reabsorbs them. Fillers providing long-term effects frequently induce a foreign body response resulting in formation of an avascular, fibrous capsule around the filler, which limits performance, distorts the aesthetic appearance of the surrounding area, and can cause pain to the individual. Furthermore, long-term fillers, like soft tissue implants, do not remodel with the aging tissue resulting in a material that may not be aesthetically acceptable as the patient's tissues undergo the normal physiologic changes associated with aging.
Although the use of transplanted tissue avoids the problems associated with artificial or alloplastic fillers, drawbacks are also associated with these procedures. In these procedures, loss of transplanted tissue volume over time as a result of its resorption by the body is a major problem. For example, transplantation of adipose tissue generally results in a loss of 20% to 90% of its volume within the first year. This tissue loss is unpredictable and is a result of poor survival and/or regeneration from progenitor cells in the transplanted tissue due to necrosis and a lack of vascular formation. With respect to adipose tissue, tissue breakdown is associated with traumatic rupture of the cells, avascular necrosis, apoptosis of the adipocytes, inflammation secondary to apoptosis, fibrosis and contraction of the graft, and/or delipidation of the adipocytes with subsequent volume loss. Failed tissue grafts sometime produce stellate and irregular nodules with calcifications. As such, transplanted tissue methods are usually performed two or three times to obtain the desired effect, resulting in massive time and cost.
One of the major underlying causes for tissue breakdown seen in transplanted tissue methods is the lack of a blood supply sufficient to support the transplanted tissue. For example, alleviation of tissue ischemia is critically dependent upon formation of new blood vessels. The growth of new blood vessels and associated vasculature or repair or remodeling of existing blood vessels and associated vasculature provides collateral circulation in and around an ischemic area, improves blood flow, and alleviates the symptoms caused by the ischemia. Thus, compositions and methods that promote new blood vessel formation within a transplanted tissue are needed as this will improve the survival rate of such tissues, thereby achieving reliable long-term survival of grafted tissues.
The present specification provides novel compositions and soft tissue replacement methods using compositions that reduce tissue volume loss by increasing the survival rate of the transplanted tissue. This improved survival rate is achieved by administering a compound that promotes new blood vessel formation, thereby ensuring that a blood supply adequate to support the transplanted tissue is established.


The present invention relates generally to a musical pickup arrangement for the conversion of sound vibrations into electrical oscillations, and more specifically, to a musical pickup arrangement incorporating a condenser-type microphone for converting sound vibrations generated in a musical instrument into electrical signals that can be supplied to a loud-speaker.
As is known, microphones and other transducers have been employed in connection with musical instruments to convert sound vibrations into electrical oscillations. By means of suitable electronic apparatus, these electrical oscillations have been amplified and reconverted into audible sounds. In certain cases, piezoelectric translating devices have been employed in pianos and stringed instruments for converting mechanical vibrations of the resonator or sounding board of the instrument into electrical oscillations which, in turn, have been amplified and reconverted into audible sounds. These devices have been placed, for example, directly on the sounding board of the musical instrument and at various other locations above the sounding board, as evidenced by the prior art. However, the sound produced by each of these arrangements has generally been poor. The reasons why the sound produced by such transducers is often poor is perhaps due to the fact that the device is secured directly to the sounding board. This may, for example, be due to the fact that the natural frequency of the sounding board is altered when contacted by the pickup.
In other cases, contact pickup devices used on musical instruments have been of the magnetic-induction type. In these devices, a vibrating or resonating cavity is in contact with a coiled magnet which transduces the vibrations of the cavity into small electrical impulses, thus creating the transformation of magnetic to electrical energy.
The magnetic-induction type of transducer has been quite reliable for many years; however a falsification of the actual color or "timbre" of certain instruments is lost when this type of pickup is used on a nylon-stringed guitar or the like. Of the six strings on the classical guitar, the top three are made of pure nylon, similar to a nylon fishing line, but milled to various thicknesses. The bottom three base strings have a nickel alloy wrapping around several fine threadlike nylon strands. A magnetic pickup device used on this type of instrument transforms sound from the bottom three base strings evenly due to their outer conductive coating, but the non-conductive nature of the top three treble strings prevents an even transfer of energy and usually results in sound which is uncharacteristic, or "tinny".


Communication systems are known to support wireless and wired communications between wireless and/or wired communication devices. Such communication systems range from national and/or international cellular telephone systems to the Internet to point-to-point in-home wireless networks. Each type of communication system is designed, and hence operates, in accordance with one or more communication standards. For instance, wireless communication systems may operate in accordance with one or more standards including, but not limited to, IEEE 802.11, Bluetooth, advanced mobile phone services (AMPS), digital AMPS, global system for mobile communications (GSM), code division multiple access (CDMA), local multi-point distribution systems (LMDS), multi-channel-multi-point distribution systems (MMDS), and/or variations thereof.
Depending on the type of wireless communication system, a wireless communication device, such as a cellular telephone, two-way radio, personal digital assistant (PDA), personal computer (PC), laptop computer, and/or home entertainment equipment, communicates directly or indirectly with other wireless communication devices. For direct communications, also known as point-to-point communications, participating wireless communication devices may tune their receivers and transmitters to the same channel, or channels, such as one or more of the plurality of radio frequency (RF) carriers of the wireless communication system, and communicate over one or more of those channels. For indirect wireless communications, each wireless communication device communicates directly with an associated base station for use of cellular services, for example, and/or an associated access point for use of an in-home or in-building wireless network, for example, via an assigned channel, or channels. To complete a communication connection between the wireless communication devices, the associated base stations and/or associated access points communicate with each other directly, via a system controller, via the public switch telephone network, via the internet, and/or via some other wide area network.
For each wireless communication device to participate in a wireless communications session, it may include a built-in radio transceiver comprising a receiver and transmitter, or it may be coupled to an associated radio transceiver, such as a station for in-home and/or in-building wireless communication networks, and/or an RF modem. The transmitter may be adapted to convert data into RF signals by modulating the data in accordance with the particular wireless communication standard to produce baseband signals and mixes the baseband signal with a local oscillator signal in one or more intermediate frequency stages to produce the RF signals. The radio receiver may comprise an antenna section, a filtering section, a low noise amplifier, an intermediate frequency (IF) stage, an equalization stage, and/or a demodulator. The antenna section may receive RF signals and may provide them to the filtering section, which, in turn, may pass RF signals of interest to the low noise amplifier (LNA).
The LNA may amplify the received RF signals of interest and may provide them as amplified RF signals to the IF stage. The IF stage may step down the frequency of the RF signals of interest to an intermediate frequency or to baseband. The IF stage may then provide the intermediate frequency signals, or baseband signals, to the equalization stage. The equalization stage may add loss or delay to specific frequencies to produce a flat frequency response. The equalization stage may then output an in-phase (I) and/or a quadrature (Q) component to the demodulator. The demodulator may be adapted to synchronize the signal and/or to recapture the data in accordance with a demodulation protocol. During operation, the signal quality of a received signal may be utilized to determine how best to receive and demodulate the signal.
In some conventional systems, signal quality of an RF signal is usually estimated by using received signal strength indicator (RSSI) measurement and packet error rate (PER). However, due to interference environment, the received signal strength indicator measurement and packet error rate measurement may not provide an accurate estimation of the signal quality. During reception, due to interference, it may be difficult to determine whether a received signal is an intended received signal or interference. For example, a strong signal may be received with good signal quality, but this signal may be interference rather then the intended received signal. Furthermore, to get an accurate estimate of the packet error rate, a large enough population of packets is required and this may take a substantial amount of time.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with some aspects of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.


1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a magnetic toner for rendering latent images visible in image-forming processes such as electrophotography, electrostatic recording, magnetic recording and toner jetting, and also relates to an image-forming method making use of the magnetic toner.
2. Related Background Art
A number of methods are conventionally known as electrophotography. In general, copies or prints are obtained by forming an electrostatic latent image on an electrostatic latent image bearing member (hereinafter also xe2x80x9cphotosensitive memberxe2x80x9d) by utilizing a photoconductive material and by various means, subsequently developing the electrostatic latent image by the use of a toner to form a toner image as a visible image, transferring the toner image to a transfer medium such as paper as occasion calls, and then fixing the toner image to a recording medium by the action of heat, pressure, or heat-and-pressure.
Apparatus for such image formation include copying machines and printers. In recent years, as printers, LED printers or LBP printers are prevailing in the recent market. As a trend of techniques, there is a tendency toward higher resolution. More specifically, those which hitherto have a resolution of 240 dpi or 300 dpi are being replaced by those having a resolution of 600 dpi, 800 dpi or 1,200 dpi. Accordingly, with such a trend, developing systems are now required to achieve a high minuteness. Copying machines have also made progress to have high functions, and hence they trend toward digital systems. In this trend, chiefly employed is a method in which electrostatic latent images are formed by using a laser. Hence, the copying machines also have come to have a high resolution. Also, with an improvement in image quality, it is much sought to achieve a higher speed and a longer service life.
In developing systems used in such printers and copying machines, toner images formed on the photosensitive member in the step of development are transferred to a recording medium in the step of transfer via, or not via, an intermediate member. Any transfer residual toner and fogging toner at non-image areas, left on the photosensitive member are removed in the step of cleaning, and is stored in a waste toner container. In this cleaning step, blade cleaning, fur brush cleaning, roller cleaning and so forth are conventionally used. When viewed from the standpoint of apparatus, the whole apparatus must be made larger in order to provide such a cleaning means. This has been a bottleneck in attempts to make apparatus compact. In addition, from the viewpoint of ecology, a system that may produce no waste toner is long-awaited in the sense of effective utilization of toner. Thus, it is sought to provide a toner having a high transfer efficiency and less causing fog.
From the viewpoint of making apparatus compact, one-component developing systems are preferable because they require no carrier particles such as ferrite particles or iron powder which are required in two-component developing systems. Also, since in the two-component developing systems the concentration of toner in two-component developers must be kept constant, a device for detecting toner concentration so as to supply the toner in the desired quantity is required, resulting in a large size for the developing assemblies. In the one-component developing system, on the other hand, such a device is not required, and hence the developing assemblies can also be made small and light-weight as being preferable. Magnetic toners used in such image-forming processes are commonly chiefly composed of a binder resin and a magnetic material and besides contain additives such as a charge control agent and a release agent which are used to bring out properties necessary as toners. As a colorant of the magnetic toner, the magnetic material is used as it is as the colorant, or a non-magnetic inorganic compound, organic pigment or dye is used together with the magnetic material. As the release agent, used are waxes sparingly compatible with the binder resin, as exemplified by low-molecular weight polyethylene and low-molecular weight polypropylene.
However, developing systems making use of an insulating magnetic toner have a problem concerning the insulating magnetic toner used. The problem is that, in insulating magnetic toner particles, a finely powdery magnetic material is mixed and dispersed in a considerable quantity, and it affects fluidity and triboelectric chargeability of the magnetic toner because magnetic fine particles constituting the magnetic material stand partly uncovered to the surfaces of toner particles, consequently causing variation or deterioration of various performances required for the magnetic toner, in relation to developing performance and running performance of the magnetic toner. This is presumed to be due to the fact that magnetic fine particles having a relatively lower electrical resistance than the resin constituting the magnetic toner particles are present at the surfaces of the magnetic fine particles. Also, the chargeability of the magnetic toner also has a great influence on development and transfer, and is closely concerned with image quality. Accordingly, it is sought to provide a magnetic toner which can stably provide a high charge quantity.
To cope with this problem, proposals concerning magnetic iron oxides to be contained in magnetic toners are hitherto made, but there is room for further improvement.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-279352 discloses a magnetic toner containing a magnetic iron oxide incorporated with silicon element. In such a magnetic iron oxide, the silicon element is intentionally brought into existence inside the magnetic iron oxide, but there is room for further improvement in the fluidity of the magnetic toner containing the magnetic iron oxide. Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-9045 discloses adding a silicate to control the shape of magnetic iron oxide to be spherical. In the magnetic iron oxide thereby obtained, the silicon element is rich distributed inside the magnetic iron oxide fine particles because of the use of the silicate for the controlling of particle shape of magnetic fine particles and the silicon element is less present at the surfaces of the magnetic iron oxide fine particles, thus, because of a high smoothness of the magnetic iron oxide fine particles, the fluidity of the magnetic toner can be improved to a certain extent. However, it is preferable to more improve the close adhesion between the binder resin constituting magnetic toner particles and the magnetic iron oxide. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-34070 discloses a process for producing triiron tetraoxide by adding a hydroxosilicate solution to triiron tetraoxide in the course of oxidation reaction. The triiron tetraoxide fine particle obtained by this process has silicon element in the vicinity of its surface, but the silicon element is present in layer in the vicinity of the surface of the triiron tetraoxide fine particles. Hence, there is a problem that the surface is weak to mechanical shock such as friction.
Meanwhile, toners are produced by melt-mixing a binder resin, colorant and so forth and uniformly dispersing them, followed by pulverization by means of a fine griding mill and then classification by means of a classifier to obtain toners having the desired particle diameters (pulverization process). To make toners have fine particle diameters, there is a limit to the range of material selection. For example, colorant-dispersed resin compositions must be brittle enough to be pulverizable by means of economically available production apparatus. Since the colorant-dispersed resin compositions are made brittle because of such a requirement, particles having particle diameters in a broad range tend to be formed when such compositions are actually pulverized at a high speed, so that, in particular, fine particles (particles having been pulverized in excess) having a relatively large proportion are formed in a large quantity and also the magnetic fine particles tend to come off from the resin during pulverization. Moreover, such highly brittle materials tend to be further pulverized or powdered when used as developing toners in copying machines or printers.
As a countermeasure therefor, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-256064 disclose, in the production of pulverization toners, a magnetic toner production process in which magnetic fine particles standing free are removed by classification after pulverization. In pulverization processes, however, the magnetic iron oxide fine particles essentially come to stand uncovered to the surfaces of magnetic toner particles, and hence a problem tends to arise in fluidity of magnetic toner particles and in charging stability in severe environment, resulting in a low transfer performance. Thus, there is further room for improvement.
In the pulverization process, it is also difficult to uniformly disperse solid fine particles such as a magnetic powder and a colorant in the resin. Depending on the degree of such dispersion, this can be one of the causes of an increase in fog and a decrease in image density.
In the pulverization process, making toner particles finer in order to achieve high minuteness and high image quality accompanies a lowering of uniform chargeability and fluidity of toners.
In order to overcome such problems of toners which are ascribable to the pulverization process and further to satisfy requirements stated above, proposed are processes for producing toner particles by suspension polymerization.
Toner particles produced by suspension polymerization (hereinafter xe2x80x9csynthetic toner particlesxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9csynthetic tonerxe2x80x9d) can readily be produced in fine particles. In addition, toner particles obtained have a spherical shape and hence have a superior fluidity. This is advantageous for achieving a high image quality.
However, incorporation of magnetic fine particles into such synthetic toner particles tends to make the toner particles have a low fluidity and a low charging performance, tending to cause a lowering of developing performance. This is because the magnetic fine particles are commonly hydrophilic and hence tend to be present at toner particle surfaces in the suspension polymerization, which makes use of an aqueous medium. This is also because, in the step of granulation carried out when magnetic synthetic toner particles are produced, hydrophilic magnetic fine particles may partly move to the aqueous medium to become present as free magnetic fine particles having come off from the magnetic toner particles. In order to solve this problem, it is important to modify the surface properties the magnetic fine particles have.
To improve dispersibility and enclosure property of the magnetic fine particles in the synthetic toner particles, proposals are made in a large number in regard to surface modification of the magnetic fine particles. For example, Japanese Patent Applications Laid-Open No. 59-200254, No. 59-200256, No. 59-200257 and No. 59-224102 disclose techniques for treating magnetic fine particles with silane coupling agents of various types, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-250660 discloses a technique for treating silicon-element-containing magnetic fine particles with a silane coupling agent.
Such treatment brings about a certain improvement in the dispersibility in the magnetic toner particles. However, the magnetic fine particle surfaces must be made uniformly hydrophobic, and the uncovering of the magnetic fine particles to the magnetic toner particle surfaces must be more controlled.
Meanwhile, with regard to the quantity of magnetic fine particles at the magnetic toner particle surfaces, a toner having a special structure in which any magnetic fine particles are not present in toner particle surface layers is proposed as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-209904. This toner is advantageous in that it ensures superior enclosure of magnetic fine particles and can be free from any uncovering of the magnetic fine particles to the magnetic toner particle surfaces. However, such a toner must be produced by a complicate process, and can be produced with difficulty in an industrial manufacture scale. Also, its repeated use over a long period of time in an environment of low humidity may cause a lowering of image quality which is due to charge-up of the magnetic toner. Thus, more improvement has been necessary for the stability of charging of the magnetic toner.
Further, a technique for making the particle diameter of the magnetic toner particles smaller to achieve higher image quality is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-112253. However, with the magnetic toner particles having such a smaller diameter, it is more difficult to obtain the uniform dispersion of the magnetic powder and the enclosure thereof, tending to give rise to the above-mentioned various problems.
For the purpose of improving the fluidity and charging performance of toners, methods are also proposed in which inorganic fine powder is added as an external additive, and are put into wide use. For example, Japanese Patent Applications Laid-Open No. 5-66608, No. 4-9860 and so forth disclose external addition of an inorganic fine powder having been subjected to hydrophobic treatment or an inorganic fine powder having been subjected to hydrophobic treatment and thereafter further to treatment with a silicone oil. Japanese Patent Applications Laid-Open No. 61-249059, No. 4-264453 and No. 5-346682 disclose use of a hydrophobic-treated inorganic fine powder and a silicone-oil-treated inorganic fine powder in combination. Such methods are known in the art.
Methods in which conductive fine particles are externally added as the external additive are also proposed in a large number. For example, carbon black as conductive fine particles is known to be used as an external additive for the purpose of providing conductivity to toners or controlling any excess charging of toners to make their triboelectric distribution uniform. Also, Japanese Patent Applications Laid-Open No. 57-151952, No. 59-168458 and No. 60-69660 disclose external addition of conductive fine particles such as tin oxide, zinc oxide and titanium oxide, respectively, to high-resistance magnetic toner particles. Japanese Patent Applications Laid-Open No. 61-275864, No. 62-258472, No. 61-141452 and No. 2-120865 disclose addition of graphite, magnetite, polypyrrole conductive particles or polyaniline conductive particles to toners.
These proposals, however, have room for further improvement to solve the above problems, when toner particles having small particle diameters are used in order to achieve a higher resolution.
In recent years, as copying machines and printers are being made compact, it has also become an important subject to achieve space saving, cost reduction and low power consumption. With regard to fixing assemblies, too, they have become required to be compact, structurally simple, and small power consumption. With this trend, toners are made to have a low viscosity at the time of melting to enlarge the area for their adhesion to fixing base materials or toner particles are incorporated with a release agent so that the toners can exhibit a sufficient fixing performance at a low amount of heat and a low pressure. Accordingly, binder resins used are required to have a low glass transition point (Tg) and a low molecular weight. However, for toners composed chiefly of soft components, it is difficult to achieve both fixing performance and high-temperature anti-offset properties simultaneously. Such toners also have a problem that they tend to cause a lowering of developing performance during long-term service or to stick or cling to the photosensitive member.
Meanwhile, with regard to the improvement of fixing performance, various proposals have been made from old times. For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 51-23354 discloses a pulverization toner improved in high-temperature anti-offset properties and low-temperature fixing performance, obtained by polymerizing a monomer such as styrene in the presence of a cross-linking agent and a molecular-weight modifier to obtain an appropriately cross-linked resin, and kneading this resin and a colorant such as carbon black, followed by pulverization. Japanese Patent No. 2681791 discloses a pulverization toner obtained by melt-kneading a styrene type binder resin containing a THF-insoluble matter in an mount of 10 to 60% by weight based on the weight of the resin, together with a charge control agent and a wax, followed by pulverization. These publications teach that molecular chains of the THF-insoluble matter (cross-linked component) of the binder resin are cut by melt kneading to form a high-molecular weight component, to thereby obtain a toner improved in both high-temperature anti-offset properties and low-temperature fixing performance. However, as a result of such thermal and mechanical cutting of the insoluble matter of the binder resin, soluble components formed by the cutting of molecular chains may have a fairly broad molecular weight distribution. Hence, medium-molecular-weight components which may damage low-temperature fixing performance also tend to be formed in a large quantity.
Such pulverization toner particles further have a problem that they have so low a circularity as to have a low transfer efficiency. Also, since the magnetic fine particles stand uncovered to toner particle surfaces in a large number, the toners tends to have a low fluidity and a low uniform chargeability.
On the other hand, in the case of the synthetic toners, different from the pulverization toners, toner particles can directly be produced without the step of melt kneading, and hence molecular chains of the insoluble matter (cross-linked component) formed at the time of polymerization are by no means cut. Thus, they are advantageous in that toner particles having very high anti-offset properties can be obtained, but on the other hand the insoluble matter tends to damage the low-temperature fixing performance. Accordingly, the low-temperature fixing performance and the high-temperature anti-offset properties must be balanced by controlling the insoluble matter. Also, when the magnetic fine particles are made insufficiently hydrophobic, the magnetic fine particles tend to stand uncovered to the toner particle surfaces in a large number, tending to make fixing performance poor and cause a deterioration of fixing assemblies.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-38678 discloses non-magnetic synthetic toner particles having 0 to 20% of components having a molecular weight of 1,000,000 or more and 0 to 60% of THF-insoluble matter, the total of the both being 1 to 60%. This publication, however, discloses a technique concerning non-magnetic toner particles, and there is room for improvement in respect of magnetic synthetic toner particles containing magnetic fine particles. In addition, Japanese Patent No. 2749234 discloses a process for producing magnetic toner particles in which a wax component in toner particles is present in a fibrous form. As disclosed in this publication, a polymerizable cross-linking agent is added in a monomer composition containing magnetic particles, which is then polymerized in the presence of an azo type polymerization initiator to obtain magnetic synthetic toner particles. Also, Japanese Patent No. 2749122 discloses a method of surface-treating magnetic particles with a polymer having a specific reactive group. As disclosed in this publication, a polymerizable cross-linking agent is added in a monomer composition containing magnetic particles, which is then polymerized in the presence of an azo type polymerization initiator to obtain magnetic synthetic toner particles. However, as presumed from the amount of the cross-linking agent, the type and amount of the polymerization initiator and the polymerization temperature which are described in these publications, the medium molecular weight component produced because of any excess formation of THF-insoluble matter or its cross-linking in a very weak state may be in a large proportion. Hence, in the case of the magnetic toner containing the magnetic fine particles in a large quantity, there is a problem on fixing performance. Also, in the magnetic synthetic toner particles obtained by the processes disclosed in these publications, the hydrophobic treatment of the magnetic fine particles used is insufficient, and there are problems also on fluidity and charging performance. Moreover, the achievement of both developing performance and fixing performance is also insufficient.
With regard to the image-forming method, as methods by which the electrostatic latent image is formed into a visible image, developing systems such as cascade development, magnetic brush development and pressure development are known in the art. Another method is also known in which, using a magnetic toner and using a rotary sleeve internally provided with a magnet, the magnetic toner is caused to fly across a photosensitive member and a developing sleeve by the aid of an electric field. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 54-43027 discloses a method in which a magnetic toner is thinly coated on a magnetic toner-carrying member and this is triboelectrically charged, which is then served to develop an electrostatic latent image under application of a magnetic field. According to this method, the thin coating of a magnetic toner on a magnetic toner-carrying member enables the magnetic toner to be sufficiently triboelectrically charged. Moreover, the electrostatic latent image is developed while the magnetic toner is supported by the action of magnetic force. Hence, the magnetic toner can be kept from spreading to non-image areas, so that any fog can be kept from occurring and highly minute images can be obtained. Also, with regard to transfer efficiency, use of a toner having a uniform charge quantity distribution brings about a high transfer efficiency, but it is sought to make further improvement.
Spherical toner particles are esteemed to have a high transfer efficiency. Concerning such particles, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-279864 discloses a proposal on a toner whose shape factors SF-1 and SF-2 are specified. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-235953 discloses a proposal on a magnetic toner made spherical by the action of mechanical impact force. However, toners are sought to be more improved in transfer efficiency.
Such spherical toner particles have on the one hand an advantage that they have a higher transfer efficiency than toner particles produced by pulverization, but on the other hand have a nature that they can be removed by cleaning with difficulty because of their sphericity. Moreover, since toner particles trend toward smaller particle diameters as state previously, toner particles may escape at the time of cleaning, and it has become more difficult to remove transfer residual toner completely by cleaning. However, an improvement of cleaning assemblies can keep the toner particles from escaping to a level that may cause no great problem. In image-forming methods having a conventional corona charging system, images having no problem in practical use can be formed.
However, in recent years, from the viewpoint of environmental protection, in place of the primary charging and transfer process which have utilized corona discharging conventionally used, it is becoming prevailing to employ primary charging (contact charging) and transfer process (contact transfer) each of which make use of a member brought into contact with the photosensitive member surface, having great advantages of low ozone and low power consumption. For example, Japanese Patent Applications Laid-Open No. 63-149669 and No. 2-123385 disclose processes concerning the contact charging process and contact transfer process. In these processes, a conductive flexible charging roller is brought into contact with a photosensitive member and the photosensitive member is uniformly charged applying a voltage to the conductive roller, followed by exposure and development to form a toner image. Thereafter, another conductive roller to which a voltage is kept applied is pressed against the photosensitive member, during which a transfer medium is passed between them, and the toner image held on the photosensitive member is transferred to the transfer medium, followed by the step of fixing to obtain a fixed copy image.
However, in such a contact charging process and a contact transfer process, too, there is room for further improvement. Stated specifically, in the case of the contact charging, the charging member is kept in pressure contact with the surface of the photosensitive member by pressing the former against the latter. Hence, the presence of any transfer residual toner tends to lower the contact between the contact charging member and the photosensitive member to tend to lower charging performance. In reverse development, the toner tends to spread to non-image areas to tend to cause fog. Also, any accumulation of toner on the charging performance tends to make it difficult to charge the photosensitive member uniformly, tending to cause a decrease in image density or cause coarse images. In addition, since the charging member is kept in pressure contact, melt-adhesion of toner tends to occur. These tendencies appear more remarkably as the transfer residual toner is in a large quantity.
Then, in the case of the contact transfer, the transfer member is brought into contact with the photosensitive member through the transfer medium at the time of transfer, and hence the toner image is pressed when the toner image formed on the photosensitive member is transferred to the transfer medium, tending to cause a problem of partial faulty transfer, which is called xe2x80x9cblank areas caused by poor transferxe2x80x9d. Moreover, as a trend of techniques in recent years, there is a demand for developing systems of higher resolution and higher minuteness. To meet such a demand, toners are directed to have a smaller particle diameter. However, as toners are made to have a smaller particle diameter, the attraction force (e.g., mirror force or van der Waals force) of toner particles on the photosensitive member may increase to tend to result in an increase in the transfer residual toner, tending to cause faulty transfer.
Thus, in the image-forming methods making use of the contact charging process and contact transfer process which are very preferable taking account of environment, it is sought to bring forth a magnetic toner, and an image-forming method, which promise a high transfer performance and a superior charging stability and may hardly cause melt-adhesion of toner.
Meanwhile, with regard to the toner having a high transfer efficiency as stated above, also proposed is a technique called a development-cleaning (also called cleaning-at-development) system or cleanerless system in which development and cleaning are carried out in the same step.
Disclosure of conventional techniques concerning the development-cleaning or cleanerless system is, as seen in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-2287, focused on positive memory or negative memory appearing on images because of an influence of the transfer residual toner. However, in these days where electrophotography is utilized on and on, it has become necessary to transfer toner images to various recording mediums. In this sense, it is sought to make further adaptation to various recording mediums.
The prior art having disclosed the cleanerless system is seen in Japanese Patent Applications Laid-Open No. 59-133573, No. 62-203182, No. 63-133179, No. 64-20587, No. 2-302772, No. 5-2289, No. 5-53482 and No. 5-61383. These, however, neither mention any desirable image-forming methods nor refer to how the toner be constituted.
As developing systems in which the development-cleaning system or cleanerless system is preferably applied, in conventional development-cleaning systems basically having no cleaning assembly, it has been considered essential for the system to be so made up that the photosensitive member surface is rubbed with the toner and toner-carrying member. Accordingly, studies have largely made on contact developing systems in which the toner or toner-carrying member comes into contact with an image-bearing member. This is because, in order to collect the transfer residual toner in a developing means, it is considered advantageous for the system to be so made up that the toner or toner-carrying member comes into contact with and rub the image-bearing member. However, in the development-cleaning system or cleanerless system making use of a contact development system, its long-term service tends to cause deterioration of toner, deterioration of toner-carrying member surface and deterioration or wear of photosensitive member surface, but any satisfactory solution has not been made for running performance. Accordingly, it is sought to provide a development-cleaning system according to a non-contact developing system.
Here, consider an instance in which the contact developing system is applied to a image-forming method employing the development-cleaning system or cleanerless system. In the image-forming method employing the development-cleaning system or cleanerless system, any cleaning member is provided and hence the transfer residual toner remaining on the photosensitive member surface comes into contact with the contact charging member as it is, to come to adhere to or mix in the contact charging member. Also, in the case of a charging system predominantly governed by a discharge charging mechanism, the transfer residual toner tends to adhere to the charging member because of a deterioration due to discharge energy. When insulating toners commonly used adhere to or mix in the contact charging member, the charging performance tends to lower.
In the case of the charging system predominantly governed by a discharge charging mechanism, the charging performance of the member to be charged tends to lower abruptly around the time when a toner layer having adhered to the contact charging member surface comes to have a resistance which may obstruct the discharge voltage. On the other hand, in the case of a charging system predominantly governed by a direct injection charging mechanism, the charging performance of the member to be charged may lower where the transfer residual toner having adhered or mixed has lowered the probability of contact between the contact charging member surface and the member to be charged.
This lowering of uniform charging performance of the member to be charged appears as a lowering of contrast and uniformity of electrostatic latent images after imagewise exposure to tend to cause a decrease in image density or make fog occur seriously.
In the image-forming method employing the development-cleaning system or cleanerless system, the point is that the charge polarity and charge quantity of the transfer residual toner on the photosensitive member is controlled so that the transfer residual toner can stably be collected in the step of development and the collected toner may not make the developing performance poor. Accordingly, the charge polarity and charge quantity of the transfer residual toner on the photosensitive member is controlled by means of the charging performance.
This will be described specifically taking the case of a commonly available laser beam printer. In the case of reverse development making use of a charging member for applying a voltage with negative polarity, a negatively chargeable photosensitive member and a negatively chargeable toner, in the transfer step the toner image is transferred to the recording medium by means of a positively chargeable transfer member. The charge polarity of the transfer residual toner varies from positive to negative because of its relation to the type of the recording medium (differences in thickness, resistance, dielectric constant and so forth) and the areas of images. However, the charging member having a negative polarity, used to charge the negatively chargeable photosensitive member, can uniformly adjust the charge polarity to the negative side even if even the polarity of the transfer residual toner has been shifted to the positive side in the transfer step. Hence, when the reversal development is employed as the developing system, the transfer residual toner, which stands negatively charged, remains at light-area potential areas to be developed by toner. At dark-area potential areass not to be developed by toner, the toner is attracted toward the toner carrying member in relation to the development electric field and is collected without remaining on the photosensitive member having a dark-area potential. That is, the development-cleaning system can be established by controlling the charge polarity of transfer residual toner simultaneously with the charging of the photosensitive member by means of the charging member.
However, where the transfer residual toner has adhered to or mixed in the contact charging member beyond the contact charging member""s capacity to control toner""s charge polarity, it becomes difficult to uniformly adjust the charge polarity of the transfer residual toner. Also, even where the transfer residual toner has been collected on the toner-carrying member by mechanical force such as rubbing, the transfer residual toner may adversely affect the charging performance of toner on the toner-carrying member, resulting in a lowering of developing performance, unless its charge has not uniformly been adjusted.
More specifically, in the image-forming method employing the development-cleaning system or cleanerless system, the charge control performance at the time the transfer residual toner passes the charging member and the manner in which the transfer residual toner adheres to or mixes in the charging member are closely concerned with the running performance and image quality characteristics.
In order to prevent uneven charging to effect stable and uniform charging, the contact charging member may be coated with a powder on its surface coming into contact with the surface of the member to be charged. Such constitution is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 7-99442.
The contact charging member (charging roller) is follow-up rotated as the member to be charged (photosensitive member) is rotated (without no velocity differential drive), and hence may remarkably less cause ozone products compared with corona charging assemblies such as Scorotron. However, the principle of charging is still chiefly the discharge charging mechanism like the case of the roller charging mentioned previously. In particular, a voltage formed by superimposing AC voltage on DC voltage is applied in order to attain more stable charging uniformity, and hence the ozone products caused by discharging may more greatly occur. Accordingly, when the apparatus is used over a long period of time, difficulties such as smeared images due to ozone products tend to come out. Moreover, when applied in cleanerless image-forming apparatus, any inclusion of the transfer residual toner makes it difficult for the powder coated, to stand adhered uniformly to the charging member, so that the effect of carrying out uniform charging may lower.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-150539 also discloses that, in an image-forming method making use of contact charging, at least image-developing particles and conductive fine particles having an average particle diameter smaller than that of the image-developing particles are contained in a toner in order to prevent any charging obstruction which may be caused when toner particles or silica particles having not completely be removed by a cleaning means such as a cleaning blade come to adhere to and accumulate on the surface of the charging means during repetition of image formation for a long time. However, the contact charging used here, or proximity charging, applies the discharge charging mechanism, which is not the direct injection charging mechanism, and has the above problem ascribable to the discharge charging. Moreover, when applied in the cleanerless image-forming apparatus, nothing is taking into consideration about any of the influence on charging performance that is exercised when the conductive fine particles and transfer residual toner pass the charging step in a larger quantity than the apparatus having a cleaning mechanism, the influence on the collection of these large-quantity conductive fine particles and transfer residual toner in the developing step, and the influence on toner""s developing performance that is exercised by the conductive fine particles and transfer residual toner thus collected. Furthermore, when the direct injection charging mechanism is applied in the contact charging, the conductive fine particles can not be fed to the contact charging member in necessary quantity to tend to cause faulty charging due to the influence of the transfer residual toner.
In the proximity charging, it is also difficult to uniformly charge the photosensitive member because of the large-quantity conductive fine particles and transfer residual toner, and the effect of leveling patterns of the transfer residual toner can not be obtained, to cause pattern ghost because the transfer residual toner may shut out pattern-imagewise exposure light. In-machine contamination due to toner may further occur when a power source is instantaneously put off or paper jam occurs during image formation.
In the image-forming method employing the development-cleaning system, development-cleaning performance can be improved by improving charge control performance required when the transfer residual toner passes the charging member. As a proposal therefor, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-15206 discloses an image-forming method making use of a toner having toner particles containing specific carbon black and a specific azo type iron compound and having inorganic fine powder. It is also proposed, in the image-forming method employing the development-cleaning system, to improve development-cleaning performance by reducing the quantity of transfer residual toner, using a toner having a superior transfer efficiency the shape factors of which have been specified. However, the contact charging used here also applies the discharge charging mechanism, which is not the direct injection charging mechanism, and has the above problem ascribable to the discharge charging. Moreover, these proposals may be effective for keeping the charging performance of the contact charging member from lowering because of the transfer residual toner, but can not be expected to be effective for positively improving the charging performance.
In addition, among commercially available electrophotographic printers, image-forming apparatus are also available which are designed for carrying out the development-cleaning system, in which a roller member coming into contact with the photosensitive member is provided between the transfer step and the charging step so that the performance of collecting the transfer residual toner at development can be assisted or controlled. Such image-forming apparatus have good development-cleaning performance and the waste toner can greatly be reduced, but involve a high cost and may damage the advantage inherent in the development-cleaning system also in view of compact construction.
As countermeasures for these, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-307456 discloses an image-forming apparatus in which a toner containing conductive charge-accelerating particles having particle diameter which is xc2xd or smaller than average particle diameter of toner particles or toner is applied in an image-forming method employing the development-cleaning system making use of the direct injection charging mechanism. According to this proposal, an image-forming apparatus for carrying out the development-cleaning system can be obtained, which can greatly reduce the quantity of waste toner and is advantageous for making the apparatus compact at a low cost, and good images are obtainable without causing any faulty charging and any shut-out or dispersion of imagewise exposure light.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-307421 also discloses an image-forming apparatus in which a toner containing conductive particles having particle diameter which is {fraction (1/50)} to xc2xd of average particle diameter of the toner is applied in an image-forming method employing the development-cleaning system making use of the direct injection charging mechanism and the conductive particles are made to have a transfer accelerating effect. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-307455 still also discloses that, a conductive fine powder is controlled to have particle diameter not larger than the size of one pixel of constituent pixels, and the conductive fine powder is controlled to have particle diameter of from 10 nm to 50 xcexcm in order to attain better charging uniformity.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-307457 discloses that, taking account of human visual sensation, conductive fine particles are controlled to have particle diameter of about 5 xcexcm or smaller, and preferably from 20 nm to 5 xcexcm, in order to make any influence of faulty transfer on images visually recognizable with difficulty.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-307458 also discloses an image-forming method which employs the development-cleaning system making use of the direct injection charging mechanism and in which a conductive fine powder is controlled to have particle diameter not larger than the average particle diameter of a toner to thereby prevent the conductive fine powder from obstructing the behavior of the toner at the time of development or prevent development bias from leaking through the conductive fine powder, and the conductive fine is controlled to have particle diameter larger than 0.1 xcexcm to thereby eliminate a difficulty that the conductive fine powder may become buried in the image-bearing member to shut out imagewise exposure light, thus superior image recording can be materialized.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-307456 discloses an image-forming apparatus which carries out the development-cleaning system and in which a conductive fine powder is externally added to toner particles so that the conductive fine powder contained in the toner particles may adhere to an image-bearing member in the step of development, at least at a contact zone between a flexible contact charging member and the image-bearing member, and may remain and be carried on the image-bearing member also after the step of transfer so as to stand between them, to thereby obtain good images without causing neither faulty charging nor shut-off of imagewise exposure light.
In all these proposals, however, there is room for further improvement in stable performances required when the apparatus are repeatedly used over a long period of time and in performances required when toner particles having a small particle diameter are used in order to achieve a higher resolution.
An object of the present invention is to provide a magnetic toner having solved the problems the prior art has had, and an image-forming method making use of the magnetic toner.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a magnetic toner having a good fixing performance, having superior environmental stability and charging stability and can form images in a high density and a high minuteness even over long-term service, and an image-forming method making use of such a magnetic toner.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an image-forming method which can well carry out the development-cleaning system.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an image-forming method which can stably achieve a good charging performance and enables image formation by the cleanerless system.
To achieve the above objects the present invention provides a magnetic toner comprising magnetic toner particles containing at least a binder resin, a magnetic material containing a magnetic iron oxide, and a release agent.
the magnetic toner having;
a weight-average particle diameter of from 3 xcexcm to 10 xcexcm;
a magnetization intensity (saturation magnetization) of from 10 Am2/kg to 50 Am2/kg (emu/g) under application of a magnetic field of 79.6 kA/m (1,000 oersteds);
an average circularity of 0.970 or more;
a ratio of weight-average particle diameter to number-average particle diameter, of 1.40 or less;
iron and an iron compound which stand liberated from the magnetic toner particles at a liberation percentage of from 0.05% to 3.00%; and
a resin component having a tetrahydrofuran (THF)-insoluble matter in an amount of from 3% by weight to 60% by weight.
The present invention also provides an image-forming method comprising;
a charging step of charging an image-bearing member electrostatically by applying a voltage to a charging member kept in contact with the image-bearing member, forming a contact zone between them;
an electrostatic latent image forming step of forming an electrostatic latent image on the charged surface of the image-bearing member;
a developing step of forming a toner image by developing the electrostatic latent image by causing a magnetic toner to move to the electrostatic latent image at a developing zone where an alternating electric field is kept formed; the developing zone being formed between the image-bearing member for holding thereon the electrostatic latent image and a toner-carrying member for carrying the magnetic toner on its surface which are face to face disposed leaving a preset space between them, and a layer of the magnetic toner being formed on the surface of the toner-carrying member in a thickness smaller than that space; and
a transfer step of transferring the toner image to a transfer material via, or not via, an intermediate transfer member;
the steps being repeated to form images;
wherein the magnetic toner comprises magnetic toner particles containing at least a binder resin, a magnetic material containing a magnetic iron oxide, and a release agent.
the magnetic toner having;
a weight-average particle diameter of from 3 xcexcm to 10 xcexcm;
a magnetization intensity (saturation magnetization) of from 10 Am2/kg to 50 Am2/kg (emu/g) under application of a magnetic field of 79.6 kA/m (1,000 oersteds);
an average circularity of 0.970 or more;
a ratio of weight-average particle diameter to number-average particle diameter, of 1.40 or less;
iron and an iron compound which stand liberated from the magnetic toner particles at a liberation percentage of from 0.05% to 3.00%; and
a resin component having a tetrahydrofuran (THF)-insoluble matter in an amount of from 3% by weight to 60% by weight.


1. Technical Field
This is related to systems for separating flowing fluid into separate portions, and in particular, to systems for separating solid particles or gases from a liquid or liquids of differing buoyancies.
2. Related Technology
The separation of mixtures into their component parts for the purposes of clarification, cleaning, and removal of undesirable portions of the mixture is a major function in many industries. In many cases it is desired to perform this function rapidly, at high flow rates and in an “on-line” operating mode. In many applications this function is performed by conventional centrifuges, often augmented with a settling or decanting process to overcome the inherent limitations of current centrifuges to achieve the desired level of end product purity needed.
In addition, the removal of air or other gases from fluid flows is widely applicable in cases in which the entrained gases may interfere with the function and performance of equipment. One prevalent application is in the removal of air from liquid coolant to improve the heat exchange performance of radiators. Another such application is the removal of air from lubricating fluid to improve the lubrication and cooling performance of the fluid. Yet another application is the removal of air from hydraulic fluid to improve the force transfer of hydraulic actuators. In all of these applications, the separated air or gas is typically removed, since recombination would tend to defeat the purpose of the removal. In these cases, air removal is the primary function and any suspended particles in the fluid are of little or no interest.
In other cases, recombination after separation may be desirable, for example, to retain oil fumes that are entrained in the airflow in order to preserve the total oil content of the system. In certain particle monitoring applications, such as that disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,282,016 to Tauber et al., a goal is to remove particles above a certain size for analysis.
Real time suspended particle monitors are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,572,320, U.S. Pat. No. 6,049,381, U.S. Pat. No. 7,921,739, and U.S. Pat. No. 8,056,400.