A process identifier for a job is collected. The job runs on a plurality of nodes. The job is identified using the process identifier. A node for the job is identified. An amount of power consumed by the node to run the job is determined.

Generally, a High Performance Computing (HPC) system performs parallel computing by simultaneous use of multiple nodes to execute a computational assignment referred to as a job. Each node typically includes processors, memory, operating system, and input-output (I/O) components. The nodes communicate with each other through a high speed network fabric and may use shared file systems or storage. The job is divided in thousands of parallel tasks distributed over thousands of nodes. These tasks synchronize with each other hundreds of times a second. Usually an HPC system consumes megawatts of power.
Typically, HPC jobs run on a large number of compute nodes, IO nodes and operating system (OS) nodes. Typically, there are multiple HPC jobs in a single HPC cluster or HPC cloud. The jobs may share the same node at the same time. For example, the jobs may use the same non-volatile storage attached to the same IO node to save their private data. There is also tendency that a single compute node may serve more than one HPC jobs at a time.
Currently there is no technique to obtain the node power breakdown per job, indicating which portion of the node power belongs to which job. Traditionally, it is assumed that compute nodes are exclusively used by HPC jobs, which means that one single compute node can only serve one single HPC job at a time until this job is suspended or completed.
Conventional power monitoring techniques cannot be accurate as they do not provide per job power breakdown on the nodes. For example, for traditional in-house cluster based storage or network intensive HPC jobs, power monitoring inaccuracy can be as high as about 25%. If compute nodes are shared, power monitoring inaccuracy can add up to about 50%. For cloud based HPC or big data jobs, because substantially every node is shared and job scheduling is very dynamic, the conventional power monitoring result can be totally misleading.

Profiling a job power and energy consumption for a data processing system


A method of making packages having a reclosable zipper construction openable and closeable by a slider device. In one embodiment, the method includes utilizing photo eyes to monitor the registration of the film web in respect to the slider device and the placement of side seams. In another embodiment, the method includes utilizing multiple sealing steps to provide seal regions and side seams.

This disclosure concerns reclosable packages. In particular, this disclosure describes reclosable packages having slider devices for opening and closing the packages, and methods of manufacturing the packages.
Many packaging applications use resealable containers, such as flexible bags, to store various types of articles and materials. These packages may be used to store and ship food products, non-food consumer goods, medical supplies, waste materials, and many other articles. Many of these packages use a slider device to help open and close the closure profiles on reclosable bags.
Resealable packages are convenient in that they can be closed and resealed after the initial opening to preserve the enclosed contents. The need to locate a storage container for the unused portion of the products in the package is thus avoided. As such, providing products in resealable packages appreciably enhances the marketability of those products. Additionally, there is a large market for the resealable packages themselves. Consumers often remove an item from its original packaging and repackage it within a resealable package.
What is desired is an efficient method for making the reclosable packages having a slider device.
The present disclosure relates to a method of manufacturing a package, such as a flexible bag, having a resealable, reclosable zipper mechanism, opening and closing of which is accomplished by a slider device mounted on the zipper mechanism.
In one embodiment of the disclosure, a method of manufacturing a reclosable package having a zipper closure and a slider device includes providing a zipper closure construction having a first mating profile and a second mating profile and attaching the closure construction to a polymeric film having indicia thereon. The position of the indicia is registered with a first photo eye. A slider device is mounted onto the closure construction, the slider device constructed and arranged for mounting on the closure construction and for interlocking the first closure profile with the second closure profile when the slider device is moved in a first direction, and for disengaging the first closure profile from the second closure profile when the slider device is moved in a second opposite direction. The mounting of the slider device on the zipper closure is done in relation to the indicia. The indicia is again registered, but with a second photo eye. The zipper closure and the polymeric film are sealed or seamed at side edges to provide a package.
In another embodiment of the disclosure, a method of manufacturing a reclosable package having a zipper closure and a slider device includes providing a zipper closure construction having a first mating profile and a second mating profile and attaching the zipper closure construction to a polymeric film. A slider device is mounted onto the zipper closure, the slider device constructed and arranged for mounting on the zipper closure and for interlocking the first closure profile with the second closure profile when the slider device is moved in a first direction and for disengaging the first closure profile from the second closure profile when the slider device is moved in a second opposite direction. The zipper closure and film are sealed or seamed together by several steps to provide side edges to the package. Heat, pressure, ultrasonics or a combination thereof are applied for a dwell time to at least a portion of the closure construction to form a first seal region; heat, pressure, ultrasonics, or a combination thereof are applied for a dwell time to at least a portion of the closure construction to form a second seal region; and heat, pressure, or combination thereof are applied to form the side edges of the package. This multiple step sealing process, at least the first of which can be called a preheating step, facilitates providing the side seals and seams.
The methods of this disclosure involve, in general, providing a zipper having interlocking closure members attached to side panels, as appropriate, to provide a package, incorporating a xe2x80x9cparkxe2x80x9d notch within the zipper closure, and locating the slider device within the xe2x80x9cparkxe2x80x9d notch.

Methods of manufacturing reclosable packages having a slider device


A method of treating a mixture of ethyl alcohol and water for the reduction of impurities comprising the steps of:. a) mixing ethyl alcohol and water at a temperature of from about 5.degree. C. to about 10.degree. C. to obtain a mixture; PA0 b) flowing the mixture at a temperature of from about 5.degree. C. to about 20.degree. C. through three layers of an activated charcoal adsorber having surface activities of PA0 c) allowing the mixture to contact the activated charcoal adsorber for about 2 to 15 minutes, preferably for about 5 to 10 minutes; and PA0 d) recovering the initial capacity of the activated charcoal adsorber by flowing a stream of dry air, having a temperature of from about 100.degree. C. to about 400.degree. C., through the activated charcoal adsorber.. 1) from about 0.6 to about 0.8 mg-equivalent/liter, PA1 2) from about 0.8 to about 1.0 mg-equivalent/liter, and PA1 3) from about 1.0 to about 1.4 mg-equivalent/liter respectively, and a total pore volume of from about 1.4 to 1.6 cm.sup.3 /g;

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a process for the treatment of aqueous ethyl alcohol for the removal of impurities therefrom. More particularly, the invention relates to a process for the treatment of aqueous ethyl alcohol for the removal of impurities while maintaining desirable organoleptic qualities to provide an improved quality, high alcoholic content beverage known as vodka.


Hydroxymacrolides and derivatives of the general structural Formula I: ##STR1## have been prepared from suitable precursors by oxidation at C-20. These macrolides are useful as antagonists of FK-506-type immunosuppressants. The compounds of the present invention are useful for modifying dosages of FK-506-type immunosuppressants in the treatment of autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases and/or the prevention of rejection of foreign organ transplants. In addition, the compounds of the present invention have utility as antidotes for overdoses of FK-506-type immunosuppressants.

Immunoregulatory abnormalities have been shown to exist in a wide variety of "autoimmune" and chronic inflammatory diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosis, chronic rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes mellitus, inflammatory bowel disease, biliary cirrhosis, uveitis, multiple sclerosis and other disorders such as Chrons disease, ulcerative colitis, bullous pemphigoid, sarcoidosis, psoriasis, ichthyosis, and Graves ophthalmopathy. Although the underlying pathogenesis of each of these conditions may be quite different, they have in common the appearance of a variety of autoantibodies and self-reactive lymphocytes. Such self-reactivity may be due, in part, to a loss of the homeostatic controls under which the normal immune system operates.
Similarly, following a bone-marrow or an organ transplantation, the host lymphocytes recognize the foreign tissue antigens and begin to produce antibodies which lead to graft rejection.
One end result of an autoimmune or a rejection process is tissue destruction caused by inflammatory cells and the mediators they release. Antiinflammatory agents such as NSAID's and corticosteroids act principally by blocking the effect or secretion of these mediators but do nothing to modify the immunologic basis of the disease. On the other hand, cytotoxic agents such as cyclophosphamide act in such a nonspecific fashion that both the normal and autoimmune responses are shut off. Indeed, patients treated with such nonspecific immunosuppressive agents are as likely to succumb from infection as they are from their autoimmune disease.
Cyclosporin A which was licensed by the US FDA in 1983 is currently the leading drug used to prevent rejection of transplanted organs. The drug acts by inhibiting the body's immune system from mobilizing its vast arsenal of natural protecting agents to reject the transplant's foreign protein. Though cyclosporin A is effective in fighting transplant rejection, it is nephrotoxic and is known to cause several undesirable side effects including kidney failure, abnormal liver function and gastrointestinal discomfort.
Newer, safer drugs exhibiting less side effects are constantly being searched for in the field.
The 23-membered tricyclo-macrolide immunosuppressant, FK-506 (FR-900506), ##STR3## and related compounds which were isolated and characterized by Tanaka, Kuroda, and co-workers at Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co. in Japan (see J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1987, 109, 5031, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,894,366 (issued Jan. 16, 1990)) have been shown to possess exceptional immunosuppressive activity. A Fujisawa United States patent (U.S. Pat. No. 4,929,611, issued May 29, 1990) discloses the use of FK-506-type compounds in treating resistance to transplantation. In particular, the compound FK-506 (FR-900506) has been reported to be 100 times more effective than cyclosporin in the supression of in vitro immune systems (J. Antibiotics 1987, 40, 1256). In addition, these compounds are reputed to possess topical activity in the treatment of inflammatory and hyperproliferative skin diseases and cutaneous manifestations of immunologically-mediated illnesses (EPO Pub. No. 0,315,978).
A Fisons European patent application (EPO Publication No. 0,323,042) discloses various derivatives of FK-506-type immunosuppressants related to the present application, such as 18-hydroxy FK-506, which are described as having immunosuppressive activity (as determined in Mixed Lymphocyte Reaction Tests and Graft Versus Host Assay). In contrast, the compounds of the present invention are antagonists and have the ability to block the activity of FK-506-type immunosuppressants.
As used herein the term "agonist" denotes ability to initiate or promote a particular drug activity. The term "antagonist" denotes the ability to block a particular drug activity.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide new analogs of these tricyclomacrolides which will (1) modify the restoration of the balance of the help-and-suppression mechanism of the immune system with macrolide immunosuppressants and (2) modify the induction of transplantation tolerance by macrolide immunosuppressants.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide new analogs of these tricyclomacrolide immunosuppressants which have antagonistic properties. These analogs would find utility in the reversal of the immunosuppressive activity of other FK-506-type immunosuppressive agents and so provide antidotes for overdoses of the immunosuppressants.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide pharmaceutical compositions for administering to a patient one or more of the active macrolide antagonists of the present invention for the modification of treatment with FK-506-type macrolides having immunosuppressive activity.
Still a further object of this invention is to provide a method of modifying the activity of FK-506-type immunosuppressants (which are utilized in controlling graft rejection, autoimmune and chronic inflammatory dieases) by administering a sufficient amount of one or more of the novel macrolide immunosuppressive antagonists in a mammalian species in need of such treatment.
Finally, it is the object of this invention to provide processes for the preparation of the active compounds of the present invention.

Antagonists of immunosuppressive macrolides


A system for controlling the pitch between an original sound and a reproduced sound system in which generation of tremolo sound is suppressed and a clock is used commonly for write timing and read timing of a ring buffer. Digital data are obtained by sampling an analog input signal and data are interpolated before writing to a memory of the ring buffer, and a plurality of write positions are provided and the data is written while controlling addresses. Address spacings between a plurality of read memory positions are different from each other. Coefficients are set within a range from a predetermined negative value to a predetermined positive values according to address spacing to write memory position for each of the read memory positions, and the data read from each of a plurality of read memory positions are multiplied by the corresponding coefficient. The resultant data values are summed up and are used as output data. Further, a comb line filter is provided in a signal path.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pitch control system, and in particular to a pitch control system for controlling a pitch between an original sound and a reproduced sound by changing the frequency of an audio signal to a desired frequency.
2. Background Information
As a pitch control system of conventional type, a system is known, in which digitized data obtained through sampling of an analog input signal is sequentially written in a ring buffer, and the data are read out at a period different from the writing period. By sequentially demodulating the data read in this way, the interval of the signal is changed. When the pitch is to be lowered in such system, the reading period of the data from the ring buffer is made longer than the writing period. To raise the pitch (key), the reading period of the data from the ring buffer is made shorter than the writing period. Accordingly, a reading address for reading the data is relatively revolved with respect to a writing address for writing the data to the ring buffer, and the former address outruns the latter address or the former address is outrun by the latter address at a predetermined period. At the writing position to write the data of the ring buffer, the previously written data are sequentially rewritten, and the contents of the data are discontinuous in such a condition. When the reading position is at the rewritten position, discontinuous point will appear in the reproduced sound. To alleviate this effect, a so-called cross-fade method is used. Herein after an explanation will be made on a case where the reading period is shorter than the writing period. As shown in FIG. 1(A), the value d.sub.R-W showing the difference between the writing position W and the reading position R of the ring buffer is normally higher than the predetermined value d.sub.th. It is supposed that each position on the ring buffer advances clockwise, and a reading position R advances clockwise faster than it. When d.sub.R-W <d.sub.th, the data is also read from another reading position R', which is separated from the reading position R by the predetermined value d.sub.th in clockwise direction as shown in FIG. 1(B). The data from the reading position R is linearly processed by fade-out processing, and the data value from the reading position R' is linearly processed by fade-in processing. By summing these values, cross-fade processing is performed. From this time on, the data are outputted from the reading position, which does not pass a discontinuous point. Usually, the value d.sub.th is set to 1/2 of the size of the ring buffer.
However, because the number of the reading position changes from 1 to 2 during the cross-fade period, an effect like that of a comb filter occurs, and some of the frequency components in the signal have phases opposite with each other. In this case, the frequency components are canceled with each other. If in the same phase, the level of such frequency components is increased and a so-called comb type characteristics (shown as characteristic B in FIG. 2) appears. Since a flat characteristics (shown as characteristic A in FIG. 2) is obtained during the period in which cross-fade is not performed the fluctuation of frequency characteristic increases at the positions indicated by arrows in FIG. 2 (frequencies f.sub.1, 3, 5, . . . ) in response to the cross-fade period, generating so-called tremolo. In the writing and reading methods as described above, it is necessary to separately generate writing timing clock and reading timing clock.


A structure for coupling together addressably disparate nodes, such as IPv4 nodes and IPv6 nodes, without the use of an application level gateway. Instead, the system includes two executable applications, HEART and ECHO, that avoid the necessity of an application level gateway. In general, HEART and ECHO cooperate with each other through a network address translator-protocol translator (NAT-PT) to cause the NAT-PT to temporarily assign an IPv4 address to a control session between the IPv4 and IPv6 nodes and also prevent the control session from timing out due to lack of timely communications between the IPv4 and IPv6 nodes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the convergence of addressably disparate IP nodes and networks. More particularly, the present invention relates to coupling together IPv4 and IPv6 nodes without the use of an application level gateway.
2. Background Information
Coupling computers and computer-related equipment together in networks has enabled a variety of capabilities and services that are not possible with standalone machines. Examples of such capabilities and services include file sharing and email. The Internet permits entities which have incompatible addressing schemes to seamlessly and efficiently share information using network address translators.
Computer networks include not just the computers (called "nodes") that communicate with each other, but also an infrastructure that coordinates the transfer of data from one end node to another. The communication infrastructure includes switches, routers and other devices to provide, from the user's viewpoint, a transparent communication mechanism. Each node in the network is assigned an address referred to as an Internet Protocol ("IP") address and each node is accessible via its IP address. Thus, in general, a node wishing to send data to another node needs to know the IP address of the destination node. Armed with the destination IP address, the source node hands the data and the destination address to the communication infrastructure which then routes the data in an appropriate manner to the desired destination node. The data transmission also includes the address of the source node so that the destination node will be able to send messages back to the source node.
Because IP addresses are quite lengthy and hard to remember, end nodes are often assigned an easier to remember alphanumeric name also called a domain name. Domain names are typically in the format of "hostname.companyname.com". An Internet service called Domain Name System ("DNS") converts domain names to their associated IP addresses. This permits a source node to send the domain name of the destination node to the DNS. The DNS looks up the IP address corresponding to the requested domain name and provides the IP address back to the source node. The source node then uses the IP address provided by DNS to establish a communication session with the desired destination node. Typically, application software automatically coordinates the brief communication with DNS to obtain the IP address of the destination in a manner transparent to the user.
The communication infrastructure works remarkably well despite the presence on the network of a wide variety of computers and other types of device owned and operated by a wide variety of disparate organizations. This is true because a variety of standards have been promulgated which specify various aspects of how devices on the network are to communicate with each other. As long as the entities coupled to the network adhere to the accepted standards, the network works fine.
One such standard, which has been used since at least the 1970's is called the Internet Protocol version 4 ("IPv4"). The IPv4 standard provides a great deal of communication specifics, many of which are unnecessary to understand for the purpose of the technology described in this disclosure. One feature of IPv4, however, relevant to this disclosure is its addressing scheme. The IPv4 addresses are 32 bit addresses. An example of an IPv4 address is 188.8.131.52. Although initially, 32 bit addresses provided more than enough unique addresses to accommodate the total number of users, in recent years there has been an explosion in the number of users of IP networks quickly exhausting the addresses provided by IPv4.
For that and other reason, Internet Protocol version 6 ("IPv6") was created. IPv6 is a new version of the IP protocol designed to modernize IPv4. IPv6 has a number of advantages over IPv4 that allows for future Internet growth and will simplify IP configuration and administration. IPv6 specifies 128 bit IP addresses which solves the IP address shortage problem noted above. IPv6 also includes an addressing model that promotes aggressive route aggregation and a power autoconfiguration mechanism. Over time, it is expected that Internet growth will result in widespread adoption of IPv6. Already, IPv6 is becoming more and more widely used and accepted.
There is expected to be a long transition period during which it will be necessary for IPv4 and IPv6 nodes to coexist and communicate with one another. IPv4 nodes are incapable of correctly processing the longer IPv6 IP addresses. Thus, a strong, flexible set of IPv4-to-IPv6 transition and coexistence mechanisms are required during this transition period. One such mechanism is the Network Address Translation-Protocol Translation ("NAT-PT") mechanism. In general, NAT refers to the translation of an IPv4 address into an IPv6 address, and vice versa. The data transmission in an IP network typically include header information and a data payload. The header information include the source IP address, destination IP address, a checksum and other information relevant to the routing of the data payload to the destination node. The checksum is a value that is calculated based on the contents of the rest of the header information. The checksum is used by the destination node to determine whether any errors have occurred in the header during transmission. NAT-PT translates the header in a suitable manner so as to provide a seamless transfer between IPv4 and IPv6 networks.
The following example may help understand this process, although a more detailed explanation can be found in numerous references such as the Network Working Group's "Network Address Translation-Protocol Translation (NAT-PT)" memo dated 2000, incorporated herein by reference, and available on-line at www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2766.txt?number=2766. By way of example, FIG. 1 shows an IPv6 node 20 capable of communicating with an IPv4 node 26. The IPv6 node 20 has a v6 address of FEDC:BA98:7654:3210::1 and the IPv4 node 26 has a v4 address of 188.8.131.52 NAT-PT node 22 is included to provide the necessary address and protocol translations. The NAT-PT 22 has access to a pool 24 of addresses including all IP addresses from the IPv4 subnet 22.214.171.124/24.
If the IPv6 node 20 wishes to send a session initialization packet to the IPv4 node 26, the NAT-PT 22 locally allocates an address (e.g., 18.104.22.168) from its pool 24 of addresses and the outgoing packet is translated to IPv4. That is, the NAT-PT 22 replaces the source address (FEDC:BA98:7654:3210::1) of the IPv6 node 20 in the outgoing packet with the temporarily assigned v4 address (22.214.171.124) from the pool of v4 addresses. Further, the packet's header checksum is recomputed based on the new IPv4 address. In general, NAT-PT translates the packet header to a suitable IPv4 packet and forwards the packet to the IPv4 node. The translation parameters are cached for the duration of the session and the IPv6-to-IPv4 mapping is retained by NAT-PT 22.
The IPv4 node 26 receives the packet and uses the NAT-PT assigned temporary IPv4 source address (126.96.36.199) as the address for return messages. Any returning traffic towards the IPv6 node 20 will be recognized by NAT-PT 22 as belonging to the same session. NAT-PT 22 will use the state information to translate the packet. NAT-PT replaces the IPv4 address originally provided to the IPv4 node as the source address with the true IPv6 address (FEDC:BA98:7654:3210::1). The translated packet can now be routed inside the IPv6-only stub network as normal.
NAT-PT permits v4 and v6 nodes to communicate with one another regardless of which node initiates the session. The example above depicts the process when the v6 node initiates the session. Although not specifically described herein, the NAT-PT 22 can also temporarily allocate a v4 address to a session when the IPv4 node initiates the session.
Translating the header information for conversion between v4 and v6 nodes and networks is relatively straightforward. Translating the packet's data payloads, however, often is much more complicated and burdensome. Whereas the packet header is formatted according to a standard, the data payloads are application specific. Packet headers are easily translated because the location of the IP addresses and checksums are dictated by the applicable standards. Data payloads are free form and generally can be formatted however the application layer protocol designer desires. An example of when a data payload would need to be translated between IPv6 and IPv4 is for "voice-over-IP" applications. Voice-over-IP generally refers to Internet-based telephony in which users have a "phone" conversation with each other solely via the Internet and not using the standard telephone system. When a call is initiated, the calling node submits a packet to the receiving node that includes the calling node's IP address. This source address is typically included in the packet's header as well as the packet's payload. Not only does the source address in the header need to be translated as described above, but so does the payload's source address. NAT-PT only translates headers, not payloads. A different mechanism is needed to address the payload translation issues.
A currently popular approach is through the use of an Application Level Gateway ("ALG"). An ALG is a separate piece of logic that is specially designed for a particular application protocol. An ALG not only replaces the IPv6 address and IPv4 address in the payload, but also keeps track of some context information associated with the application and NAT-PT. The ALG generally is complicated and consumes computational power. If the application protocol changes to a new version, the ALG must be changed accordingly. Moreover, the continued maintenance and updating of ALGs is very labor intensive and costly. Other approaches to solving the payload translation problem have been discussed and/or are available. Such other approaches include Middlebox Communication Architecture, Application Layer Protocol Extension and Realm Specific IP. These approaches are still early in their development and are not fully tested and working. Accordingly, a better solution is needed than what is currently available today to address the IPv4-IPv6 payload conversion issue described herein.
Another problem to be considered when converting between IPv4 and IPv6 is how to handle applications for which a single control session is insufficient complete. A NAT-PT control session is generally defined as the set of traffic that is managed as a unit for translation by NAT-PT. A control session remains active until affirmatively closed by one of the nodes or upon expiration of a timeout timer. That is, if the nodes do not communicate with each other for a predetermined period of time, the session is automatically ended and the NAT-PT temporarily assigned v4 address is returned to the pool to be recycled for another control session. If, for example, an Internet voice conversation is occurring and the users do not say anything to each other for a period of time, their control session will timeout and end. This termination of temporary IPv4 address assignment is not known to the voice application. The VoIP application will be broken and stopped. The phone conversation can continue only upon reestablishing a new VoIP control session and, in the case of Internet telephony between IPv4 and IPv6 nodes, a new IPv4 address. Terminating and then reestablishing a control session between the two nodes interrupts the phone conversation and is thus undesirable. Further, the new IPv4 address affects the translation process. Moreover, a solution to this problem is also needed.

Non-ALG approach for application layer session traversal of IPv6/IPv4 NAT-PT gateway

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


We propose a method of detecting the presence of certain chemical and biochemical substances by virtue of the fact that they are, or have attached to them, either a dye molecule which acts as a photosensitizer for a holographic recording process, or another essential molecular component of the holographic recording material such as a monomer or a free radical generator. A recording material used in the process utilizes a photopolymer system consisting of a monomer and a crosslinking monomer, a free radical generator, a photosensitizer and, additionally, a polymeric binder when dry formulations are required and specifically lacks the substance to be detected. Subsequent holographic exposure records an interference pattern only where the complementary substance is present. Applications are broad ranging. Examples in diagnostics, printing, security, and environmental monitoring are given.

Holography is well known and widely used in many commercial applications including display holography, security, advertising and holographic optical elements and gratings. A holographic image is produced when light is diffracted at a complex spatially varying diffraction grating, which, in the simplest terms, re-directs the light towards the viewer in such a way as to give the illusion that the light is coming from a solid three-dimensional object.
This diffraction grating is produced by exposing a suitable photosensitive material to the optical interference pattern produced when two coherent light beams (usually produced by a laser) meet. The material records the variation in light intensity (as a variation in refractive index, absorption or thickness) and a corresponding diffraction grating results. If both light beams are simple collimated beams, the result will be a simple diffraction grating whose spatial period depends on the angle between the recording beams.
If the diffraction grating is illuminated with one of the recording beams (or a similar beam) it will diffract the light to reproduce the other recording beam. If one of the beams is a complex wavefront coming from a three dimensional object, the recorded diffraction grating will have the property that it can reconstruct this wavefront when illuminated with the other beam.
A wide variety of photosensitive materials are available including photopolymers, silver halides, dichromated gelatin, photo resists, thermoplastics, photochromics and photorefractive materials.
The recording process in photopolymers is described in detail in later sections.
Silver halide emulsions are widely used as holographic recording materials because of their sensitivity and their commercial availability. In addition these materials can be dye sensitized so that their spectral sensitivity matches the most commonly used laser wavelengths. These emulsions are suitable for recording amplitude and phase holograms, and can be used in transmission or reflection mode. A drawback of silver halide emulsions is that they need wet processing and drying.
Dichromated gelatin (DCG) consists of a gelatin layer impregnated with ammonium dichromate. Depending on the development techniques, the hologram can be recorded as a thickness variation or refractive index modulation. Similar to the silver halide emulsions, DCG can be dye sensitized. Among its advantages are large refractive index modulation capability, high spatial resolution, and low scatter. A main disadvantage is the requirement for post recording processing.
Photoresists are light sensitive organic films that yield a surface relief image after exposure and development. Photoresists can also be dye sensitized. Main drawbacks of these holographic recoding materials are the low sensitivity and the post recording processing. Their primary advantage is their low scattering resulting in high spatial frequency resolution.
In addition to these materials for irreversible holographic recording there are a number of materials that may be used several times. Such materials are thermoplastics, photochromic materials undergoing reversible changes in colour when exposed to light, photorefractive materials undergoing change in the refractive index due to light induced charge redistribution resulting in space modulated charge field and photoanisotropic holographic recording materials for polarization holography.
Conventionally, the photosensitive material is prepared as a film or solid layer on a substrate. Since the materials are generally photosensitive, once prepared, they are typically stored in the dark until required for use.
Holograms have been used in a number of different sensing applications. For example, Smart Holograms Ltd. of Cambridge, UK have proposed a number of Holographic sensors for detection of a variety of conditions including moisture, alcohol and analytes. The general principle of detection employs a change in the optical characteristics of already existing hologram. Generally, these sensors employ a preformed hologram formed with a support medium. The support medium is analyte sensitive. In use, a physical property of the hologram support medium is altered by the reaction of the analyte in liquid form with a substance disposed throughout the sensor. This in turn causes a variation of one or more optical characteristics of the hologram, which is detectable. The physical property of the holographic element (principally formed using silver halide based films) which alters may, for example, be its volume, shape, density, viscosity, strength, hardness, charge, hydrophobicity, solvent swellability or integrity. The detectable variation arising from the alteration of the physical property is suitably a change in optical characteristics, including for example, polarisability, reflectance, refractance or absorbance of the holographic element. Examples of patent applications related to this include WO95/26499, WO2003/087899, WO2004/081546, WO99/63408, WO2006/008531 and WO2006/008524.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


When the power is switched on, a CPU 41 sets up a video signal selector 47 to select a composite signal a output by an amplifier/detector 46. Meanwhile, a CPU 21 sets up a second video converter 31 to encode and to output, as a Y/C signal f, a digital broadcast video signal received across a signal path 33, and also transmits an initialization end notification to the CPU 41. Upon receiving this notification, the CPU 41 sets up the video signal selector 47 to select the Y/C signal f output by the second video converter 31.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a video display on a television receiver embedded with a video recording apparatus and a television receiver embedded with a video recording apparatus that have been powered on.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, when a television receiver embedded with a video recording apparatus is powered on, initialization of the video recording apparatus (DVD recording apparatus) is performed, so that images from a DVD can be reproduced and displayed immediately when a key on a remote controller is manipulated. During the initialization process, the following example procedures are performed. The optical pickup of the DVD recording apparatus is moved to a reference position, and data consisting, for example, of about several hundreds of K bytes are stored, unchanged or processed, by a microcomputer functioning as a controller, in another memory and in the internal register of an integrated circuit for the recording and reproduction of data. Therefore, about five seconds are required to complete the initialization process. When a DVD has already been loaded into the DVD recording apparatus when it is powered on, the DVD is played, and the data required for the display of a menu are stored in a memory, so that immediately after the menu key of a remote controller is manipulated, a title menu stored in the DVD can be displayed on the television receiver. Thus, the time required to complete the initialization process is even further extended. During the initialization process, a predetermined opening screen is displayed on the television receiver.
Disclosed in JP-A-2003-069955 is a technique whereby the picture of a preferred portion reproduced from a DVD is stored in a memory in advance, so that instead of an ordinary opening screen, this picture is employed as a preferred opening screen for a viewer.

Television receiver embedded with video recording apparatus


Subject matter disclosed herein relates to a series of palladium based materials, their preparation method and their applications in an organic light-emitting diode (OLED).

Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are recognized as a next-generation display and/or lighting technology. Due to the 3:1 triplet to singlet exciton issue, development of emitting materials for OLED application maybe mainly focused on phosphorescent materials. Among phosphorescent materials, metal organic materials containing heavy transition metals may exhibit desirable performance in OLED application. Iridium is a commonly used heavy transition metal while platinum is an up-and-coming candidate. Devices fabricated from iridium- and platinum-based materials have good device performance for mass production.
However, prices for iridium- and platinum-based materials may be relatively high. There is a desire to reduce costs for emitting materials. Zinc-based materials may provide an advantage related to cost, for example. Nevertheless, efficiency and/or stability of devices fabricated from zinc-based materials may be questionable.

Palladium complexes for organic light-emitting diodes


A self-cleaning rotisserie oven includes a cooking chamber for cooking food product. A rotor is used for supporting and moving a food product in the cooking chamber. A sump is positioned below the cooking chamber that collects water provided to the cooking chamber. A sensor is positioned to detect when the sump is filled to a set level. An inlet valve is configured to control supply of water to the cooking chamber. A controller is configured to carry out a self-cleaning process. The self-cleaning process includes (a) a pre-rinse phase where the controller (i) opens the inlet valve, (ii) closes the inlet valve when the sensor detects that the sump is filled to the set level, and (iii) determines a duration of time that the inlet valve was open during (i), and (b) a later phase during which the controller opens the inlet valve for an amount of time based on the duration of time determined during (a)(iii).

Various types of ovens are used for cooking food product. Rotisserie ovens are commonly used in the retail environment to cook chickens and other food products in a manner that permits store customers to view the food product during cooking. Rotisserie style cooking tends to result in grease, juices and food particles within the oven that require the oven to be cleaned regularly. It would be desirable to provide a rotisserie oven with an integrated self-cleaning system.


A precursor composition capable to form a solid-state electrolyte having good ion conductivity and high heat-resistance, by simple curing procedure, comprising; (A) a polymerizable ion pair compound represented by formula I, (B) a cross-linker having two or more unsaturated groups co-polymerizable with the polymerizable ion pair compound (A), and (C) non-polymerizable ion pair compound. Each of R1, R2, R3, R4, R5 and R6 represents hydrogen atom, alkyl or aryl group having 1-12 carbon atoms; and each of R7 and R8 represents alkyl or aryl group having 1-12 carbon atoms. X designates either of halogen atom, AlCl4−, PF6−, BF4−, bis (oxalato) borate anion, Rf1SO3−, (NC)2N−, (Rf2Y)2N−, (Rf2Y)3C−, and (Rf2Y) 2C−Q, where Rf1 designates perfluoro alkyl or aryl group having 1-8 carbon atoms; each Rf2 designates fluorine atom, perfluoro alkyl or aryl group having 1-8 carbon atoms; Y designates —SO2—or —PO—Rf2; and Q designates —H or —CO—Rf2

In order to enhance performances or safety of lithium battery, capacitor or the like, numerous investigations has been made for utilizing gel or polymer electrolyte in place of liquid-state electrolyte that has been conventionally used. As for polymer electrolytes, investigations have been made on alkylene oxides added with electrolyte salts such as lithium perchlorate, lithium methanesulfonate, and lithium bis(trifluoro methane sulfonyl imide). Nevertheless, satisfactory ion conductivity at room temperature or at 25° C. has not been achieved yet as hampered by thermo-dynamical mobility of the alkylene oxide polymer chains. Moreover, the alkylene oxide polymers are defective in thermal stability and start to decompose at a temperature of 180° C. or more.
Meanwhile, ionic liquid that has recently attracted attentions exhibit good ion conductivity. Nevertheless, if the ionic liquid is highly viscose, the ion conductivity deteriorates. Moreover, when the ionic liquid is converted to solid state by being combined with polymer compounds, mobility of the ions is hampered by constrictions on motion of macromolecular chains; thus density of the ions and thereby the ion conductivity are further decreased. Please see JP-1998(H10)-265673A.
In view of the above, it is aimed to provide precursor compositions capable to form a solid-state electrolyte having good ion conductivity and high heat-resistance by simple curing procedure such as casting into a mould or onto a surface, as well as to provide gel electrolyte obtainable from the precursor compositions.

Ion-polymer gel electrolyte and its precursor composition


A multi-layer plate member bonding structure includes a first plate member having a binding unit protruded from the top surface thereof, a second plate member having one open chamber cut through opposing outer face and bonding face thereof corresponding to the binding unit of the first plate member, and an adhesive filled up the open chamber and cured to form a first stop portion in the relatively greater upper part of the open chamber and a second stop portion in the relatively smaller lower part of the open chamber to secure the first plate member and the second plate member firmly together.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to plate member bonding technology and more particularly, to a multi-layer plate member bonding structure, which enables multiple plate members to be joined together positively.
2. Description of the Related Art
Following fast development of science and technology, the design concept of commercial electronic products is focused on light, thin, short and small characteristics. Many electronic products (cell phone, notebook, PDA, etc.) are made convenient to carry by user. To enhance mobility, the weight of electronic products must be reduced. In order to reduce the weight, the shell or casing of an electronic product may be formed of an outer metal layer having a relatively thinner wall thickness and an inner plastic layer having a relatively thicker wall thickness. This design greatly reduces the product weight while providing excellent tensile strength. Further, the outer metal layer facilitates surface treatment by an electroplating or coating technique. Therefore, metal is commonly used for the casing or the outer layer of the casing for commercial electronic products.
When setting a plastic plate member in a metal plate member to give a support, an adhesive is usually used to bond the two plate members together. However, this method has drawbacks as follows:
1. After hardened, the volume of the adhesive is slightly reduced (due to vaporization of fluid), and tiny open spaces may exist in between the metal plate member and the plastic plate member, lowering the product yield rate.
2. The metal plate member and the plastic plate member may be twisted when the user opens or closes the electronic product, and the torsional force thus produced may cause separation of the adhesive from the metal plate member and/or the plastic plate member, resulting in plate member separation damage.
3. When bonding the metal plate member and the plastic plate member together, the hardening time of the applied adhesive prolongs the product manufacturing time. Further, the use of the adhesive relatively increases the manufacturing cost of the product, weakening the competitive advantage.

Multi-layer plate member bonding structure


An oscillator for use in a preconditioner includes a rectifier, a converter receiving an input voltage and supplying an output voltage, and a control unit effecting peak current mode control. The oscillator has a switching frequency with a period dependent on the input voltage and the output voltage.

The present invention relates to an oscillator for use in a preconditioner comprising a rectifier (1), a converter (2) receiving an input voltage (Uin) and supplying an output voltage (Uout), and a control unit (3) for controlling the peak current mode to maintain a constant output voltage. The invention also relates to a voltage converter provided with such an oscillator, and a preconditioner with such an oscillator.
A simple way to rectify an AC source to a DC output is to use a diode bridge rectifier and a capacitor. However, when the input power is greater than 75 W, this is not allowed according to the requirements of IEC1000-3-2.
Alternatively, a Switch Mode Power Supply (SMPS) can be used, comprising e.g. a diode bridge rectifier and a boost converter, to control the current drawn from the mains. Although it is possible to draw a sine-shaped current from the mains (e.g. using a Power Factor Control (PFC)), square wave current or a trapezoid-shaped current may also be used, at least under certain power levels. An advantage of using a square wave input current is that the peak value is 1.27 lower than a sine-shaped current for the same output power. A lower peak level means that a smaller inductive component (coil) can be used, reducing cost and space requirements.
An example of a rectifier in combination with a boost converter drawing a trapezoid input current is given in U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,098, where the main object is to obtain a simpler control electronics. However, this converter operates in the continuous mode. Boost converters operating in the discontinuous mode are also well known in the art. In such converters, during every switching period, the current in the boost coil reaches a certain maximum and at the end is zero again (triangle form). Such converters have smaller coils compared to continuous mode converters, lower turn-on losses and emission levels due to the zero current at switching, and control of output is simpler.
An object of the present invention is to provide improved frequency control for a power converter operating in the discontinuous mode with peak current mode control.
A second object of the invention is to reduce the required size of the boost coil in a boost converter.
A third object of the invention is to provide a converter drawing a square wave or trapezoid-shaped input current.
According to a first aspect of the invention, these and other objects are accomplished by an oscillator of the type mentioned by way of introduction, having the features described in the independent claim 1.
This inventive switching frequency control scheme makes it possible to provide a converter operating in the discontinuous mode that draws a square wave input current. An important detail of this aspect of the invention is that both input and output voltages are allowed to influence the switching frequency. The function of the switching period (Tper) in accordance with the invention enables a better control of the input current supplied to the converter and, in particular, an essentially constant average input current to be obtained.
According to another aspect of the invention, the above switching period is realized substantially by an oscillator of the type mentioned by way of introduction, having an output signal dependent upon the voltage across a timing capacitor, and comprising a switching element arranged to connect the capacitor to ground when said output signal is low, thereby causing discharging of said capacitor during a discharge time. The oscillator further comprises a zener diode and a transistor, connected to the input voltage in such a way that, when the input voltage exceeds the zener voltage of the zener diode, a current flows through the transistor, thereby decreasing the discharge current and increasing the discharge time.
In this oscillator, the discharge current is divided into two regions, depending on whether the input voltage is lower or higher than the zener voltage.
This circuit can be realized by connecting the transistor emitter to the input voltage via a resistance, connecting the transistor collector to the anode of a diode, the cathode of which is connected to the capacitor, and connecting the transistor base to the cathode of the zener diode, the anode of which is connected to ground.
According to a preferred embodiment, a second zener diode, connected to the input voltage in such a way that, when the input voltage exceeds a voltage limit, equal to the sum of the zener voltage of the first zener diode and a function of the zener voltage of the second zener diode, the current through the transistor increases, thereby further decreasing the discharge current and increasing the discharge time.
The discharge current is now divided into three regions, (1) below the first zener voltage, (2) between the zener voltage and the voltage limit, and (3) above the voltage limit.
This circuit can be realized by connecting the cathode of the second zener diode to the input voltage via a resistance, and connecting the anode of the second zener diode to the cathode of the first zener diode and to the base of the transistor.
The oscillator preferably comprises a second switching element arranged to connect the collector of the transistor to ground when said output signal is high.
Other aspects of the invention include a converter and a preconditioner comprising such an oscillator.

Oscillating circuit, converter with such oscillating circuit, and preconditioner with such converter


Disclosed is a method of producing an antimicrobial peptide wherein an antimicrobial peptide gene is fused with a green fluorescent protein gene expressed insolubly in E. coli, followed by introduction into E. coli, expression, and removal of the green fluorescent protein to yield the antimicrobial peptide. This method is capable of producing the antimicrobial peptide with high yield in a simple and economical manner and is thus effective at providing native antibiotics that can replace conventional antibiotics in pharmaceutical and feed industries, requiring the development of antibiotics having a new mechanism of action that can eradicate resistant strains due to the proliferation of multiple-drug-resistant microorganisms. Furthermore, the use of an amino acid cleavage process through acid treatment, instead of using conventional cyanogen bromide, is cost-effective for the purification of a target protein from an insoluble protein, can decrease the risk of processing, and enables rapid processing.

All organisms, ranging from microorganisms to higher organisms, have their own unique defense systems to protect themselves from external harmful environments. Moreover, it is known that not only microorganisms but also mycelia produce antimicrobial peptides, which are self-defense substances that exhibit antimicrobial activity, and thus have an innate immune system, thereby protecting themselves from external harmful factors before the antigen-antibody reaction.
Meanwhile, humans have developed and used many kinds of antibiotics since penicillin, but recently, strains resistant to such antibiotics have emerged at an increasingly rapid rate, unlike in the past. Particularly, multiple-drug-resistant microorganisms that manifest resistance to two or more different antibiotics or antimicrobials are proliferating, and it is urgent to develop antibiotics having a new mechanism of action that is capable of eradicating these resistant strains.
Thereby, native antimicrobial peptides have emerged as candidates for new antibiotics. Since they exhibit antimicrobial activity through the mechanism of an action different from that of conventional compound antibiotics, the problem of strains resistant to the antibiotics is considered to have been solved.
Accordingly, many attempts have been made to use native antimicrobial peptides without change or to synthesize analogs. However, since antimicrobial peptides increase not only antimicrobial activity, but also erythrocyte hemolysis, which is a measure of cytotoxicity, many limitations are imposed on real-world application thereof.
Moreover, technology for mass production, which is regarded as most important in terms of commercialization of antimicrobial peptides, has been variously studied but has not yet become industrially viable. This is because the production of antimicrobial peptides through chemical synthesis is not economical and the production of antimicrobial peptides through genetic engineering techniques using microorganisms is economical but the expressed antimicrobial peptides inhibit the growth of host microorganisms, undesirably resulting in very low peptide production yield.
Therefore, the present inventors have ascertained that the expression of a fusion protein, configured such that a green fluorescent protein expressed insolubly in E. coli binds as a scaffold to an antimicrobial peptide, is induced using an E. coli expression system in which gene manipulation is easy and which is economical, after which the antimicrobial peptide is isolated from the fusion protein, thus obtaining the peptide to thereby solve the problem in which the peptide production yield is decreased due to the deterioration of production of antimicrobial peptide through protein hydrolysis and due to the inhibition of growth of E. coli by the antimicrobial peptide, ultimately enabling mass production of the antimicrobial peptide in a simple and economical manner, thus culminating in the present invention.
The related art includes Korean Patent No. 10-0958095 (Method for the mass expression of an antimicrobial peptide using a translational coupling system), Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2012-0062504 (Multimeric antimicrobial peptide expressed on cell surface), etc.

Insoluble fusion protein comprising antimicrobial peptide and method for producing antimicrobial peptide using same

Konkuk University Industrial Cooperation Corp


A hexapod actuator device, notably used in flight simulators or driving simulators, includes six legs. A first end of each leg is notably mobilizable along a straight segment by virtue of a motorized carriage. The hexapod actuator comprises notably six segments of straight lines that may be coplanar or inclined with respect to the ground. A second end of each leg may be mounted free on a ball joint with three degrees of freedom in rotation. Each of the ball joints is secured to a mobile platform. The device lies in the field of systems allowing motion to be imparted to pilot cabins for example.

Various motion systems may be used in flight simulators or driving simulators. Notably, mobilization systems are used in helicopter or aircraft flight simulators. They meet qualification criteria defined by certification bodies, notably the FAA, the acronym standing for the expression Federal Aviation Administration and the equivalent in Europe of the JAA, the acronym standing for the expression Joint Aviation Authorities.
The invention can notably be applied to simulators meeting FFS level B qualification criteria, the acronym standing for the expression Full Flight Simulator level B, i.e. flight simulator of level B. This type of simulator is increasingly prized by customers on account notably of their small proportions relative to simulators of FFS level D type. The invention can also be applied to simulators meeting FFS level D qualification criteria.
The best known prior art in regard to mobile platforms for simulators is a Stewart platform. The concept of the Stewart platform is based on the use of a hexapod positioner allowing motion with six degrees of freedom. Stewart mobile platforms are notably used for flight simulators, according to a design by K. Cappel. The type of motion of these platforms forms part of the family of parallel robots.
Several possible motorizations exist for moving a hexapod according to the prior art:                hydraulic rams, mainly used to mobilize loads of greater than about fourteen tonnes;        screw-type electric rams, for loads of less than about fourteen tonnes;        pneumatic systems for small loads, for example less than five hundred kilos.
The existing motorizations, making it possible to move a hexapod according to the prior art, are products having a fixed configuration for a given application. For example to change the travel of a ram, it is necessary to place a stop inside the ram or to elongate the length of the screw. Therefore, modifying the length of the ram gives rise to a new design of the ram, a revalidation and a re-investigation of the kinematics and of the geometry of the hexapod.
The existing products do not therefore make it possible to carry out simple adaptations of geometry, as a function of customer requests, in regard to simulators notably. Moreover, these products are produced in small quantities and are therefore very expensive.
In the case of hexapods with electric rams, the level of vibration and the noise are more significant than with hydraulic hexapods, and this may disturb pilot training. This phenomenon is due mainly to the recycled motions of the balls on the screw or to the rollers propelled at high speed on the screw.
Moreover, in the case of a hexapod according to the prior art, the integration of safety elements is very constraining, notably:                The return to a horizontal stable position, in the case of a power outage or an electrical control fault, so as to facilitate the exit of the crew, requires an ancillary backup power supply source. This type of backup power supply is expensive both in respect of its purchase and its servicing.        In the case of failure of the command and control systems, shock absorbers must be integrated to avoid fierce decelerations at the end of the travel, because of the presence of the screw; they are designed and certified specially for this type of application and are therefore much more expensive than the shock absorbers chosen from the catalogues of industry suppliers.


A centrifugal concentrator in which there is a common shaft for the drive motor and concentrator bowl. The cost of bearing assemblies is thereby minimized. The bowl is driven and suspended from above to keep the motor out of the slurry area and maximize the simplicity of the design. A fluidizing fluid is delivered through the common shaft.

Various machines have been developed to separate particles of high density such as gold, iron or tin from tailings and other slurry streams using centrifugal concentration, using the centrifugal force created in a rotating bowl to separate the high density particles from the lower density slurry. The present applicant for example has invented batch centrifugal concentrators which are the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 4,824,431 and Canadian Patent no. 2149978, which are incorporated herein by reference. Such machines are designed to maximize the throughput of slurry, and are designed to withstand the heavy duty and wear arising from a relatively long-term operation at a mine. The rotating bowl is typically mounted on a shaft supported on large bearings, and is rotated by a motor beneath the machine which drives a drive belt connected to a sheave on the rotor shaft.
Artisanal or small-scale mining is a mining activity which involves people working with simple tools and equipment, outside the legal and regulatory framework. Currently, it is estimated that there are many millions of people involved in artisanal mining around the world and that number is growing with the elevated price of gold. It takes place in the remote parts of the world's poorest countries. It usually involves the activities of single individuals or a small group of individuals who are impoverished and exploiting marginal deposits in harsh conditions. One common form of artisanal mining is placer gold mining or panning for gold. In order to separate the retrieved gold from the ore, the artisanal miner will often crush the ore and use mercury which combines with the gold to form an amalgam, and which can be separated from the other material as "cake". The miners then heat the cake to burn off the mercury, leaving a residue of gold as well as causing health and environmental problems. There is therefore a need for a simple and inexpensive but environmentally safe method for artisanal miners to separate gold from particulate material.

Centrifugal concentrator with suspended rotor bowl


A multi-gas mixer for supplying a gas mixture that can uniformly mix a plurality of gases according to the proportional percentages determined by the mass flow rate of each gas is disclosed. The multi-gas mixer comprises a mixer chamber, a plurality of gas inlets, a gas mixture outlet, and at least one gas rotating and mixing unit. The present invention also provides a method for controlling the percentage of each gas to be mixed by use of a plurality of mass flow rate controllers to control the gas flow to produce a gas mixture according to a predetermined proportionality. When the multi-gas mixer delivers a gas mixture to a high-speed plasma torch, the torch can be stably operated under a high voltage (>85V) and a medium current (<650 A) so that a long-arc, high-temperature and high-speed plasma flame can be generated.

With the increasing demand of gas mixtures, it has become more and more crucial to efficiently produce the gas mixtures. Presently, a certain amount of mixed gas (such as argon-hydrogen) is mixed and sealed in a steel cylinder before being shipped to the user. In this case, if the user desires to use a gas mixture by multi-gases with different percentages, lots of steel cylinders are required to be prepared in the factory, which leads to large space and thus inconvenience for both the factory and the user.
More particular, a conventional plasma torch generally achieves desired plasma flame characteristics by adjusting the plasma gas flow and the working current of the plasma torch according to practical demand, which leads to higher cost due to frequent replacement of electrodes that are easily worn out.
Accordingly, some conventional techniques have been reported to uniformly mix the gases with different densities within a large range. However, it is still difficult to optimize the percentages of gases by the use of T-shaped joints and nozzles.
Conventionally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,712 discloses a gas mixer capable of being used in plasma spray coating. The gas mixer uses three filter chambers, each being provided on the wall with pores with different diameters (for example, 60, 45 and 20 microns). These pores are used for directing at least two gas flows to mix the same. One of the two gas flows is hydrogen, helium or pre-mixed hydrogen-helium, while the other is argon, nitrogen or pre-mixed argon-nitrogen. If the user desires a gas mixture comprising hydrogen, helium, argon and nitrogen, pre-mixed hydrogen-helium and pre-mixed argon-nitrogen are further mixed by the gas mixer to produce hydrogen-helium-argon-nitrogen. However, the method for controlling the percentages of gas is not disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,333,481 B2 discloses a device for generating an arc plasma using a gas mixture of argon-hydrogen or nitrogen-hydrogen for cutting. The gas mixer is provided with two gas inlets for introducing two kinds of gas. Even though it requires external control means to precisely control the percentage of each gas in a gas mixture, the control method and hardware for external control are not presented.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,326,875 B2 discloses a device and a method for producing a gas mixture for performing plasma cutting, wherein the percentage of each gas in the gas mixture is precisely controlled by controlling the flow rate and the pressure of the gas. However, a pressure sensor is required for each gas to detect a pressure signal and a signal processor is required for processing the pressure signal for each gas. Moreover, the patent only provides a gas mixture of argon, nitrogen and hydrogen.
Even though the above-mentioned prior art references disclose some useful techniques on the gas mixer and application thereof, there is still need in providing a multi-gas mixer capable of uniformly mixing gases with arbitrary percentages. Accordingly, the present discloses a multi-gas mixer capable of uniformly mixing gases with arbitrary percentages.

Multi-gas mixer and device for supplying gas mixture to plasma torch

Institute of Nuclear Energy Research Atomic Energy Council, Executive Yuan


Digital data of plural categories need to be reproduced chronologically in a simplified manner. A memory card can be mounted on or dismounted from a digital camera device and records the digital data of plural categories. The data of the respective categories are stored under a dedicated sub-directory. In recording, the digital camera device generates serial numbers in the data recording sequence, without dependency upon the categories, and records the digital data with the filename including the serial number. In reproduction, the digital data is reproduced in the sequence of the serial numbers included in the filename without dependency upon the categories.

This invention relates to a removable recording medium on which data of plural categories, such as, for example, audio data and video data, are recorded, and a recording and reproducing apparatus for recording digital data on this recording medium.
In many recording and reproducing apparatuses, a removable recording medium is used. One advantage of such a removable recording medium is the ability to allow the digital data on the removable recording media to be processed directly by a computer. To further facilitate this advantage, the digital data is stored on the removable recording medium in a directory structure and file format that can be processed by a computer system. For example, a digital camera will store its still image digital data in a memory card, such as a flash RAM memory card, in a directory structure that a standard IBM PC compatible computer can access given the correct driver, and in a file format commonly used by a PC to store such image data, such as the JPEG file format.
Some recording and reproducing apparatus, which have hitherto been able to record and reproduce only data of one category, are now able to record and reproduce data of plural categories. Such categories include still image, audio, and video. This change in the art is a result of developments in the digital data processing field in recent years, and also of the development of increasing recording capacity of removable recording media. For example, formerly a digital camera could record only still image data. Now a new digital camera may be able to record moving picture or video data in addition to still image data, and may even have a microphone to record audio data.
In these recording and reproducing apparatus capable of recording and reproducing data of plural categories, a new problem arises. The different digital data categories, such as still image, audio, and video, will each have one or more particular file formats. Specific apparatuses may be able to mount the removable recording medium, but only access and process one category of data. For example, a new digital camera may record still image, audio, and video data on a removable recording medium. However, an audio player may only be able to process audio files, even though it is able to mount the particular removable recording medium. Thus, the plethora of data categories on the removable recording medium could render such an audio player unable to find or access the audio files. Moreover, a program on a personal computer will often only deal with a specific data category, or even a specific file format, and may have the same problem of accessing data on a removable recording medium with multiple data categories on it. In order to address this potential compatibility problem, a recording and reproducing apparatus capable of recording and reproducing data of plural categories is provided. It can record data of different categories in different directories on the removable recording medium. Each particular digital data category can have a corresponding directory. This allows apparatuses or programs the option to access a predetermined directory containing only one category of data. Subdirectories can be used to further categorise specific file formats under category directories.
This solution presents a new problem. If a recording and reproducing apparatus capable of recording and reproducing data of plural categories records data in different directories, it is not recording data in a list format which mirrors the chronological order in which the data was recorded. A problem presents itself if data on the removable recording medium needs to be accessed in chronological order rather than in categorical order, or if any time comparison must be done between data of different categories,
In view of the above-described status of the art, it is an object of the present invention to provide a recording and reproducing apparatus in which digital data of plural categories can be recorded onto a recording medium in categories but reproduced chronologically. Another object of the present invention is to provide a recording medium in which recorded digital data of plural categories can be reproduced chronologically.
One aspect of the present invention provides a recording and reproducing apparatus for recording and reproducing data of plural categories, and which records the data of plural categories in category-specific directories on a removable recording medium. The removable recording medium will therefore have a data structure in which data of different categories will be divided into category-specific directories. The recording and reproducing apparatus of this aspect of the present invention will include a micro-controller, or control micro-computer, and a working memory. The control microcomputer generates serial numbers for each particular file of digital data. The serial numbers are generated so that they will not be dependent on the category of the digital data, but on the chronological order of the digital data""s recording. The serial number is used by the micro-controller to generate a file name for each file of digital data. When the recording and reproducing apparatus reproduces the digital data on the removable recording media, it can then reproduce the digital data in its chronological order rather than categorical order by ordering the filenames by their serial numbers in the working memory.
A removable recording medium is another aspect of the present invention. The removable recording medium has digital data of plural categories recorded on it. The digital data of any given category is recorded in the directory corresponding to that category. The files of digital data are recorded by a filename including a serial number generated in the order of the data recorded without dependency upon the categories.

Recording and reproducing apparatus and recording medium


A color filter suitable for being disposed on a substrate is provided. The color filter includes a plurality of pixel units separately disposed on the substrate so as to define a plurality of blank regions thereon. A color display apparatus applying the color filter is also provided, wherein the color display apparatus includes a driving circuit substrate, the color filter and a display medium layer. The color filter is disposed on the driving circuit substrate. The display medium layer is disposed between the driving circuit substrate and the color filter.

FIG. 1A is a cross sectional view of a typical electrophoretic display apparatus 100. Referring to FIG. 1A, the typical electrophoretic display apparatus 100 includes a driving circuit 102 disposed on a substrate 101, an electrophoretic layer 103 disposed on the driving circuit 102, and a color filter layer 104 disposed on the electrophoretic layer 103. The color filter layer 104 is formed by steps as follows: A plurality of color filter films, such as filter films 104r, 104g and 104b, are sequentially disposed on predetermined positions of the electrophoretic layer 103 by a heat transfer printing process, and a transparent protecting layer 105 is subsequently adhered on the color filter layer 104 by an adhering layer 106.
FIG. 1B is a top view of the color filter layer 104 shown in FIG. 1A. Referring to FIG. 1B, after the transparent protecting layer 105 and the color filter layer 104 is adhered together by the adhering layer 106, the pigments of the color filter films 104r, 104g and 104b may fad and mix with each other, and problems of color mixture and color distortion in pigments may thus occur when the color filter layer 104 is formed.
Therefore, there is a need to provide an improved color filter and its manufacturing method to solve the drawbacks and problems encountered from the prior art.

Color filter, applications thereof and method for manufacturing the same


A method of modulating, regulating and/or stabilizing angiogenesis in a mammal in need thereof, in which the PDGF-D level or activity or both in the mammal are modulated or increased. In preferred embodiments, an active PDGF-D polypeptide, or a polynucleotide encoding an active PDGF-D is administered to the mammal, preferably at a location where angiogenesis modulation or stabilization is desired. The PDGF-D is advantageously co-administered with an angiogenic growth factor, such as a member of the VEGF family of growth factors, in particular VEGF-E. The claimed method inhibits leakage of blood vessels and is useful, inter alia, for treatment of edemas.

In the developing embryo, the primary vascular network is established by in situ differentiation of mesodermal cells in a process called vasculogenesis. It is believed that all subsequent processes involving the generation of new vessels in the embryo and neovascularization in adults, are governed by the sprouting or splitting of new capillaries from the pre-existing vasculature in a process called angiogenesis (Pepper et al., 1996, Enzyme & Protein, 49:38-162; Breier et al., 1995, Dev. Dyn., 204:228-239; Risau, 1997, Nature, 386:671-674). Angiogenesis is not only involved in embryonic development and normal tissue growth, repair, and regeneration, but is also involved in the female reproductive cycle, establishment and maintenance of pregnancy, and in repair of wounds and fractures. In addition to angiogenesis which takes place in the normal individual, angiogenic events are involved in a number of pathological processes, notably tumor growth and metastasis, and other conditions in which blood vessel proliferation, especially of the microvascular system, is increased, such as diabetic retinopathy, psoriasis and arthropathies. Modulation, regulation and/or stabilization of angiogenesis is useful in preventing or alleviating various pathological processes.
On the other hand, promotion of angiogenesis is desirable in situations where vascularization is to be established or extended, for example after tissue or organ transplantation, or to stimulate establishment of collateral circulation in tissue infarction or arterial stenosis, such as in coronary heart disease and thromboangitis obliterans.
The angiogenic process is highly complex and involves the maintenance of the endothelial cells in the cell cycle, degradation of the extracellular matrix, migration and invasion of the surrounding tissue and finally, tube formation. The molecular mechanisms underlying the complex angiogenic processes are far from being understood.
Because of the crucial role of angiogenesis in so many physiological and pathological processes, factors involved in the control of angiogenesis have been intensively investigated. A number of growth factors have been shown to be involved in the regulation of angiogenesis; these include fibroblast growth factors (FGFs), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), transforming growth factor alpha (TGFα), and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF). See for example Folkman et al., 1992, J. Biol. Chem., 267:10931-10934 for a review.
It has been suggested that a particular family of endothelial cell-specific growth factors, the vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGFs), and their corresponding receptors are primarily responsible for stimulation of endothelial cell growth and differentiation, and for certain functions of the differentiated cells. These factors are members of the PDGF family, and appear to act primarily via endothelial receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs).
The VEGF family members share a VEGF homology domain which contains the six cysteine residues which form the cysteine knot motif. Functional characteristics of the VEGF family include varying degrees of mitogenicity for endothelial cells, induction of vascular permeability and angiogenic and lymphangiogenic properties.
Similarity between two proteins is determined by comparing the amino acid sequence and conserved amino acid substitutions of one of the proteins to the sequence of the second protein, whereas identity is determined without including the conserved amino acid substitutions.
PDGF/VEGF family members act primarily by binding to receptor tyrosine kinases. Five endothelial cell-specific receptor tyrosine kinases have been identified, namely VEGFR-1 (Flt-1), VEGFR-2 (KDR/Flk-1), VEGFR-3 (Flt4), Tie and Tek/Tie-2. All of these have the intrinsic tyrosine kinase activity which is necessary for signal transduction. The essential, specific role in vasculogenesis and angiogenesis of VEGFR-1, VEGFR-2, VEGFR-3, Tie and Tek/Tie-2 has been demonstrated by targeted mutations inactivating these receptors in mouse embryos.
The only receptor tyrosine kinases known to bind VEGFs are VEGFR-1, VEGFR-2 and VEGFR-3. VEGFR-1 and VEGFR-2 bind VEGF with high affinity, and VEGFR-1 also binds VEGF-B and PlGF. VEGF-C has been shown to be the ligand for VEGFR-3, and it also activates VEGFR-2 (Joukov et al., 1996, The EMBO Journal, 15:290-298). VEGF-D binds to both VEGFR-2 and VEGFR-3. VEGF-E binds with high affinity to VEGFR-2 and neuropilin-1, but neither to VEGFR-1 nor to VEGFR-3, inducing vascular permeability and potent angiogenic activity both in vitro and in vivo (Ogawa et al., J. Biol. Chem. 1998. 273: 31273-31282; Meyer et al., EMBO J. 1999. 18: 363-374; Wise et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 1999. 96: 3071-3076.). A ligand for Tek/Tie-2 has been described in International Patent Application No. PCT/US95/12935 (WO 96/11269) by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. The ligand for Tie has not yet been identified.
The isolation and cloning of a novel 130-135 kDa VEGF isoform specific receptor has been reported in Soker et al., 1998, Cell, 92:735-745. This VEGF receptor was found to specifically bind the VEGF165 isoform via the exon 7 encoded sequence, which shows weak affinity for heparin (Soker et al., 1998, Cell, 92:735-745). Surprisingly, the receptor was shown to be identical to human neuropilin-1 (NP-1), a receptor involved in early stage neuromorphogenesis. PlGF-2 also appears to interact with NP-1 (Migdal et al., 1998, J. Biol. Chem., 273:22272-22278).
VEGFR-1, VEGFR-2 and VEGFR-3 are expressed differently by endothelial cells. Both VEGFR-1 and VEGFR-2 are expressed in blood vessel endothelia (Oelrichs et al., 1992, Oncogene, 8:11-18; Kaipainen et al., 1993, J. Exp. Med., 178:2077-2088; Dumont et al., 1995, Dev. Dyn., 203:80-92; Fong et al., 1996, Dev. Dyn., 207:1-10) and VEGFR-3 is mostly expressed in the lymphatic endothelium of adult tissues (Kaipainen et al., 1995, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 9:3566-3570). VEGFR-3 is also expressed in the blood vasculature surrounding tumors.
Disruption of the VEGFR genes results in aberrant development of the vasculature leading to embryonic lethality around midgestation. Analysis of embryos carrying a completely inactivated VEGFR-1 gene suggests that this receptor is required for functional organization of the endothelium (Fong et al., 1995, Nature, 376:66-70). However, deletion of the intracellular tyrosine kinase domain of VEGFR-1 generates viable mice with a normal vasculature (Hiratsuka et al., 1998, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 95:9349-9354). The reasons underlying these differences remain to be explained but suggest that receptor signaling via the tyrosine kinase is not required for the proper function of VEGFR-1. Analysis of homozygous mice with inactivated alleles of VEGFR-2 suggests that this receptor is required for endothelial cell proliferation, hematopoesis and vasculogenesis (Shalaby et al., 1995, Nature, 376:62-66; Shalaby et al., 1997, Cell, 89:981-990). Inactivation of VEGFR-3 results in cardiovascular failure due to abnormal organization of the large vessels (Dumont et al., 1998, Science, 282:946-949).
Although VEGFR-1 is mainly expressed in endothelial cells during development, it can also be found in hematopoetic precursor cells during early stages of embryogenesis (Fong et al., 1995, Nature, 376:66-70). It is also is expressed by most, if not all, vessels in embryos (Breier et al., 1995, Dev. Dyn., 204:228-239; Fong et al., 1996, Dev. Dyn., 207:1-10). In adults, monocytes and macrophages also express this receptor (Barleon et al., 1996, Blood, 87:3336-3343).
The receptor VEGFR-3 is widely expressed on endothelial cells during early embryonic development, but as embryogenesis proceeds, it becomes restricted to venous endothelium and then to the lymphatic endothelium (Kaipainen et al., 1994, Cancer Res., 54:6571-6577; Kaipainen et al., 1995, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 92:3566-3570). VEGFR-3 continues to be expressed on lymphatic endothelial cells in adults. This receptor is essential for vascular development during embryogenesis. Targeted inactivation of both copies of the VEGFR-3 gene in mice resulted in defective blood vessel formation characterized by abnormally organized large vessels with defective lumens, leading to fluid accumulation in the pericardial cavity and cardiovascular failure at post-coital day 9.5. On the basis of these findings it has been proposed that VEGFR-3 is required for the maturation of primary vascular networks into larger blood vessels. However, the role of VEGFR-3 in the development of the lymphatic vasculature could not be studied in these mice because the embryos died before the lymphatic system emerged. Nevertheless it is assumed that VEGFR-3 plays a role in development of the lymphatic vasculature and lymphangiogenesis given its specific expression in lymphatic endothelial cells during embryogenesis and adult life. This is supported by the finding that ectopic expression of VEGF-C, a ligand for VEGFR-3, in the skin of transgenic mice, resulted in lymphatic endothelial cell proliferation and vessel enlargement in the dermis. Furthermore this suggests that VEGF-C may have a primary function in lymphatic endothelium, and a secondary function in angiogenesis and permeability regulation which is shared with VEGF (Joukov et al., 1996, EMBO J., 15:290-298).
PDGF plays an important role in the growth and/or motility of connective tissue cells, fibroblasts, myofibroblasts and glial cells (Heldin et al., "Structure of platelet-derived growth factor: Implications for functional properties", 1993, Growth Factor, 8:245-252). In adults, PDGF stimulates wound healing (Robson et al., 1992, Lancet, 339:23-25). Structurally, PDGF isoforms are disulfide-bonded dimers of homologous A- and B-polypeptide chains, arranged as homodimers (PDGF-AA and PDGF-BB) or a heterodimer (PDGF-AB).
PDGF isoforms exert their effects on target cells by binding to two structurally related receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs). The alpha-receptor binds both the A- and B-chains of PDGF, whereas the beta-receptor binds only the B-chain. These two receptors are expressed by many cell lines grown in vitro, and are mainly expressed by mesenchymal cells in vivo. The PDGFs regulate cell proliferation, cell survival and chemotaxis of many cell types in vitro (reviewed in Heldin et al., 1998, Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 1378:F79-113). In vivo, they exert their effects in a paracrine mode since they often are expressed in epithelial (PDGF-A) or endothelial cells (PDGF-B) in close apposition to the PDGFR expressing mesenchyme. In tumor cells and in cell lines grown in vitro, coexpression of the PDGFs and the receptors generate autocrine loops which are important for cellular transformation (Betsholtz et al., 1984, Cell, 39:447-57; Keating et al., 1990, J. R. Coll Surg Edinb., 35:172-4). Overexpression of the PDGFs have been observed in several pathological conditions, including malignancies, arteriosclerosis, and fibroproliferative diseases (reviewed in Heldin et al., 1996, The Molecular and Cellular Biology of Wound Repair, New York: Plenum Press, 249-273).
The importance of the PDGFs as regulators of cell proliferation and survival are well illustrated by recent gene targeting studies in mice that have shown distinct physiological roles for the PDGFs and their receptors despite the overlapping ligand specificities of the PDGFRs. Homozygous null mutations for either of the two PDGF ligands or the receptors are lethal. Approximately 50% of the homozygous PDGF-A deficient mice have an early lethal phenotype, while the surviving animals have a complex postnatal phenotype with lung emphysema due to improper alveolar septum formation because of a lack of alveolar myofibroblasts (Boström et al., 1996, Cell, 85:863-873). The PDGF-A deficient mice also have a dermal phenotype characterized by thin dermis, misshapen hair follicles and thin hair (Karlsson et al., 1999, Development, 126:2611-2). PDGF-A is also required for normal development of oligodendrocytes and subsequent myelination of the central nervous system (Fruttiger et al., 1999, Development, 126:457-67). The phenotype of PDGFR-alpha deficient mice is more severe with early embryonic death at E10, incomplete cephalic closure, impaired neural crest development, cardiovascular defects, skeletal defects, and edemas (Soriano et al., 1997, Development, 124:2691-70). The PDGF-B and PDGFR-beta deficient mice develop similar phenotypes that are characterized by renal, hematological and cardiovascular abnormalities (Leveen et al., 1994, Genes Dev., 8:1875-1887; Soriano et al., 1994, Genes Dev., 8:1888-96; Lindahl et al., 1997, Science, 277:242-5; Lindahl, 1998, Development, 125:3313-2), where the renal and cardiovascular defects, at least in part, are due to the lack of proper recruitment of mural cells (vascular smooth muscle cells, pericytes or me sangial cells) to blood vessels (Levéen et al., 1994, Genes Dev., 8:1875-1887; Lindahl et al., 1997, Science, 277:242-5; Lindahl et al., 1998, Development, 125:3313-2).
A member of the PDGF family of growth factors is PDGF-D, which is described in International patent application no. WO 00/27879 and published US application no. 2002/0164710 A1, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. PDGF-D has the ability to stimulate, or enhance, or both, one or more of proliferation, differentiation, growth, and motility of cells expressing a PDGF-D receptor. Cells affected by PDGF-D include, but are not limited to, endothelial cells, connective tissue cells, myofibroblasts and glial cells. PDGF-D and compositions containing it are useful for various therapeutic applications involving the modulation, regulation and/or stabilization of angiogenesis, and particularly for the treatment of edemas which result from leaky vessels.
PDGF-D is structurally homologous to PDGF-A, PDGF-B, VEGF, VEGF-B, VEGF-C and VEGF-D. The polynucleotide sequence of at least nucleotides 935 to 1285 set out in FIG. 2 (SEQ ID NO:1) encodes a portion of the PDGF/VEGF homology domain, which is the bioactive fragment of PDGF-D. The bioactive fragment is also included in the 200 amino acids set out in FIG. 3 (SEQ ID NO:3) (excluding the first 24 amino acid residues, which are due to a cloning artifact) or the 322 amino acid sequence set out in FIG. 4 (SEQ ID NO:4).
PDGF-D has the ability to stimulate one or more of proliferation, differentiation, motility, survival or vascular permeability of cells expressing a PDGF-D receptor including, but not limited to, vascular endothelial cells, lymphatic endothelial cells, connective tissue cells (such as fibroblasts), myofibroblasts and glial cells. PDGF-D also has the ability to stimulate wound healing. A preferred fragment is a truncated form of PDGF-D comprising a portion of the PDGF/VEGF homology domain (PVHD) of PDGF-D. The portion of the PVHD is from residues 254-370 of FIG. 1 (SEQ ID NO:2) where the putative proteolytic processing site RKSK starts at amino acid residue 254 (SEQ ID NO:2). However, the PVHD extends toward the N terminus up to residue 234 of FIG. 1 (SEQ ID NO:2). Herein the PVHD is defined as truncated PDGF-D. The truncated PDGF-D is the putative activated form of PDGF-D.
As indicated above, there are numerous clinical situations where angiogenesis is desired to be promoted, and methods have been proposed using one of the numerous members of the VEGF/PDGF family of growth factors known to have angiogenesis stimulation effects. For example, VEGF has been shown to be intimately involved in the entire sequence of events leading to growth of new blood vessels. Gross et al., Proc. Nat'l. Acad. Sci., 80(9): 2623-27 (1983), Folkman et al., Proc. Nat'l. Acad. Sci., 76(10): 5217-21 (1979). Five human VEGF isoforms of 121, 145, 165, 189 and 206 amino acids have been isolated. Gross, et al., Proc. Nat'l. Acad. Sci., 80(9): 2623-27 (1983), Leung, et al., Science, 246: 1306-09 (1989), Poltorak et al., J. Biol. Chem., 272(11): 7151-78 (1997). Among the isoforms, VEGF 165 seems to be the most effective and most commonly used. The effect of VEGF 165 in augmenting perfusion and in stimulating formation of collateral vessels has been shown in animal models Hopkins et al., J. Vascular Surgery, 27(5): 886-94 (1998), Asahara et al., Circulation, 91(11): 2793-801 (1995), Hariawala et al., J. Surg. Res., 63(1): 77-82 (1996), Bauters et al., Circulation, 91(11): 2802-9 (1995), Bauters et al., Am. J. Physiol., 267(4 Pt 2): H1263-71 (1994), Takeshita et al.,. J. Clin. Invest., 93(2): 662-70 (1994), Takeshita, et al., Circulation, 90(5 Pt 2): II228-34 (1994), Takeshita, et al., Am. J. Path., 147(6): 1649-60 (1995), Banai, et al., Circulation, 89(5): 2183-9 (1994). In clinical trials, successful induction of collateral blood vessels in ischemic heart disease and critical limb ischemia by VEGF have also been reported. Baumgartner et al., Circulation, 97(12): 1114-23 (1998), Losordo, et al., Am. Heart J., 138(2 Pt 2): 132-41 (1999).
Angiogenesis, however, is a complex process that includes activation, migration and proliferation of endothelial cells and formation of new blood vessels. D'Amore, et al., Ann. Rev. Physiol., 49(9-10): 453-64 (1987). The process likely requires a network of members of the VEGF/PDGF family of growth factors, and use of a single factor alone in promoting angiogenesis may have undesired or unsatisfactory results. For example, it is known that the vascular endothelial growth factor-A ("VEGF") causes both abnormal blood vessel growth (angiogenesis) and blood vessel leakage in the eye. Specifically, preclinical studies have shown that a) in multiple animal species, including humans, VEGF levels are elevated around growing and leaky blood vessels, b) blocking VEGF results in the prevention and regression of these abnormal vessels in primates and other species and c) VEGF alone is sufficient to trigger the abnormal blood vessel growth and blood vessel leakage that characterizes wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD). See A. P. Adamis et al., Inhibition of vascular endothelial growth factor prevents retinal ischemia-associated iris neovascularization in a nonhuman primate, 114(1) Arch. Ophthalmol. 66-71 (1996); A. Kvanta et al., Subfoveal fibrovascular membranes in age-related macular degeneration express vascular endothelial growth factor, 37 Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 1929-34 (1996); G. Lutty et al., Localization of VEGF in human retina and choroids, 114 Arch. Ophthalmol. 971-77 (1996); M. J. Tolentino et al., Intravitreous injections of vascular endothelial growth factor produce retinal ischemia and microangiopathy in an adult primate, 103(11) Ophthalmology 1820-28 (1996); M. J. Tolentino, Vascular endothelial growth factor is sufficient to produce iris neovascularization and neovascular glaucoma in a nonhuman primate, 114(8) Arch. Ophthalmol. 964-70 (1996). To minimize the undesired effect of VEGF, VEGF antagonists have been proposed, but these antagonists are obviously not suitable for situations where stimulation of angiogenesis is desired.
Thus, there is a significant need to be able to modulate the angiogenesis promoting activities of one member of the PDGF/VEGF family of growth factors, preferably with another member of the family.

Method for modulating, regulating and/or stabilizing angiogenesis


A magnetic flux coupling transducer system comprising a primary coil (51) and primary coupling core (52) and a secondary coil (54) and secondary coupling core (55) for passing communications signals and/or electrical power from one side of an electrically conductive barrier to receiving equipment on the other side.

Metal structures are common throughout industry due to their ease of construction, strength and mechanical integrity. A common problem is faced when attempting to communicate data across the body of a metal structure. A hole can readily be drilled to pass through an electrically conductive or optical fibre communications cable, but this results in a weakening of the otherwise continuous metal barrier and introduces an area, which is often prone to failure. In extreme applications, such as the metal pressure hull of a submerged vehicle, failure of such a through hole penetration can have serious operational consequences. There is a need for a system that can effectively extend communications and power distribution in to areas bounded by a metal barrier without the need to modify the barrier.