The invention relates to compositions comprising vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) or fragments thereof, and the use of such compositions in the treatment of kidney disease, in particular kidney fibrosis, and other associated conditions.

Methods and systems for detecting azetidine-2-carboxylic acid (Aze) in food consumable by humans and animals are provided. Also provided are methods and systems for inactivating Aze in food and byproducts, as well as other methods for the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of disorders associated with Aze.

The present inventors investigated the effects of anti-IL-6 receptor antibodies on improving the condition of infarcted areas in myocardial infarction, and on suppressing left ventricular remodeling after myocardial infarction. As a result, the administration of anti-IL-6 receptor antibodies significantly suppressed the increase of MPO activity in the infarcted area and suppressed myocardial MCP-1 expression in both the infarcted area and the non-infarcted area. Furthermore, echocardiography and histological examinations revealed that cardiac hypertrophy is also suppressed.

The disk-shaped information recording medium having an outer diameter and an inner diameter comprises a substrate having a predetermined thickness, a first side that is one side of the substrate, a second side that is the other side of the substrate, a cylindrical portion forming a through hole formed at a center of the substrate, and a thin portion formed so as to surround an outer diameter of the cylindrical portion. The thin portion is thinner than the predetermined thickness and includes a non-inclined surface and an inclined surface formed on an outer diameter side of the non-inclined surface. The inclined surface is inclined at a predetermined angle to the non-inclined surface and is larger than the non-inclined surface in the thin portion.

There is provided a cartridge including a running portion which causes both end portions of a disc-shaped recording medium to run, and a pressing portion which presses one end portion of the disc-shaped recording medium to press the other end portion against the running portion. Static friction coefficients of a portion of the pressing portion coming in contact with the one end portion and a portion of the running portion coming in contact with the other end portion are different.

A data storage media may have at least a multi-layer recording lamination with a predetermined coercivity. The multi-layer recording lamination can be configured to record at least one servo format mark for a plurality of data tracks with a solid immersion mirror and program a data bit on the multi-layer recording lamination with a near field transducer.

There is provided a disk cartridge including a case body in which a plurality of disk-shaped recording media are configured to be able to be received in an axial direction of a central shaft in parallel, and a first shell having a base surface section parallel to a recording surface of the disk-shaped recording medium and a second shell having a basal surface section parallel to the recording surface of the disk-shaped recording medium are coupled and separated through separation and connection in the axial direction, and a presser spring having a section to be attached, which is attached to the case body, and a pressing section configured to come in contact with an outer circumferential surface of the disk-shaped recording medium and to press the disk-shaped recording medium. The presser spring is formed of a resin material.

The disk-shaped information recording medium having an outer diameter and an inner diameter comprises a substrate having a predetermined thickness, a first side that is one side of the substrate, a second side that is the other side of the substrate, a cylindrical portion forming a through hole formed at a center of the substrate, and a thin portion formed so as to surround an outer diameter of the cylindrical portion. The thin portion is thinner than the predetermined thickness and includes a non-inclined surface and an inclined surface formed on an outer diameter side of the non-inclined surface. The inclined surface is inclined at an angle greater than or equal to 25 degrees and less than or equal to 35 degrees with respect to the non-inclined surface.

A system for producing energy that includes infusing porous carbon particles produced by pyrolysis of carbon-containing materials with an off-eutectic salt composition thus producing pore-free carbon particles, and reacting the carbon particles with oxygen in a fuel cell according to the reaction C+O2=CO2 to produce electrical energy.

There is provided a flexible circuit board capable of preventing corrosion and elution of a conductor layer constituting a current collector even under high-temperature and high-voltage working conditions while achieving sufficient electric connection with an MEA. A flexible circuit board having a current collector of a fuel cell provided thereon includes an insulating flexible base material 1, a plurality of openings 5 that supply fuel or air, the openings 5 being provided in a specified region so as to penetrate through the flexible base material 1 in a thickness direction, a plating film 6 that constitutes the current collector, the plating film 6 being formed on front and back surfaces of the flexible base material 1 in the specified region and on inner walls of the openings 5, a surface treatment film 9 formed on the plating film 6 and having corrosion resistance higher than that of the plating film.

A business form with laser compatible punch-out card and the methods of making the combination. The card is permanently adhered to a perforated backer sheet, the periphery of which extends beyond the card and is coated with adhesive for application to the bottom surface of a form containing a hole such that the card is disposed within the hole. The card and attached portion of the backer sheet can then be removed from the card-in-form combination by breaking the perforations. The card is die cut from card stock laminated to the backer layer and is prepared for application to the form by stripping a waste matrix of card material from the laminate through the use of patterned release material.

The present invention is a specimen capture and collection form that utilizes a self laminating form assembly having first and second separable parts one of which is used in the collection, capture and retention of a sample of material to be analyzed and the other of which is used for recording the particular transaction for which the sample of specimen was collected. The form assembly is also provided with a unique element which enables the separation of excess sample collection material to be easily and conveniently separated from the remainder of the form assembly so as to not contaminate the specimen as well as prevent the inadvertent removal of the specimen from the form assembly. The construction is also provided with distinct verification areas to confirm authenticity of the form construction.

An apparatus for recording foot, hoof and paw impressions is disclosed. An impression member is atop a foundation member, both of which are concealed by a removable protective cover. The impression member records the shape of a foot, hoof or paw which steps upon the apparatus, while the cover resists water and camouflages the apparatus.

A printer, as an image forming apparatus, reverses the front and back sides of tab sheets that became no longer necessary and discharges when a reverse discharge is specified.

The invention provides the user a first insertion page position setting part that allows a user to designate insertion page positions that respectively indicate pages at which first tab sheets are to be inserted, and a second insertion page position setting part that allows the user to designate insertion page positions that respectively indicate pages at which second tab sheets are to be inserted, when a request for initiating the setting concerning the tab sheets is received. Further, the tab positions in the second tab sheets, which correspond to the insertion page positions designated in said second insertion page position setting part, are set up in accordance with the tab positions in the first tab sheets, which correspond to the insertion page positions designated in said first insertion page position setting part.

The Virtual Aggregation Processor enables end user devices to share a common wireless forward path of a multicast communication architecture in which the forward path delivered content is dynamically changed or modified based on a real-time, near-real-time, or delay-time basis via aggregated reverse path feedback from at least one of a plurality of end user devices. The Virtual Aggregation Processor periodically or continuously aggregates the feedback input received via the reverse path (having wired and/or wireless connectivity), modifies the forward path multi-media content, and delivers this dynamically modified multi-media content to the then connected population of end user devices via a wireless forward path multicast in a repetitive closed loop fashion.

A system and method may provide sets or packets of playing cards for forming part or all of a hand of playing cards. Each set or packet may be formed before starting to form another set or packet. Sets or packets may be formed in respective playing card receiving compartments. The playing cards may be withdrawn from a plurality of playing card receiving compartments of an intermediary playing card receiver in random or pseudo-random fashion, which may, or may not, be based at least in part on the selected payout or house odds and/or house advantage.

A device for reading data recorded on a recording medium having multiple tracks, the device including: a receiver that receives designations of a number of data elements to be read; and a determination unit that determines an order of reading the data elements so that, no matter on which track of the tracks each of the data elements is recorded, the data elements are read in an order of recorded locations of the data elements in a direction along the tracks on which the data elements are recorded.

A hard disc assembly includes a box and a hard disc body slidably mounted to the box. The box comprises a driving unit and a pivoting pole. The hard disc body comprises a disc member and a magnetic arm. A magnetic head is located on the magnetic arm and contacts the disc member. The magnetic arm is connected to the pivoting pole of the driving unit. The driving unit is configured to move the magnetic arm on the disc member. The magnetic head is configured to access data in the disc member when the disc member rotates. The magnetic head remains in contact with the disc member when the disc member stops rotating.

A magnetic head according to one embodiment includes a module, the module having first and second transducers of different transducer types positioned towards a media facing side of the module, wherein the different transducer types are selected from a group consisting of data reader transducers, servo reader transducers, write transducers, piggyback read-write transducers and merged read-write transducers; a first protection structure for protecting the first transducer; and wherein the second transducer has either no protection or is protected by a second protection structure that is different than the first protection structure.

Recording heads for data storage systems are provided. Recording heads illustratively include a write pole, a bumper, a dielectric layer, and a surface. In some embodiments, a portion of the surface includes portions of the write pole, bumper, and dielectric layer. The write pole, bumper, and dielectric layer are illustratively made from materials that have polishing rates. In some embodiments, the polishing rate for the write pole material is more similar to the polishing rate for the bumper material than it is to the polishing rate for the dielectric layer material.

A multiple-segment transmission line in a hard disk drive enables a wider optimization range of the slope, duration and amplitude of the transmission line overshoot (TLO) wave shape. There is a first segment with two traces for connection to the write driver circuitry, an end segment with two traces for connection to the write head and at least two intermediate segments. The number of traces in a segment is different from the number of traces in the segments to which the segment is immediately connected. There is an even number of traces in each segment and the traces in each segment are interleaved. The number of segments and the number of traces in each segment can be selected to achieve the desired impedance levels for the different segments to achieve the desired wave shape for the TLO. All of the traces on the transmission line are preferably coplanar.

A flexible cable assembly (FCA) has a stiffener layer positioned in electrical contact with an electrical ground feature of the FCA, and a head stack assembly (HSA) may include a suspension tail electrically connected to the stiffener layer of the FCA, thus providing a robust ground path between the read/write head and the arm or E-block of the HSA. Additional efficient grounding techniques may include directly electrically connecting the suspension tail to the arm via a conductive adhesive, directly electrically connecting the FCA stiffener layer to the arm via a conductive screw, and/or directly electrically connecting the ground feature and the stiffener layer of the FCA to the arm using a ground post or screw.

A heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) air-bearing slider has an optically-transparent protective film over the near-field transducer (NFT) to protect the NFT from excessive heat caused by the accumulation of carbonaceous material on the slider's overcoat. The NFT is thus separated from the overcoat by the protective film. The protective film does not cover the write pole end, which is covered only by the overcoat, so there is no spacing loss between the write pole end and the recording layer on the disk. In one embodiment the protective film is coplanar with the recording-layer-facing surface of the slider and the overcoat covers both the protective film and the write pole end. In another embodiment the overcoat has a window that surrounds the protective film, with the protective film being substantially coplanar with the air-bearing surface (ABS) of the slider. In both embodiments the smooth topography of the slider's ABS is maintained.

The present disclosure provides for a magnetic writer pole for use in a hard drive. The magnetic writer pole comprises a first bevel formed by a non-magnetic layer, the first bevel formed at a first angle and extending to a first throat height. The magnetic writer pole further comprises a second bevel formed by the non-magnetic layer and extending distally from the first bevel at a second angle that is greater than the first angle and extending to a second throat height. The magnetic writer pole further comprises a third bevel formed by the non-magnetic layer and extending distally from the second bevel at a third angle that is greater than the second angle.

A magnetic recording medium including a substrate, and at least one magnetic layer formed on the substrate. The magnetic layer is formed from an alloy containing Cobalt, and Platinum (Pt). The magnetic layer is also formed from grain boundary segregation materials comprising Manganese Oxide and at least one of Silicon Oxide, Chromium Oxide, and Cobalt Oxide (CoO).

In one embodiment, a magnetic head includes a lower shield, a magnetoresistive (MR) film positioned above the lower shield, the MR film including a pinned layer, an intermediate layer positioned above the pinned layer, and a free layer positioned above the intermediate layer, the free layer being configured for sensing data on a magnetic medium, wherein a track width of the MR film is defined by a width of the free layer in a cross-track direction, a bias layer positioned on both sides of the MR film in the cross-track direction, a track insulating film positioned on both sides of the MR film in the cross-track direction and between the MR film and the bias layer, and an upper shield positioned above the bias layer and the MR film, wherein a length of the free layer in an element height direction perpendicular to an air bearing surface of the magnetic head is less than a length of the pinned layer in the element height direction.

Controlling a laser diode involves activating a first current source in preparation for writing to a magnetic recording medium. The first current source applies a threshold current to a laser diode that brings the laser diode close to an operating point. Responsive to a write signal, a second current source is activated that applies a write current to the laser diode. A combination of the write current and the threshold current fully energizes the laser diode and is less than a target recording current. Coincident with the activation of the second current source, a photodiode is activated that is optically coupled to the laser diode. The activated photodiode causes a feedback current to be applied to the laser diode.

A roller bearing cage has a cage element adapted for retaining the generally cylindrically shaped rollers and allowing the rollers to be rollable therein. The cage element includes a main portion having a plurality of pockets, an outward flange portion extending outwardly in a radial direction and an inward flange portion extending outwardly in the radial direction. The outward flange portion is formed on a side edge of the main portion and the inward flange is formed on an opposite side edge portion thereof. The main portion defines the smallest diameter of the bearing cage and is less than the roller pitch diameter.

A status management device is presented, the device including multiple first application units for monitoring status information indicating a status of a management target, multiple second application units for outputting first acquisition request information of the status information with identification information of the management target, a search unit for outputting a storage location corresponding to the identification information when the first acquisition request information is received from the second application unit, a request unit for outputting second acquisition request information of the status information to the first application unit corresponding to the outputted storage location, and a transmission unit for outputting the status information supplied from the first application unit in response to the second acquisition request information to the second application unit which corresponds to a request source of the first acquisition request information.

An information output device includes a first processor configured to execute a process to determine a type of notification information which is outputted from a computer and which notifies a state of the computer; and a second processor configured to execute a process to create a chart, in which a first coordinate axis represents time when the notification information is outputted from the computer, a second coordinate axis represents the type of the notification information, and the notification information is drawn at a corresponding position, and output the chart.

This provides for controlling mobile device functions and features. For example, it limits or disables the use of some of mobile device features which could cause distraction to the user, when the user is engaged in another activity. In an example, it enables other mobile device features based on occurrence of events related to the user or environment. Another example addresses controlling the mobile device features, such as SMS, while the user is in a vehicle or driving. Another example restricts the ability of the driver of a vehicle to text, while the vehicle is in motion, by automatically disabling the texting ability of mobile device within and around the perimeter of the driver's seat. Other variations, examples, improvements, detection mechanisms, models, techniques, calculations, verification mechanisms, and features are also described in details.

A method and apparatus for treating ocular disorders such as blepharitis, meibomitis, and dry eye syndrome. The method includes using an electromechanical device to move a swab relative to the eye to create cyclical movement that impacts debris present at the eyelid margin and effectively removes the debris from the eye to encourage healing and prevent further digression of the health of the eye. The apparatus is an electromechanical device that includes a mechanical drive unit operatively connected to a swab to create a precise relative movement of the swab to the eye to remove debris present therein.

A method of processing content according to a workflow, where a digital content is processed on one of a plurality of processing devices according to process definition associated to the content, includes the steps, iterated at the processing device, of: a) receiving from a server a signed workflow information, a workflow information comprising a status of the content processing, a signature of the process definition and a hash of the content;b) verifying the workflow information;c) when the workflow information is verified, processing the content according to the process definition and according to status of the content processing;d) updating and signing the workflow information;e) sending to the server the signed workflow information;and the steps iterated at the server of:f) receiving from a processing device a signed workflow information;g) publishing the signed workflow information received from the processing device. A system for performing the method is also provided.

Data is secured on a device in communication with a remote location using a password and content protection key. The device stores data encrypted using a content protection key, which itself may be stored in encrypted form using the password and a key encryption key. The remote location receives a public key from the device. The remote location uses the public key and a stored private key to generate a further public key. The further public key is sent to the device. The device uses the further public key to generate a key encryption key, which is then used to decrypt the encrypted content protection key. A new content encryption key may then be created.

The present invention provides a method and system for secured remote provisioning of a universal integrated circuit card of a user equipment. A system includes a user equipment for initiating a request for remote provisioning of an universal integrated circuit card (UICC) in the user equipment, where the request for remote provisioning includes a machine identifier (MID) associated with the user equipment and a public land mobile network (PLMN) identifier (ID) associated with an network operator. The system also includes at least one shared key management server for dynamically generating security keys and an operator shared key using the security keys, the MID. Moreover, the system includes an operator network for generating a subscription key using the operator shared key and an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI), and provisioning the IMSI in a secured manner to the UICC of the user equipment using the security keys.

Disclosed is a negative C-type retardation compensator for a liquid crystal display. The negative C-type retardation compensator for the liquid crystal display includes polyarlate having a thio group or a sulfur oxide group in a polymer main chain thereof. Accordingly, the retardation compensator has an absolute value of negative retardation that is larger in a thickness direction that a retardation compensator which includes polyarylate having no thio group or sulfur oxide group in a polymer main chain thereof even though the retardation compensator having the thio group or sulfur oxide group and the retardation compensator having no thio group or sulfur oxide group are the same as each other in thickness. Thereby, the negative C-type retardation compensator for liquid crystal displays is capable of being desirably applied to the liquid crystal displays.

An information processing device includes first encoding means for encoding an image by placing strip-shaped areas in the upper and lower sides, second encoding means for encoding data of first subtitles displayed in a third area formed by joining at least a part of one area of a first area and a second area together with the other area, first generating means for generating information referred to form the third area, and second generating means for generating the contents including the video stream, a stream of the first subtitles, and the control information.

A moving image recording apparatus generates first moving image data and second moving image data having less number of pixels than that of the first moving image data, records a moving image file including generated moving image data into a recording medium, and in the case that the first moving image data is outputted to the external apparatus for recording the first moving image data, controls so as to generate the second moving image data concurrently with the outputting of the first moving image data and controls to record a moving image file including the generated second moving image data into the recording medium, wherein outputting an instruction for closing a moving image file including the first moving image data to the external apparatus is controlled in accordance with the moving image file including the second moving image data being recorded into the recording medium having been closed.

A media recording device automatically records selected broadcast programs according to categories specified by the user, without requiring the user to specify in advance which programs are to be recorded. The recorded programs are then presented to the user for selection, and the selected programs may be played back immediately or saved for later playback. Each broadcast program may be allocated a priority, and the device may decide which programs to record or delete according to their relative priority. For each broadcast program, a corresponding visibility period may be specified, during which the program can be selected for playback and is not deleted. There may be a delay between the broadcast of the program and the beginning of its visibility period. An expiry time may be specified for each program, after which the program is deleted. There may be a delay between the end of the visibility period and the expiry time.

Systems and methods are provided for generating a composite video based on a plurality of asynchronously recorded input video streams. A plurality of segments of the input video streams are identified. A number of the input video streams that were recording during the particular segment are determined. A video display configuration for the particular segment is determined based on the number of video streams that were recording, where the video display configuration includes a display sub-region for each of the number of video streams that was recording. A composite video is generated, where the composite video includes a portion of video associated with each of the segments, where the composite video portion associated with the particular segment is formatted according to the video display configuration and displays the video streams that were recording during the particular segment in the display sub-regions of the video display configuration.

A recording system includes a receiving apparatus and a recording apparatus. The receiving apparatus includes a creation section and a reservation control section. The recording apparatus includes a recording section and a recording control section.

The present invention provides a content data recording/reproducing device, comprising a communication unit that engages in communication with an external device, a storage unit that stores content data and additional data related to the content data, a content data extraction unit that selectively extracts the content data from the storage unit based upon condition data received at the communication unit from the external device and the additional data stored in the storage unit and a contents list generation unit that generates a contents list based upon the condition data and additional data corresponding to the content data extracted by the content data extraction unit.

Recording reconstruction from multiple overlapping recordings may be provided. New recorders may copy manifests from working recorders, as opposed to reconstructing from failed recorders, to construct manifests that refer to video fragments from different recorders. Origin servers may follow these reconstructed manifests to obtain any fragment in the recording, in any combination of recorder failure/take-over/restart, as long as there was at least one recorder functioning at all times.

A recording apparatus includes a recording unit configured to record a moving image signal in a recording medium, a setting unit configured to set a threshold based on a remaining recording capacity of the recording medium, and a control unit configured to control the recording unit to start recording the moving image signal, into a first moving image file in the recording medium, according to a recording instruction, wherein the control unit is configured to control the recording unit to divide the moving image signal into at least a second moving image file in the recording medium in the case that a size of the first moving image file has reached the threshold during recording of the moving image signal according to the recording instruction, and is configured to control the recording unit to delete the moving image file recorded first, from among the plurality of moving image files recorded after the recording instruction, if the remaining recording capacity of the recording medium is determined to have run out during recording of the moving image signal.

An information processing apparatus includes a controller that sets type information, which represents that an application for executing a process using a dependent view video stream is an application for reproducing a 3-D image, in a clip information file which describes information on a transport stream including the dependent view video stream out of a base view video stream and the dependent view video stream obtained by encoding a plurality of video data according to the a predetermined video coding format.

A system that enables an event or moments within an event to be captured and provided in a record that preserves at least some aspects of the participant's perspective of the event. In particular, the present invention involves centralized recording of the event in one or more modes including video, audio, and still image recordings and a system that enables a participant (i.e., one who perceives the event) to select portions of the event recording substantially contemporaneously with the event occurrence. A personalized record is made by duplicating the selected portions from the event record. In a particular example, the personalized record is recorded on a digital media such as a compact disc (CD) or digital video disk (DVD) or the like.

A system, method and computer-readable medium are presented for providing real-time content-based navigation of live video programming. The video programming is received and a searchable database is generated. The method aspect of the invention comprises receiving a live video program, generating an index to the received live video program by extracting images and/or text from the video program, recording the live video program, presenting at least a portion of data associated with the generated index to a user, receiving user input regarding a search to a portion of the recorded video program to which the user desires to navigate and playing back the recorded video program starting at the searched portion identified by the user input. The search may be of an image and/or text portion of the presentation.

A process control system user display provides a display image containing control system information. The system may include a digital recording module including an image capture module for making a real-time digital recording of at least a portion of the display image, the image capture module buffering a terminal portion of the real-time digital recording. A storage module may store at least a portion of the real-time digital recording. A real-time digital recording may contain at least a portion of the display image, wherein, at any particular time, the real-time digital recording includes information from the control system for a predetermined duration proximate the particular time, and at least a portion of the real-time digital recording may be stored. A desired portion of the digital recording may be played back, optionally with process control system event and/or continuous history.

A ski tip hold down assembly for holding the tip end of the ski. The ski tip hold down assembly having a base attached to a work bench and an upright stand affixed to the base. The upright stand having a ski rest on a top surface thereof and a ski tip hold down bar secured to the upright stand in spaced apart relation to the ski rest defining an opening adapted to receive a ski tip, with the ski oriented in a base-up configuration, with the ski tip extending underneath the ski tip hold down bar. The apparatus further including a tail rest assembly having a base adapted to be used on the work bench in spaced apart relation to the ski tip hold down assembly and further including an upright stand affixed to the base with a ski rest provided on a top surface thereof.