A new and distinct cultivar of Azalea plant named `Tapestry`, characterized by its large and vigorous plants that are freely branching; shiny dark green leaves; freely flowering; very large, showy, ruffled, single flowers; long-lasting light pink to white and red bi-colored flowers that resist fading; excellent postproduction longevity with plants maintaining good flower substance for about four weeks in an interior environment; and good resistance to Cylindrocladium.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Azalea, botanically known as Rhododendron hybrida, an evergreen greenhouse-forcing type, and hereinafter referred to by the name `Tapestry`.
The new Azalea is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the inventor in Alva, Fla. The objective of the breeding program is to create new Azalea varieties having uniform plant habit and uniform flowering, numerous flowers, good foliage retention during the cooling and forcing periods, and excellent postproduction longevity.
The new Azalea originated from a cross made by the inventor in Alva, Fla., of the commercial cultivar Rhododendron hybrida `Fascination` (not patented) as the female, or seed, parent with the commercial cultivar Rhododendron hybrida `Prize` (disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 3,795) as the male, or pollen, parent.
Compared to plants of the red-edged female parent, `Fascination`, plants of the new Azalea have a more uniform plant habit and less pink in the center of the flower.
In addition to flower color and form, plants of the new Azalea have larger flowers and flower slower and not as uniformly as plants of the dark rose double hose-in-hose-flowered `Prize`.
Compared to plants of the new Azalea's sibling cultivar, `Parasol`, disclosed in U.S. Plant patent application Ser. No. 09/082,073, flowers of plants of the new Azalea are light pink to white and red bi-colored whereas flowers of plants of the cultivar `Parasol` are light pink to white and hot pink bi-colored. In addition, plants of the new Azalea have fewer but larger flowers than plants of the cultivar `Parasol`.
The new Azalea was discovered and selected by the inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in a controlled environment in Alva, Fla., on May 24, 1994. The selection of this plant was based on its desirable flower color, profuse and uniform flowering, uniform plant habit, excellent foliage retention, resistance to Cylindrocladium and good postproduction longevity.
Asexual reproduction of the new Azalea by terminal cuttings taken in a controlled environment in Alva, Fla., has shown that the unique features of this new Azalea are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The new Azalea has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature, daylength, light intensity, nutrition and water status without, however, any variance in genotype.


Biofilm formation is monitored by real-time continuous measurement. Images are formed of sessile cells on a surface and planktonic cells adjacent the surface. The attachment of cells to the surface is measured and quantitated, and sessile and planktonic cells are distinguished using image processing techniques. Single cells as well as colonies are monitored on or adjacent a variety of substrates. Flowing streams may be monitored. The effects of biocides on biofilms commonly isolated from recyclable water systems are measured.

This invention relates to biofilm measurement and the efficacy of biocides on microbes.
Water processing systems including regenerative water processing systems are susceptible to formation of biofilm. Unless countermeasures are taken, microbes may colonize the interior surfaces and aqueous flow lines of these systems. Microbial biofilms can cause both process and health-related problems. Control or elimination of them is required to prevent adverse effects. Pathogenicity is of primary concern for human consumption, while additional concerns focus on the phytotoxic nature of bacterial contaminants.
Biofilm bacteria have been isolated from water lines and in potable water systems. These biofilms may harbor pathogens as well as microbial strains having resistance factors that could affect health. Therefore, delivery of potable hygienic water of acceptable quality is requisite for reliance upon water processing systems. Microbial contamination and biofilm development in water storage and distribution systems thus must be controlled possibly long periods of time.
Remediation methods are continually being sought to disinfect and remove biofilms from water lines. One proposed biocide (disinfection agent) for water systems is iodine. However, iodine may allow the development of resistant strains. For example, a four year test of a ground-based model of a spacecraft potable-water system showed that iodine treatment can limit planktonic microbes, but biofilms developed despite biocide treatment. Other tests have shown that increased resistance to disinfection results from attachment to or association of microbes with various surfaces of the water system.
Paramount to the treatment of biological depositions is the ability to monitor the microbial attachment process. Sessile organisms usually are monitored by either direct enumeration of viable bacteria, indirect enumeration using fluid frictional resistance measurements, colorimetric viability measurements, or electrical measurements. Other monitoring methods have also been employed.
Effective alternative remediation methods may, however, require a true understanding of colonization events and physiological factors that influence bacterial adhesion. This understanding may be aided by monitoring either adhesion or the effect of biocides on sessile bacteria continuously, without halting growth. Whether biofilm-control procedures are compatible with closed or open water processing environments is a primary consideration.
Unlike some water-treatment protocols, the use of toxic, potentially corrosive, or noxious chemicals may not be possible in closed environments. Other constraints may limit the types of chemicals and methods that can be used to treat water systems. These constraints may arise from limitations on space, power, and time. Further constraints may be imposed by other factors. For example, system design may dictate whether various chemicals can be used in the treatment system without adversely affecting the system itself.
Ideally, biocide/biofilm control agents should kill the target organism quickly and remove a wide variety of bacteria including spores and biological debris. In addition, the agents should not produce toxic residues or be harmful to the system itself. There may be no single chemical agent or procedure that meets these criteria at the present time. Several agents, each with specific biological-control capabilities, may, therefore, be required to do the job.
In general, in one aspect, the invention features an apparatus for monitoring particulate matter in a fluid container or conduit. The apparatus may include a wall portion that supports sessile particles derived from the fluid. The apparatus may also include means for forming images of the sessile particles and particles in the fluid adjacent the wall portion and means for digitizing and processing data corresponding to the images and for producing an output data segment corresponding to the sessile particles present in the images. The apparatus may further include means for processing the output data segment and deriving an output signal corresponding to the accumulation of sessile particles on the wall portion.
In general, in another aspect the invention features an apparatus for monitoring microbial matter within a fluid container. The apparatus may include a wall portion that supports sessile organisms derived from organisms present in the fluid. The apparatus may also include means for forming images of sessile organisms adhered to the wall portion and planktonic organisms in the fluid adjacent the wall portion and means for digitizing and processing data corresponding to the images and for producing an output data segment corresponding to the sessile organisms present in the images. The apparatus may further include means for processing the output data segment and deriving an output signal corresponding to the accumulation of sessile organisms on the wall portion.
In general, in another aspect, the invention features a method of monitoring particulate matter. The method may include supporting sessile particles derived from a fluid and forming images of the sessile particles and particles in the fluid adjacent the wall portion. The method may also include processing data corresponding to the images to produce an output data segment corresponding to the sessile particles present in the images and to derive an output signal corresponding to the accumulation of sessile particles.
In general, in another aspect, the invention features a method of monitoring microbial matter within a fluid container. The method may include supporting sessile organisms derived from organisms present in the fluid on a surface of the container and forming images of the sessile organisms adhered to the surface and planktonic organisms in the fluid adjacent the surface. The method may also include processing data corresponding to the images to produce an output data segment corresponding to the sessile organisms present in the images and to derive an output signal corresponding to the accumulation of sessile organisms on the surface of the container.
Implementations of the invention may also include one or more of the following: assessing the effect of an agent on sessile particles; and assessing the effect of biocide on sessile organisms.
Implementations of the invention may offer the advantage of processing liquids for the treatment of microbes without loss of water from a closed system.
Other features and advantages will become apparent from the following description, drawings, and from the claims.

Evaluation of biofilms and the effects of biocides thereon

The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration


A method for achieving mutual authentication and session key agreement between a first party 12 which has minimal computational resources and a second party 18 which has substantial computational resources utilizes a modular square root operation for certificate authentication and key distribution and an ElGamal, NIST DSS, or other efficient signature operation for obtaining the signature of a message. These operations are highly advantageous in a system with asymmetric resources because the computation power required to perform these operations is far less than the computation power required to invert these operations. The entire mutual authentication and session key agreement method can be carried out using only three modular multiplications on the weak computational side.

In a portable communication system, users carry low power, low cost, portable digital radio telephone terminals from place to place during and between calls.
Some portable terminals employ a Digital Signal Processor to implement the complicated algorithms that are needed to code speech at low bit rate. Other portable terminals utilize a custom chip for the low bit rate encoding of speech and include a low power microcontroller for handling signalling protocols and other miscellaneous tasks. In either case, a portable terminal must operate for long periods of time on small batteries and a low power implementation of all signal processing operations inside the portable terminal is important. Accordingly, there is a limit on the complexity of any signal processing operation which can take place inside the portable terminal in a short period of time.
In a portable communication system, the portable radio terminals access the local telephone exchange network via a suitably dense matrix of shoebox sized radio ports which are located on utility poles or in buildings. Each port comprises a radio modem. Each port is in turn connected back to the telephone network switching system by way of a server in the form of a port control unit which may be located in a central office building. A port control unit performs a variety of processing functions including converting between a format suitable for use on the radio link between the portable terminal and the radio ports and a format suitable for use in the telephone network switching system.
The portable communication system may be described as being computationally asymmetric. By this it is meant that each connection has a computationally weak party in the form of the terminal--i.e., a party with small computational resources--and a computationally strong party in the form of the server--i.e., a party with large computational resources. Thus algorithms which are used in such an asymmetric system should preferably be computationally asymmetric, i.e., the algorithm should require only a minimum of processing on the computationally weak side while more substantial processing is performed on the computationally strong side.
Because a portable communication system transmits conversations between portable telephone terminals and an array of fixed location ports via radio, the conversations of a portable communication system are more susceptible to eavesdropping than are the conversations of a wireline network.
In addition, unlike wireline telephones, which are tied to a particular wire pair on a particular network, portable telephone terminals roam from place to place and access the network via different ports at different times. The lack of association between user and particular physical location can make a portable communication system vulnerable to attempts at the fraudulent acquisition of services.
The present invention is particularly concerned with message encryption (i.e., the encryption of conversation content), key agreement and distribution (i.e. distribution of the keys required by message encryption techniques) and authentication (i.e. ensuring that a service request is legitimate). In particular, the present invention is concerned with foiling the eavesdropper, i.e., one who utilizes radio equipment to intercept the radio transmissions between the portable terminals and the ports.
Another problem which characterizes portable communication systems is the problem of user traceability. Specifically, if a user transmits identifying information in the clear, it is possible for an eavesdropper to determine the location of the user, so that privacy with respect to a user's location is not maintained. The present invention also relates to maintaining the privacy of a user location.
Eavesdropping can be thwarted through the use of a message encryption technique. A message encryption technique employs an encipherment function which utilizes a number referred to as a session key to encipher data (e.g., conversation content). Only the portable terminal and the specific port control unit with which the portable terminal is in communication should have knowledge of the session key, so that only the proper portable terminal and the port control unit, as paired on a particular conversation, can encrypt and decrypt digital signals. Two examples of encipherment functions are the National Bureau of Standards Data Encryption Standard (DES) (see e.g., National Bureau of Standards, "Data Encryption Standard", FIPS-PUB-45, 1977) and the more recent Fast Encipherment Algorithm (FEAL) (see e.g., . Shimizu and S. Miyaguchi, "FEAL-Fast Data Encipherment Algorithm," Systems and Computers in Japan, Vol. 19, No. 7, 1988 and S. Miyaguchi, "The FEAL Cipher Family", Proceedings of CRYPTO '90, Santa Barbara, Calif., August, 1990). One way to use an encipherment function is the electronic codebook technique. In this technique a plain text message m is encrypted to produce the cipher text message c using the encipherment function f by the formula c=f(m,sk) where sk is a session key. The cipher text message c can only be decrypted with the knowledge of the session key sk to obtain the plain text message m=f.sup.-1 (c,sk).
One problem with the use of the encipherment functions such as DES and FEAL in a portable communication system is the problem of session key agreement.
In the conventional session key agreement technique, each portable terminal i has a secret key k.sub.j known only to it and a cryptographic database DB. Similarly, each port control unit j has a secret key k.sub.j, known only to it and the cryptographic database DB. At the start of a communication session, the portable terminal i sends a service request and its identity i in the clear to a port control unit j. The port control unit sends the pair (i,j) to the cryptographic database DB. The DB picks a random session key sk and sends to the port control unit j the pair c.sub.i,c.sub.j where c.sub.i =f(k.sub.j,sk) and c.sub.j =f(k.sub.j,sk). The port control unit j deciphers c.sub.j to find sk and sends c.sub.i to the portable terminal i. The portable terminal i deciphers c.sub.i to find sk. Now both the port control unit j and the portable terminal i are in possession of the session key sk. Thus, enciphered messages c=(m,sk) can be transmitted back and forth between the portable terminal i and the port control unit j.
This approach has several advantages. First the approach requires minimal power in the portable terminal because it utilizes only conventional cryptography. In particular, the computation power required to evaluate f and f.sup.-1 is quite small.
In addition, the conventional key distribution approach is also self-authenticating because a portable telephone trying to impersonate the portable telephone i must know the ostensibly secret key k.sub.i ahead of time.
On the other hand, the conventional key distribution protocol requires a database of secret cryptographic keys, which is hard to protect and maintain, and adds survivability and reliability problems to the system. A primary weakness is that a potential eavesdropper can obtain the key k.sub.i for the portable telephone i once, and can subsequently intercept all of i's conversations without i knowing about it. This is the worst kind of damage that can occur; undetectable compromise of privacy. Also, the conventional key distribution protocol has a traceability problem. A portable terminal must announce its identity in the clear before a session key can be fetched from the database. Thus, an eavesdropper can determine the location of a particular portable.
Another approach to session key distribution and party authentication in a portable communication system is to use public key cryptographic techniques. In a typical public key cryptographic system, each party i has a public key P.sub.i and a secret key S.sub.i. The public key P.sub.i is known to everyone, but the secret key S.sub.i is known only to party i. A message m to user i is encrypted using a public operation which makes use of the public key known to everyone, i.e., c=P(m,P.sub.i) where c is the encrypted message, m is the clear text message, P.sub.i is the public key and P signifies the public operation. However, this message is decrypted using an operation which makes use of the secret key S.sub.i, i.e., m=S(c,S.sub.i) where s signifies the operation. Only the party i which has the secret key S.sub.i can perform the operation to decrypt the encrypted message.
Public key cryptographic techniques can be used for the distribution of session keys to the parties in a portable communication system. (See the above-identified U.S. patent application, Ser. No. 789,700). Public key cryptographic techniques can also be used for party authentication in a portable communication system.
One way to use public key cryptography for authentication is to use a signature system. If it is true that P(S(m,S.sub.i),P.sub.i)=m, then the owner of the corresponding keys P.sub.i, S.sub.i, could sign message m by producing c=S(m,S.sub.i). The verifier, given m and c will verify m=P(c,P.sub.i). A signature system could be used for verification as follows: If it is well known that party i's public key is P.sub.i and some party claims to be i, challenge the party claiming to be i with message m and ask the party to sign the message m using his secret key S.sub.i ; then verify the signature using P.sub.i.
Another aspect of party authentication relates to authentication of a party's public key P.sub.i. A user claiming to be i can provide his public key provided it is certified by a trusted central authority such as a network administrator. The trusted central authority itself has a well known public key P.sub.u. The certification is a signature of the trusted authority on a linkage between the user's identification i and his public key P.sub.i.
The highest level of security for session key distribution, and mutual party authentication based on public key cryptography:
1) avoids the use of an on-line centralized database of secret information, PA1 2) hides the identity of a user from an eavesdropper PA1 3) achieves mutual authentication and session key agreement between the parties, in such a way that they do not exchange any permanent secrets.
To achieve this highest level of security using RSA, the most well-known public key algorithm (see e.g., R. L. Rivest, A. Shamir, L. Adleman, "A Method for Obtaining Digital Signatures and Public-Key Cryptosystems", Communications of the ACM, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 120-126, February 1978), each of the parties must perform on the order of 200 large modular multiplications (where the numbers involved are over 500 bits in length). Using the algorithms described in the above-identified U.S. patent application Ser. No. 789,700, this highest level of security requires about 200 modular multiplications.
The problem with these prior art algorithms is that a large amount of computations is required by both parties. This is not suitable in an asymmetric system wherein one side (e.g., the terminal or portable telephone) has only weak computational resources and one side (e.g., the server or port control unit), has strong computational resources. The prior art algorithms are not sufficiently asymmetric so that only a very small amount of computations need to be performed on the weak side.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a public key cryptographic method for key distribution and mutual party authentication with a high level of security in an asymmetric system where one of the parties is computationally weak and the other party is computationally strong.

Two-way public key authentication and key agreement for low-cost terminals


The present invention relates to an intracellular viral vector delivery method employing an iron ion/viral vector composite. The iron ion/viral vector composite according to the present invention is not dependent on the expression of CAR and so improves the efficiency of delivery of viral vectors and gene expression in cells of diverse types, and has an outstanding virus-neutralizing antibody escape performance, exhibits little cytotoxicity and is outstandingly stable even when subjected to iron ion processing at low concentration, and hence can be used to advantage in recombinant viral vaccine compositions.

There are many different methods for gene delivery, including the use of DNA, RNA or viral vectors. Viral vectors are widely used to date because when introduced into host cells by viral vectors, genes can be stably expressed for a long period of time in the host cells (Cancer Gene Ther. 1994; 1:51-64). Of the viruses used for mediating gene delivery, however, retroviruses and lentiviruses have problems in clinical application because they may cause the gene of interest to be incorporated into the chromosome of the host cells, which may result in a mutation. In contrast, when adenoviruses are manipulated so as not to be incorporated into the chromosome of the host cell, the recombinant adenoviruses may be free from association with oncogenesis and thus be safe. In addition, E1/E3-deleted recombinant adenovirus is more safe because it is not only replication deficient due to E1 deletion, but also does not alter the immune response of the host cells due to E3 deletion. In addition, an adenovirus has additional advantages making it suitable for use as a vector (Curr Opin Genet Dev. 1993; 3:499-503). That is, an adenovirus can accommodate a gene insert as large as up to 8 kb and express it at a high concentration. Moreover, adenovirus can infect many different cells. Although epithelial cells of the eye, the respiratory tract, the intestine and the urinary tract are the most susceptible to adenoviral infection, an adenovirus can infect the liver, the muscles and the heart of mice as well as nerve cells, hepatic cells, lymphocytes, macrophages, endothelial cells, and fibrocytes.
However, because the intracellular uptake of the adenovirus particle is primarily mediated by the coxsackievirus and adenovirus receptor (CAR), it is very difficult to apply an adenovirus to the effective introduction of genes into cells that have a low level of CAR, such as cancer cells and stem cells (J Clin Invest. 1997; 100: 2218-2226.). One strategy for overcoming this problem is to employ a genetically modified recombinant adenovirus that has an increased MOI (multiplicity of infection) or which can infect cells independently of the receptor. In addition to the genetic manipulation of the adenovirus itself, an external factor, such as a liposome, a cation, a cytopermeable peptide, etc. may be used to form a complex with recombinant adenovirus which can invade irrespective of the expression of CAR.
A great barrier to the gene therapy based on a recombinant adenovirus is a neutralizing antibody (nAb) to adenovirus. Adenoviral infections frequently occur in people, generally without causing serious symptoms. Thus, immune responses to adenoviruses are induced in most people so that they have neutralizing antibodies to adenoviruses. Due to this, recombinant adenoviruses, when injected to deliver a gene, cannot enter target cells, but are removed by neutralization (Clin Diagn Lab Immunol. 2004; 11:351-357). Therefore, a strategy for evading the attack of neutralizing antibodies is required for the application of vaccines and gene therapeutics based on recombinant adenoviruses to have practical use. According to reports to date, encapsulation of adenoviruses with liposomes using lipids such as cholesterols or with (polyethylene glycol) or PLGA (poly lactic-co glycolic acid) makes it possible to avoid the attacks of neutralizing antibodies to some degree (Mol. Ther. 2002; 5:233-241, Gene Ther. 2005; 12:579-587, Gene Ther. 1998; 5:740-746.). However, such single materials cannot encapsulate the whole adenovirus completely, so that infectivity is still decreased by a high concentration of neutralizing antibodies. What is more important, the encapsulation may mask ligands for the adenovirus receptors, resulting in a decrease in the uptake of the virus by the cells that express CAR as well as by the cells that do not express CAR. Therefore, there is a pressing need for the development of a novel adenovirus composite that can compensate for the drawbacks of the encapsulation.
As reported previously, cations such as calcium (Ca2+) mitigate electrostatic repulsion between adenoviral capsids and cellular membranes, both being negatively charged, and combine with phosphates to form co-precipitates with adenoviruses, allowing the virus particles to mediate CAR-independent gene delivery (J Clin Invest. 1998; 102:184-193.). In addition, a recent study has reported that the lanthanide elements including lanthanum (Lantanium, (La3+) and gadolinium (Gd3+), which are trivalent cations, have relatively stronger positive charges per volume and are more effective in mitigating electrostatic repulsion, compared to a calcium ion, which is a divalent anion (Gene Ther. 2008; 15:357-363). However, upon intracellular uptake, the lanthanide elements, which are non-dietary minerals, have the likelihood of interfering with main metabolic reactions such as enzymatic actions or neurotransmission. Hence, it is reluctant and difficult to apply the lanthanide elements to clinical practice.
Iron (Fe) is a transition element with the atomic number 26, which can be a di- or trivalent cation. In the body, iron plays an important role, acting as a main component of hemoglobin, which is responsible for oxygen and carbon dioxide transport. Thus, the biological function of iron is responsible for providing energy to power the functions of the organism. In addition, iron is highly biocompatible with and safe to the body, as proven by its abundance in the body. The iron precipitate ferric phosphate is also not toxic to the body.
However, little study has been done on the use of iron ions in the delivery of viral vectors into cancer cells and stem cells that do not express CAR.
Thus, a novel viral composite that can introduce a viral vector independently of CAR expression and can effectively evade anti-viral neutralizing antibodies is needed.

Intracellular viral vector delivery method employing iron ion/viral vector composite


The disclosed invention is device for preparation of an emulsion and a method for producing an emulsion. The method comprises the steps of: (1) causing water and a water-insoluble substance that is to be emulsified to become freely miscible under conditions of temperature and pressure in the vicinity of the vapor-liquid critical point of water; and (2) cooling the product comprised of the water-insoluble substance and water solved each other in the presence of a surfactant to obtain a liquid comprised of the water-insoluble substance dispersed in water or a liquid comprised of water dispersed in the water-insoluble substance. The present invention provides a new device and a new method for producing emulsions with high efficiency without requiring a long period of processing or a great amount of energy.

Emulsions (emulsified products) are widely employed in various fields closely linked to daily life, such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, foods, inks, and paints. When water and oil are left standing without mixing, they form a single "liquid-liquid" boundary. When they are vigorously stirred, droplets of oil are dispersed in the water or droplets of water are dispersed in the oil, creating numerous "liquid-liquid" boundaries and forming an emulsion. Emulsions formed of water and oil can be either oil-in-water (O/W) type emulsions, in which oil droplets are dispersed in water, or water-in-oil (W/O) type emulsions, in which water droplets are dispersed in oil. Primary examples of O/W type emulsions are milk, mayonnaise, and cosmetic emulsions. Examples of W/O type emulsions are butter and margarine.
The main known emulsification methods are mechanical emulsification, phase-inversion emulsification, liquid phase emulsification, and D emulsification.

Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology


A pulse transformer includes a core unit and a coil unit. The core unit includes an annular core part, and an annular choke part that is disposed in contact with the annular core part. The coil unit includes a plurality of coils, each of which is wound around both of the annular core part and the annular choke part.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a pulse transformer, more particularly to a pulse transformer with a choke part.
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional pulse transformer is for use in the field of digital communication. The conventional pulse transformer includes an annular core 11 that is made from a ferromagnetic material, an annular choke 12 that is also made from a ferromagnetic material, and four coils 13 wound around the annular core 11 and the annular choke 12 in a manner illustrated in FIG. 1. Show in FIG. 2 is an equivalent circuit diagram for the conventional pulse transformer.
The conventional pulse transformer is manufactured by first winding the four coils 13 on the annular core 11, followed by winding two of the four coils 13 on the annular choke 12.
For pulse transformers for use in the field of digital communication, due to the small size of the annular core 11, to wind the coils, which are usually in the form of enamel-covered wires, on the relatively small annular core 11 and annular choke 12, and to place the coil-wound annular core 11 and the coil-wound annular choke 12 into a housing (not shown) for subsequent packaging are steps that still require manual labor.
Since the conventional pulse transformer requires two manual coil winding steps (respectively for the annular core 11 and the annular choke 12), the fabrication of the conventional pulse transformer is time consuming and costly, thereby resulting in a low productivity.


A new and distinct cultivar of Phlox plant named ‘Olympus’, characterized by its broadly upright plant habit; freely branching habit; thick green and light yellow variegated leaves that are tinged with red; freely flowering habit; long flowering period; relatively large purple-colored flowers with white-colored centers; and good garden performance.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Phlox plant, botanically known as Phlox paniculata and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name 'Olympus'.
The new Phlox plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Hillegom, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program was to create new uniform and freely flowering Phlox plants with unique and attractive leaf and flower coloration.
The new Phlox plant originated from an open-pollination in 2012 in Hillegom, The Netherlands, of Phlox paniculata 'Pixie Miracle', not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with an unknown Phlox paniculata seedling selection as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Phlox plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant from within the progeny of the stated open-pollination in a controlled greenhouse environment in Hillegom, The Netherlands in July, 2014.
Asexual reproduction of the new Phlox plant by vegetative cuttings in a controlled greenhouse environment in Hillegom, The Netherlands since February, 2015, has shown that the unique features of this new Phlox plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.


An optical communications network having a Head End Unit connected to a plurality of groups of Network Termination Equipments (NTE) and/or Optical Network Units (ONU), the downstream communication being by Time Division Multiplex, has a group multiplexed onto a stream and a plurality of streams are combined into a higher speed multiplex and the upstream communication is by Time Division Multiplex Access.

The present invention refers to co-pending Application Nos. GB9413716.3, and GB9418349.8, both entitled "Telecommunications Network".
The term Network Termination (NT) used in the above referenced Application No. GB9413716.3 has been replaced in the present application by Network Termination Equipment (NTE). It should be realised that the two terms are interchangeable in the context of these applications.
The invention relates to an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) based Passive Optical Network (PON) system to handle up to 50M of bidirectional traffic for each customer. The PON can scale from a few customers to 4000+ customers using active and/or passive splitting, utilising the best aspects of Time Division Multiplex (TDM) Wave Division Multiplexing (WDM), Time Division Multiplex Access (TDMA) and ATM without their problems.


Disclosed are systems and methods to provide application acceleration as a service. In one embodiment, a system includes a head office to serve an enterprise application comprised of a collaborative document. The system also includes a branch office to request the collaborative document from the head office. The enterprise application may also include a computed document and/or a static document. In addition, the system also includes a set of Point of Presence (POP) locations between the head office and the branch office to communicate the collaborative document, the computed document and the static document on behalf of the head office from a closest POP location to the head office to a closest POP location to the branch office and then onward to the branch office.

Content acceleration services may be limited to public applications and unsecure data in a public network. As a result, an organization may need to purchase, deploy, and/or maintain expensive infrastructure (e.g., compression appliances, decompression equipment, etc.) at each head office (e.g., the head office 102) and at each branch office (e.g., the branch offices 104A-N) to accelerate private applications and secure data.
For example, the organization may need to purchase expensive and proprietary hardware and/or software solutions that perform functions such as load balancing, compression, de-compression, and/or packet routing. In addition, the organization may need purchase expensive Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) services from bandwidth providers. Such investments may be cost prohibitive for many organizations (e.g., small and medium size businesses). Furthermore, maintaining expensive hardware and software at each head office and each branch office can be complicated, unsightly, and unreliable.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Application acceleration as a service system and method


A method for disinfecting an airstream containing microorganisms by electrostatic precipitation by passing the airstream through the space between at least one grounded collection plate having at least one electrode spaced apart therefrom connected to a source of electrical potential, wherein the improvement comprises contacting the airstream with a photocatalyst having a predetermined band gap energy coated on the surface of each grounded collection plate and illuminated with photons having a wavelength corresponding to the band gap energy of the photocatalyst, so that at least a portion of the microorganisms that collect on the grounded collection plate are destroyed by photocatalytic oxidation. Devices embodying disinfecting methods are also disclosed.

The present invention relates to methods for disinfecting airstreams containing microorganisms by electrostatic precipitation. More particularly, the invention relates to methods in which at least one of the grounded collection plates of an electrostatic precipitator in contact with an airstream containing microorganisms is coated with a photocatalyst having a predetermined band gap energy and illuminated with photons having a wavelength corresponding to the band gap energy of the photocatalyst. The present invention also relates to electrostatic precipitators having collection plates coated with a photocatalyst having a predetermined band gap energy and a light source positioned to illuminate the photocatalyst coating with photons having a wavelength corresponding to the band gap energy of the photocatalyst.
Americans spend 90% of their time indoors, and while indoors, are exposed to a variety of airborne contaminants such as volatile organic compounds (VOC's), radon and biological organisms. In a 1980 study, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concluded that indoor air pollution posed a greater health risk than outdoor air pollution. Indoor air contamination is estimated to cause significant increases in medical costs and a decline in worker productivity.
Pollutant levels from individual indoor sources may not pose a significant risk by themselves, however, many buildings have more than one source that contributes to indoor air pollution. Illnesses resulting from such indoor pollutants are sometimes known as the "sick building syndrome." Common causes of indoor air pollution are unwanted particulate matter, unwanted chemical substances, volatile organic compounds (VOC's) and microbial contaminants. In the first two cases, conventional technology can often ameliorate the contamination by filtration and adequate ventilation. The problem of volatile organic compounds and microbiological contamination creates a more serious obstacle, not easily solved by filtration or ventilation.
Because so many Americans spend a great deal of time in offices and buildings with various mechanical, heating, cooling, and ventilating systems, such systems pose a significant health risk of biological contamination. In recent years, biological problems in indoor environments have received considerable attention. The 1976 Legionnaires' disease outbreak in Philadelphia is probably the most publicized case of illness caused by indoor pollutants.
Biological contamination of building systems can include contamination by bacteria, molds, and viruses. There are a variety of places in a building's heating, mechanical, air-conditioning, refrigeration, and other air and water circulating systems that can become a breeding ground for biological contaminants. Moreover, the forced air of a building's heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems can distribute the contaminants throughout the building, thus compounding the contamination.
UV disinfection has been widely used in the past to destroy biological contaminants and toxic chemicals. Such UV treatment has worked well for disinfection, but the indoor environment may also be contaminated with low level toxic chemicals such as formaldehyde, styrene, and toluene. Ultraviolet energy alone has proven ineffective in degrading these chemicals. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,045,288 to Raupp and Dibble, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,892,712, 4,966,759 and 5,032,241 to Robertson and Henderson use UV to treat fluids and gases that contain pollutants.
An alternative that has gained much attention is photocatalytic oxidation, which involves the use of a photocatalyst such as TiO.sub.2 for the total destruction of both hydrocarbons and microorganisms. Patela, Antibacterial Effect Of Catalyzed Radiation, Masters Thesis, University of Florida, Gainesville (1993), reports powdered TiO.sub.2 to be capable of killing Serratia marcescens after irradiation for 60-120 minutes in water. Saito et al., J. Photochem. Photobiol. B:Biol., 14, 369-79 (1992); Matsunaga, J. Antibact. Antifungic. Agents, 13, 211-20 (1985); Nagane et al., J. Dent. Res., 68, 1696-7 (1989) and Moriaka et al, Caries. Res., 22, 230-1 (1988), report TiO.sub.2 to be capable of killing E. coli and Lactobacillus acidophilus after aeration for 60-120 minutes in water. Wang et al., Proceedings of the First International Conference on TiO.sub.2 Photocatalytic Purification and Treatment of Water and Air (London, Ontario, Canada, Nov. 8-13, 1992) pp. 733-39; Wang et al., Proc. AWWA Conf. (San Antonio, Tex., 1993); Savat et al., J. Catalysis, 127, 167-77 (1991) and Anderson et al., Further Catalytic Purification of Water and Air, 1, 405-20 (1993), report the gas phase detoxification of trichloroethylene (TCE) and other organic contaminants.
Co-pending and commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/647,070, filed May 9, 1996, discloses that the effectiveness of photocatalytic oxidation increases significantly when the relative humidity of the airstream is maintained at levels greater than about 40%. Under such conditions, it is possible to destroy the microorganisms in an airstream; however, the process requires a certain minimum residence time for complete effectiveness.
Electrostatic precipitators can trap microorganisms but cannot destroy them. Therefore, the hazard of such microorganisms remains. Specifically, electrostatic precipitators retain microorganisms on the grounded collection plate, which must be cleaned periodically to maintain the effectiveness of the precipitator at removing microorganisms from airstreains.
There remains a need for more efficient airstream disinfection devices.

Electrostatic photocatalytic air disinfection


A thin-film device incorporates: a substrate; an insulating layer, a plurality of lower conductor layers, a dielectric film, an insulating layer, a plurality of upper conductor layers and a protection film that are stacked in this order on the substrate; and a plurality of terminal electrodes. One of the terminal electrodes is connected to one of the lower conductor layers. The one of the lower conductor layers has a protruding portion that protrudes to extend more outward in a lateral direction than a side surface of the insulating layer. The one of the terminal electrodes has a concave portion that accommodates and touches at least part of the protruding portion, and touches the side surface of the insulating layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thin-film device incorporating a conductor layer and a terminal electrode connected to the conductor layer.
2. Description of the Related Art
With increasing demands for reductions in dimensions and thickness of high frequency electronic apparatuses such as cellular phones, reductions in dimensions and profile of electronic components mounted on the high frequency electronic apparatuses have been sought. Some of the electronic components have such a configuration that insulating layers and conductor layers are formed on a substrate through the use of thin-film forming techniques. Such electronic components formed through the use of thin-film forming techniques are called thin-film device in the present patent application.
In a thin-film device, terminal electrodes are provided for connecting conductor layers to an external circuit. Here, a portion of the thin-film device other than the terminal electrodes is called a device main body. Each conductor layer connected to the terminal electrodes includes a wiring portion, for example, and is formed so that an end face of the wiring portion is exposed at a side surface of the device main body. In this case, the terminal electrodes are disposed on the side surfaces of the device main body, for example, so as to be connected to the end faces of the wiring portion.
Here is given an example of a method of manufacturing a thin-film device wherein the terminal electrodes are disposed on the side surfaces of the device main body. In the method, first, a thin-film device substructure is fabricated by forming layers such as conductor layers corresponding to a plurality of thin-film devices on a single wafer (a substrate). The substructure includes a plurality of preliminary device main body portions each of which will be a device main body. Furthermore, in the substructure, there are provided portions to be removed between respective adjacent ones of the preliminary device main body portions. Next, the plurality of preliminary device main body portions are divided into a plurality of device main bodies by cutting the substructure at positions of the portions to be removed. By cutting the substructure in such a manner, side surfaces of the device main bodies are formed, and end faces of wiring portions to be connected to terminal electrodes are exposed at the side surfaces. Next, the terminal electrodes are formed on the side surfaces of the device main bodies.
To reduce the dimensions and profile of a thin-film device, it is effective to reduce the thickness of layers such as conductor layers. However, according to the above-described method, a reduction in thickness of conductor layers causes a reduction in area of the end faces of the wiring portion connected to the terminal electrodes. As a result, the regions in which the conductor layers touch the terminal electrodes are reduced in area, and accordingly it becomes difficult to secure the reliability of connection between the conductor layers and the terminal electrodes.
To avoid this problem, such a technique is conceivable that the wiring portion may be increased in width to thereby increase the area of the end faces of the wiring portion. However, this may cause a problem in the thin-film device that the density of the wiring portion is reduced and therefore it becomes difficult to reduce the dimensions of the thin-film device, or that the impedance of the wiring portion deviates from a desired value and the characteristics of the thin-film device are thereby degraded.
JP 10-163002A discloses a technique wherein, in a chip-shaped electronic component in which an inner conductor film is disposed on a substrate and external terminal electrodes are connected to the end faces of the inner conductor film, the end faces of the inner conductor film are tilted with respect to a sectional surface of the substrate.
JP 11-003833A discloses a technique wherein, in an electronic component in which electrodes are disposed on a substrate and external terminals are connected to the end faces of the electrodes, the end faces of the electrodes on the substrate are tilted with respect to a sectional surface of the substrate.
In the following description, the external terminal electrodes of JP 10-163002A and the external terminals of JP 11-003833A are both called terminal electrodes.
As previously described, in a thin-film device in which terminal electrodes are disposed on the side surfaces of the device main body, a reduction in thickness of conductor layers causes a reduction in area of the end faces of the wiring portion connected to the terminal electrodes, and as a result, the regions in which the conductor layers touch the terminal electrodes are reduced in area and accordingly it becomes difficult to secure the reliability of connection between the conductor layers and the terminal electrodes.
According to the technique disclosed in JP 10-163002A or JP 11-003833A, it is possible to increase the area of the regions in which the conductor layers touch the terminal electrodes, but the amount of increase in the area is very small. It is therefore difficult to secure a satisfactory degree of reliability of connection between the conductor layers and the terminal electrodes through the use of the techniques disclosed in these publications.


Systems and methods for cutting a well casing and then capping the cut well casing are provided. A well casing cutting assembly having a tensioned wire cutting element may first be moved into position relative to the well casing and operated so that the cutting element reciprocates transversely (i.e., in saw-like fashion) while simultaneously being advanced forwardly into cutting relationship with the well casing. The cutting assembly is removed from the cut well casing and replaced with a well capping assembly having a shield enclosure and a thread cutting subassembly. The thread cutting subassembly includes an interiorly threaded pipe coupling which rigidly carries a normally open, remotely controlled valving assembly and is mounted to the shield enclosure so as to be capable of both rotational and vertical movements relative to the cut well casing. By simultaneously rotating and downwardly displacing the thread cutting element, threads will be formed on the exterior surface of the well casing and will threadably couple the pipe coupling automatically thereto. The valving mechanism may then be operated so as to cap the well casing. Structure is provided which enable quick disassembly of the thread cutting subassembly from the pipe coupling so that the well capping assembly can be removed and reused.

The uncontrolled flow of oil and/or gas from a subterranean well presents significant problems not only in terms of environmental contamination from the fluid issuing from the well, but also in terms of personal injury risks to those workers who undertake the responsibility to stem the uncontrolled fluid flow. In this connection, the fluid which issues from the well head is at extremely high velocities. If the uncontrolled flow of oil and/or gas is ignited, therefore, a relatively large area surrounding the burning well head becomes an inferno which compounds the problems associated with well head capping.
Equipment which are especially adapted to cap the uncontrolled flow of oil and/or gas issuing from a well head are known, for example, as evidenced by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,192,376 (which utilizes the force of the fluid to responsively seat and engage a clamping device and then activate a valve mechanism), and 4,461,354 (which includes a hydraulically activated remote-controlled clamp which physically engages the exposed end of the pipe stem). These prior attempts, however, do not readily lend themselves to being removed quickly and transported to another well site for reuse (i.e., a need that was recently demonstrated by the mass destruction of Kuwait oil fields during the Persian Gulf War). It is therefore towards fulfilling such a need that the present invention is directed.
Broadly, the present invention resides in systems and methods whereby a well head can be prepared for capping and then capped so as to stem the uncontrolled flow of oil and/or gas therefrom. The invention contemplates the use of discrete shielded cutting and capping assemblies which can be maneuvered into place from a relatively safe distance (e.g., via a self-propelled mobile crane or the like) and then operated in a remote-controlled manner.
The cutting assembly is essentially comprised of an explosion proof shield. Once the cutting assembly has been maneuvered into position, the shield will bound a substantial portion of the well head thereby providing a measure of protection for workers involved in the casing cutting operation. A reciprocally acting wire cutting element may then be advanced into cutting contact with the well head casing. Continual incremental advancement of the cutting assembly will therefore sever the well head casing at a predetermined distance above the ground and thereby provide a casing stub which is then especially adapted to being acted upon by the capping assembly.
The capping assembly according to this invention may then be maneuvered into position after the cutting assembly has been removed from the well head site. The capping assembly has a cylindrical shield which completely bounds the cut well head casing and thereby provides a measure of protection for workers involved in the well head capping operation. A threading subassembly is removably attached below an internally threaded pipe fitting which, in turn, is subjacent to and supports a normally open valving mechanism. The threading subassembly is removably carried coaxially by a rotatable horizontally disposed drive ring which is capable of being controllably moved vertically relative to the well head casing.
Simultaneous rotation and controlled vertical displacement of the drive ring will cause the cutting assembly to form standard threads on the exterior surface of the well head casing. Continued rotation and vertical displacement of the drive ring will thereby cause the internal threads of the pipe fitting to engage the just formed threads on the exterior surface of the well casing (i.e., since the pipe fitting rigidly follows the motion of the threading subassembly). As soon as the pipe fitting engages a sufficient amount of threads on the exterior surface of the well casing, the rotation and vertical displacement of the drive ring is stopped. Subsequent closure of the remotely controlled valving mechanism supported by the pipe fitting will thereby stem the flow of oil and/or gas from the well head at which time the well head is capped. Once the well head is capped, the capping assembly can be relatively easily and quickly removed from the well site simply by disconnecting the threading subassembly from the pipe fitting and then lifting the capping assembly physically away from the now capped well head site.
Further aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more clear after careful consideration is given to the following detailed description of the preferred exemplary embodiments.


The present invention is concerned with a whey protein composition comprising a suitable concentration of whey protein concentrate wherein the whey protein concentrate contains proteins which are present in an essentially undenatured state and wherein the biological activity of the whey protein concentrate is dependent on the overall amino acid and small peptides pattern resulting from the contribution of all its protein components and a method of producing said whey protein composition. The invention also relates to several applications of said composition.

Throughout this application, various publications are referred to by Arabic numerals within parenthesis. Full citations for these references may be found at the end of the specification, immediately preceding the claims. The disclosures of these publications are hereby incorporated by reference in order to more fully describe the state of the art at the time of the invention described and claimed herein.
The present invention is based on the surprising discovery that undenatured whey protein concentrate has an enhanced immunological effect. More specifically, the invention relates to the effect of the oral administration of whey protein concentrate in undenatured conformation on the immune response to sheep red blood cells, host resistance to pneumococcal infections, development of chemically induced colon carcinoma and tissue glutathione.
The present invention shows the correlation between the undenatured conformation of whey protein concentrate (w.p.c.) and host immunoenhancement whereby chemical indices of denaturation are given and the demonstration that the same crucial role of molecular conformation (undenatured state) applies to glutathione GSH promotion, which is the other major biological activity of w.p.c. Equally important is the demonstration that another protein source such as egg white, with the same high cysteine content as w.p.c. does not enhance GSH synthesis, further demonstrating the specificity of w.p.c. with respect to the described biological activity.
Whey and whey protein have been utilized from time immemorable for nutritional purposes. In addition, whey was recommended in folk and ancient medicine for the treatment of various diseases .sup.(1,2) and, in one instance, lifetime feeding of hamsters with a whey protein diet has been shown to promote longevity with no explanation given.sup.(3,4).
Dairy products are widely used as a good source of nutrition. In addition, claims have been made to the effect that fermented whole milk (yogurt) is beneficial in the management of some types of intestinal infections. Certain dietary regimes based on ill defined natural or cultured dairy products are said to be associated with long life expectancy in some regions of the U.S.S.R., for example, Georgia.
Since time immemorial, serum lactis, which is latin for milk serum or whey, has been administered to the sick for the treatment of numerous ailments. In 1603, Baricelli reported on the therapeutic use of cow or goat milk serum sometimes mixed with honey or herbs. The spectrum of illnesses treated with whey include jaundice, infected lesions of skin, those of the genito-urinary tract with purulent secretions, gonorrhea, epilepsy, quartan fever and other febrile states of different origins. Indeed, the common denominator of most of these illnesses appears to be a septic condition. Although physicians of both ancient times and of the middle ages agreed that whey treatment should be carried out over a period of several days, a difference of opinion appear to exist concerning the daily amount prescribed. Thus, Galen, Hippocrates and Dioscoride insisted on a minimum daily amount of two 12 ounce latin libras, and up to five libras a day according to gastric tolerance. This would represent between one to two liters of whey a day. Baricelli on the other hand, reflecting the trend of his time, limited the amount prescribed to one libra a day, given in fractionated doses on an empty stomach.
Since then, numerous articles published in Europe through the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries have advocated the therapeutic use of whey. In an Italian textbook published in the middle of the 19th century.sup.(15), at the dawn of scientific medicine, an interesting distinction is made between whole milk and milk serum. Milk is recommended firstly as a nutrient especially in patients with strictures of the gastro intestinal track. In this respect the author emphasises that the benefits of the then popular "milk therapy" of cachexia and tuberculosis are due only to the nutritional property of milk. Secondly, the milk was prescribed in the treatment of poisoning because milk components would presumably neutralize ingested toxic material. Thirdly, milk therapy was suggested for the alleged capacity of this fluid to coat and soothe ulcers of the gastrointestinal track. Milk serum, on the other hand, was advocated in the treatment of pneumonitis, acute inflammatory diseases of the intestines and urogenital track, in spite of its recognized lower nutritional quality. Finally, the author emphasized the ineffectiveness of whey in the treatment of disorders of the nervous system.
The prime difference between whey (serum lactis) and whole milk is the near absence in the former of the caseins, the casein-bound calcium and phosphate, most of the fat and the fat soluble vitamins. The actual concentration in whey of "whey proteins" is usually similar to that in milk. Hence quantitative differences between whey and milk could not be construed to represent a key factor in the alleged therapeutic effect of whey treatment because, if any, they imply the lack, in whey, of some important nutrients. Some previously collected data .sup.(5-10) of the present inventors provide a scientific background to the presumed benefit of intensive treatment with "serum lactis". The importance of the characteristic amino acid and peptide profile of whey protein concentrate in the immune enhancing effect of the whey protein concentrate (WPC) has been shown. The caseins represent 80% of the total protein content of cows milk while WPC is only 20%. Hence, it is conceivable that it is the separation of WPC from the caseins in whey which represents the crucial qualitative change, since this would render the amino acid profile and associated small peptides patterns of whey proteins unaltered by that of the caseins, once the digestive process has released free amino acids from all ingested proteins.
The search for the possible mechanism of immunoenhancement by whey protein feeding has revealed to us the provocative possibility that whey protein concentrate may contribute to a broader biological effect of a protective nature involving susceptibility to cancer and general detoxification of environmental agents. All these conditions appear to be somehow related to changes in glutathione which is a ubiquitous element exerting a protective effect against superoxide radicals and other toxic agents.
Glutathione is a tripeptide thiol (L-gamma-glutamyl-L-cysteinylglycine) with a broad range of vital functions that include detoxification of xenobiotics and protection of cells against oxygen intermediates and free radicals, by-products of oxygen-requiring metabolism.sup.(42-45). Modulation of intracellular glutathione affects the proliferative immune response of lymphocytes which may be inhibited by oxidative injury.sup.(46-48). Glutathione protect the cells against radiation and alkylating agents.sup.(49-50). Age-related or experimentally induced glutathione depletion in the lens is associated with cataract formation.sup.(51,52). Oxidative DNA damage is rapidly and effectively repaired. The human body is continually repairing oxidized DNA. A small fraction of unrepaired lesions, however, could cause permanent changes in DNA and might be a major contributor to old age diseases and cancer.sup.(53). Indeed, several age associated diseases may be induced by free radicals.sup.(54). It appears that whereas data on age-related changes in tissue vitamin E and other antioxidants are, at best, contradictory.sup.(55), the tissue glutathione levels are more consistently reported to decline with old age in laboratory animals.sup.(56,57) and man.sup.(58-61).
For these reasons there has been interest in the factors that influence intracellular glutathione synthesis and especially in ways of increasing cellular levels of glutathione.
Glutathione is composed of three amino acids: glutamic acid, glycine and cysteine. Availability of cysteine is a limiting factor in the synthesis of glutathione.sup.(62,63). Cysteine is derived from dietary protein and by trans-sulfuration from methionine in the liver. Various methods have been tried in order to increase cellular levels of glutathione. Administration of free cysteine is not an ideal method because this amino acid is rapidly oxidized, toxio.sup.(64) and may actually cause glutathione depletion.sup.(65). Similar problems have been encountered with i.p. injection of N-acetyl cysteine to rats, although oral administration of this compound appeared to prevent paracetamol-induced glutathione depletion.sup.(65). Administration of compounds that are transported and converted intracellularly into cysteine, such as L-2-oxothiazolidine-4-carboxylate are useful in increasing cellular glutathione(66) acting as an intracellular delivery system for cysteine. Hepatic glutathione doubled four hours after injection, returned to normal 8 hours later but was below normal after 16 hours.sup.(66). Another approach for increasing tissue glutathione levels was found in s.c. injection of gamma glutamylcyst(e)ine in mice: glutathione increased in the kidney by about 55%, 40-60 minutes after injection, returning to near control values 2 hours later.sup.(67). The administered compound is transported intact and serves as a substrate for glutathione synthetase. It was also reported that about 2 hours after i.p. administration of gamma-glutamyl cysteinyl-glycyl monomethyl (or monoethyl) ester to mice, the liver and kidney glutathione levels were doubled, with return to normal values after 8 hours.sup.(68). Similar increases in glutathione tissue levels were attained by Meister by administering an alkyl monoester of glutathione (U.S. Pat. No. 4,784,685, Nov. 15th, 1988), to mice. Such esters are transported into tissue cells, and are deesterified within the cells, thus leading to increased cellular levels of glutathione. The kinetics of tissue glutathione increments attained with this method are similar to those described following i.p. injection of methyl or ethyl esters of glutathione.sup.(68). The effectiveness of these methods has been clearly demonstrated in acute experiments.sup.(68,69). (U.S. Pat. No. 4,784,685); in mice treated with L-2-oxothiazolidine-4-carboxylate the expected drop in glutathione tissue level subsequent to acetaminophen injection, was replaced by an actual increase in tissue glutathione values and survival. Other methods to increase tissue glutathione levels are based on the "overshoot" of glutathione concentration, following depletion by diethylmaleate or BSO. These studies were done in vitro on murine cell lines.sup.(70). Also pre-exposure of rats to hypoxia was found to increase lung glutathione.sup.(71).
The administration of glutathione itself is of little consequence on tissue glutathione levels, because it apparently cannot be transported intact across the cell membrane.sup.(68).
Some of said methods of increasing intracellular levels of glutathione concentration are either toxic or dangerous owing to the risks related to the initial phase of glutathione depletion. The methods involving the use of gamma-glutamyloyst(e)ine, athiazolidine or glutathione esters (U.S. Pat. No. 4,784,685) offer an interesting possibility for short term intervention. However, their long term effectiveness in producing sustained elevation of cellular glutathione has not been shown, nor has the possible toxicity of their long term use been disproved. Indeed, glutathione and glutathione disulfide were found to be positive in the most commonly used short term tests for carcinogenicity and mutagenicity. Relevant to our invention are recent data indicating specifically that a lack of the GSH precursor, cysteine, rather than a decrease in biosynthetic enzyme activities is responsible for the deficiency of GSH noted in aging animals.sup.(73). Similarly, the fall in cytosolic GSH in the liver of chronic ethanol fed rats does not appear to be caused by a limitation in the capacity of gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase activity.sup.(74).
Our studies have shown that the observed enhancement of the immune response is associated with greater production of splenic glutathione in immunized mice fed whey protein concentrate in comparison to mice fed casein, cysteine enriched casein or egg white protein in similar dietary concentration. The efficiency of dietary cysteine in inducing supernormal glutathione levels is greater when it is delivered in the whey protein than as free cysteine or within the egg white protein. Glutathione was found at higher levels in the heart and liver of whey protein fed old mice in comparison to mice fed the corresponding casein diet, the egg white protein or Purina Mouse Chow.
The use of mice as biological test subjects in research is commonly practiced world-wide. It is generally accepted that if a biological phenomenon occurs in two different mammalian species, it can be applied to other mammalian species including man. Our studies carried out in several unrelated strains of mice of both sexes therefore are of great benefit in gauging the biological activity of whey protein concentrate which appears to be independent of specific genetic or hormonal influences. Perhaps most importantly human milk has by far the highest whey protein/casein ratio than any other mammal. (See in this regard "Evolutionary Traits in Human Milk Proteins", Bounous et al, Medical Hypotheses (1988) 27, 133-140). Presumably nature has prepared humans, through the only obligatory form of nutrition, to handle undenatured whey proteins for their best metabolic advantage. In fact, one would anticipate that the favourable biological activity of whey protein concentrate in rodents might be more pronounced in the human host.

Biologically active whey protein concentrate


Example methods are provided for a network device to perform path maximum transmission unit discovery (PMTU) in a software-defined networking (SDN) environment. One example method may comprise detecting an egress packet that includes an inner header. The method may also comprise: in response to determination that a first maximum transmission unit (MTU) associated with a path between the first node and the second node is exceeded by a total size of the egress packet and an encapsulation overhead, generating an error packet that specifies a second MTU that is configured to be less than the first MTU based on the encapsulation overhead. The error packet may be sent to the first node to cause the first node to size a subsequent egress packet to the second inner address based on the second MTU.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Virtualization allows the abstraction and pooling of hardware resources to support virtual machines in a Software-Defined Networking (SDN) environment, such as a Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC). For example, through server virtualization, virtual machines running different operating systems may be supported by the same physical machine (e.g., referred to as a "host"). Each virtual machine is generally provisioned with virtual resources to run an operating system and applications. Further, through SDN, benefits similar to server virtualization may be derived for networking services. For example, logical overlay networks may be provisioned, changed, stored, deleted and restored programmatically without having to reconfigure the underlying physical hardware architecture.
Path maximum transmission unit (PMTU) may refer generally to the maximum size of a packet that can be transmitted along a path from a source to a destination without requiring fragmentation. Any packet that is larger than the PMTU is generally fragmented or discarded. In practice, packet fragmentation and reassembly is undesirable because it unnecessarily wastes processing and network resources. For example, fragmenting a packet involves dividing the packet into smaller fragments, which causes more overhead for the destination to wait until all fragments are received for reassembly. Also, since each fragment generally has the same header overhead as the original message, the total number of bytes that needs to be transmitted increases. To avoid packet fragmentation, PMTU discovery may be performed such that the source may size packets for transmission to the destination accordingly. However, conventional approaches may not be suitable in SDN environments in which packets are encapsulated before they are sent.

Path maximum transmission unit (PMTU) discovery in software-defined networking (SDN) environments


An athletic shoe is provided with a selectively adjustable shock-absorbing element. In one preferred aspect, a plate is provided with a plurality of independently moveable portions in contact with the shock-absorbing element. In another aspect, a plate is provided at an angle relative to a coil spring. A method is provided for adjusting a shock-absorbing spring.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a shoe, preferably an athletic shoe, with a shock-absorbing element in a midsole, preferably in the rear sole.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are a number of shoes known in the prior art that incorporate springs as a shock-absorber. U.S. Pat. No. 4,267,648 to Weisz and U.S. Pat. No. 5,042,175 to Ronen et al., the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein, disclose a plurality of springs throughout the midsole. The Ronen patent discloses the midsole cushion containing springs that are removable from the side of the shoe. The shoes disclosed by the Weisz and Ronen patents are not optimally configured for lateral stability.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,406,719 to Potter, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein, discloses a cushioning element which is adjustable. Such cushioning element utilizes a fluid flow system of chambers to control the cushioning of the shoe. Drawbacks of such a system include possible leaks, difficulty of replacement, and less than optimal stability.
While the shock-absorbing systems described above exhibit satisfactory shock absorbing characteristics, there exists a need for an improved shock-absorbing element that provides comparable to superior shock-absorbing qualities with greater stability, easier and more precise adjustability, and/or replaceability if that is a desired feature.

Athletic shoe with removable resilient element


An object is to easily convey by suction an optical module equipped with optical fibers having ends coupled to optical receptacles and mount the optical module on a substrate. An optical module according to the present invention includes an optical device to which optical fibers having ends coupled to optical receptacles are optically coupled and also includes a carrier composed of a substrate and adhesive layers formed on the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate. The optical device is bonded on the adhesive layer formed on the lower surface of the substrate. Part of the optical fibers and the optical receptacles are bonded on the adhesive layer formed on the surface of the substrate.

Against the backdrop of rapidly increasing demands for telecommunications, studies have been actively conducted to implement high-capacity communication networks. Also with regard to optical modules, for the purpose of improving bit rates per unit volume of communication facilities, there is a strong demand for compact optical modules with highly dense functional units. A ball grid array (BGA) technology is the key to downsizing of optical modules because the BGA technology can implement a large number of electrical interfaces in a highly dense manner (Non-Patent Literature 1). Furthermore, since a BGA package is attached to a substrate by reflow soldering, it is expected to reduce mounting costs as compared to the case of known optical modules in which a pin package with pins arranged on sides or a FPC package is attached to a substrate by soldering in an individual manner.

NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION


The invention relates to a process for designing semi-conductor memory components, especially DRAM components, whereby the process comprises the following steps: designing a first layout for a module of the semi-conductor memory component to be used in a first configuration of the semi-conductor memory component; designing a second layout for the semi-conductor memory component module to be used in a second configuration of the semi-conductor memory component; and using the first layout or the second layout for the total layout of the semi-conductor memory component, depending on the current configuration of the semi-conductor memory component.

In semi-conductor memory components a distinction is made between so-called functional memory components (i.e. PLAs, PALs, etc.), and so-called tab memory components, i.e. ROM components (ROM=Read Only Memory), and RAM components (RAM=Random Access Memory).
A RAM component is a memory device in which data is stored under a specified address, from which the data can be read out again.
Because a RAM component needs to be provided with as many storage cells as possible, it becomes important for the creation of these cells to be kept as simple as possible. With so-called SRAMs (SRAM=Static Random Access Memory) the individual memory cells for instance consist of a few, e.g. six transistors; and in so-called DRAMs (DRAM=Dynamic Random Access Memory) of only a single suitably controlled capacitance (i.e. the gate source capacitance of a MOSFET), with which in form of a charge one bit at a time can be stored. This charge only persists for a short period of time, which means that a so-called "refresh" must be per-formed regularly, i.e. ca. every 64 ms.
With DRAM components one can distinguish between so-called SDR-DRAMs, and so-called DDR-DRAMs and/or DDR2-DRAMs. In SDR-DRAMs (SDR-DRAM=Single Date Rate DRAM) the data in the component is always only relayed with the ascending pulse flank of a corresponding pulse (clock) signal (or alternatively only with the descending pulse flank).
With DDR-DRAM components (DDR-DRAM=Double Data Rate DRAM), or with their corresponding successive standard "DDR2" components, the data is relayed with the ascending flank of a corresponding pulse (clock) signal as well as with the descending flank of the corresponding pulse (clock) signal.
This means that data is relayed more frequently and/or faster in a DDR-DRAM (and/or a DDR2-DRAM), in particular twice as frequently and/or twice as fast, than in an SDR-DRAM.
Due to their increased integration density and functionality, the design of RAMs, especially DRAM components, has become ever more complex.
Due to this complexity of the components, a structured—i.e. a "top down", "bottom up" or similar conventional approach to design—has become necessary.
In a top down approach for instance, the design of a particular component starts at a relatively high level of abstraction whereafter the relevant design is progressively refined at increasingly lower levels of abstraction (e.g. according to the procedure suggested by D. Gajski in "Introduction to Silicon Compilation", Reading (Mass.), (illustrated in FIG. 4)—from a functional point of view—by starting at a "systems level", proceeding via an "algorithm register transfer and/or logic level" to a "circuit level" etc., or—from a structural point of view—by starting at a "CPU—and/or memory level", proceeding via a sub-system module gate level to a "transistor level", etc.), until finally the mask data required for manufacturing the components is obtained.
Thereby appropriate tests and/or simulations corresponding with each design stage take place (at every level of abstraction); in case of faults the design result must then be modified, and/or the corresponding design step repeated, or the design started anew at a higher level.
This procedure is able to ensure—despite the increased component complexity due to higher integration density and increased functionality—that the designed component operates in a fault-free fashion.
The complexity of DRAM components may for example be even further increased when a particular component is made "variably configurable" during its design (i.e. optionally configurable as an SDR-DRAM, DDR-DRAM or DDR2-DRAM, and/or as a component with 8 or 16 bit data output, and/or as a component with or without special optional features, i.e. with or without power-saving mode, etc.).
The actual configuration of the DRAM component (i.e. as SDR, DDR or DDR2-DRAM, etc.) is then done by means of so-called fuses or bonds—according to the customer's needs—after the DRAM components have been manufactured.
In this way the customer's needs can be met shortly before the component is dispatched, i.e. it can be custom configured by means of the above fuses or bonds.
At the same time, the circuitry not required for the configuration that is finally installed (but still required for the non-installed configurations) create further increased component complexity.

Process for designing and manufacturing semi-conductor memory components, in particular DRAM components


A vehicle includes an engine, a continuously variable transmission (CVT), and a controller. The CVT has an output shaft, a primary pulley connected to and driven by the engine, a secondary pulley connected to the output shaft, and a belt. The pulleys each have mating halves with conical faces defining a gap in which the belt is positioned. Actuators act on one of the halves of the primary and secondary pulleys in response to a respective primary and secondary pressure. The controller detects a desired CVT ratio change in response to control inputs and determines a required shift force for achieving the desired ratio change. The controller also determines whether a calibrated rate of change is achievable. The controller adjusts the primary and/or secondary pressures when the calibrated rate is not achievable, including transmitting a pressure command to at least one of the primary and secondary actuators.

A continuously variable transmission (CVT) is a type of power transmission that is capable of achieving infinite variability between its highest and lowest possible speed ratios. Unlike conventionally geared transmissions that use one or more planetary gear sets and multiple rotating and braking clutches to establish a desired discrete gear state, a CVT instead uses a variable-diameter pulley system or variator to transition anywhere within a calibrated range of speed ratios. The variator typically includes two pulleys interconnected via a chain or belt. The belt rides in a gap defined by conical faces of mating halves of the pulleys. One of the pulleys is typically connected to an engine crankshaft and thus acts as a driving/primary pulley. The other pulley is connected to the output shaft of the CVT to act as a driven/secondary pulley. One or more gears or planetary gear sets could be used on the input and/or output side of the variator.
In order to vary the speed ratio, a shift force is applied via one or more actuators to the primary and/or secondary pulleys. The shift force effectively squeezes the pulley halves together to change the width of the gap between the conical faces. Variation in the gap size, which is also referred to as the pitch radius, causes the belt to ride higher or lower within the gap. This in turn changes the effective diameters of the pulleys and, as a result, changes the speed ratio.
A CVT is a relatively efficient transmission design largely due to the variable speed ratio capability and relative structural simplicity as described above. However, the performance of a CVT may remain less than optimal in certain respects. For instance, a CVT typically transitions within its allowable range of speed ratios without providing much in the way of the physical and audible "shift feedback" typically provided to a driver during shifting of a conventional automatic transmission. Likewise, some CVT speed ratio changes may take an extended amount of time to complete in comparison to an automatic transmission shift. Such factors can adversely affect the subjective responsiveness and drive quality of a CVT-equipped vehicle.

Pressure staging in a continuously variable transmission


An aesthetically pleasing, slim profile window frame assembly that is capable of retaining a shutter. Specifically, the window frame assembly of the present invention comprises a core substrate coupled to a flange. Certain embodiments of the present invention comprise a core substrate having a thickness less than 5/16 inch and having, by volume, an elastic modulus greater than wood. A flange comprises a depth sufficient to retain a hinge attached to a window covering, such as a shutter. Certain embodiments of the present invention provide for a decorative covering to be coupled to the core substrate and/or flange such that a portion of the window frame assembly is thereby concealed. The improved strength per volume of the present invention facilitates shutter installation by a “do-it-yourself” homeowner or handyman as well as by a skilled carpenter.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an interior window frame assembly, and more particularly to an aesthetically pleasing interior window frame assembly for anchoring an interior window shutter thereto.
2. Background and Related Art
Window coverings such as shades, blinds and shutters are commonly used to provide privacy in a room as well as to block or reduce incoming sunlight. Window shutters are particularly popular as they provide maximum privacy, versatility, durability and ease of use. Window shutters may be constructed from a variety of materials, although the most commonly used material is wood and/or composites, finished either with a traditional wood finish, paint or by a coating of plastic or other substance.
Regardless of the material used to construct window shutters, window shutters are typically heavier and more cumbersome than other types of window coverings. Accordingly, proper installation and use of durable supporting frames and hardware are critical to ensure that shutters do not detach upon repeated use.
Traditionally, wood or wood composite window frames have been implemented for this purpose. Although the type of wood used in frame construction may vary, wood frames are typically soft and bulky as they require a considerable amount of surface area to provide the degree of elasticity and strength needed to properly support the weight of an attached shutter. These characteristics make frame handling and installation difficult, and labor expensive.
Wood frames are especially difficult to implement where there is a preexisting window molding or irregularities in the dimensions of a window opening. Those skilled in the art have traditionally dealt with this problem by trimming and/or caulking a window frame to accommodate such irregularities. This solution, however, is both time consuming and inexact. Indeed, if a window frame is improperly trimmed or installed out of square with the window opening, it may not be able to support the weight of an attached window covering. Wood frames are also prone to warp, thus further compromising the frame's strength and squareness with respect to a window.
Further, a standard window frame that has become strained or deformed due to warping or improper positioning may fail to accommodate a standard size window covering. A window covering must then be customized to accommodate the proportions of the window frame. Alternatively, the window frame must be replaced, repositioned and/or re-secured as necessary to retain and support a standard window covering in square with the window opening.
These inherent characteristics and difficulties of window frame and shutter installation require considerable time and labor of even highly skilled carpenters. When a layman attempts shutter installation, window frame and shutter installation can be dangerous as well. Improper window frame and shutter installation, or use of materials in window framing that are inadequate to support the weight of a shutter may cause the shutter to detach, thereby increasing a likelihood of damage to property and/or personal injury.
Accordingly, what is needed is an aesthetically pleasing window frame assembly capable of easy installation by those with a minimum of carpentry knowledge. What is also needed is a lightweight, slim profile window frame assembly that may be easily implemented in connection with a preexisting window molding. Further what is needed is a window frame assembly that maintains squareness with a window over time. Finally what is needed is a window frame assembly that compensates for irregularities in the dimensions of the window opening such that the window frame may predictably and reliably accommodate a standard window covering.
The present invention overcomes the foregoing and other disadvantages of the prior art by providing a novel and improved window frame assembly.

Window framing system with decorative overlay and method for using the same


A method and a device to compose an image by eliminating one or more moving objects in a scene being captured are provided. The method includes capturing plurality of images, generating a background image with a plurality of stationary objects after aligning the plurality of captured images, selecting a base image from a plurality of the aligned images, wherein the base image is selected based on a highest similarity measure with the background image, identifying the at least one moving object in the base image, and eliminating said identified at least one moving object in the base image to compose said image.

The advent of modern image capturing devices equipped with cameras in wider economic ranges has made image capturing devices popular in both the commercial as well as the domestic markets. For any photography enthusiast, the presence of impulsive movements, such as sudden movements of objects, any unwanted moving objects in a scene or unpredicted appearances of objects in a scene to be captured is a major obstacle. For example, a hastily moving stranger in the scene or a speeding car can ruin a good shot and can annoy a photographer. Eventually, a captured image may require a retouch on a computer, which is generally performed offline. However, current mobile devices such a mobile phone, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) or a tablet are equipped with a cameras and are supported by a computationally efficient processor. This enables instantaneous processing of the captured image by applying various image processing techniques to provide a processed output image. Based on image processing tools applied on the captured image, the processed image is enhanced with features such as noise removal, low illumination noise removal, ghosting effect removal and object removal, which effectively enhance the photography experience of the photographer. Photography features in the image capturing device such as elimination of undesired objects in the captured image to provide an output image free of undesired objects is desirable and is one of the sought after features by a user.
Some existing methods provide techniques to replace a selected region in a selected image with a corresponding region from one of other captured images of a scene. These techniques can be applied to applications, and include moving object removal. However, with existing methods of blending a replaced region with surrounding regions of the selected image lacks a natural blending effect. Thus, the processed image displayed may not provide a great photography experience to the photographer. The existing methods mostly perform identification of the undesired object based on an external selection input signal. Moreover, for automatic detection of the undesired object, the existing methods are restricted to mostly human figures in the captured image.
Therefore, a more effective solution for capturing an image, without a presence of moving objects therein, and for the ability to instantaneously display a natural-looking image to the user, is needed.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.

Method and device to compose an image by eliminating one or more moving objects


To make it easier to switch to video that is being viewed by another user, a source data acquisition unit acquires source data of content that is distributed by an apparatus. A video clipping unit clips video in a range specified by a participant's terminal out of 360-degree video indicated by the source data supplied thereto. Upon receiving a range of video specified in association with the participant's terminal, a content distribution unit clips video in the range out of 360-degree video acquired by the source data acquisition unit and distributes the clipped video to the participant's terminal. Also, upon a display switching instruction being made in association with a switching source participant's terminal, the content distribution unit distributes video that is clipped according to a range of video specified in association with a switching destination participant's terminal, to the switching source participant's terminal.

Japanese Patent Application No. JP2017-504863A discloses technology for integrating and presenting visual data and non-visual data acquired by an unmanned aerial vehicle, using a virtual reality terminal.
Video distributed using AR (Augmented Reality) technology, VR (Virtual Reality) technology, or the like provides an enhanced sense of being there to a viewer, compared to normal video. In addition, if a viewer can view video that is the same as video that is viewed by another viewer, these viewers can share an enhanced sense of unity, which facilitates human communication in the real world as well.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to make it easier to switch to video that is viewed by another user.


An inspection apparatus for color solid-state image pickup elements is configured to be provided with an A/D converter that performs the A/D conversion of the image signals which are the output of a color solid-state image pickup element, an image memory that stores the image signals that have been A/D converted by the A/D converter, a storage element that stores as a table the numerical hue data that express the degree to which color unevenness can be recognized by the human eye, a calculation circuit that performs image calculation processing on the basis of the image data stored in an image memory and that calculates judgment parameters on the basis of these calculation results and the hue data that is stored in the storage element, and a judgment circuit that judges whether a color solid-state image pickup element is faulty or not, on the basis of the judgment parameters.

The present invention relates to a fault inspection apparatus of a color, solid state image pickup element and, more particularly, to an inspection apparatus for the detection of color unevenness.
In general, color unevenness is one of the faults that can occur in color solid-state image pickup elements. These color unevenness faults the color of a fault portion either locally or over the entirety of the display, and are faults where there are slight color discrepancies (color differences or differences in the color density) between the colors of the entire image.
Conventionally, the determination of faulty or nonfaulty color unevenness depended upon human perception, and a visual test was performed by a test operator. This is described with reference to FIG. 1. In FIG. 1, a color solid-state image pickup element 72 that performs scanning is first mounted to a camera 73. Then, the image of a light source 71 is led to a monitor 74 via a color solid-state image pickup element 72 and the camera 73, and a test operator 75 visually compares the image of the monitor 74 with a reference sample and judges whether or not there is a fault.
Since an inspection for faults in color unevenness of color solid image elements by such visual determination is dependent upon the perception of the operator, there are discrepancies in the fault judgments because of individual variations. There are also discrepancies in judgment when the same test operator makes such judgments over an extended period of time.
Also, judging faults is performed by comparison of a reference sample image that the test operator has memorized and so it is necessary to have many weeks of training for the memory of this reference sample image. Because of this, there is the problem that much skill is required to inspect for color unevenness faults, and that the training of test operators is an important problem for manufacturing management.

Apparatus for color imager defect determination