A computer system includes a processing unit that processes data in response to instructions read from memory. Before being ready for a user to make use of a loaded application, the system initially loads executable instructions from permanent storage (such as a magnetic disc drive) during a loading process. In order to make better use of this time, operation related data (that is data for assisting a user to operate the system) is displayed during the loading process. The operation related data is stored in a user accessible file. Furthermore, the application itself facilitates the user re-configuration of the user accessible file under the control of the processing unit when the processing unit is executing the instructions; it not being necessary to use a third party text editor and navigate through the file structure. Then, during a subsequent instruction loading process, the user re-configured data is read.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to operation related data for an application.
2. Description of the Related Art
In computer systems, processing units process data in response to instructions read from memory. The computer's main memory is usually volatile in that the instructions are lost when power is removed and it is this feature which leads to the flexibility of computer systems in that many different program suites may be loaded thereby allowing the computer system to perform many different tasks, usually referred to as "applications".
Executable instructions are loaded into memory from permanent storage, which may take the form of a local disc drive or a networked drive or an array of drives etc. The time taken for the loading process to be carried out may vary from a few seconds to several minutes depending upon the size of the application. Furthermore, after loading instructions, the computer system may need to perform internal initialisation tasks before being placed in a condition suitable for receiving user input.
The time taken for loading is also increased significantly if additional programs are required, such as those provided by third party vendors and often referred to as "plug-ins". During the loading process, it is known to display information to users in the form of images and text that have become known as "splash screens". However, when users are very familiar with a particular application, much of the information conveyed to them in this way is often little interest. Thus, problem exists in terms of making better use of a user's time during the loading and initialisation processes.


An apparatus for making a nonwoven web has a carding drum (1), a continuously moving, air-permeable collecting surface member (2) for collecting fibers which fly in an entraining air stream from the carding drum (1), a suction box (4), connected to the collecting surface member (2), and a suction duct (3) extending between the collecting surface member and a peripheral portion of the carding drum (1) which is directly opposite to the collecting surface member (2). In order to ensure desirable conditions of flow in the suction duct (3), air supply passages (10, 11) extend over the working width of the carding drum (1) in the region in which the carding drum (1) is adjacent to leading and trailing suction duct walls (3a and 3b), with respect to the direction of rotation of the carding drum (1), and the air supply passag extend between the carding drum (1) and two drum guards (12 and 13), which respectively extend opposite to the direction of rotation of the drum from the leading duct wall (3a) and in the direction of rotation of the drum from the trailing duct wall (3b).

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for making a nonwoven web comprising a carding drum, a continuously moving, air-permeable collecting surface member for collecting fibers which fly in an entraining air stream from the carding drum, a suction box, which is connected to the collecting surface member on that side thereof which is opposite to the carding drum, and a suction duct between the carding drum and the collecting surface.
2. Description of the Prior Art
To make a nonwoven web from a lap, it is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,641,628 to disintegrate the lap by means of a carding drum into individual fibers and to blow off the covering formed by the individual fibers under the action of centrifugal force by means of an entraining air stream which is tangential to the carding drum so that the nonwoven web is formed in that the individual fibers are deposited on a collecting surface member, which is disposed below the carding drum and is continuously moved and through which the air stream is sucked. Said apparatuses have the disadvantage that the individual fibers cannot be deposited on the collecting surface as uniformly as desired, particularly if the fibers are supplied at a high rate, because the length of the flight path for the fibers between the region in which they are detached from the carding drum and the region in which they impinge on the collecting surface member necessarily depends on the diameter of the carding drum so that there is a considerable risk of formation of lumps, particularly if the working width is large. This is due to the fact that large working widths require carding drums which are large in diameter so that the fibers fly over larger distances.
To ensure a uniform detaching of the fibers from the carding drum and an undisturbed deposition of the fibers on the collecting surface member, it has been proposed to provide between the carding drum and the collection surface a plurality of suction ducts, which are consecutively arranged in the direction of rotation of the carding drum and extend substantially radially with respect to the carding drum so that the individual fibers into which the lap has been disintegrated by the carding drum can be divided into a plurality of partial streams of fibers, which are consecutively deposited on the collecting surface member. Because fibers at a correspondingly lower rate are conveyed in each of said partial streams of fibers, the tendency of a formation of lumps is greatly reduced. But a higher expenditure is involved in the detaching of the fibers from the carding drum in separate layers for the formation of a plurality of partial streams of fibers.


A digital signal processing system that produces an adaptive cancellation arrangement which nulls out all types of concurrent interference and/or jamming signals received by a Global Positioning System (GPS) or spread spectrum receiver from diverse antennas. The present invention uses a unique adaptive interference suppression technique to convert and digitize the analog input signals, and numerically modulate the data to produce effective cancellation of interference signals by nulling while preserving the multiple underlying spread spectrum signals. The invention generates digital and analog output signals which contain a reduced amount of interference. In the present arrangement, orthogonal components of the composite received signal are separated by the receive antenna arrangement and adjusted in the digital network between the antenna and receiver in phase and amplitude to optimally cancel components. The arrangement can be synergistically combined with digital adaptive transversal filter technology which is primarily used to supplement suppression performance by reducing narrowband interferences in the band. The orthogonal received signal components from the GPS satellite constellation and from interference sources are combined in the present arrangement to adaptively create a null that attenuates interference sources while slightly modifying the GPS received signals.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital nulling and cancellation system, preferably for Global Positioning Satellite System (GPS) receivers, Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) receivers, and spread spectrum radio systems which suppresses inband interference and/or denial jamming signals in the GPS and/or GLONASS L1 and L2 frequency bands using polarization techniques. More specifically, the present invention relates to the reception of orthogonally polarized electric field vectors and to the methods for converting the analog received input signals to multi-bit digital input signals, and to the methods of attenuating interference and/or jamming signals using digital adaptive polarization techniques for mismatching of the antenna feed signal received by the receiver. The present invention suppresses interference and/or jamming by significantly reducing the interference-to-noise and/or jammer-to-signal (J/S) ratio seen by the receiver.
2. Description of Related Art
The Global Position Satellite System (GPS) also called NAVSTAR! is a satellite navigation aiding system which transmits digitally coded data used to determine 2- and 3-dimensional position fixes at a receiving antenna. Its purpose is to provide users with high accuracy position, velocity and universal time throughout the world at low cost. For this reason, control of GPS operability in an interference environment is valuable for both military and civilian applications.
The key to achieving precise navigational performance is the processing of a very weak GPS spread spectrum signal which carries coarse acquisition (C/A) and precision (P(Y)) digitally coded and encrypted data, typically -120 dBm to -136 dBm (isotropic). The GPS signal spectrum uses two L-band frequencies, L1 at 1575.42 MHz and L2 at 1227.60 MHz, with bandwidths of either 2.05 MHz for C/A code or 20.46 MHz for P(Y) code, and employs right hand circular polarization (RHCP) for both L1 and L2 to simplify user dependence on receive antenna orientation. The C/A and P(Y) codes are on L1, the P(Y) code is on L2. Theoretical processing gains for the C/A and P(Y) codes are 43 dB and 53 dB, respectively. The critical GPS receiver reception states are: C/A code acquisition; P code direct acquisition; P code track; P code carrier aided track; and P code direct re-acquisition.
The GPS digital data can be detected and processed even if RF carrier reception is prevented by interference, but high accuracy is attained when the signal carrier is available. This is generally possible because the GPS concept has a high inherent antijam (AJ) capability, however the low receive signal level makes GPS vulnerable to low power interference and/or intentional jamming. It is relatively easy for a local inband source to overwhelm the GPS signal, preventing successful processing of the digital data. As a result the GPS system has several identified susceptibilities and vulnerabilities to interference. From both military and civilian perspectives, it is important to establish an adequate anti-jam capability for GPS systems and ensure availability of this asset in all environments. This was recognized by the military and resulted in the development of several spatial nulling antenna and digital filtering concepts.
Functionally, GLONASS is similar to GPS. Unlike GPS, where each satellite transmits a unique PRN (pseudorandum noise) code pair (C/A and P(Y)) on the same frequency in a CDMA (code division multiple access) format, each GLONASS transmits the PRN code pair at a different frequency. The process is represented as frequency division multiple access (FDMA). Therefore a GLONASS receiver tunes to a particular satellite and demonstrates some degree of inherent interference rejection using its frequency based options. A narrowband interference source that may disrupt one FDMA signal would disrupt all CDMA signals simultaneously. GLONASS also eliminates the need to consider the interference effect between multiple signal codes (cross-correlation).
GLONASS transmits signals centered on two discrete L-band carrier frequencies, L1 and L2. Each carrier frequency is modulated by a modulo-2 summation of either a 511 KHz or 5.11 MHz ranging code sequence and a 50 bps data signal. L1 can vary between 1598.063 MHz and 1608.75 MHz using 20 channels having a 0.5625 MHz spacing. L2 can vary between 1242.938 MHz and 1251.25 MHz using 20 channels having a 0.4375 MHz spacing. The frequency plan is to have satellites on opposite sides of the Earth (antipodal) share broadcast frequencies which has little effect on terrestrial users. GLONASS and GPS both use C/A and P(Y) pseudo random codes to modulate the L1 carrier, and P(Y) only to modulate the L2 carrier. The 511-bit C/A-code is clocked at 0.511 Mchips/sec. The P-code contains 33,554,432 chips clocked at a 5.11 Mchips/sec rate.
GPS and GLONASS receivers exhibit different levels of vulnerability to interference and jamming emitter waveform types, including: broadband Gaussian noise, continuous wave (CW), swept CW, pulsed CW, amplitude modulated (AM) CW, phase shift keying (PSK) pseudo noise, narrowband and wideband frequency modulated signals, etc. Vulnerability is highly scenario and receiver mode dependent. Broadband Gaussian noise is the most critical interference type in the above group because of the difficulty in filtering broadband noise without concurrent GPS or GLONASS quieting, and the intrinsic high cost and performance impact associated with spatial filtering, i.e. null steering, solutions on a moving platform.
A system has been developed for suppressing interference and/or denial jamming signals in the GPS L1 and L2 frequency bands, described in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/608,493 filed Feb. 28, 1996 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,712,641, entitled Interference Cancellation System for Global Positioning Satellite Receivers, inventors being Casabona, Rosen, and Silverman and assigned to the same assignee as the present application (hereinafter the "Casabona I application") and described in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/713,891 filed Sep. 17, 1996, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,822,429 entitled System for Preventing Global Positioning Satellite Signal Reception to Unauthorized Personnel, inventors being Casabona and Rosen and also assigned to the same assignee as the present application (hereinafter the "Casabona II application"). Such system employs polarization nulling utilizing electric field vector cancellation to effect inband interference suppression for GPS and GLONASS systems. Polarization cancellation has also been known to eliminate interference signals in data links and for communications channels, and for robust radar electronic countermeasures and electronic counter-counter measures. See, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,883,872; 4,283,795; 4,937,582; 5,298,908; and 5,311,192. The general implementation of polarization in GPS systems, as described in the Casabona I and II applications, uses a dual polarization antenna, a hardware polarimeter network and a control loop to cross-polarize the antenna network to interference of the composite signals. The general implementation of polarization nulling in communications utilizes a tracking channel to track the interference signal in phase and amplitude and reintroduce this signal in a canceling circuit to cancel interference components of the composite received signal. RF polarimeters have also been utilized in instrumentation radars to realize antenna matching, optimize performance, and for target measurement. Reciprocal RF polarimeter devices are utilized for radar jamming to realize cross-polarization countermeasures. Polarization nulling as used in the Casabona I and II applications for GPS interference suppression applications utilize a hardware implementation of the polarimeter structure composed of separate phase shifters and hybrid junction devices to suppress wideband and narrowband interference.
Digital adaptive transversal filter nulling for spread spectrum receivers as an approach to cancel narrowband interferences is known in the prior art. See, U.S. Pat. No. 5,268,927. The generalized implementation digitizes analog input signals, which comprise multiple spread-spectrum signals, thermal noise and additive multiple interferers, and applies a digital finite impulse response (FIR) filter response to the multi-bit digital representation of the input signals, and uses a set of variable digital weight coefficients to generate digital output signals which contain a reduced amount of narrowband interference. A significant problem is that adaptive transversal filtering is not effective in processing wideband interference or jamming without disruption of the underlying GPS signals. Adaptive transversal filtering is very effective against continuous-wave (CW) interference and narrowband interferences, such as pulsed CW and swept CW. Polarization nulling, in comparison, is effective against all forms of interference, especially wideband noise interference.
It is thus desirable to provide a digital signal processing interference canceling system for GPS systems that can deal with complex narrowband and wideband interference environments composed of diverse interference and/or jamming waveform types, L1 and/or L2 band interferences, multiple interference sources, and different interference polarizations. It is further desired that the interference canceling system provide high levels of cancellation for either or both of the GPS operating frequencies and adapt to variation in orientation of the receiver antenna(s) and/or the interference source. It is desirable that the polarization interference canceler process digitally encode representations of the received signals and implement the polarization signal cancellation phenomena on these signals, preserving the information content of the GPS signals.

Digital interference suppression system for radio frequency interference cancellation


A hook for securing clubs within a golf bag and for securing the golf bag to another object is disclosed. The hood comprises a pair of zippered hood members connected at their bottom edges by a circular collar. The collar encircles the bag and when folded upwardly upon the bottom of the hood members, forms a pocket for storage of the hood members. A cable having loops at each end extends around the collar passing under a strap or ring on the bag. The hood members are movable from a first position stored within the pocket, to a second, deployed, position in which they cover the open end of the bag when zipped together. The hood is secured over the bag by locking a ring connected to the zipper to the cable.

Golf clubs and bags are very expensive items which, especially in recent years, have become the subject of theft. Theft of golf clubs and bags is simple because of the manner in which the owner stores them.
For example, a golfer typically must leave his bag and clubs in a rack outside of the clubhouse, or on his golf cart. The golfer leans the bag containing clubs against the rack, and then proceeds to enter the clubhouse. Often, the golfer can not maintain visual contact with his clubs while in the clubhouse. Alternatively, the bag and clubs are left on the back of a golf cart which is parked somewhere outside of the clubhouse.
When in either of these two locations, a thief may remove one or more clubs from the bag. The thief may also pick up and take the entire bag containing all of the clubs and accessories.
A simple means is needed for locking golf clubs within a bag to prevent their theft. The locking means must be effective in deterring theft of the clubs, but must also not interfere with the use of the bag, including placement and removal of the clubs from the bag during play.
Further, there is also a need for a means for locking an entire bag containing clubs to prevent theft of the bag. A method is needed for locking the bag to items such as golf carts, bag racks, poles and similar items to prevent a thief from stealing the bag and clubs.


A submersible downhole pump (1) includes an elongate pump unit (3) defining a longitudinal pump axis (L) and a pump unit diameter (D), and at least one cable lug (13) for attaching a cable. The at least one cable lug (13) is connected to the pump unit (3) and pivotable around a pivot axis (P) perpendicular to the longitudinal axis (L) between a defined first position and a defined second position. The at least one cable lug (13) is positioned, in the first position, fully within the pump unit diameter (D). In the second position, the at least one cable lug (13) is positioned at least partially protruding outside the pump unit diameter (D).

Submersible downhole pumps are typically used in wells, vertical pipes or tanks for pumping fluid upward a riser duct connected to the pump. For a submersible downhole pump to fit into a well or a vertical pipe, the lateral dimension is quite limited so that submersible downhole pumps often have an elongate shape. Sometimes, the pump diameter is not much larger than the diameter of the riser duct. Therefore, the riser duct acts as a suspension for the pump. However, in case the connection between the pump and the riser duct gets loose or the riser duct breaks, there is a risk of losing the pump in the well or the vertical pipe.
EP 2 101 062 A1 discloses a motor pump with transportation lugs being pivotable around a longitudinal pump axis. Such known radially protruding lugs are not useful for securing submersible downhole pumps during operation, because a submersible downhole pump must fit into narrow wells or vertical pipes for operation.


A syringe with a barrel for holding a fluid medium includes a sealing cap that is put on the outlet end of the barrel. The barrel in the section that can be inserted into the cap has a first locking element on the outside. The sealing cap in the corresponding section has interactive second locking elements on the inside. The sealing cap can thus be put onto barrel with little force and thus less cracking occurs. To facilitate locking, the cap has a large number of second locking elements that are arranged peripherally. In each case, an expansion section is provided in the wall of cap between each pair of adjacent locking elements.

The invention relates to a syringe with a Barrel having a Sealing Cap to a Fluid Medium within the Barrel.
Such a syringe is known from EP 0 723 784 A, incorporated in its entirety by reference. The barrel has a lug that extends in the peripheral direction with an inclined side facing the outlet and a rear shoulder that is almost perpendicular to the peripheral direction. On its inside, the cap that is to be put on has sections that are formed as undercuts and that extend in the peripheral direction, and the cap engages in the projecting section of the barrel when the cap is pushed on. Since the outside diameter of the projecting section of the barrel is larger than the inside diameter of the cap, a considerable compressive force can be used when the cap is put on. This is all the more true as the projecting element must be relatively large so that deviations from the container dimensions can be compensated for.
The object of the invention is to provide an improved syringe of the type mentioned above.
It is achieved by this design that the compressive pressure can be lower to put on the sealing cap, which in turn has the result that the number of cases in which the container is damaged during closing is reduced.

Syringe with a barrel having a sealing cap to hold a fluid medium within the barrel


A control system is proposed which is integrated in a single housing and is designed for a numerically controlled machine. The control system comprises a PC board which includes an input device, a processor, a memory, and a PC bus; a plurality of CNC boards, each including a processor, a memory, and a CNC bus; a common control-system bus connected to the CNC bus of each CNC board; and a PC matching circuit provided between the control-system bus and the PC bus. The matching circuit includes a read-write memory, an address multiplexer, a bidirectional data multiplexer, and a control circuit, which depending on the control signals on the control lines of the control-system bus and the PC bus, drives the address multiplexer, the bi-directional data multiplexer, and the read-write memory such that by the control-system bus and also by the PC bus, data can be written into and read out from the read-write memory under desired addresses.

In a known, computer-supported control system, which is described in the U.S. patent application Ser. No. 4,787,049 (Hirata at al), a personal computer is provided which, in usual fashion, comprises a microprocessor, a ROM, a read-write memory, and a disk memory. Furthermore, as is generally usual, the personal computer comprises a monitor and a keyboard. The individual components of the personal computer are connected via interface circuits to an internal PC bus of the personal computer. On the output side, the personal computer is connected to a sequence controller via an interface circuit that is connected to the PC bus. The abbreviation "PC" throughout the specification means "personal computer". The sequence controller tool or to drive a numerical control unit, which Is connected to the axis drivers of a machine tool via driver units. The known control system therefore essentially Involves two separate units, namely the personal computer on the one hand and the CNC on the other hand, which are connected together by a control, which can essentially be regarded as a serial interface. Such a control system on the one hand is comparatively slow due to the high data density which must be transmitted between the personal computer and the CNC via the sequence controller and, on the other hand, is suited only to drive a single CNC and a single machine tool.
From the technical publication ISIS Engineering Report 1987, 5th year, Volume 1, April-October, Pages 3002-3005, a control system is known, with a personal computer which comprises a PC bus, and with a CNC that is connected to the PC directly via a parallel port. The CNC on its part is connected, via another parallel port, to a machine-tool driver-circuit, designated by "SPS". Every transmission of data from the PC to the control runs through the CNC and loads the latter. Thus this system ia not suited to work with more than a single CNC.

Control system for a numerically controlled machine


This invention provides a method of modulating translation termination efficiency of mRNA and/or promoting degradation of abberant transcripts. Also, this invention provides a method of screening for a drug active involved in enhancing translation termination and a method for identifying a disease state involving defective the protein complex.

The present invention relates to a multiprotein surveillance complex comprising human Upf1p eucaryotic Release Factor 1 and eucaryotic Release Factor 3 which is involved in modulation of the efficiency of translation termination and degradation of aberrant mRNA. Identification of this complex provides an in vitro assay system for identifying agents that: affect the functional activity of mRNAs by altering frameshift frequency; permit monitoring of a termination event; promote degradation of aberrant transcripts; provide modulators (inhibitors/stimulators) of peptidyl transferase activity during initiation, elongation, termination and mRNA degradation of translation. Such agents which may be antagonists or agonists, are useful for screening, and diagnostic purposes, and as therapeutics for diseases or conditions which are a result of, or cause, premature translation.
Recent studies have demonstrated that cells have evolved elaborate mechanisms to rid themselves of aberrant proteins and transcripts that can dominantly interfere with their normal functioning (reviewed in Gottesman et al. 1997, He et al. 1993, Jacobson and Peltz 1996, Ruiz-Echevarria et al. 1996, Suzuki et al. 1997, Weng et al. 1997, Maquat, 1995, Pulak and Anderson, 1993). Such pathways can be viewed both as regulators of gene expression and as sensors for inappropriate polypeptide synthesis. The nonsense-mediated mRNA decay pathway (NMD) is an example of a translation termination surveillance pathway, since it eliminates aberrant mRNAs that contain nonsense mutations within the protein coding region (Gottesman et al. 1997, He et al. 1993, Jacobson and Peltz, 1996, Ruiz-Echevarria et al. 1996, Suzuki et al. 1997, Weng et al. 1997, Pulak and Anderson, 1993, Caponigro and Parker, 1996, Maquat, 1995). The NMD pathway has been observed to function in all eucaryotic systems examined so far and appears to have evolved to ensure that termination of translation occurs at the appropriate codon within the transcript. Transcripts containing premature nonsense codons are rapidly degraded, thus preventing synthesis of incomplete and potentially deleterious proteins. There are well over two hundred genetic disorders which can result from premature translation termination (McKusick, 1994).
The proteins involved in promoting NMD have been investigated in C. elegans mammalian cells and in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Three factors involved in NMD have been identified in yeast. Mutations in the UPF1, UPF2, and UPF3 genes were shown to selectively stabilize mRNAs containing early nonsense mutations without affecting the decay rate of most wild-type mRNAs (He and Jacobson 1995, Lee and Culbertson 1995, Leeds et al. 1992, Leeds et al. 1991, Cui et al. 1995). Recent results indicate that the Upf1p, Upf2p and Upf3p interact and form a complex (He and Jacobson 1995, He et al. 1997, Weng et al. 1996b). In C. elegans, seven smg alleles have been identified which result in an increased abundance of nonsense-containing transcripts (Pulak and Anderson, 1993). A human homologue of the UPF1 gene, called RENT1 or HUPF 1, has been identified, indicating that NMD is an evolutionarily conserved pathway (Perlick et al. 1996, Applequist et al. 1997).
Although the cellular compartment in which NMD occurs in mammalian cells is controversial (Weng et al., 1997; Maquat, 1995; Zhang and Maquat 1997), it appears that in yeast, however, NMD occurs in the cytoplasm when the transcript is associated with ribosomes. Results supporting this conclusion are the following; 1) nonsense-containing and intron-containing RNAs that are substrates of the NMD pathway in yeast become polysome-associated and are stabilized in the presence of the translation elongation inhibitor cycloheximide (Zhang et al. 1997). The polysome associated RNAs, however, regain their normal rapid decay kinetics when the drug is washed out of the growth medium and translation resumes (Zhang et al., 1997); 2) Upf1p, Upf2p and Upf3p have been shown to be associated with polysomes (Peltz et al., 1993a, 1994; Atkin et al., 1995; Atkin et al., 1997); 3) as revealed by fluorescent in situ hybridization analysis, the cytoplasmic abundance of an intron-containing LacZ reporter RNA containing mutations in the 5xe2x80x2 splice site or branch point was dramatically reduced in UPF1+ strain but increased in cytoplasmic abundance in upf1xcex94 cells (Long et al., 1995); 4) NMD can be prevented by nonsense-suppressing tRNAs (Losson and Lacroute, 1979; Gozalbo and Hohmann, 1990; Belgrader et al., 1993); 5) the NMD pathway is functional only after at least one translation initiation/termination cycle has been completed (Ruiz-Echevarria and Peltz, 1996; Ruiz-Echevarria et al., 1998; Zhang and Maquat, 1997). Furthermore, a translation reinitiation event can prevent activation of the NMD pathway (Ruiz-Echevarria and Peltz, 1996; Ruiz-Echevarria et al., 1998; Zhang and Maquat, 1997). Taken together, these results indicate that the NMD pathway in yeast is a cytoplasmic and translation-dependent event. The rent1/hupf1 protein is also predominantly cytoplasmic (Applequist et al. 1997)
The yeast UPF1 gene and its protein product have been the most extensively investigated factor of the putative surveillance complex (Czaplinski et al. 1995, Weng et al. 1996a,b, Weng et al., 1998, Altamura et al. 1992, Cui et al. 1996, Koonin, 1992, Leeds et al. 1992, Atkin et al. 1995,1997). The Upf1p contains a cysteine- and histidine-rich region near its amino terminus and all the motifs required to be a member of the superfamily group I helicases. The yeast Upf1p has been purified and demonstrates RNA binding and RNA-dependent ATPase and RNA helicase activities (Czaplinski et al. 1995, Weng et al. 1996a,b). Disruption of the UPF1 gene results in stabilization of nonsense-containing mRNAs and suppression of certain nonsense alleles (Leeds et al. 1991, Cui et al. 1995, Czaplinski et al. 1995, Weng et al. 1996a; Weng et al. 1996b).
The ability to modulate translation termination has important implications for treating diseases associated with nonsense mutations. As with any biological system, there will be a small amount of suppression of a nonsense mutation, resulting in expression of a full length protein (which may or may not include an amino acid substitution or deletion). In the natural state, such low quantities of full length protein are produced that pathology results. However, by stabilizing the nonsense mRNA, the likelihood of xe2x80x9cread-throughxe2x80x9d transcripts is dramatically increased, and may allow for enough expression of the protein to overcome the pathological phenotype.
The nonsense-mediated mRNA decay pathway is an example of an evolutionarily conserved surveillance pathway that rids the cell of transcripts that contain nonsense mutations. The product of the UPF1 gene is a necessary component of the putative surveillance complex that recognizes and degrades aberrant mRNAs. The results presented here demonstrate that the yeast and human forms of the Upf1p interact with both eucaryotic translation termination factors eRF1 and eRF3. Consistent with Upf1p interacting with the eRFs, the Upf1p is found in the prion-like aggregates that contain eRF1 and eRF3 observed in yeast [PSI+] strains. These results indicate that interaction of the Upf1p with the peptidyl release factors is a key event in the assembly of the putative surveillance complex that enhances translation termination monitors whether termination has occurred prematurely and promotes degradation aberrant transcripts.
This invention provides an isolated complex comprising a human Upf1p protein, a peptidyl eucaryotic release factor 1 (eRF1) and a peptidyl eucaryotic release factor 3 (eRF3), wherein the complex is effective to modulate peptidyl transferase activity. In one embodiment, this invention further comprises a human Upf3p and Upf2p.
This invention provides an agent which binds to the complex comprising an amount of a human Upf1p protein, a peptidyl eucaryotic release factor 1 (eRF 1) and a peptidyl eucaryotic release factor 3 (eRF3) effective to modulate translation termination. This invention provides an agent which binds to the complex of claim 1, wherein the agent inhibits ATPase of Upf1p; GTPase activity of eRF1 or eRF3; or RNA binding to a ribosome. This invention provides an agent which inhibits or modulates the binding of human Upf1p to eRF 1, or eRF3 or eRF1 or eRF3 to Upf1p. This invention provides an agent which inhibits or modulates the binding of human Upf3p to eRF1, or eRF3 or eRF1 or eRF3 to Upf3p. This invention provides an agent which facilitates the binding of human Upf1p to eRF1 or eRF3; or eRF3 or eRF1 or eRF3 to Upf1p. This invention provides an agent which facilitates the binding of human Upf3p to eRF1 or eRF3; or eRF3 or eRF1 or eRF3 to Upf1p. This invention provides an agent which modulates the binding of human Upf1p, eRF1 or eRF3 to a ribosome.
This invention provides a method of modulating peptidyl transferase activity during translation, comprising contacting a cell with the complex in an amount effective to facilitate translation termination, thereby modulating the peptidyl transferase activity.
This invention provides a method of modulating peptidyl transferase activity during translation, comprising contacting a cell with the agent, in an amount effective to suppress non-sense translation termination, thereby modulating the peptidyl transferase activity. The peptidyl transferase activity during translation occurs during initiation, elongation, termination and degradation of mRNA.
This invention provides a method of modulating the efficiency of translation termination of mRNA at a non-sense codon and/or promoting degradation of abberant transcripts, comprising contacting a cell with the agent, in an amount effective to inhibit the binding of human Upf1p to eRF1, or eRF3; or eRF1 or eRF3 to Upf1, thereby modulating the efficiency of translation termination of mRNA at a non-sense codon and/or promoting degradation of abberant transcripts.
This invention provides a method of modulating the efficiency of translation termination of mRNA at a non-sense codon and/or promoting degradation of abberant transcripts, comprising contacting a cell with an agent, which inhibits the ATPase/helicase activity of Upf1p; the GTPase activity of eRF1 or eRF3, or binding of RNA to a ribosome, thereby modulating the efficiency of translation termination of mRNA at a non-sense codon and/or promoting degradation of abberant transcripts.
This invention provides a method of screening for a drug involved in peptidyl transferase activity during translation comprising: a) contacting cells with a candidate drug; and b) assaying for modulation of the complex, wherein a drug that modulates the complex is involved in peptidyl transferase activity or enhancing translation termination.
This invention provides a method of screening for a drug involved in enhancing translation termination comprising: a) incubating the drug and the complex; and b) measuring the effect on non-sense suppression, thereby screening for a drug involved in enhancing translation termination. The assays may be a RNA or NTPase assays, such as ATPase or GTPase.
This invention provides a method of modulating the efficiency of translation termination of mRNA and/or degradation of abberant transcripts in a cell, said method comprising: a) providing a cell containing a vector comprising the nucleic acid encoding proteins of the complex, the complex; or an antisense molecule thereof; b) overexpressing said nucleic acid in said cell to produce an overexpressed complex so as to interfere with the function of the complex.
This invention provides method for identifying a disease state involving a defect in the complex comprising: (a) transfecting a cell with a nucleic acid which encodes the complex; (b) determining the proportion of the defective complex of the cell after transfection; (c) comparing the proportion of the defective complex of the cell after transfection with the proportion of defective complex of the cell before transfection.
This invention provides a method for treating a disease associated with peptidyl transferase activity, comprising administering to a subject a therapeutically effective amount of a pharmaceutical composition comprising the complex or the agents, and a pharmaceutical carrier or diluent, thereby treating the subject.

METHOD OF MODULATING THE EFFICIENCY OF TRANSLATION TERMINATION AND DEGRADATION OF ABERRANT MRNA INVOLVING A SURVEILLANCE COMPLEX COMPRISING HUMAN UPF1P, EUCARYOTIC RELEASE FACTOR 1 AND EUCARYOTIC RELEASE FACTOR 3

Abstract: This invention provides a purified complex comprising an amount of a human Upf1p protein, a peptidyl eucaryotic release factor 1 (eRF1) and a peptidyl eucaryotic release factor 3 (eRF3) effective to modulate translation termination. Further, this invention provides an expression vector which comprises a nucleic acid encoding a human Upf1p protein, a peptidyl eucaryotic release factor 1 (eRF1) and a peptidyl eucaryotic release factor 3 (eRF3) operably linked to a regulatory element.

Abstract: This invention provides an antibody which binds to the complex comprising an amount of a human Upf1p protein, a peptidyl eucaryotic release factor 1 (eRF1) and a peptidyl eucaryotic release factor 3 (eRF3) effective to modulate translation termination. This invention provides an agent which inhibits or modulates the binding of human Upf1p to eRF1 or eRF3 The agent may inhibit or facilitate the binding of human Upf1p to eRF1 or eRF3.


The invention is directed to a hanger device used to suspend hanging materials such as curtains, shower curtains, or other sheet-like materials from a horizontally suspended rod to provide a barrier or for decorative purposes. In a preferred embodiment, the hanger device comprises a body portion having first and second ends; an extending member connected to and extending from each of the first and second ends; and, a fixed or removable decorative element having a connector portion and a cover portion for attaching to one or both extending members, wherein when a plurality of hanging materials are suspended from the hanger device, a top portion of the hanging materials is coupled to each opposed extending member, such that the hanging materials are positioned between the decorative elements and the body portion.

Hanger devices for hanging shower curtains, drapery and other hanging materials are known. Such known hanger devices include curtain rings, single hooks and double hooks. Curtain rings are often difficult to engage and disengage from the curtains and the rod, they are manufactured in limited design styles, and they often only provide a single curtain engaging member from which it is difficult to hang, access, remove and/or replace two or more curtains or hanging materials. Single hooks require a user to remove the hook from the rod each time a curtain is removed or replaced, the user is potentially required to remove and replace both curtains when accessing a single curtain, and the curtains often slip off of the hook when the hooks are moved horizontally across the rod. Double hooks generally do not have fixed or removable decorative covers and do not have two positive and opposing front views. In addition, while most curtain rod assemblies are adequately functional, unsightly metallic or plastic rods often detract from maintaining a decorative appearance. Replacing an existing rod may not be permitted such as in rental apartments or may be difficult, costly, and require skilled labor, such as drilling in tile, backer board, and hard to reach places. Rod covers exist in the prior art but the covers often hinder the movement of the rings along the rod and are often costly and time consuming to install.
Accordingly, there is a need for a new and improved hanger device with decorative covers that does not have the problems associated with known hanger devices.


A method of proximity imaging photolithographic structures for the fabrication of high resolution ink jet orifice plates is used in ink jet printers. The method comprises the step of providing a positive-acting photoresist coating onto an electrically conducting plating substrate. A clear glass photomask is brought into planar proximity and a planar gap is established by means of screen shims permanently bonded to the glass photomask. It is desirable to ensure that the shims are uniformly distributed about the mask with at least one shim in the center. An atmospheric pressure sufficient to ensure that the shims are settled against the resist-coated substrate is then applied, before exposing the surface with an ultraviolet light source and developing to produce a non-conductive peg pattern corresponding to the desired orifice pattern.

Continuous ink jet printers comprise a series of electric and fluidic components, including an orifice plate and a charge plate, for generating one or more rows of jets of ink and selectively charging the ink droplets as they form from the jets. Typically, there may be several hundred jets formed in each row, and each jet may be stimulated to produce drops of ink at a given rate. All such drops fall through an electrical deflection field, and those which are charged are deflected into a catcher. Uncharged drops are deposited on a print media positioned below the print head.
One of the critical requirements in ink jet printers is an orifice plate which will produce several hundred jets of ink which are precisely positioned, precisely parallel, and precisely uniform in diameter and shape. The orifice plate must also be compatible with the ink compositions used, and must be resistant to erosion by the ink. In addition, the regions around the orifices should be sufficiently open to provide for cleaning ink and dirt deposits from the orifices for maintaining proper operation.
One method for producing an orifice plate which will produce several hundred jets of ink is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,184,925. In the '925 patent, the orifice plate is formed of nickel metal, which is resistant to erosion. A photoresist is exposed through suitable masks and developed to produce round photoresist peg areas on each side of the substrate corresponding to the orifices which are to be formed. The orifice plate material, e.g. nickel, is then plated onto the substrate until the orifice material has grown up beyond the height of the pegs. The orifice material then begins to plate inwardly over the edges of the pegs until orifices of the desired size are formed.
Unfortunately, these prior methods placed the photomask in contact with the photo-resist-coated substrate. Dimpled or wavy areas in the substrate or lack of true parallelism caused overexposure, resulting in lack of homogeneity in image shape and dimensions. An additional disadvantage of contact exposure is the sticking and transfer of photoresist particles to the photomask with each exposure, which necessitates frequent cleaning, resulting in premature mask wear. For instance, in formation of resist dots or pegs by the contact exposure method for ink jet orifices, the range of peg diameters typically exceeded two microns variation, whereas the range of dot diameters of the photomask original was only 0.5 microns.
Imaging of photoresist coatings has been done by contacting the surface of coated substrates with a glass mask and exposing with ultraviolet light. For this procedure to yield images having the true dimensions of the photomask, the parts and all the supporting fixtures must be extremely flat in order to avoid shadowing effects where the mask does not locally conform to the substrate. Waviness in the substrate, or bowing, can produce localities where there is not complete contact over large areas.
For imaging that is not highly critical, and to overcome mask sticking, proximity exposure equipment can be used wherein various mechanical schemes are used to establish a planar gap between the substrate and photomask. However, available mask aligner exposure units could not provide satisfactory and reproducible results with the minimum exposure distance being about 0.001 inch. Flat solid foil shims of about 0.0005 inch thickness could be inserted around the mask periphery, but these were impractical to handle because of their fragility.
It is seen then that there is a need for a straightforward method for ensuring close and precise space maintenance between the substrate and the photomask.

Method of proximity imaging photolithographic structures for ink jet printers


An indexable cutting insert has two cutting protrusions extending from opposite end surfaces towards a mid plane. Each cutting protrusion has a rear surface, an oppositely facing rake surface, a relief surface. A main cutting edge is formed at the intersection of the rake and relief surfaces, and extends between two main cutting edge ends. An edge projection is formed by a line connecting longitudinal projections of the main cutting edge ends of each main cutting edge. The edge projections of both of the main cutting edges form a non-zero first angle therebetween. The rake surfaces of the cutting protrusions are located on longitudinally opposite end surfaces of the cutting insert. Two clamping recesses and two abutment recesses serve as contact surfaces for clamping the cutting insert in an insert pocket of a cutting tool.

Cutting tools as milling cutters, slotting cutters and saws have a plurality of cutting inserts retained on the peripheral surface of their tool body. The cutting inserts may have multiple cutting edges, and each insert me be indexable to use another cutting edge when a certain cutting edge is worn or damaged. The indexable cutting inserts may have two cutting edges, which are rotated relative to one another. The cutting tool body would have respective insert retaining portions suitable for receiving the indexable cutting inserts. Cutting inserts and cutting tools as described above are shown, for example, in DE1602795, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,020,944, 7,553,112, US2012/269588 and in WO2011/159119.

Indexable asymmetric cutting insert and cutting tool therefor


Described is a copolymer of methacrylic acid and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate which does not have any specificity to general organic solvents, can thus adsorb wide variety of the organic solvents, shows almost no desorption-adsorption hysteresis and therefore, is excellent in desorption characteristics. Also described is a method for the preparation of the copolymer; an adsorbent or a concentrating medium comprising the copolymer; a loop used in an injector for chromatography which is packed with the adsorbent or concentrating medium; a needle for solid-phase microextraction (SPME) which is packed with the adsorbent or concentrating medium; a kit for the preparation of a sample comprising the needle for SPME; a method for concentrating a sample; and a method for analyzing an analyte present in a sample.

The present invention relates to a novel copolymer and applications thereof and more specifically the present invention pertains to a copolymer of methacrylic acid with ethylene glycol dimethacrylate; a method for the preparation thereof; an adsorbent or a concentrating medium containing the same; a loop of an injector for chromatography packed with the adsorbent or concentrating medium; a needle for solid phase micro-extraction (SPME) packed with the adsorbent or concentrating medium; a kit containing the needle and used for the preparation of a sample for analysis; and a method for concentrating a sample and a method for analyzing an analyte present in the sample, which make use of the kit.
The solid phase microextraction (hereunder referred to as "SPME" or "solid phase extraction") is a most powerful or effective tool for the preliminary concentration of a sample, which is inspected for the presence of an organic compound to be analyzed, such as an aqueous sample analyzed according to the gas chromatography (GC) technique. The SPME technique may simply be handled and requires the use of a small amount of a solvent consumed, as compared with the conventional solvent extraction technique and therefore, there have been presented or proposed a large number of applications of the SPME/GC technique. When dipping an SPME fused silica rod in the sample solution, the analyte is extracted into the polymer film on the surface of the silica rod. Then the fused silica rod is introduced into the sample-injection port of a gas chromatograph and a heat is then applied thereto so that the analyte molecules undergo desorption by the action of the heat. In contrast with the foregoing succeeded example, there have been known only a small number of reports concerning the combination of the SPME technique with the liquid chromatography (LC) technique or the electrophoretic separation technique for the analysis of a non-volatile compound. This is because, the mechanism of the on-line interface is complicated and the operations for desorption are quite difficult.
Recently, there has been developed another SPME technique or an in-tube SPME technique in which the LC separation device is directly connected to the SPME device without using any interface. In this method, the extraction medium used is an open tubular GC hollow capillary column. If a sample solution is passed through the column using a microflow pump, an analyte present in the aqueous sample solution is extracted into a polymer film applied onto the inner wall of the hollow capillary. A small amount of an organic solvent can likewise be passed through the hollow capillary to thus desorb the analyte thus extracted. This method does not require the use of any desorption device for feeding the extracted solute into the separation device and therefore, any process requiring difficult operations can be eliminated and the amount of the organic solvent required for the desorption can be reduced to a level as low as possible.
The inventors of this invention have already tried to adopt a wire-in-tube structure as a hollow capillary for extraction used in the analysis of a tricyclic antidepressant present in the human urine. In this wire-in-tube structure, the inner volume of the hollow capillary for extraction can substantially be reduced by the insertion of a stainless wire into the hollow capillary, while maintaining the surface area, which comes in contact with a sample solution. Such a construction would permit the further improvement of the concentration effect as compared with that achieved by the conventional in-tube SPME technique. Moreover, this fact suggests that the on-line wire-in-tube SPME/LC device would enable the high-speed analysis of a variety of organic compounds present in biological and environmental sample matrices.
On the other hand, the analysis of phthalic acid esters present in aqueous sample matrices in low concentrations have been considered as one of most important problems to be solved because of the estrogen actions of the compounds. There have widely been investigated techniques for the quantitative analysis of phthalic acid esters as internal secretion-disturbing substances and for elucidating the functions thereof, but there has still been desired for the development of an effective and rapid extraction-concentration technique, which never requires the use of a large amount of a solvent, in the practical analysis of environmental aqueous samples.
Further, there has been proposed a technique, which makes use of polymers derived from divinyl benzene as a medium used in the absorption-desorption of the foregoing samples to be analyzed. However, only specific samples are adsorbed on such polymers and, in particular, these polymers suffer from various problems. For instance, they cannot adsorb any alcohol, it is difficult to use them since the particle size thereof is too small and they are quite susceptible to water vapor. For this reason, there has been desired for the development of an absorption-desorption medium usable for various purposes.

Copolymer, and adsorbent or concentrating medium and needle for solid phase microextraction prepared using the copolymer


A location management method is provided for packet data transmission in a mobile communication system. To reduce the amount of signalling for location management concerning packet transmission compared to location management concerning normal traffic, location data of the mobile stations utilizing a data service is updated in a special data service user database. Packets to these mobile stations are sent via the cells as indicated by location data in that database. The database resides in a data service center which interfaces a data network.

In cellular radio systems, which are generally referred to as mobile communication systems herein, the geographical area covered by the system is divided into smaller radio areas, i.e. radio cells, to make the utilization of the frequency band of the system more efficient. Mobile radio stations, i.e. mobile stations, may freely move from a cell to another within the system area. In order that mobile-terminating calls and signalling can be routed to the correct location in a cellular radio network, the cellular radio network maintains the location data of mobile stations in the subscriber databases of the cellular radio network.
Typically, a cellular radio network knows the location of mobile stations with an accuracy of a so-called location area, which consists of one or more cells, (By this, it is meant that the cellular radio network knows which location area each mobile station is located in, but not necessarily in which cell within a location area each mobile station is located.) i.e. a group of cells. The location data of a mobile station in subscriber databases is updated only if the mobile station moves from a location area into another. This type of location updating based on a location area is a compromise between location updating carried out in each cell and PLMN-based (Public Land Mobile Network) location updating. The disadvantage of PLMN-based location updating is that in a case of a mobile-terminating call, the paging message is transmitted in all cells within the PLMN. Furthermore, all paging messages are repeated, for instance three times, to increase the probability of reception. This manner of proceeding consumes the frequency band. In a case where location updating takes place in connection with every cell crossover, there is a significant increase in the number of location updating messages. This consumes the capacity of the radio path, and the need for data processing in mobile services switching centers and base station controllers also increases.
The location updating and location management based on location areas operate in a satisfactory manner in conventional networks.
Finnish Patent Applications 933,894 and 940,314, which are unpublished on Apr. 8, 1994, disclose new packet data transfer modes between a mobile station and a special data service center. The packet service center produces an interworking function between the cellular radio network and a separate data network. Data packets are transmitted between a mobile station capable of data transmission and the packet service unit by using a so-called virtual connection. In this case, 1) a circuit-switched connection through the cellular network is only established for the period of time required for transmitting a single packet or 2) packets are transferred through the cellular radio network on the basis of the address on a data packet according to the node-to-node scheme entirely without a circuit-switched connection by using the network elements of the cellular network as nodes.
In the first case, described in Finnish Patent Application 933,894, the data service center informs a mobile station, via a common downlink paging channel, of an incoming data packet transmission, as a result of which the mobile station initiates the establishment of a circuit-switched connection in the network by using call set-up data associated with the virtual connection. When the packet transmission has been completed, the circuit-switched connection is immediately released and only the virtual connection, i.e. the switching data of the connection, is retained. Informing of incoming data transmissions takes place in cells via common paging channels by using paging messages. The number of paging messages relating to packet transmission in cells thus radically increases with the number of subscribers using the packet service and the amount of packet transmission. If the location management of a cellular network is based on location areas, a mobile station is informed of an incoming data transmission by transmitting a paging message in each cell of the location area. As a result of this, the consumption of the frequency band is greatly increased. If, however, location information is maintained in the cellular network with an accuracy of one cell, the transmission of multiple paging messages is avoided but on the other hand, the amount of location updating in the entire cellular network increases.
In datagram-based connectionless packet transmission, disclosed in Finnish Patent Application 940,314, there is no circuit-switched path between a mobile station and the packet service center during data transmission. On the radio path, data packets are primarily transmitted by using a dedicated media access control, derived from Aloha-type or other expedited call set-up signalling. Thus, it is also necessary in this other method to transmit paging or packet messages to a mobile station on paging channels in a case of an incoming packet transmission, whereby a similar conflict between the optimization of the number of paging messages and the amount of location updating arises.

Location updating for a packet-switched data service in a mobile communciation system


A metal detector transmitting high current pulses and employing the high voltage back EMF signals which occur at their termination. The method employed uses a resonant tuned receive coil which provides a major improvement in the depth of detection of metallic objects and interference rejection over current time and frequency domain metal detectors.

There are two main types of hand held metal detectors in common use. A first type of metal detector is referred to as an Induction Balance detector or more commonly a very low frequency "VLF" metal detector, as they operate using very low frequencies. That type of metal detector operates in the frequency domain and uses a sinusoidal transmit signal to transmit a varying magnetic field.
A second type of metal detector called a Pulse Induction or "PI" detector operates in the time domain. The PI metal detector transmits a magnetic field due to a transmit coil being energized by high current pulses.
Most VLF metal detectors use a searchcoil assembly which contains a transmit and a receive coil and a feedback or bucking coil. The coils are physically arranged in such a way as to cause a null in the receive coil to the signal from the transmit coil. Metallic objects entering the searchcoil's field upset the balance, causing a signal in the receive coil. The received signal has a phase and amplitude which is dependent on the type of metal as well as the size and shape of the metallic object.
As the transmit signal is sinusoidal, many metal detectors incorporate the transmit coil into an oscillator circuit, with the transmit coil becoming the oscillator's tank circuit. The continuous sinusoidal signal provides a phase reference for one or more synchronous demodulators or synchronous sampling circuits which output a DC signal containing information regarding the phase and amplitude of the receive signal.
By adjusting the clock phase of the synchronous demodulators or sampling circuits relative to the sinusoidal transmit reference, it is possible to obtain a DC signal which has essentially no component due to mineral ground. The synchronous demodulators or synchronous sampling circuits output a DC signal which is, for example, positive for non ferrous targets and negative for ferrous targets.
Only positive signals are chopped at an audio frequency and amplified to a speaker or headphones to indicate the presence of a metallic object which falls within a predetermined range.
The positive or negative DC signal may also be applied to a meter.
Pulse Induction metal detectors operate by switching high current pulses through a transmit coil. The current causes a magnetic field to surround the transmit coil. The field causes eddy currents to flow on the surface of metallic objects. Either the same coil used for transmit or a separate receive coil picks up signals from the metallic targets after the transmit pulses terminate. The received signal is sampled one or more times and processed so as to provide a DC signal to cause a voltage controlled oscillator to output an audio amplitude and/or a frequency change of the audio output stage to indicate the presence of a metallic object.
A further detailed description of the above metal detector technologies is not provided, as both methods are well known in the art.
Both Induction balance—VLF and Pulse Induction "PI" metal detectors have a number of drawbacks.
One drawback with VLF metal detectors is that they are very difficult to build using a resonant tuned receive coil. Small temperature changes in the searchcoil can translate into a phase shift of the receive signal, which in turn causes errors in the ability of the metal detector to cancel signals due to mineral ground and to discriminate against unwanted metallic objects. The effect however of using a non-resonant tuned coil is a major reduction in the metal detector's sensitivity and poor interference rejection capabilities.
Another drawback of most VLF metal detectors is that their detection depth is limited due to the low power of the transmitted signal.
Pulse Induction or PI metal detectors generally have greater depth capabilities than VLF metal detectors. PI metal detectors, however, have, at best, only a very limited discrimination ability.
Minerals such as iron oxides in the ground also adversely effect a metal detector's discrimination ability often to the point where discrimination between different metallic objects is not possible.
Accordingly, there is a need for a metal detector which has the ability to work with a tuned searchcoil, has a major depth capability, superior noise rejection and the ability to discriminate against a range of unwanted metallic objects which are buried in highly mineralized soil.

Resonant pulse induction metal detector that transmits energy from high voltage flyback pulses


A battery acid filler apparatus and method are disclosed. The apparatus and method utilize a single, relatively large diameter tube to both fill and retract excess acid from a battery, at a single station by means of controlling the time of filling and the opposing pressures of acid pumps.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to automatic machines and processes for filling batteries with acid.
2. Prior Art
In the prior art, it is known to assemble automotive batteries completely with the plates and separators assembled in cells and the lids of the batteries sealed to the cases of the batteries. The covers of the batteries have holes for venting gases from the batteries as well as for pouring acid into the batteries in order to cover the plates. The assembled batteries are passed under acid filling machines in order to fill them with acid before the vent caps are placed over the vent/acid fill holes.
In the prior art, it was known to place two concentric tubes into each battery vent. This thereby reduced the fill diameter to the point where the actual filling of the battery was quite slow.
Another method was to have a two-station operation wherein at one station acid would enter the battery by gravity and at the second station excess acid would be sucked out until the acid was at a proper level. In such a method, it was common to have battery acid overflows; with their attendant ecological problems.
Further, in the past, a vacuum system would implode the end cells of the battery which would result in a lower acid level on the end cells of the battery.
It is the desire of the present invention to eliminate the prior art problems regarding filling batteries.


An embodiment of the present invention relates generally to computer configuration and, more specifically, to a system and method to seamlessly determine the component configurations of a series of heterogeneous platforms and enable their respective component configurations to be intelligently migrated from one platform to another. In some embodiments, the invention involves generating configuration binaries for a plurality of target platforms. The configuration binaries are used with tools to create configuration directives for the target machines. In at least one embodiment, the configuration directives are sent to the target platforms in a scripting language. In some embodiments, the scripts are automatically generated by a tool using the configuration binaries for various platforms and policy guidance to determine which settings should be set on or off. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Various mechanisms exist for administering the configuration of platforms in an enterprise. In corporate environments, or other network environments, such as ones administered by an information technology (IT) group, there are often times when it is desirable to turn on or off certain features in an administered platform. In one example, it may be desired to disable the universal serial bus (USB) port. However, some platforms may not have a USB port, so a command to disable the USB port would not be applicable for those platforms. In some platforms, this command may be an invalid request. Typically, existing systems use one agent to request these configuration changes with one or more remote targets. In existing systems, an administrator may communicate to one or several remote targets that are well known. However, the configuration request commands need to be hard-coded for individual platforms.
In one environment, a network may have 20 or more different SKU (stock keeping unit) platforms that need to be configured. Each individual SKU platform may require a different request protocol to disable the USB port. Thus, it may be desirable to migrate settings from one machine or set of machines to another machine or set of machines, or to have a server remotely configure and adjust configurations for many heterogeneous target platforms.
In existing systems, there has been no means of establishing a "standard" interrelationship between platform configuration settings of a variety of heterogeneous platforms. Therefore, if an administrator of a corporate network is faced with a large variety of systems with no standard means of configuring them, the administrator either would not "control" the firmware settings of the targeted platforms or if it is desired to control the various platform settings, a manual effort is necessary to establish a standard configuration for all the systems in the administered environment.

System and method to enable platform personality migration


A method and apparatus for surface treating metal pipes includes introducing a treatment liquid into a first distribution chamber having a flat bottom surface, and dropping the treatment liquid onto at least a portion of the outer peripheral surface of the metal pipe through a plurality of holes formed in the bottom surface of the first distribution chamber. Preferably, a distance between the bottom surface of the first distribution chamber and the metal pipe is maintained constant as the outer diameter of the pipe varies. The treatment liquid may be introduced into a second distribution chamber having a flat bottom surface, and the treatment liquid may then be introduced into the first distribution chamber through a plurality of holes formed in the bottom surface of the second distribution chamber. It is possible for the first distribution chamber to simultaneously drop the treatment liquid onto at least two metal pipes.

Oil well pipes are commonly connected to each other by pin-box type threaded joints comprising a pin having an external thread and a box having an internal thread. Pin-box type threaded joints can be classified as coupling types and direct connection types.
In coupling-type threaded joints, normally, both ends of an oil well pipe have a pin comprising an external thread formed thereon. The pin of an oil well pipe can be connected to the pin of another oil well pipe by a coupling, which is a separate member having an internally-threaded box formed thereon.
In direct connection type threaded joints, a pin having an external thread is formed on one end of an oil well pipe, and a box having an internal thread is formed on the other end. Two oil well pipes are connected to each other by screwing the pin of one pipe into the box of the other pipe and tightening the joint.
In order to improve the sealing properties of a threaded joint, in recent years, a special threaded joint having an unthreaded metal contact portion which adjoins a threaded portion and which can form a metal-to-metal seal has come to be used.
In general, when a threaded joint is tightened, in order to reduce friction, a lubricating oil is applied to a portion of the joint. In particular, with threaded joints having an unthreaded metal contract portion to which it is necessary to apply an extremely high surface pressure in order to guarantee sealing properties, it is customary to apply to the joint a lubricating grease which is viscous at room temperature in order to prevent galling, which is unrepairable seizing.
In order to increase the retention of a lubricating oil or a lubricating grease, a threaded joint is frequently subjected to phosphate treatment with manganese phosphate, zinc phosphate, or similar material. The crystalline phosphate coating which is formed is porous and has numerous pores, so it can retain a lubricating oil or grease in its pores. When pressure is applied to a threaded joint during tightening, the phosphate coating is compressed to cause the lubricating oil or grease retained in its pores to be released out of the coating. Accordingly, by forming a phosphate coating on the surface of a threaded joint, the rust-preventing properties and lubricity of a lubricating oil or grease are greatly improved.
This effect can be obtained by forming a phosphate coating on the surface of either the pin or the box of a threaded joint and applying a lubricating oil or grease to the coating. It is desirable that the phosphate coating be formed with a uniform thickness (or coating weight). If there are variations in the thickness of a phosphate coating, the amount of lubricating oil or grease which is retained by the phosphate coating varies. As a result, in locations where the phosphate coating is thin, galling may occur due to insufficient lubricity (galling occurring particularly readily in unthreaded metal contact portions).
Methods commonly used for performing surface treatment such as phosphate treatment of threaded joints formed on the ends of steel pipes such as oil well pipes include the immersion method and the dropping method. In the immersion method, as schematically illustrated in FIG. 7, surface treatment is carried out by disposing a steel pipe 3 in a tilted state with a threaded portion formed on one of its ends immersed in a treatment liquid 2 contained in a tank 1. In the dropping method, as schematically illustrated in FIGS. 8(a) and 8(b), a treatment liquid 2 in a tank (not shown) is passed through a supply pipe 5 and is sprayed or dripped from nozzles 4 onto a threaded portion 3a on the end of a steel pipe 3.
The immersion method requires a large installation space, and it is necessary to lift and lower a steel pipe being treated, so its working efficiency is poor. In addition, when performing surface treatment only of the exterior surface of the end of a steel pipe, it is necessary to close the open end of the pipe to prevent the treatment liquid from entering its interior, or it is necessary to perform treatment to prevent the treatment liquid from adhering to the interior of the pipe, so the method becomes complicated to perform.
In the dropping method, as shown in FIGS. 8(a) and 8(b), a plurality of steel pipes can simultaneously undergo continuous surface treatment by arranging the pipes in parallel and spraying a treatment liquid from a plurality of nozzles onto the pipes as the pipes are being conveyed, so surface treatment can be efficiently performed in a smaller space.
Phosphate treatment is preceded by pretreatment including degreasing and subsequent water rinsing, and followed by post-treatment including rinsing with cold and/or warm water to remove excess treatment liquid. In order to efficiently carry out phosphate treatment including this pretreatment and post-treatment by the dropping method, Japanese Patent No. 2,988,310 discloses an apparatus in which the ends of steel pipes are successively passed beneath nozzles which supply liquids for each step as the steel pipes are conveyed at a constant speed in a direction perpendicular to the pipe axes while being rotated. Different treatment areas are partitioned from each other by curtains in order to prevent the liquids which are dropped in each step from mixing with each other.
In the dropping method, when a treatment liquid is sprayed from nozzles as shown in FIGS. 8(a) and 8(b), the treatment liquid spreads out in a conical shape, so the closer the nozzles are to the steel pipes being treated, the easier it is for the amount of the treatment liquid which is sprayed onto the pipe surface to become nonuniform. As a result, in the case of phosphate treatment, variations develop in the thickness of the phosphate coating which is formed, and "lack of hiding", which is a condition in which the bare metal of the steel pipe is visible, can easily occur in portions where the coating thickness is low. In addition, when the supply pipe 5 and the nozzles 4 are arranged in one row as shown in the figures, the area of treatment measured in the axial direction of the steel pipes varies in accordance with the separation (distance) between the nozzles and the steel pipes. Therefore, if the nozzles are too close to the steel pipes, in order to form a phosphate coating over a desired region in the axial direction of the pipes, it becomes necessary to take steps such as providing supply pipes and nozzles in two rows, and the treatment apparatus becomes complicated.
Phosphate treatment is usually carried out at a temperature higher than room temperature in order to promote the reaction on the surface of the steel pipe. In the case of the dropping method, a phosphate treatment liquid (a phosphating solution) which is heated in a tank to a temperature of 70±5° C. is passed through the supply pipe and sprayed from the nozzles, whereby phosphate treatment is performed at a temperature above room temperature. If the temperature of the phosphating solution on the surface of the steel pipe changes, the coating weight and the crystallinity of the resulting phosphate coating also change.
The treatment liquid which is sprayed from the nozzles decreases in temperature due to contact with the atmosphere which is at a cooler temperature. When sprayed from the nozzles, the treatment liquid is formed into fine droplets, and its surface area is increased, so it undergoes a large decrease in temperature at this time. Therefore, when the diameter of the steel pipe being treated varies, the distance between the nozzles and the steel pipe also varies, and the extent of decrease in the temperature of the treatment liquid varies. Thus, in the case of phosphating, the temperature of the phosphating solution when it reaches the surface of the steel pipe varies, and as a result, a phosphate coating having a desired coating weight and crystallinity may not be formed. Similarly, when the distance between the nozzles and the steel pipe is increased in order to increase the length in the axial direction of the pipe over which treatment is performed, the extent of decrease in temperature also increases, and a phosphate coating having a desired coating weight and crystallinity may not be formed.
If the temperature of the phosphating solution in the tank is increased in order to compensate for the above-described decrease in temperature by spraying, the phosphating solution becomes overheated, leading to the formation of precipitates (sludge). As a result, active ingredients of the phosphating solution are consumed as sludge, resulting in increased costs of the solution.
Thus, particularly in the dropping method in which a phosphating solution is sprayed from nozzles, it was difficult to suitably control the temperature of the solution when it contacted the surface of a steel pipe. As a result, the coating weight or the crystallinity of the phosphate coating which was formed were inadequate, or the coating weight was not uniform, and when a lubricating oil or grease was applied to it, the above-described problems developed.
As a solution to cope with these problems, Japanese Patent No. 2,660,689 discloses a method in which a phosphating solution is allowed to naturally fall by overflowing as a laminar flow from a current plate provided in a tank and contact the surface of rotating steel pipes.
However, in that method, it is not possible to simultaneously treat a plurality of steel pipes using a single tank, so it has a lower treatment efficiency than treatment by the method shown in FIGS. 8(a) and 8(b) in which a plurality of steel pipes can be simultaneously treated by spraying from nozzles. Furthermore, the position of the tank is fixed, so depending upon the outer diameter of the pipe being treated, the distance between the tank and the pipe increases, the temperature of the phosphating solution decreases, and the coating weight of the phosphate coating decreases. Furthermore, in that method, it is mandatory to rotate the steel pipes while dropping a phosphating solution thereon.

Method for surface treatment of metal pipes


An apparatus is provided that includes a processor configured to receive a captured traffic unit (CTU) intended for a network service, the CTU being one into which incoming traffic has been assembled based on a filter describing which incoming traffic to capture and how to assemble the respective incoming traffic into the CTU. The processor is also configured to determine whether to allow the CTU to pass to one or more applications configured to implement the respective network service based on a passlet including permissions to a particular user. The processor is further configured to instruct a firewall to allow the CTU to pass to the respective one or more applications or to reject the CTU based on the determination. In this regard, the processor is configured to perform the above functions under control of a security framework implemented in middleware between a user-level domain and a system-level domain.

Applications based on the distributed request/response computing model are already becoming part of consumers' everyday life. Examples include browsing and sharing content with friends on the Web, home entertainment offered by Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA)-compliant consumer electronics devices, home automation and webcam applications, and a number of Web Services. Furthermore, the proliferation of new enabling technologies, such as peer-to-peer overlay networks, will enable non-expert consumers to easily create their personal networks of devices and content, and share them with people in their social environment, again using applications based on the distributed request/response model.
As consumers' interaction with distributed systems becomes pervasive, so do the dangers of exposing their resources to malicious attacks and exploits that are already abundant in the Internet. Since most users are non-experts, they are unaware of how their systems operate, existing threats to their systems, and the exact security consequences of their actions. Furthermore, most current security countermeasures require significant expertise (e.g., managing access control lists—ACLs, certificates, encryption keys) and infrastructure (e.g., Certification Authorities, authentication servers) to operate, which makes them non-applicable or non-usable in everyday consumer scenarios. In addition, many of the distributed applications and middleware in use do not implement a security framework at all, often under the assumption that perimeter security (e.g., firewalls) or lower-layer (e.g., link-layer or network-layer) security will protect them from attacks. Consumers are approaching a point of time where large numbers of non-expert users will be able to easily share (and expose to threats) their devices, services, and content over distributed applications that don't implement security or whose security is turned-off or mis-configured.
Clearly, a security framework that would allow non-expert consumers to make intuitive security decisions that protect their resources shared by legacy distributed applications, would be very beneficial.

Apparatus and method for managing access to one or more network resources


An Al alloy extrusion material for the fuel-distributing pipe of automobile, consisting essentially of 0.3 to 1.0 wt. % of Si, 0.1 to 0.5 wt. % of Cu, 0.6 to 1.5 wt. % of Mg, 0.3 to 1.0 wt. % of Sn, 0.005 to 0.03 wt. % of Ti and the balance of Al and inevitable impurities and having uniformly dispersed Sn compounds with particle diameter of not more than 20 .mu.m and density of 20 to 700 grains/mm.sup.2 in the section perpendicular to the extrusion direction of material is disclosed, which is excellent in the chip separation property and the precision of cut face on cutting.

The present invention relates to an Al alloy extrusion material for the fuel-distributing pipe of automobile, which improves, in particular, both characteristics of chip separation property and precision of cut face on cutting required for the extrusion material for fuel-distributing pipe used for automobile engine.
In the recent automobile engines, it has become common to use a system directly injecting the fuel into combustion chamber through electronic control for achieving lower pollution or higher output. For this reason, the fuel-distributing pipe is needed for fixing the fuel injection devices to engine and for supplying the fuel into individual fuel injection device, and various fuel-distributing pipes are used. So far, for the fuel-distributing pipe, cast pipe material made of iron or Al alloy has been used. In recent, however, for more improving the quality and the producibility, it has become to be made even with a hollow extrusion material made of aluminum alloy (JIS 6061 alloy; alloy of Al-0.6 wt. % Si-1.0 wt. % Mg-0.25 wt. % Cu-0.2 wt. % Cr). Besides, one example of mounting structure of fuel injection device (hereinafter, referred to as INJ) to the fuel-distributing pipe is shown in FIG. 1. Illustration will be made on FIG. 1. When using a hollow extrusion material (1) as a fuel-distributing pipe, as many holes (3) as the number of INJs are provided on this extrusion material, and INJ (5) is mounted to each of these holes (3) interposing O-ring (4). In the FIGURE, numeral (6) shows an air-intake port and numeral (2) a hole for the pathway of fuel for supplying fuel.
In this case, since the fuel leakage from the joined portion of the wall face of hole (3) of distributing pipe (1) with O-ring (4) of INJ is linked with a serious accident, the sealability of joined portion is considered to be an absolutely necessary condition, thus high precision is required for the precision of face after cutting of the wall face of hole (3) at INJ-mounting portion.
On the other hand, while said JIS 6061 alloy used recently for this fuel-distributing pipe of automobile is excellent in the point of surface precision after cutting, it is very poor in the chip separation property on cutting, arising a problem in the point of producibility.
Moreover, as a 6000-series Al Alloy having corrosion resistance and being free to cut, AA6262 alloy (alloy of Al-0.6 wt. % Si-1.0 wt. % Mg-0.25 wt. % Cu-0.1 wt. % Cr-Pb-Bi) is known hitherto. According to the investigating studies by the inventors, however, this alloy proved to have excellent chip separation property on cutting, but have poor surface precision of cut face on cutting.
For these reasons, the development of Al alloy extrusion material for the fuel-distributing pipe of automobile satisfying both characteristics of high precision cut face and good chip separation property has been earnestly sought for the improved producibility. Besides, in this specification, high precision cut face implies that the face roughness after cutting is very low and there are no defects such as falling on the cut face.
As a result of extensive investigating studies on the Al alloy extrusion material as a fuel-distributing pipe of automobile in view of such situation, the inventors have found that Pb and Bi used most often as improving elements in the cutting property of AA6262 alloy being conventional free cutting Al alloy deteriorate the precision of cut face. In consequence of further investigations, they have developed an Al alloy extrusion material for the fuel-distributing pipe of automobile having allowed both characteristics of high-precision cut face and chip separation property to be compatible by adding only Sn to Al-Mg-Si-Cu alloy and by optimizing the size and distribution density of crystallized grains of Sn compounds.

Aluminum alloy extrusion material with excellent chip separation property and precision of cut face on cutting


A composite substrate 10 includes a sapphire body 1A, a seed crystal film 4 composed of gallium nitride crystal and provided on a surface of the sapphire body, and a gallium nitride crystal layer 7 grown on the seed crystal film 4 and having a thickness of 200 μm or smaller. Voids 5 are provided along an interface between the sapphire body 1A and the seed crystal film 4 in a void ratio of 4.5 to 12.5 percent.

According to non-patent document 1 ("Applied Physics Letters" 84, page 4041), a thin layer of gallium nitride is grown on a sapphire body, and the gallium nitride layer and a surface of the sapphire body are then etched by H2 annealing. The surface of the sapphire body is etched by the etching to form fine roughness thereon. By re-growing a gallium nitride thin layer on the roughened surface, it is possible to produce a seed crystal substrate including voids. However, the non-patent document 1 does not disclose Na flux method utilizing a gallium nitride seed crystal substrate.
Further, patent document 2 (Japanese Patent Publication No. 2000-327495A) discloses Na flux method of utilizing a seed crystal substrate of gallium nitride. In growing gallium nitride single crystal by Na flux method, by utilizing a substrate including deposited thin layer of gallium nitride (or AlN thin layer), it becomes possible to control the positions of nucleation and to facilitate the growth. However, according to the patent document 2, it is not described to peel GaN template from the thus grown gallium nitride layer.
According to patent document 3 (Japanese Patent Publication No. 2004-247711A), it is formed a gallium nitride layer with a layer including voids and a gallium nitride layer is then grown thereon by flux method so that a substrate and the grown nitride crystal are separated from each other in the vicinity of the voids.
According to patent document 4 (WO 2009-011407), a surface of a sapphire body is etched to produce a substrate including gallium nitride seed crystal with a layer including voids. A thick film of a gallium nitride crystal layer is then grown by flux method. During the subsequent fall of temperature, the sapphire body and gallium nitride are spontaneously peeled off from each other around the voids due to a difference of thermal expansion coefficients of sapphire and gallium nitride, so that a self-standing body of gallium nitride is obtained.

Composite substrates, a method of producing the same, a method of producing functional layers made of nitrides of group 13 elements, and functional devices


A nickel-zinc battery cell is formed with a negative can, a positive cap, and a jelly roll of electrochemically active positive and negative materials within. The inner surface of the can is protected with an anticorrosive material that may be coated or plated onto the can. Good electrical contact between the jelly roll and the cap is achieved through folding the nickel substrate over to contact a positive current collection disk.

The recent trend for portable devices has increased the needs and requirements for environmentally friendly rechargeable batteries suitable for use for consumers as a replacement to primary, or not rechargeable, batteries. A conventional rechargeable alkaline battery, e.g., nickel-metal hydride or nickel cadmium, has a negative can and a positive cap. Cylindrical nickel-zinc cells may be designed with polarities in reverse or opposite of a conventional alkaline battery. In the reverse polarity design, the battery vent cap is the negative terminal and the cylindrical case or can is the battery positive terminal. The reverse polarity design provides low impedance and low hydrogen evolution at the negative terminal. When employed in electricity powered portable devices, such as power tools, the reverse polarity design does not affect the consumer, because the rechargeable battery may be built into the device or be separately wrapped or encased. However, when the cells are individually supplied, a consumer may possibly mishandle a reverse polarity cell and cause damage to the cell or equipment by using or charging a reverse polarity cell as a conventional polarity cell.
In order to make available individual cells to mass consumers, a conventional polarity cell design for a nickel-zinc cell is sought that provides good impedance and hydrogen recombination at the negative terminal.

Cylindrical nickel-zinc cell with negative can


A method for fabricating a semiconductor device includes forming a semiconductor structure including a substrate, a first vertical fin and a second vertical fin longitudinally spaced from the first vertical fin with each of the first and second vertical fin having a hardmask cap, and a bottom spacer layer on the substrate. The method further includes forming first and second bottom source/drains within the substrate respectively beneath the first and second vertical fins, forming first and second top source/drains respectively on the first and second vertical fins, forming a vertical oxide pillar between the first and second vertical fins, removing a portion of the oxide pillar to reduce a cross-sectional dimension to define a lower recessed region, and depositing a metal gate material about the first and second vertical fins wherein portions of the metal gate material are disposed within the recessed region of the oxide pillar.

The present disclosure relates generally to semiconductor devices, and more specifically, to a vertical field effect transistor (VFET) device including a high-k metal gate (HKMG) stack defined by a replacement metal gate (RMG) process.
A vertical field effect transistor (VFET) device includes a vertical fin extending from a semiconductor substrate. The vertical fin forms a vertical channel extending between a source region and a drain region of the semiconductor. In general, a VFET device is designed to have one or more gates that are formed on multiple sides of the vertical channel (e.g., a vertical semiconductor fin or vertical nanowire). In addition, a VFET device employs doped source and drain regions. The doped source region for a VFET device may be formed on top of a vertical semiconductor fin, and the doped drain region may be formed underneath the vertical semiconductor fin. The opposite arrangement is also feasible. The gates of the VFET device control the flow of electric current through the channel and between the source and drain regions. The perpendicular arrangement of the vertical fin in a VFET device increases packing density and improves scaling limitations relative to a conventional field effect transistor (FET).

Vertical field effect transistor replacement metal gate fabrication

International Business Machines Corporation


A pre-distortion type linearizer circuit for use in linearizing the performance of power amplifiers such as traveling wave tube and solid state power amplifiers. The linearizer circuit comprises linearizer bridge that includes a phase shifter and a fixed delay in a linear arm, and a distortion generator and an attenuator in a nonlinear arm. The output of the linearizer bridge is coupled through an output amplifier and an output attenuator. The RF output signal from the linearizer circuit is coupled to the power amplifier. A control circuit receives on and off input command signals, and outputs a bilevel telemetry signal that is used as a mode indicator for ground command control. The control circuit adjusts settings of the linearizer bridge, and adjusts gain and attenuation settings of the output amplifier and output attenuator. All circuits of the linearizer circuit may be integrated onto a single alumina substrate, for example. The linearizer bridge circuit may be used with traveling wave tube amplifiers and solid state power amplifiers operating in the S, C, X, Ku, K, Ka, Q, V, or W frequency bands, or any other desired RF frequency band.

The present invention relates generally to power amplifiers, and more particularly, to a linearizer circuit for use with power amplifiers such as traveling wave tube and solid state power amplifiers.
Nippon Electric Corporation (NEC) has developed a linearizer circuit that uses an amplifier as a distortion generator. The NEC linearizer is rated at 4 watts, and weighs 650 grams. ANT Bosch Telecom has developed a linearizer bridge circuit. This system has dimensions of 2.6 centimeters by 1.6 centimeters. Four substrates are required to produce the ANT Bosch Telecom linearizer bridge circuit, and it cannot be used to adjust the power transfer curve of a traveling wave tube amplifier. The ANT Bosch Telecom linearizer bridge circuit has an architecture that is similar to the present invention, but is constructed using different components that provide lower performance than the present invention and that operate at higher power levels.
Accordingly, it is an objective of the present invention to provide for an improved linearizer bridge circuit for use with a power amplifier. It is also an objective of the present invention to provide for a high performance linearizer circuit that operates at reduced power levels compared to conventional circuits.

Linearizer for use with RF power amplifiers