A method employing a bonding layer is used to form active metal electrodes having barrier layers. Active metals such as lithium are highly reactive in ambient conditions. The method involves fabricating a lithium electrode or other active metal electrode without depositing the barrier layer on a layer of metal. Rather a smooth barrier layer is formed on a smooth substrate such as a web carrier or polymeric electrolyte. A bonding or alloying layer is formed on top of the barrier layer. Lithium or other active material is then attached to the bonding layer to form the active metal electrode. A current collector may also be attached to the lithium or active metal during the process.

This invention relates to negative electrodes for use in batteries (e.g., lithium electrodes for use in lithium-sulfur batteries). More particularly, this invention relates to methods of forming alkali metal electrodes having a thin barrier layer.
In theory, some alkali metal electrodes could provide very high energy density batteries. The low equivalent weight of lithium renders it particularly attractive as a battery electrode component. Lithium provides greater energy per volume than the traditional battery standards, nickel and cadmium. Unfortunately, almost no rechargeable lithium metal batteries have yet succeeded in the market place. Lithium metal battery technology has not approached its potential.
The failure of rechargeable lithium metal batteries is largely due to cell cycling problems. On repeated charge and discharge cycles, lithium xe2x80x9cdendritesxe2x80x9d gradually grow out from the lithium metal electrode, through the electrolyte, and ultimately contact the positive electrode. This causes an internal short circuit in the battery, rendering the battery unusable after a relatively few cycles. While cycling, lithium electrodes may also grow xe2x80x9cmossyxe2x80x9d deposits, which can dislodge from the negative electrode and thereby reduce the battery""s capacity.
To address lithium""s poor cycling behavior in liquid electrolyte systems, some researchers have proposed coating the electrolyte facing side of the lithium negative electrode with a xe2x80x9cbarrier layer.xe2x80x9d Such barrier layer must conduct lithium ions, but at the same time prevent contact between the lithium electrode surface and the bulk electrolyte. Many techniques for applying barrier layers have not succeeded.
Some contemplated lithium metal barrier layers are formed in situ by reaction between lithium metal and compounds in the cell""s electrolyte which contact the lithium. Most of these in situ films are grown by a controlled chemical reaction after the battery is assembled. Generally, such films have a porous morphology allowing some electrolyte to penetrate to the bare lithium metal surface. Thus, they fail to adequately protect the lithium electrode.
Various pre-formed lithium barrier layers have been contemplated. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,314,765 (issued to Bates on May 24, 1994) describes an ex situ technique for fabricating a lithium electrode containing a thin layer of sputtered lithium phosphorus oxynitride (xe2x80x9cLiPONxe2x80x9d) or related material. LiPON is a glassy single ion conductor (conducts lithium ion) which has been studied as a potential electrolyte for solid state lithium microbatteries that are fabricated on silicon and used to power integrated circuits (See U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,597,660, 5,567,210, 5,338,625, and 5,512,147, all issued to Bates et al.).
In both the in situ and ex situ techniques for fabricating a protected lithium electrode, one must start with a smooth clean source of lithium on which to deposit the barrier layer. Unfortunately, most commercially available lithium has a surface roughness that is on the same order as the thickness of the desired barrier layer. In other words, the lithium surface has bumps and crevices as large as or nearly as large as the thickness of the barrier layer. As a result, most contemplated deposition processes cannot form an adherent gap-free barrier layer on the lithium surface.
In addition, the high reactivity of lithium metal requires that lithium electrodes be fabricated in an environment free of oxygen, carbon dioxide, moisture, and nitrogen. These processing precautions add to the cost and difficulty in manufacturing suitable lithium metal electrodes.
For these reasons, lithium metal battery technology still lacks an effective mechanism for protecting lithium negative electrodes.
The present invention provides an improved method for forming active metal electrodes having barrier layers. Active metals include those metals that are highly reactive in ambient conditions and can benefit from a barrier layer when used as electrodes. The method involves fabricating a lithium electrode or other active metal electrode without depositing the barrier layer on a layer of metal. Rather the barrier layer is formed on a smooth substrate. A bonding or alloying layer is provided on top of the barrier layer, opposite the smooth substrate. Lithium or other active material is attached to the bonding layer to form the active metal electrode. A current collector may optionally be attached to the lithium or active metal during the process.
One aspect of the invention provides a method of fabricating an active metal electrode. The method may be characterized by the following sequence: (a) providing a barrier layer laminate and (b) bonding active metal to a barrier layer employed in the barrier layer laminate. The barrier layer laminate includes (i) a barrier layer disposed on a substrate and (ii) a bonding layer disposed on the barrier layer, the bonding layer being capable of forming a bond with the active metal. Preferably, the active metal is lithium or an alloy of lithium having a thickness of at least about 0.2 micrometers. In some cases, the lithium layer may be significantly thicker, on the order of millimeters. Layers of this thickness may be suitable for some primary cell electrodes.
In one embodiment, the substrate on which the barrier layer is disposed is a releasable web carrier including a layer of copper, tin, zinc, aluminum, iron, a polymeric material, or combination thereof. In a preferred embodiment, the substrate on which the barrier layer is disposed is an electrolyte such as a polymeric electrolyte. This approach has the advantage of producing a laminate that already contains both a negative electrode and the electrolyte. This product can be stored or handled and then bonded to a positive electrode to produce a laminated battery simply and efficiently. In a specific embodiment, the polymeric electrolyte is a polyalklyene oxide (such as a polyether), a polyimine, a polythioether, a polyphosphazene, a fluorinated polymer, or a polymer blend, polymer mixture, or copolymer thereof (e.g., a polyvinylidene-hexafluropropylene copolymer).
The barrier layer may be formed on the substrate by, for example, a physical deposition process or a chemical vapor deposition process. The resulting barrier layer should form a substantially impervious layer that is conductive to ions of the active metal. In one embodiment, the barrier layer is a glass layer that includes at least one of a lithium silicate, a lithium borate, a lithium aluminate, a lithium phosphate, a lithium phosphorus oxynitride, a lithium silicosulfide, a lithium borosulfide, a lithium aluminosulfide, and a lithium phosphosulfide. In an alternative embodiment, the barrier layer is made from an organic polymeric material such as a nitrogen or phosphorus containing polymer. In a specific embodiment, the barrier layer is a glass layer having a thickness of between about 50 angstroms and 5 micrometers, more preferably between about 500 angstroms and 2000 angstroms. Regardless of composition, the barrier layer preferably has an ionic conductivity of between about 10xe2x88x928 and about 10xe2x88x922 (ohm-cm)xe2x88x921.
In one embodiment, the bonding layer is not substantially reactive with moisture and air. For example, the bonding layer may be made from a metal such as aluminum, an aluminum alloy, silicon, zinc, manganese, and the like. It may also be made from an insertion compound such as carbon, spinel Mn2O4, NiO2, CoO2, VOx, pyrite (FeS2), MoO2, and the like. Still further, the bonding layer may be made from an organic material such as polyethylene oxide, polyethylene glycol, polyaniline, polyacetylene, polypyrrole, and the like (including crosslinked and copolymer forms). In a specific embodiment, the bonding layer is an aluminum or aluminum alloy layer having a thickness of at least about 100 angstroms.
In addition to the above-mentioned processing, the invention may optionally include attaching a current collector on the active metal to form a lithium laminate. This is then used in bonding the active metal to the bonding layer of the barrier layer laminate. In an alternative embodiment, bonding active metal to the barrier layer comprises bonding a free standing lithium layer to the barrier layer.
Regardless of whether the active metal is used alone or in conjunction with a current collector, bonding active metal to the barrier layer may involve pressing an active metal layer to the barrier layer laminate. This may be accomplished with a hot press, for example. In an alternative embodiment, bonding the active metal to the barrier layer involves evaporating or sputtering the active metal onto the barrier layer laminate.
Another aspect of the invention pertains to active metal electrodes formed by a method as outlined above. Batteries formed from such electrodes are also within the scope of this invention. One example of such batteries is a lithium-sulfur battery.
Yet another aspect of the invention provides a barrier layer laminate for use in fabricating an active metal electrode. The barrier layer laminate may be characterized by the following features: (i) a substantially smooth and flat substrate; (ii) a barrier layer disposed on the substrate, and (iii) a bonding layer disposed on the barrier layer. As explained above, the barrier layer should provide a substantially impervious layer which is conductive to ions of the active metal, and the bonding layer should be capable of forming a bond with the active metal. The properties and compositions of the components of layers comprising the laminate may be as described above.
These and other features of the invention will be further described and exemplified in the drawings and detailed description below.

Encapsulated lithium alloy electrodes having barrier layers


A novel 72-pulse AC-DC converter based on a 36-pulse converter is designed and implemented in this invention. Combining the outputs of two parallel 18-pulse diode bridges, consisting of nine legs of diode rectifiers, results in a 36-pulse topology. A zero sequence blocking transformer (ZSBT) is designed and applied to the proposed scheme guarantying the independent operation of the two bridges. To achieve a 72-pulse output, a pulse doubling circuit is applied which is inherently a tapped inter-phase transformer. A polygon-connected autotransformer platform is designed and added to the converter, making the proposed scheme suitable for retrofit applications. The proposed solution is a tradeoff among the pulse number, the transformer platform, the complexity of the scheme and the cost. The proposed scheme has an optimized configuration in this regard. The simulation results show that the proposed scheme improves the power quality indices.

As a practical technique, vector-controlled (VC) strategy is implemented in induction motor drives (VCIMDs), serving various applications. These drives utilize voltage source inverters which are fed from conventional six-pulse diode bridge rectifiers. The most important drawback of these rectifiers is their poor power quality, i.e. current harmonics injection into ac grid. The circulation of current harmonics into the source impedance yields in voltage harmonics at the point of common coupling (PCC) and consequently undesired supply voltage conditions for nearby costumers.
The value of current harmonic components, which are injected into the grid by nonlinear loads, should be controlled within the standard limits. The most prominent standards in this field are IEEE standard 519 and the International Electro-technical Commission (IEC) standard.
For VCIMDs, one effective solution to eliminate harmonics is the application of the multi-pulse AC-DC converters. According to the recent investigations, these converters are based on either phase multiplication, phase shifting, pulse doubling or a combined solution (have been reported in U.S. patents such as U.S. Pat. No. 7,274,280, etc). Application of multi-pulse technique (up to 18-pulse) in AC-DC converters are reported in U.S. Pat. No. 7,375,996 where line current THD of more than 5% is experienced under different load conditions.
The polygon-connected autotransformer based 30-pulse (U.S. Pat. No. 7,719,858) was designed for AC-DC power converter. The DC link voltage in this topology is higher than that of a 6-pulse diode bridge rectifier, thus making the scheme non-applicable for retrofit applications.
The T-connected autotransformer based 40-pulse converter has been designed in (U.S. Pat. No. 8,982,595) for direct torque controlled induction motor drive (DTCIMD) with a current THD between 2.55% to 3.79% from full-load to light-load (20% of full-load), respectively. In some applications, it is necessary to take strict power quality measures; therefore, it would be essential to apply the converters with higher number of pulses. For instance, in some applications, harmonics are distinguished as signatures by sonar, and unintentionally are capacitively coupled to ship hull resulting in induced hull currents that make the systems such as degaussing equipment malfunction. In this situation, the operation of harmonic generating loads should be limited, in order to have a THD equal or less than 3%.

72-pulse AC-DC converter for power quality improvement


Computer-implemented techniques for replication-lag constrained deletion of data in a distributed data storage system. In some aspects, the techniques improve the operation of a computing system by preventing too high of a delete rate that causes severe replication lag while at the same time increasing and decreasing the delete rate over time to a maximum allowable delete rate constrained by measured replication lag in terms of both local replication lag and geographic replication lag. In one implementation, the delete rate is adjusted by increasing or decreasing a pause interval that determines how long a database data deletion process pauses between submitting database deletion commands to a database server.

Today, many online services, including many Internet services used by users around the globe, are implemented as complex, large-scale distributed computing systems. These online services are often constructed from collections of software applications developed by different software development teams, often in different software programming languages. The collection of software applications may span hundreds or thousands of computing machines, across multiple data center facilities.
Because of this complexity, the architecture of an online service is typically structured in "tiers" with each tier composed of many computing machines. The tiers are conceptually stacked on top of one another from the perspective of processing network requests received over a data communications network (e.g., the Internet) from end-user devices and generating network responses to the network requests that are sent back over the data communications network to the end-user devices.
One of the tiers is typically composed of a large-scale distributed data storage system for persisting and retrieving data used by applications in an "application tier" of the online service. The application tier conceptually sits on top of the data storage system tier and may implement much of the end-user facing functionality of the online service. The "application" data used by the applications may include, for example, information provided by end-users, metadata about such information or any other information used by the applications as a part of providing the online service to end-users.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Replication lag-constrained deletion of data in a large-scale distributed data storage system


The present invention relates to methods for the preparation of chemically aminoacylated tRNAs for the purpose of introduction of markers into nascent proteins. The present invention also relates to methods for the non-radioactive labeling, detection, quantitation and isolation of nascent proteins translated in a cellular or cell-free translation system utilizing chemically aminoacylated tRNAs. tRNA molecules are misaminoacylated with non-radioactive markers which may be non-native amino acids, amino acid analogs or derivatives. Markers may comprise cleavable moieties, detectable labels, reporter properties wherein markers incorporated into protein can be distinguished from unincorporated markers, or coupling agents which facilitate the detection and isolation of nascent protein from other components of the translation system.

Cells contain organelles, macromolecules and a wide variety of small molecules. Except for water, the vast majority of the molecules and macromolecules can be classified as lipids, carbohydrates, proteins or nucleic acids. Proteins are the most abundant cellular components and facilitate many of the key cellular processes. They include enzymes, antibodies, hormones, transport molecules and components for the cytoskeleton of the cell.
Proteins are composed of amino acids arranged into linear polymers or polypeptides. In living systems, proteins comprise over twenty common amino acids. These twenty or so amino acids are generally termed the native amino acids. At the center of every amino acid is the alpha carbon atom (Cα) which forms four bonds or attachments with other molecules. One bond is a covalent linkage to an amino group (NH2) and another to a carboxyl group (COOH) which both participate in polypeptide formation. A third bond is nearly always linked to a hydrogen atom and the fourth to a side chain which imparts variability to the amino acid structure. For example, alanine is formed when the side chain is a methyl group (—CH3) and a valine is formed when the side chain is an isopropyl group (—CH(CH3)2). It is also possible to chemically synthesize amino acids containing different side-chains, however, the cellular protein synthesis system, with rare exceptions, utilizes native amino acids. Other amino acids and structurally similar chemical compounds are termed non-native and are generally not found in most organisms.
A central feature of all living systems is the ability to produce proteins from amino acids. Basically, protein is formed by the linkage of multiple amino acids via peptide bonds. Key molecules involved in this process are messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules, transfer RNA (tRNA) molecules and ribosomes (rRNA-protein complexes). Protein translation normally occurs in living cells and in some cases can also be performed outside the cell in systems referred to as cell-free translation systems. In either system, the basic process of protein synthesis is identical. The extra-cellular or cell-free translation system comprises an extract prepared from the intracellular contents of cells. These preparations contain those molecules which support protein translation and depending on the method of preparation, post-translational events such as glycosylation and cleavages as well. Typical cells from which cell-free extracts or in vitro extracts are made are Escherichia coli cells, wheat germ cells, rabbit reticulocytes, insect cells and frog oocytes.
Both in vivo and in vitro syntheses involve the reading of a sequence of bases on a mRNA molecule. The mRNA contains instructions for translation in the form of triplet codons. The genetic code specifies which amino acid is encoded by each triplet codon. For each codon which specifies an amino acid, there normally exists a cognate tRNA molecule which functions to transfer the correct amino acid onto the nascent polypeptide chain. The amino acid tyrosine (Tyr) is coded by the sequence of bases UAU and UAC, while cysteine (Cys) is coded by UGU and UGC. Variability associated with the third base of the codon is common and is called wobble.
Translation begins with the binding of the ribosome to mRNA (See FIG. 1). A number of protein factors associate with the ribosome during different phases of translation including initiation factors, elongation factors and termination factors. Formation of the initiation complex is the first step of translation. Initiation factors contribute to the initiation complex along with the mRNA and initiator tRNA (fmet and met) which recognizes the base sequence UAG. Elongation proceeds with charged tRNAs binding to ribosomes, translocation and release of the amino acid cargo into the peptide chain. Elongation factors assist with the binding of tRNAs and in elongation of the polypeptide chain with the help of enzymes like peptidyl transferase. Termination factors recognize a stop signal, such as the base sequence UGA, in the message terminating polypeptide synthesis and releasing the polypeptide chain and the mRNA from the ribosome.
The structure of tRNA is often shown as a cloverleaf representation (See, e.g., FIGS. 1 & 2). Structural elements of a typical tRNA include an acceptor stem, a D-loop, an anticodon loop, a variable loop and a TψC loop. Aminoacylation or charging of tRNA results in linking the carboxyl terminal of an amino acid to the 2′-(or 3′-) hydroxyl group of a terminal adenosine base via an ester linkage. This process can be accomplished either using enzymatic or chemical methods. Normally a particular tRNA is charged by only one specific native amino acid. This selective charging, termed here enzymatic aminoacylation, is accomplished by aminoacyl tRNA synthetases. A tRNA which selectively incorporates a tyrosine residue into the nascent polypeptide chain by recognizing the tyrosine UAC codon will be charged by tyrosine with a tyrosine-aminoacyl tRNA synthetase, while a tRNA designed to read the UGU codon will be charged by a cysteine-aminoacyl tRNA synthetase. These synthetases have evolved to be extremely accurate in charging a tRNA with the correct amino acid to maintain the fidelity of the translation process. Except in special cases where the non-native amino acid is very similar structurally to the native amino acid, it is necessary to use means other than enzymatic aminoacylation to charge a tRNA.
Molecular biologists routinely study the expression of proteins that are coded for by genes. A key step in research is to express the products of these genes either in intact cells or in cell-free extracts. Conventionally, molecular biologists use radioactively labeled amino acid residues such as 35S-methionine as a means of detecting newly synthesized proteins or so-called nascent proteins. These nascent proteins can normally be distinguished from the many other proteins present in a cell or a cell-free extract by first separating the proteins by the standard technique of gel electrophoresis and determining if the proteins contained in the gel possess the specific radioactively labeled amino acids. This method is simple and relies on gel electrophoresis, a widely available and practiced method. It does not require prior knowledge of the expressed protein and in general does not require the protein to have any special properties. In addition, the protein can exist in a denatured or unfolded form for detection by gel electrophoresis. Furthermore, more specialized techniques such as blotting to membranes and coupled enzymatic assays are not needed. Radioactive assays also have the advantage that the structure of the nascent protein is not altered or can be restored, and thus, proteins can be isolated in a functional form for subsequent biochemical and biophysical studies.
Radioactive methods suffer from many drawbacks related to the utilization of radioactively labeled amino acids. Handling radioactive compounds in the laboratory always involves a health risk and requires special laboratory safety procedures, facilities and detailed record keeping as well as special training of laboratory personnel. Disposal of radioactive waste is also of increasing concern both because of the potential risk to the public and the lack of radioactive waste disposal sites. In addition, the use of radioactive labeling is time consuming, in some cases requiring as much as several days for detection of the radioactive label. The long time needed for such experiments is a key consideration and can seriously impede research productivity. While faster methods of radioactive detection are available, they are expensive and often require complex image enhancement devices.
The use of radioactive labeled amino acids also does not allow for a simple and rapid means to monitor the production of nascent proteins inside a cell-free extract without prior separation of nascent from pre-existing proteins. However, a separation step does not allow for the optimization of cell-free activity. Variables including the concentration of ions and metabolites and the temperature and the time of protein synthesis cannot be adjusted.
Radioactive labeling methods also do not provide a means of isolating nascent proteins in a form which can be further utilized. The presence of radioactivity compromises this utility for further biochemical or biophysical procedures in the laboratory and in animals. This is clear in the case of in vitro expression when proteins cannot be readily produced in vivo because the protein has properties which are toxic to the cell. A simple and convenient method for the detection and isolation of nascent proteins in a functional form could be important in the biomedical field if such proteins possessed diagnostic or therapeutic properties. Recent research has met with some success, but these methods have had numerous drawbacks.
Radioactive labeling methods also do not provide a simple and rapid means of detecting changes in the sequence of a nascent protein which can indicate the presence of potential disease causing mutations in the DNA which code for these proteins or fragments of these proteins. Current methods of analysis at the protein level rely on the use of gel electrophoresis and radioactive detection which are slow and not amenable to high throughput analysis and automation. Such mutations can also be detected by performing DNA sequence analysis on the gene coding for a particular protein or protein fragment. However, this requires large regions of DNA to be sequenced, which is time-consuming and expensive. The development of a general method which allows mutations to be detected at the nascent protein level is potentially very important for the biomedical field.
Radioactive labeling methods also do not provide a simple and rapid means of studying the interaction of nascent proteins with other molecules including compounds which might be have importance as potential drugs. If such an approach were available, it could be extremely useful for screening large numbers of compounds against the nascent proteins coded for by specific genes, even in cases where the genes or protein has not yet been characterized. In current technology, which is based on affinity electrophoresis for screening of potential drug candidates, both in natural samples and synthetic libraries, proteins must first be labeled uniformly with a specific marker which often requires specialized techniques including isolation of the protein and the design of special ligand markers or protein engineering.
Special tRNAs, such as tRNAs which have suppressor properties, suppressor tRNAs, have been used in the process of site-directed non-native amino acid replacement (SNAAR) (C. Noren et al., Science 244: 182-188, 1989). In SNAAR, a unique codon is required on the mRNA and the suppressor tRNA, acting to target a non-native amino acid to a unique site during the protein synthesis (PCT WO 90/05785). However, the suppressor tRNA must not be recognizable by the aminoacyl tRNA synthetases present in the protein translation system (Bain et al., Biochemistry 30: 5411-21, 1991). Furthermore, site-specific incorporation of non-native amino acids is not suitable in general for detection of nascent proteins in a cellular or cell-free protein synthesis system due to the necessity of incorporating non-sense codons into the coding regions of the template DNA or the mRNA.
Products of protein synthesis may also be detected by using antibody based assays. This method is of limited use because it requires that the protein be folded into a native form and also for antibodies to have been previously produced against the nascent protein or a known protein which is fused to the unknown nascent protein. Such procedures are time consuming and again require identification and characterization of the protein. In addition, the production of antibodies and amino acid sequencing both require a high level of protein purity.
In certain cases, a non-native amino acid can be formed after the tRNA molecule is aminoacylated using chemical reactions which specifically modify the native amino acid and do not significantly alter the functional activity of the aminoacylated tRNA (Promega Technical Bulletin No. 182; tRNAnscend™: "Non-radioactive Translation Detection System," September 1993). These reactions are referred to as post-aminoacylation modifications. For example, the ε-amino group of the lysine linked to its cognate tRNA (tRNALYS), could be modified with an amine specific photoaffinity label (U.C. Krieg et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 83: 8604-08, 1986). These types of post-aminoacylation modifications, although useful, do not provide a general means of incorporating non-native amino acids into the nascent proteins. The disadvantage is that only those non-native amino acids that are derivatives of normal amino acids can be incorporated and only a few amino acid residues have side chains amenable to chemical modification. More often, post-aminoacylation modifications can result in the tRNA being altered and produce a non-specific modification of the α-amino group of the amino acid (e.g. in addition to the ε-amino group) linked to the tRNA. This factor can lower the efficiency of incorporation of the non-native amino acid linked to the tRNA. Non-specific, post-aminoacylation modifications of tRNA structure could also compromise its participation in protein synthesis. Incomplete chain formation could also occur when the α-amino group of the amino acid is modified.
In certain other cases, a nascent protein can be detected because of its special and unique properties such as specific enzymatic activity, absorption or fluorescence. This approach is of limited use since most proteins do not have special properties with which they can be easily detected. In many cases, however, the expressed protein may not have been previously characterized or even identified, and thus, its characteristic properties are unknown.
What is needed is a non-radioactive method involving the misaminoacylation of tRNA that allows the incorporation of both native and non-native amino acids into nascent proteins, and that permits a wide variety of markers or labels to be incorporated so that said proteins may be detected.

Methods for the preparation of chemically misaminoacylated tRNA via protective groups


Embodiments of systems and methods for providing collision detection in a wider bandwidth are generally described herein. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.

An increased throughput, e.g., above 1 Gigabit-per-second (Gbps) per wireless communication client, may be required to satisfy a demand for transferring increased amounts of data within wireless communication networks or basic service sets (BSS), such as wireless local area networks (WLAN) and/or wireless personal area networks (WPAN). The increased throughput may be achieved by using a communication link having a wide bandwidth. For example, a bandwidth of 40 Mega-Hertz (MHz) or more using a plurality of channels may be required to provide high throughput in a network operating over one or more frequency bands in accordance with the IEEE 802.11 standards.
The plurality of wireless communication channels can be used across a number of BSSs, wherein one BSS overlaps one or more other BSSs. Collisions can occur when one BSS occupies a channel of another BSS, wherein traffic over a channel in a first BSS collides with traffic over the channel in a second BSS. Stations (STA) within the first BSS may be hidden and not otherwise known or detected within the second BSS. The presence of hidden nodes or STAs within the range of a BSS can lead to collisions within the BSS.

Method and apparatus for collision detection in wider bandwidth operation


A process for producing polyurethane coated fertilizer granules having core granules comprising at least 0.2 wt % of boron, the process having the step of applying a polyol and an isocyanate to the core granules, wherein an acidic component is applied to the core granules no later than the polyol.

Coated (or encapsulated) fertilizers are known to be very effective sources to provide controlled release of nutrients for the feeding of plants. The nutrients are released at controlled rates through the fertilizer's coating resulting in a sustained feeding of plants. As a result, one application of these so-called controlled release fertilizers can provide the necessary nutrients for a plant that would take multiple applications of soluble fertilizers.
These coated fertilizers may be classified into two major groups according to the fertilizer release mechanism. One type of coated fertilizer in wide use is sulfur coated fertilizer, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,042,366; 4,636,242 and 5,405,426. The release of nutrients from sulfur-coated fertilizers occurs by diffusion through imperfections in the sulfur coating and through coating breakdown. The major advantage of the sulfur coated fertilizers is their relatively low cost.
A second type of controlled release fertilizer utilizes solvent applied polymer coatings. The polymeric materials applied are either thermosetting resins or thermoplastics. Examples of solvent applied thermosetting resin coated fertilizers which are currently in use are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,223,518; 4,657,576 and 4,880,455; whereas examples of fertilizers having thermoplastic coatings are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,019,890. Another type of encapsulated fertilizer that exhibits good controlled release properties is latex coated granular fertilizers such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,549,897 and 5,186,732. Both solvent and latex applied polymer coated fertilizers offer important benefits over sulfur-coated products in regard to consistency of release rates. The majority of nutrient release is by diffusion through pores in the polymer coating, rather than release through coating imperfections.
Improvements to the process for producing a coated fertilizer have been investigated. For example, WO9963817 deals with the problem of incomplete or non-uniform coverage of inexpensive low quality, irregular core granules. Instead of applying a thicker layer of the encapsulating coating, this publication deals with this problem by (a) precoating the nutrient core with oil, the oil selected from the group consisting of linseed oil, soybean oil, tung oil, dicyclopentadiene modified drying oils, lubricating oils, and mixtures thereof; (b) applying an encapsulating layer of polymeric material over the precoated nutrient core, the polymeric layer being applied before the precoat is cured; and (c) curing the precoat after application of the encapsulating layer. In the examples, a commercially available NPK complex fertilizers are used as the core granules.
Fertilizers may contain different types of nutrients. The most standard fertilizer is of an NPK type. Other known secondary nutrients include calcium, magnesium and sulfur or micronutrients such as iron, copper, zinc, manganese, boron and molybdenum.
Boron is important for root development, transport of the water and minerals in plants and development of cell membranes in plants. An excess of boron gives also an issue with spots on leaves which will cause dying of the oldest leaves. A good level of boron in the soil is therefore essential. This can be provided by controlled release fertilizers containing boron.
Different combinations of a fertilizer and a coating have different types of difficulties in coating. It was found that the boron containing fertilizer granules were difficult to coat with a polyurethane coating by a standard process of applying calculated amounts of polyol and isocyanate. The granules remain wet and sticky from the reactants and the coating adheres poorly to the granules.

Process for producing a coated fertilizer comprising boron


The present disclosure provides azetidine compounds of Formula I and their pharmaceutically acceptable salts, their compositions, and methods for their use in determining azetidine compound binding to proteins. The azetidine compounds are useful as probes, for monitoring diacylglycerol kinase activity, and for identifying druggable targets.

Azetidine is a saturated heterocyclic organic compound containing three carbon atoms and one nitrogen atom. It is a liquid at room temperature with a strong odor of ammonia and is strongly basic compared to most secondary amines. Azetidines do not occur as frequently in nature and have been studied far less than closely related chemical compounds such as pyrrolidine and β-lactam. Azetidine and its derivatives are relatively rare structural motifs in natural products. Notably, they are a key component of mugineic acids and penaresidins. Perhaps the most abundant azetidine containing natural product is azetidine-2-carboxylic acid, a non-proteinogenic homolog of proline.
For improving bioavailability, preventing metabolic degradation, or to add compact functional groups, a significant majority of approved drugs will contain a nitrogen heterocycle1, 2. Piperidines and piperazines still remain the most common heterocycles, while other heterocycles have been largely unexplored. For example, azetidines, four-membered nitrogen heterocycles, are relatively rare in approved drugs. Azetidines possess many desirable properties, such as enhanced solubility, metabolic stability, and 3-D characteristics that could be used to enhance target engagement for inhibitors, yet they have just begun to appear in drug-like molecules. More recently, azetidines have been used to enhance the rate of thiol reactions with acrylamides3, incorporated into antimalarial inhibitors (BRD7929, BRD391.4) targeting the parasitic tRNA-synthase4, 5, and appear in the hypertension drug Azelnidipine6, 7.

Compositions and methods for preparing and using azetidines

University of Virginia Patent Foundation


A metering roller engages a liquid pickup roller to meter liquid through the nip therebetween. A stationary shaft through the middle of the metering roller carries spaced bearings at adjustable locations engaging the inside of the roller. A fulcrum is provided to support the stationary shaft near each end thereof. A forcing cam spaced inwardly from each fulcrum has an adjustable pivot point, and is forced into engagement with the stationary shaft to produce bending moments in the shaft transmitted to the roller through the bearings to bias the metering roller toward the metering nip. The position of each fulcrum may be adjusted in two directions, and the magnitude of the bending moments adjusted by moving the forcing cam pivot point.

The use of a metering roller having an adjustable engagement with a liquid carrying roller for metering the liquid through the nip between the two rollers is well known in the art. One application for such an apparatus is found in dampeners utilized with offset presses.
In one commercial form of dampener, a liquid pickup roller is rotated in a pan of water and is engaged with a metering roller having variable pressure engagement therewith for permitting control of the amount of liquid delivered through the nip between the two rollers. The liquid received by the metering roller is transferred to a form roller, either directly or through an intermediate roller. An oscillating roller which moves back and forth in the direction of the roller axis typically engages the form roller for a final evening of the liquid carried by the form roller. The dampener is mounted on top of an offset press so that the liquid metered to the form roller is then transferred to the plate cylinder of the press.
The amount of liquid delivery is controlled by the nip between the pickup roller and the metering roller. One arrangement for providing this control is simply to utilize a stationary, non-rotating shaft positioned through the center of the metering roller, and having bearings positioned at each end of the metering roller engaging the roller and the stationary shaft. By providing adjustment screws bearing on the stationary shaft near its ends, the metering roller may be urged to a greater or lesser extent toward the pickup roller. By increasing the force exerted by the adjustment screws, more pressure is provided to the nip, reducing liquid transfer through the nip.
While this arrangement works quite satisfactorily with relatively narrow presses, it is insufficient to provide adequate control when the length of the metering roller is more than about twenty inches. With increasing width, less control is exerted over the central section of the metering nip.
One possible solution which has been utilized in commercial machines having greater roller widths is to provide a slight crown on the pickup roller so that its widest diameter is at the center of the roller and the roller tapers slightly toward both ends. While this arrangement does increase the ability to exert pressure at the nip in the center of the roller, it provides a relatively inflexible arrangement which does not permit the operator the flexibility of carefully controlled adjustments of the metering roller. This can be a problem, particularly if the press operates with a range of different printing patterns and speeds.
As a result, one line of commercial presses has employed a "skew system" which permits adjustment of the angle between the axis of the pickup roller and the axis of the metering roller. By adjustment of the axis of one of the rollers from a parallel orientation with the other, less pressure can be exerted at the edges of the nip vis-a-vis the center of the nip. While this skew system does give improved control, it is a relatively expensive and complicated arrangement, and one which is not simple to use.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided an improved control apparatus for a metering roller. Apparatus may be constructed in accordance with the invention which is relatively inexpensive, and by which control can be implemented with very simple and straightforward adjustments. The invention is applicable to dampener systems for presses, and may also be applied in other liquid metering situations. For example, it is contemplated that this control apparatus will be useful in metering liquid coatings to be applied to paper at the conclusion of a printing process.


A photosensitive resin laminate for a sign board is provided, which laminate has a support and a photosensitive resin layer having a thickness of not less than 500 μm formed at least on the support via an adhesive layer, wherein the photosensitive resin layer has an absorbance at 400 nm of not more than 0.4 and the support is a modified polyethylene terephthalate layer on which a UV quality change preventive layer is formed. A sign board obtained using a photosensitive resin laminate of the present invention has a transparent and colorless support having superior design and superior light resistance with a smaller coloring level due to UV. In other words, the photosensitive resin laminate of the present invention can provide a suitable sign board and greatly contributes to the industry.

A photosensitive resin layer is exposed to light through a pattern and developed to produce a sign board and the like. Photosensitive resin laminates made by the use of a photosensitive resin are disclosed in JP-A-58-55927, JP-A-9-6267 and the like and used for Braille panels having a relief, sign boards containing Braille and the like.
The need for good designs of sign boards is increasing nowadays and there has been made a new market for sign boards that make use of the transparency of support. However, a transparent and colorless support is also colored by UV light when placed near a window.

Photosensitive resin laminate for sign boards


A memory cell array includes a bit line, a complementary bit line, a first operation voltage supply circuit, a second operation voltage supply circuit, a first memory cell and a second memory cell. The first operation voltage supply circuit is electrically coupled to the bit line and the complementary bit line and used for supplying a first operation voltage. The second operation voltage supply circuit is electrically coupled to the bit line and the complementary bit line and used for supplying a second operation voltage. The first memory cell is electrically coupled to the bit line and the complementary bit line and used for receiving the first operation voltage. The second memory cell is electrically coupled to the bit line and the complementary bit line and used for receiving the second operation voltage. The first and second memory cells are located in a same column in the memory cell array.

Basically, a general memory device is constituted by a memory cell array and an operation voltage supply circuit. In the memory cell array, all the memory cells in the same row are electrically coupled to a respective write word line; and all the memory cells in the same column are electrically coupled to a respective bit line. The operation voltage supply circuit is configured to provide an operation voltage to all the memory cells in the same column in the memory cell array.
However, in the memory cell array, because all the memory cells in the same column are electrically coupled to one another, the bit line in the same column may have an increasing load while the memory cells in the same column are supplied with the operation voltage. Thus, an IR-Drop may occur, and consequently the memory cells may have a poor static noise margin (SNM) in the data writing period.

Memory cell array operated with multiple operation voltage


Floor modules of a cargo deck in a hull of an aircraft which comprise support devices for carrying functional elements, e.g. panels, roller conveyors or ball mats, are provided. The support devices are attachable in the hull of the aircraft directly or by way of intermediate elements. To improve stability at reduced weight, end support devices, as seen in the aircraft's longitudinal direction, have a thickness reduced in such a way compared to the other support devices of the floor module that only together with the end support devices of a floor module installed adjacently in the hull do they ensure a loading capacity that corresponds to at least the loading capacity of the other support devices.

Disclosed in EP 1 646 556 B1 and in EP 1 646 557 B1 is a cargo deck for accommodating cargo in the cargo hold of an aircraft, said deck being constructed of floor modules. The floor modules may be assembled outside the aircraft hull and installed in the aircraft in a largely pre-assembled state. Furthermore, it is possible to remove these floor modules for refitting of an aircraft for a different designated use and to replace them with other floor modules.
These floor modules must demonstrate high stability both considered on their own (during assembly and installation in the aircraft) and also later in the aircraft. Moreover, the floor modules should have the lowest weight possible and should be easy to install and remove.

Floor module of a cargo deck in the hull of an aircraft


In a particular embodiment, a method includes intercepting, at a first device, a message to be processed by a first protocol layer of the first device. The method also includes processing the message to a second protocol layer of the first device. The method further includes generating, at the first device, a packet based on an operand associated with the message. The method also includes transmitting the generated packet via a media access control (MAC) layer from the first device to a second device to enable the second device to host a protocol stack corresponding to the first protocol layer.

In many telecommunication systems, communications networks are used to exchange messages among several interacting spatially-separated devices. Networks may be classified according to geographic scope, which could be, for example, a metropolitan area, a local area, or a personal area. Such networks may be designated respectively as a wide area network (WAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), a local area network (LAN), or a personal area network (PAN). Networks also differ according to switching techniques and/or routing techniques used to interconnect various network nodes and devices (e.g. circuit switching vs. packet switching), a type of physical media employed for transmission (e.g. wired vs. wireless), and a set of communication protocols used (e.g. Internet protocol suite, Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET), Ethernet, etc.).
In a wireless communication system, a station (STA) (e.g., a mobile device) may access one or more network resources, such as a networked application server (e.g., an application server (AS)). Traditionally, for the STA to communicate with the AS, the STA opens and maintains a standardized transport protocol stack, such as a transmission control protocol (TCP)/Internet protocol (IP) stack. Because the transport protocol stack is standardized, the STA may be required to expend resources, such as processing time, battery power, and bandwidth, to support aspects (e.g., features) of the transport protocol stack that may not be applicable or important to the STA. For example, the TCP/IP standard requires additional programming to communicate data, such as programming to include a series of packet headers in transmitted messages, to parse header fields of received messages, and to monitor for and respond to various control signals (e.g., address resolution protocol (ARP) signaling, TCP keep alive signaling, and discovery protocols messages, such as a universal plug and play (UPnP) message, a Bonjour message, etc.).

Systems and method for reduced power wireless communication


A system for rotationally coupling telescopic interior and exterior shafts, which are disposed so that they can slide one within the other along a common axis, includes a first rotational coupling between the two shafts which is constituted by a rotation friction system. A second rotational coupling between the two shafts is constituted by internal and external splines. The internal splines are on the periphery of the end of the interior shaft and the external splines are on the internal face of the exterior tubular shaft so that a normal rotation torque is transmitted by friction and an exceptional rotation torque is additionally transmitted by the splines.

1xe2x80x94Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a system for rotationally coupling two telescopic shafts along their common axis. A coupling system in accordance with the invention can in particular be applied to an automobile vehicle steering column, adopting it for an intermediate column part connected to a steering box or for an upper column part connected to a steering wheel.
2xe2x80x94Description of the Prior Art
In the more particular case of the intermediate shaft, the latter has a universal joint at each end: one universal joint is connected to a motion input of the steering box and the other universal joint is connected to the column top portion. To steer present-day automobile vehicles correctly, it is necessary for the length of the intermediate shaft to be variable and to adapt to oscillations of the front wheels of the vehicle, which oscillations are caused by the profile and state of the road surface.
Thus the intermediate shaft must first of all have a variable length, i.e. it must have a function of sliding of two shafts relative to each other along their common axis, which is the axis of the intermediate part. It must also have a function of transmission between the two shafts of rotation motion and the rotation torque necessary for operating the steering.
There are many sliding shaft coupling systems which transmit rotation torque between the two shafts by means of splines which have conjugate profiles respectively on the two shafts.
However, it is difficult to make this type of system with on the one hand a sufficient angular stiffness and on the other hand a sufficiently accurate axial displacement force in the event of an impact.
The object of the present invention is to propose a telescopic shaft coupling system that avoids the foregoing drawbacks, i.e. a system which in normal operation functions with no clearance and which can transmit the very high rotation torque in exceptional operation. The system for coupling the two shafts must also be easy to install in the available spaces of existing automobile vehicles.
The invention concerns a system for rotationally coupling two shafts able to turn about a common axis. One of the two shafts is an interior shaft and the other shaft is an exterior shaft, the two shafts being disposed so that they can slide one within the other along said common axis. According to the invention, the coupling system comprises:
a first rotational coupling between the two shafts and which is constituted by a rotation friction system between the interior shaft and the exterior shaft; and
a second rotational coupling between the two shafts and which is constituted by internal splines and external splines, the internal splines extending on the periphery of the end of the interior shaft and the external splines extending on the internal face of a tube constituting the exterior shaft, the internal splines and the external splines being adapted to cooperate with each other so that if a normal rotation torque is to be transmitted it is transmitted by friction and if an exceptional rotation torque is to be transmitted it is additionally transmitted by the splines after taking up clearance between the splines.
In one particularly advantageous embodiment of the invention, the first rotational coupling between the interior shaft and the exterior shaft includes a spring ring which constitutes the rotation friction system, and said spring ring on the one hand is pressed onto an internal face of a housing in the exterior shaft and on the other hand is pressed onto a smooth or knurled portion of an external face of the interior shaft.
In the above embodiment, the following highly beneficial architecture of the spring ring is used. Said spring ring is a metal ring which has a slit over the whole of its axial length. Said metal ring has over the whole of its circular length internal axial recesses and external axial recesses. The recesses alternate so that an external axial recess follows on from an internal axial recess. The external axial recesses are pressed onto the internal face of the housing in the exterior shaft, and the internal axial recesses are pressed onto the smooth or knurled portion of the external face of the interior shaft.
Furthermore, the coupling system according to the invention can include an axial coupling between the interior shaft and the exterior shaft.
In this case, the axial coupling between the interior shaft and the exterior shaft is effected by the rotation friction system, which is adapted to resist axial sliding between the interior shaft and the exterior shaft up to a predetermined value.
To further improve the performance of the coupling system according to the invention, said system includes a one-way axial abutment system to prevent extraction of the interior shaft in the direction of the common axis. Said axial abutment system includes a toroidal ring which is disposed in a housing located at an end of the exterior shaft and which is retained in the direction of the common axis by a crimping folding at said end of the exterior shaft on the toroidal ring, and said toroidal ring is pressed onto the smooth portion of the external face of the interior shaft.
The coupling system according to the invention applied to an intermediate portion of an automobile vehicle steering column or to a top portion of an automobile vehicle steering column.
The system for rotationally coupling two telescopic shafts thus has the advantage that it transmits rotation torque with no clearance under normal operating conditions and guarantees transmission of rotation torque under exceptional operating conditions. Finally, the coupling system can easily be installed in the space available for steering columns in existing automobile vehicles.

System for rotationally coupling two telescopic shafts


An image formation apparatus includes a scanner unit entering image data, a printer unit printing out input image data, a signature information detection unit detecting additional information including destination information from the image data, and a communication processing unit transmitting information related to printing of image data to the detected destination. Additional information including destination information is detected from the image data. Information related to printing of image data is transmitted to the destination detected from the image data. Accordingly, information related to printing when image data is printed is audited at the destination side.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image formation apparatuses such as digital copy machines and printers. Particularly, the present invention relates to an image formation apparatus that limits the print operation according to additional information embedded in input image data.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is now possible to easily copy a document image by virtue of the spread of digital copy machines. Also, digital data can be printed onto a recording medium such as a sheet of paper by providing to a digital copy machine an image produced by a computer, a photograph, a picture, and digital data obtained by shooting using a digital camera.
There are cases where the digital data of a document or a computer-produced image that is to be copied is owned by the creator thereof. The creator may not wish to have the document or the digital data printed out. The concealment technique of embedding ID information or a logo as signature information into the document or digital data is known in order to prevent unlimited printing of documents and digital data.
By verifying the printed out sheet as to the image or digital data in which signature information is embedded, the document image or digital data that is the source of the printout can be identified. However, royalties associated with the printing of the image or digital data cannot be collected appropriately. An unscrupulous user can obtain a printout freely.

Image formation apparatus limiting print operation according to additional information embedded in input image data


An apparatus and methods are disclosed for intelligently determining when to merge transactions to backup storage. In particular, in accordance with the illustrative embodiment, queued transactions may be merged based on a variety of criteria, including, but not limited to, one or more of the following: the number of queued transactions; the rate of growth of the number of queued transactions; the calendrical time; estimates of the time required to execute the individual transactions; a measure of importance of the individual transactions; the transaction types of the individual transactions; a measure of importance of one or more data updated by the individual transactions; a measure of availability of one or more resources; a current estimate of the time penalty associated with shadowing a page of memory; and the probability of rollback for the individual transactions, and for the merged transaction.

A transaction comprises a sequence of operations that behave in an atomic, all-or-nothing fashion. When a failure occurs during a transaction, the transaction must be rolled back in order to return the system to its prior state. For example, if a transaction that transfers money from a savings account to a checking account fails after money has been deducted from the savings account, but before money has been added to the checking account, a rollback of the transaction will restore the balance of the savings account to its value prior to the deduction. A data-processing system (e.g., a mainframe computer, a server, a desktop computer, etc.) that processes transactions is referred to as a transaction-processing system.

Intelligent merging of transactions based on a variety of criteria


A method of scanning a surface of an object using a particle beam comprises: determining a surface portion of the surface of the object, wherein the surface portion is to be scanned; determining initial positions of a set of raster points within the surface portion; changing the positions of at least some raster points of the set of raster points; and then scanning the surface portion by directing the particle beam to the positions of the raster points.

Particle beams are commonly used to manipulate objects and, in particular, miniaturized objects. For example, a particle beam can be directed onto a surface of an object to remove material from the object or to deposit material on the object. This process can be enhanced by supplying a process gas to the object, wherein the process gas is activated by the incident particle beam such that products of the activation are deposited on the surface of the object at or close to the location of incidence of the particle beam, or such that products of the activation form compounds with particles of the object which are removed from the object. The particle beam can be an electron beam or an ion beam.
If it is desired to remove material from or deposit material on a surface of an object within only a surface portion of the total surface of the object, the particle beam is conventionally scanned line by line across the surface portion. In such process, a scan direction is selected, and the particle beam is subsequently directed to plural positions arranged on a line oriented in the scan direction. If an edge of the surface portion is reached, the processing proceeds with a next line displaced from the previous line in a sub-scan direction, and so on.
It has been found that results achieved by scanning surface portions of an object along subsequent lines does not always meet the expectations.

Method and apparatus for scanning a surface of an object using a particle beam


Techniques are provided for allowing a user to create a document processing job (e.g., a print job, a scan job, a copy job, fax job) at a mobile device instead of at a document processing device, such as a printer, scanner, or copier. A cloud service interacts with the mobile device to retrieve job settings data from the mobile device. The cloud service generates a job identifier, associates the job identifier with job settings associated with the job settings data, and sends the job identifier to the mobile device, which displays the job identifier to the user. The user later enters the job identifier at the document processing device, which, in turn, uses the job identifier to request the job settings from the cloud service. The cloud service identifies the job settings based on the job identifier and sends the job settings to the document processing device.

The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.
Multi-functional peripherals (MFPs) are devices that provide multiple functions to users. Typically, such functions comprise printing, scanning, copying, and faxing. One conventional technique for employing an MFP in the scan context is for a user to manually enter a username and password via a display (either graphical, non-graphical, or a combination thereof) of the MFP, place one or more printed documents on a screen of the MFP, and select a scan button on the MFP. Because the MFP is a device that multiple people use and for which usage details are typically desired (e.g., for billing purposes), a user must be registered with the MFP and each registered user must input his/her own username and password in order to complete a, for example, print job, scan job, or copy job. Manually entering a username and password for each print, scan, or copy job can be laborious and error-prone. Another disadvantage to MFPs is that user interfaces of MFPs tend not to be user-friendly or visually appealing.

Document processing job control via a mobile device


Test cells have a first sorbent strip with a sample receiving location and defining a first migration path, a distinct second sorbent strip which receives buffer solution and at least partially defines a second migration path distinct from and elongated relative to the first migration path, conjugate supported by the second strip, a test site located at a junction of the first and second strips and having an immobilized ligand-binding mechanism, and a divider which directs a first amount of the buffer to the first strip to move the sample to the test site and a second amount to the second strip to move the conjugate to the test site. The first and second migration paths have first and second lengths chosen so that ligand in the sample reaches the test site and binds to the immobilized ligand-binding mechanism prior to the conjugate reaching the test site.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates broadly to immunoassay devices and the methods for their use. More particularly, this invention relates to chromatographic rapid test strips for detection of a ligand in a body fluid.
2. State of the Art
Many types of ligand-receptor assays have been used to detect the presence of various substances, often generally called ligands, in body fluids such as blood, urine, or saliva. These assays involve antigen antibody reactions, synthetic conjugates comprising radioactive, enzymatic, fluorescent, or visually observable polystyrene or metal sol tags, and specially designed reactor chambers. In all these assays, there is a receptor, e.g., an antibody, which is specific for the selected ligand or antigen, and a means for detecting the presence, and in some cases the amount, of the ligand-receptor reaction product. Some tests are designed to make a quantitative determination, but in many circumstances all that is required is a positive/negative qualitative indication. Examples of such qualitative assays include blood typing, most types of urinalysis, pregnancy tests, and AIDS tests. For these tests, a visually observable indicator such as the presence of agglutination or a color change is preferred.
Even the qualitative assays must be very sensitive because of the often small concentration of the ligand of interest in the test fluid. False positives can also be troublesome, particularly with agglutination and other rapid detection methods such as dipstick and color change tests. Because of these problems, so-called "sandwich" assays and other sensitive detection mechanisms which use metal sols or other types of colored particles have been developed.
In a "sandwich" assay, a target analyte such as an antigen is "sandwiched" between a labeled antibody and an antibody immobilized onto a solid support. The assay is read by observing the presence and/or amount of bound antigen-labeled antibody complex. In a "competition" immunoassay, antibody bound to a solid surface is contacted with a sample containing an unknown quantity of antigen analyte and with labeled antigen of the same type. The amount of labeled antigen bound on the solid surface is then determined to provide an indirect measure of the amount of antigen analyte in the sample.
Because these and other assays can detect both antibodies and antigens, they are generally referred to as immunochemical ligand-receptor assays or simply immunoassays.
Solid phase immunoassay devices, whether of the sandwich or competition type, provide sensitive detection of an analyte in a biological fluid sample such as blood, urine, or saliva. Solid phase immunoassay devices incorporate a solid support to which one member of a ligand-receptor pair, usually an antibody, antigen, or hapten, is bound. Common early forms of solid supports were plates, tubes, or beads of polystyrene which were well known from the fields of radioimmunoassay and enzyme immunoassay. In the last decade, a number of porous materials such as nylon, nitrocellulose, cellulose acetate, glass fibers, and other porous polymers have been employed as solid supports.
A number of self-contained immunoassay kits using porous materials as solid phase carriers of immunochemical components such as antigens, haptens, or antibodies have been described. These kits are usually dipstick, flow-through, or migratory in design.
In the more common forms of dipstick assays, as typified by home pregnancy and ovulation detection kits, immunochemical components such as antibodies are bound to a solid phase. The assay device is "dipped" for incubation into a sample suspected of containing unknown antigen analyte. Enzyme-labeled antibody is then added, either simultaneously or after an incubation period. The device is then washed and inserted into a second solution containing a substrate for the enzyme. The enzyme-label, if present, interacts with the substrate, causing the formation of colored products which either deposit as a precipitate onto the solid phase or produce a visible color change in the substrate solution.
Flow-through type immunoassay devices were designed to obviate the need for extensive incubation and cumbersome washing steps associated with dipstick assays. Valkirs et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,632,901, disclose a device comprising antibody (specific to a target antigen analyte) bound to a porous membrane or filter to which is added a liquid sample. As the liquid flows through the membrane, target analyte binds to the antibody. The addition of sample is followed by addition of labeled antibody. The visual detection of labeled antibody provides an indication of the presence of target antigen analyte in the sample.
Korom et al., EP-A 0 299 359, discloses a variation in the flow-through device in which the labeled antibody is incorporated into a membrane which acts as a reagent delivery system.
The requirement of multiple addition and washing steps with dipstick and flow-through type immunoassay devices increases the likelihood that minimally trained personnel and home users will obtain erroneous assay results.
In migration type assays, a membrane is impregnated with the reagents needed to perform the assay. An analyte detection zone is provided in which labeled analyte is bound and assay indicia is read. See, for example, Tom et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,366,241, and Zuk, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,596,275. The sensitivity of migration type assays is frequently reduced, however, by the presence or formation in the sample of undesirable solid components which block the passage of labeled analyte to the detection zone. Assay sensitivity also declines when migration assay devices are flooded with too much liquid sample.
Migration assay devices usually incorporate within them reagents which have been attached to colored labels (i.e., conjugates), thereby permitting visible detection of the assay results without addition of further substances. See, for example, Bernstein, U.S. Pat. No. 4,770,853. Among such labels are gold sol particles such as those described by Leuvering in U.S. Pat. No. 4,313,734, dye sol particles such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,373,932 by Gribnau et al., dyed latex such as described by May et al., WO 88/08534, and dyes encapsulated in liposomes by Campbell et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,703,017. These colored labels are generally limited in terms of the immobilization methods which are suitable. Moreover, they require a relatively large amount of ligand molecule and can involve expensive reagents, thereby adding to the cost.
The "Related Applications" set forth above overcome many deficiencies of the prior art by providing "dual path" immunoassays which are highly sensitive, extremely reliable, accurate and inexpensive rapid detection devices. Generally, the dual path immunoassays include a first sorbent material having a first location for receiving a buffer solution (in the case of a dry conjugate system) or a conjugate solution (in the case of a liquid conjugate system) with the first sorbent material defining a first horizontal flow path, a second sorbent material having a second location for receiving a sample with the second sorbent material defining a second horizontal flow path distinct from the first flow path, and a test line or test site with immobilized antigens or antibodies or other ligand binding molecules such as aptamers, nucleic acids, etc. located in a test zone at a junction of the first and second sorbent materials.
Various types of samples are effectively tested using the duel path immunoassays, including but not limited to whole blood, blood serum, urine, sputum, saliva, and feces. For most samples it is common to utilize buffer solution to cause the sample to flow along the second sorbent material. Thus, one method of using a dual path immunoassays involves (1) depositing a sample at the (second) location for receiving the sample, (2) depositing buffer solution at the same location of the sample, (3) waiting a period of time sufficient to permit the sample to reach the test zone, (4) after waiting, depositing additional buffer solution at the (first) location for receiving the buffer solution such that the additional buffer solution causes the conjugate to flow to the test zone, and (5) inspecting the test zone to determine whether the test is positive or negative.

Reduced step dual path immunoassay device and method


In an aspect there is provided a method of moving a processor of a mobile device from a low-power state for conserving power to an active mode for processing signals. The mobile device is configured to receive regularly scheduled signals. The method comprises, for each of multiple operating states of the mobile device determining a restore time associated with the operating state of the mobile device and storing each determined restore time in association with its operating state. The method further comprises detecting a current operating state of the mobile device and using the determined restore time for that state to set a trigger time to control movement of the processor of the mobile device to enter the active mode from the low-power mode in time to process the scheduled signals.

Many mobile devices enter a low-power or 'sleep' mode when a user is not actively utilizing functions of the device. However, even if a user is not engaging with the device, the mobile device cannot perform its duties correctly while remaining constantly in a low-power mode, as it is necessary to monitor incoming signals from a network provider.
Such signals are typically scheduled to arrive at predetermined time intervals as set by network providers, e.g., between 0.5 seconds and 5 seconds. These signals are sometimes referred to as 'paging signals' and the data associated therewith are encoded as 'paging blocks'. If a mobile device is in a low power mode, it needs to "wake up" or enter an active mode, in time to handle a paging signal. Examples of these scenarios are illustrated in scenarios (i), (ii), and (iii) of FIG. 4.
FIG. 4 shows paging signals that a given mobile device is required to periodically receive and process. These signals are periodically transmitted by the network provider, typically wirelessly, for a short burst of just a few microseconds. The mobile device would typically have a baseband processor for processing these signals, and the processor must be in a suitable state for receiving and processing these signals at the time such a signal reaches the mobile device.
Scenario (i) of FIG. 4 shows the regular intervals at which a mobile device can expect to receive incoming signals, and also illustrates the low-power and active modes of the baseband processor.
As shown in scenario (i), if the baseband processor remains fully active even when other features of the mobile device are in a low-power mode, then this will ensure that the paging signal is successfully received and decoded at each of the times when the paging signal is expected. However, it will be appreciated that the microsecond time duration of the incoming signal relative to the seconds between these signals being received constitutes a long idle period where the processor is consuming power but not being utilized.
In between paging signals/activities, it is therefore preferable for the processor to enter a low-power mode (often referred to as 'sleep mode') in order to save power. However, due to the fact that the state of the system needs to be restored after being in the low-power/sleep mode, there is an issue of latency that needs to be addressed. This latency time required to restore the state of the system is referred to as 'restore time'.
It can be difficult to accurately identify a restore time for a given mobile device, not least because, depending on current state of the device, it may take a different duration to come out of the low-power mode to the active mode.
As is illustrated in scenario (ii) of FIG. 4, if the baseband processor is not in a suitable state for processing the paging signal when the paging signal arrives, then this can cause loss of data, e.g., text messages or phone calls.
Alternatively, as shown in Figure (iii), the baseband processor may be moved to the active mode early to ensure reception of the signals, but this results in wasted power.

Low power mode exit latency predictor for real-time asymmetric multiprocessor systems


A stethoscope according to exemplary embodiments of the inventive concept includes a chestpiece for examining a patient by contacting him on the body, a microphone unit for receiving a doctor's voice, a first headset unit connected to the doctor's ears, and a second headset unit connected to the patient's ears, and a guiding unit guiding the chestpiece and the microphone unit to be each connected to at least one of the first headset unit and the second headset unit. Such the composition of the stethoscope enables the patient to listen to the doctor's voice as well as the auscultation sound gathered through the chestpiece, selectively.

Generally, a stethoscope is a medical device for auscultating for the inside of the human body and diagnosing the illness of patient. It is used to listen to various inner body organs such as intestines and blood flow in arteries and veins as well as lung and heart sounds.
The stethoscope includes an auscultation member for auscultating inside of the human body, a headset for listening to the auscultation sound, and a guiding tube for guiding the auscultation sound by connecting the auscultation member and the headset. The stethoscope having such the structure is used to examine a patient through the auscultation sound received from the headset by the auscultation member on the patient's body.
By the way, a doctor needs to provide his headset to the patient in the case that the patient is willing to listen to the auscultation sound by himself. Accordingly, the doctor should endure inconvenience of sharing his headset with the patient. Also, the doctor may have problems with delivering the examination result or requests for examination when the patient has weak hearing ability.


The present invention relates to methods of producing crosslinked hyaluronic acid microbeads, as well as the produced microbeads, said method comprising the steps of: (a) providing an aqueous alkaline solution comprising hyaluronic acid, or a salt thereof; (b) forming microdroplets having a desired size from the mixed solution of step (a) in an organic or oil phase to form a water in organic or water in oil (VWO) emulsion, wherein the amount of oil phase used is of from 20 to less than 50% by weight based on the sum of oil phase and water; (c) adding a solution comprising a crosslinking agent to the emulsion, whereby the reaction of hyaluronic acid with the crosslinking agent takes place to provide crosslinked hyaluronic acid microbeads; and (d) optionally working up the dispersion of crosslinked hyaluronic acid microbeads obtained in step (c).

The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of modified hyaluronic acid (HA), in particular crosslinked HA in emulsion, for use in cosmetic and personal care applications.
Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a natural and linear carbohydrate polymer belonging to the class of the non-sulfated glycosaminoglycans. It is composed of beta-1,3-N-acetyl glucosamine and beta-1,4-glucuronic acid repeating disaccharide units with a molecular weight (MW) up to 6 MDa. HA is present in hyaline cartilage, synovial joint fluid, and skin tissue, both dermis and epidermis. HA may be extracted from natural tissues including the connective tissue of vertebrates, from the human umbilical cord and from cocks' combs. However, it is preferred today to prepare it by microbiological methods to minimize the potential risk of transferring infectious agents, and to increase product uniformity, quality and availability (WO 03/0175902, Novozymes).
Numerous roles of HA in the body have been identified. It plays an important role in the biological organism, as a mechanical support for the cells of many tissues, such as the skin, tendons, muscles and cartilage. HA is involved in key biological processes, such as the moistening of tissues, and lubrication. It is also suspected of having a role in numerous physiological functions, such as adhesion, development, cell motility, cancer, angiogenesis, and wound healing. Due to the unique physical and biological properties of HA (including viscoelasticity, biocompatibility, biodegradability), HA is employed in a wide range of current and developing applications within cosmetics, opthalmology, rheumatology, drug delivery, wound healing and tissue engineering. The use of HA in some of these applications is limited by the fact that HA is soluble in water at room temperature, i.e. about 20° C., it is rapidly degraded by hyaluronidase in the body, and it is difficult to process into biomaterials. Crosslinking of HA has therefore been introduced in order to improve the physical and mechanical properties of HA and its in vivo residence time.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,582,865 (Biomatrix Inc.) describes the preparation of crosslinked gels of HA, alone or mixed with other hydrophilic polymers, using divinyl sulfone (DVS) as the crosslinking agent. The preparation of a crosslinked HA or salt thereof using a polyfunctional epoxy compound is disclosed in EP 0 161 887 B1. Other bi- or poly-functional reagents that have been employed to crosslink HA through covalent linkages include formaldehyde (U.S. Pat. No. 4,713,448, Biomatrix Inc.), polyaziridine (WO 03/089476 A1, Genzyme Corp.), L-aminoacids or L-aminoesters (WO 2004/067575, Biosphere S.P.A.). Carbodiimides have also been reported for the crosslinking of HA (U.S. Pat. No. 5,017,229, Genzyme Corp.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,013,679, Anika Research, Inc). Total or partial crosslinked esters of HA with an aliphatic alcohol, and salts of such partial esters with inorganic or organic bases, are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,957,744. Crosslinking of HA chains with 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide hydrochloride ("EDAC") and adipic acid dihydrazide in a water/acetone mixture was disclosed in US 2006/0040892 (University of North Texas). WO 2006/56204 (Novozymes A/S) also discloses methods for the preparation of crosslinked gels of HA using divinyl sulfone (DVS) as the crosslinking agent.
WO 2008/100044 describes a method of preparing hyaluronic hydrogel nanoparticles by crosslinking hyaluronic acid, the method comprising mixing i) an oil phase containing a surfactant dissolved therein with ii) a water phase, containing hyaluronic acid and a water-soluble crosslinker, dissolved in an aqueous basic solution, so as to a form a w/o emulsion, and crosslinking the hyaluronic acid in the w/o emulsion, the oil phase comprising dodecane, heptane or cetylethylhexanoate.
EP 0 830 416 (equivalent of U.S. Pat. No. 6,214,331) describes the preparation of a crosslinked water-soluble polymer particle preparation wherein the particles are less than 212 μm in diameter and wherein at least 80% of the particles are spherical, obtainable by adding an aqueous polymer solution, comprising a water-soluble polymer selected from hyaluronic acid, chondroitin sulfate, dermatan sulfate, keratan sulfate, celluloses, chitin, chitosan, agarose, carrageenans, curdlan, dextrans, emulsan, gellan, xanthans, poly(ethyleneoxide), poly(vinyl alcohol), poly(N-vinyl pyrrolidone), proteins, glycoproteins, peptidoglycans, proteoglycans, lipopolysaccharides, or combinations thereof, and an aqueous medium, to an oil base containing a water in oil emulsifying agent, agitating the mixture to form an emulsion containing polymer droplets, and crosslinking the polymer droplets in situ by a crosslinking agent resulting in the formation of crosslinked polymer particles. For the production of hyaluronic acid microspheres the crosslinking agent is added directly to an emulsion of aqueous hyaluronic acid in toluene. The crosslinking agent is first deactivated by adjusting the pH of the aqueous solution to pH 11 and then activated by lowering the pH to 7 to 8. It is preferred to use toluene, o-xylene or isooctane as oil phase. The weight ratio of aqueous phase to oil phase is about 1 to 1.
Nurettin Sahiner and Xinqiao Jai (Turk J Chem, 32 (2008), 397-409) describe the preparation of hyaluronic acid based submicron hydrogel particles using isooctane as oil phase. For preparing the emulsion 0.54 ml of aqueous hyaluronic acid solution was added to 15 ml of isooctane, resulting in a weight ratio of aqueous phase to oil phase is higher then 10 to 1.


A method and apparatus for determining the moisture in materials is provided. The apparatus allows the accurate determination of moisture in a sample as small as 1 mg with a sensitivity of less than 1 microgram of moisture. The apparatus includes a vacuum chamber which can be cooled to below -150.degree. C. or heated to about 100.degree. C. The vacuum chamber is connected in series with a moisture trap which can be cooled to below -150.degree. C. The moisture trap is connected in series with a combination of mechanical and diffusion vacuum pumps capable of reducing the pressure in the apparatus to below 1.times.10.sup.-5 Torr. A sample is placed in the vacuum chamber, cooled to below -150.degree. C., the apparatus is evacuated to a pressure of below 1.times.10.sup.-5 Torr by the vacuum pumps. Thereafter, the moisture trap is cooled to below -150.degree. C. while the sample is heated to about 100.degree. C. to transfer moisture from the sample to the trap. When the transfer of moisture from the sample to the moisture trap is completed, as indicated by a stabilization of pressure with the apparatus, the moisture trap is isolated, heated and the change in pressure directly indicates the amount of moisture removed from the sample. Alternatively, the apparatus can include flow rate determining means oriented between the vacuum chamber and the moisture trap to determine the flow rate of moisture from the sample to the moisture trap for a given sample temperature.

The measurement of the amount of water in a solid or gas system is often considered an easy test to perform. However, the accurate measurement of relatively small amounts of water or the measurement of the amount of a water in a relatively small sample is difficult to achieve. The determination of the amount of water in a small sample is of particular importance in industries which produce pharmaceutical products, biological products or microchips, as well as the transportation of materials such as natural gas. In all of these areas, moisture content can affect the shelf life biological activity or the equipment employed during transportation and handling.
A number of assay methods are known which can determine the moisture content of a sample. However, the known assay methods are subject to variation in results and are unable to accurate assay the relatively small amounts of moisture in relatively small samples. Often, due to the sensitivity limitations of the assay method, a number of samples must be combined and the resulting measurement is only an estimated average of the moisture actually presented in each individual sample.
The oldest method for ascertaining the moisture content of a material is the loss in weight method. In the loss in weight method, a material sample, typically from 300 to 500 mg, is placed in a vacuum desiccator containing a desiccant such as phosphorous pentoxide maintained at ambient temperatures. The pressure in the desiccator is reduced to less than 1 Torr and the sample weighed at various time intervals until a constant weight is achieved. The loss in weight is attributed to that of the moisture in the materials. Difficulties arise due to the requirement that a sample of from about 300 to 500 mg be employed in order to provide an acceptable margin of error as well as the possibility of inaccurate weighing measurements, lack of effectiveness of the desiccant and problems of controlling moisture changes in the sample during the actual weighing process. Also, the loss in weight technique is not generally suitable for determining the moisture content of gases.
Another method for determining moisture content is commonly referred to as the Karl Fischer method. This method has been automated for routine use in an apparatus available from a number of sources. This method involves the solubility of the sample in methanol and a reaction and titration with an iodine based reagent. Automated machines typically employ a conductometric endpoint detection circuit. The volume of the sample required and the dryness of the extractant limit the lower detection limits to moisture values to from 5 to 10 parts per million. Typical commercial autotitrators which measure water by this method have an accuracy of about +or -10 micrograms of water. Thus, relatively large samples must be employed in order that the experimental error inherent in the process be held within acceptable limits.
An electrolysis method of moisture measurement is also known. The electolysis method is often referred to as the Du Pont method. In this method, the sample is placed in a chamber and gas such as dry nitrogen is passed over the sample. The water vapor from the sample is carried to an analytical chamber by the dry gas where the moisture reacts with a film of concentrated phosphorous pentoxide to form phosphoric acid. The phosphoric acid is quantitatively electrolized by electrodes embedded in the film. The electrolitic current is directly proportional to the mass flow rate of water through the cell. This method cannot be employed for a gas stream that may at times reach saturation. Also, hydrocarbons in the sample may coat the surface in the analytical chamber resulting in inaccurate readings.
The vapor pressure method is also a known method for determining the moisture content of a sample. In the vapor pressure method, a sample is placed in a flask connected to a vacuum pump by a U-shaped vapor trap. The vapor trap is cooled to a temperature of approximately -50.degree. C. by a dry ice in alcohol mixture. As the system is evacuated by a vacuum pump, water vapor from the sample is collected in the trap. The vapor trap is then isolated and allowed to warm to ambient temperatures. The increase in pressure is a measurement of the moisture removed from the sample. With this process, inaccurate results may be obtained due to the water vapor passing through the trap without condensing. This is especially so at higher pressures where gas flow is viscous rather than molecular. Also, at the temperature of dry ice and alcohol of approximately -55.degree. C., the vapor pressure of water vapor of ice is approximately 29 Torr. Thus, sublimation of the ice formed in the trap may result in water vapor being lost through the vacuum pump resulting in an inaccurate determination.

Method and apparatus for the determination of moisture in materials


An image processing device includes: a first interpolation unit that performs interpolation using pixel information of pixels having a color same as a color of a pixel of attention and present around the pixel of attention; a second interpolation unit that interpolates color information lost in the pixel of attention using color information of the pixels around the pixel of attention; a combining unit that combines outputs of the first and second interpolation units; a first filter that includes a first filter frequency characteristic and detects a first image of a first region; a second filter that includes a second filter frequency characteristic and detects a second image of a second region; and a combination-ratio generating unit that generates a value for determining a combination ratio of the outputs of the first and second interpolation units in the combining unit.

Solid state imaging devices such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device Image Sensor) and a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) usually have a structure in which light receiving elements are arranged in a lattice shape to make it possible to sequentially read out amounts of charges generated by photoelectric conversion of the light receiving elements. Usually, since these light receiving elements have a single spectral characteristic, an image signal obtained from the solid state imaging device is one channel concerning a color (single color). Therefore, when it is desired to obtain a color image (e.g., a three-channel image of RGB or the like) with one solid state imaging device, a solid state imaging device attached with filters having different spectral characteristics (colors) for the respective light receiving elements is used. An imaging apparatus including such one color solid state imaging device is generally referred to as 1-CCD color imaging apparatus.
Since an image signal for each of the light receiving elements obtained from the 1-CCD color imaging apparatus is information concerning one color, color interpolation processing is performed in order to supplement the information with information concerning the other two colors. However, when linear interpolation performed using color information of peripheral pixels is applied to an image signal obtained from a color solid state imaging device including a Bayer array, which is an array of a color filter in most general use, false colors, which are not colors of a subject, could occur in an image in portions of high-frequency components such as fine patterns and edges.
As a color interpolation method for realizing suppression of false colors, there is an ACPI (Adaptive color plane interpolation) method (see, for example, Japanese Patent No. 3510037). In the ACPI method, for example, when the position of an image of G (green), which is one of three primary colors, is supplemented with information concerning R (red), suppression of false colors is realized by changing information concerning R according to a change in information concerning G.

Image processing device, image processing method, and imaging apparatus