High penetration compositions (HPC) of a parent compound, which are capable of crossing biological barriers with high penetration efficiency. The HPCs are capable of being converted to parent drugs or parent drug-related compounds such as metabolites after crossing one or more biological barriers and thus can render treatments for the conditions that the parent drugs or parent drug-related compounds can. Additionally, the HPCs are capable of reaching areas that their parent drugs or parent drug-related compounds may not be able to access or to render a sufficient concentration at the target areas HPCs of NSAIA, for example, have demonstrated indications such as treating hair loss. A HPC can be administered to a subject through various administration routes, e.g., locally delivered to an action site of a condition with a high concentration or systematically administered to a biological subject and enter the general circulation with a faster rate.

Active agents or drugs that are effective in vitro may not be as effective in vivo due to the delivery difficulties in vivo, in particular, their limited penetration ability across one or more biological barriers before reaching the site of action where diseases occur in vivo.
Currently many drugs are administered through systematic route, such as oral or parenteral administration, to reach an action site of a condition or disease. Since higher dosage of drugs is required to reach a distal location in the systematic administration, drugs delivered by such route may cause adverse reactions.
For example, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents (NSAIAs) are widely used for treatment of acute or chronic conditions where pain and inflammation are present. Although NSAIAs are absorbed in the stomach and intestinal mucosa, oral administration usually accompanies adverse drug reactions such as gastrointestinal (GI) effects and renal effects. For instance, aspirin is known to cause gastric mucosal cell damage. The side effects of NSAIAs appear to be dose-dependent, and in many cases severe enough to pose the risk of dyspepsia, gastroduodenal bleeding, gastric ulcerations, gastritis, ulcer perforation, and even death.
Modifications of known NSAIAs have been reported to improve their efficacy and decrease their side effects. However, to treat inflammation or pain at distal areas, a much higher plasma concentration of an NSAIA is required when the drug is administered orally than when the drug is administered at the particular site of pain or injury (Fishman; Robert, U.S. Pat. No. 7,052,715).
Fishman and many others (Van Engelen et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,416,772; Macrides et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,346,278; Kirby et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,444,234, Pearson et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,528,040, and Botknecht et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,885,597) have attempted to develop a delivery system for transdermal application through drug formulation to reduce the side effects associated with oral administration and achieve localized drug administration with reduced systematic exposure. It is very difficult, however, to deliver therapeutically effective plasma levels of these drugs by the formulation.
Prostaglandins and prostaglandin analogs have a wide variety of physiological functions and effects, and therefore have many medicinal uses. For example, prostaglandins and prostaglandin analogs can be used to induce childbirth or abortion; prevent closure of patent ductus arteriosus in newborns with particular cyanotic heart defects; prevent and treat peptic ulcers; as a vasodilator to treat severe Raynaud's phenomenon or ischemia of a limb or to treat pulmonary hypertension, which are treated traditionally via intravenous, subcutaneous or inhalation administration routes; treat glaucoma (e.g., in form of analogs such as bimatoprost ophthalmic solution, which is a synthetic prostamide analog with ocular hypotensive activity); and treat erectile dysfunction or in penile rehabilitation following surgery (e.g., PGE1 as alprostadil). However, prostaglandins and prostaglandin analogs are rapidly metabolized and inactivated by various oxidative and reductive pathways. For example, when taken orally, the drugs can be destroyed and/or inactivated in a few minutes by the first pass metabolism.
Mustards and mustard-related compounds have been used for treatment of various types of cancers and tumors. However, mustards and mustard-related compounds also cause adverse side effects such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite, hair loss and increased susceptibility to infection. Such side effects are often dose-dependent.
Peptides play various roles in a biological subject. For example, peptides and peptide-related compounds may be used to treat conditions such as obesity, infections, pain and sexual dysfunctions. However, peptides and peptide related compounds are rapidly proteolysized by proteolytic enzymes. When peptides and peptide related compounds are taken orally, they will be proteolysized in a few minutes. Other systematic administrations of peptides and peptide related compounds are painful, and in many cases require frequent and costly office visits to treat chronic conditions.
Beta-lactam and related compounds are widely used antibiotics. Oral administration has disadvantage of poor absorption of the antibiotics from GI tract. Intravenous, subcutaneous and intramuscular routes are not only painful, but also require administration by trained individuals and may incur other risks such as needle injury, infection, and other trauma. Along with the extensive use of antimicrobials, drug resistance becomes a common and serious problem as the pathogens mutate over time.
Therefore, there is a need to develop novel compositions that are capable of being delivered efficiently and effectively to an action site of a condition (e.g., a disease) to prevent, reduce or treat the condition in a biological subject with minimum side effects. Furthermore, new indications may be discovered due to the efficient and effective delivery of compositions or pharmaceutical compositions across biological barriers which have been difficult to cross.

High penetration compositions and their applications


A method and apparatus are provided for a switching mode converter to improve the light load efficiency thereof. The converter is thus operated with three modes by monitoring a feedback signal and a supply voltage. When the feedback signal indicates that loading gets light enough, the converter is switched from the first mode to the second mode, and during the second mode some cycles are skipped. If loading is too light, the converter is switched from the second mode to the third mode, and during the third mode more cycles will be skipped.

Nowadays, line frequency AC/DC power supply has been widely replaced by switching mode AC/DC converter. For a constant frequency pulse width modulation (PWM) AC/DC converter, it generally operates at 67 KHz or about 100 KHz. As is known, most of time an AC/DC converter is in light load or no load condition, such as standby mode or battery removed in charger. During such condition, output power is much reduced but power loss will not. This will lead to poor efficiency. Regulations have been made to limit power consumption under such condition. Under light load condition, switching loss dominates the overall power loss. The key to increase efficiency is to reduce switching frequency under light load. There are many arts related to light load efficiency improvement, for example U.S. Pat. No. 6,212,079 to Balakrishnan et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,252,783 to Huh et al., and U.S. Pat. Publication No. 20030117813 of Hong et al. Methods to increase efficiency can be categorized into three groups: pulse skipping mode, off time modulation mode, and cycle skipping or burst mode.
FIG. 1 shows a flyback converter 100 with its primary controller 102. The converter 100 has a transformer TX and a power switch SW serially connected to a primary winding Lp of the transformer TX, and the controller 102 provides a switching signal S1 by its pin GATE to switch the power switch SW for power delivery to a secondary winding Ls of the transformer TX. The transformer TX further has an auxiliary loop Laux to provide a current Iaux to charge a capacitor Cvcc for providing a supply voltage Vcc to the controller 102, and an optocoupler 104 detects an output voltage Vout of the converter 100 to feed back a signal Vfb to a pin FB of the controller 102. The optocoupler 104 includes a transistor 106 optically coupled with a light emitting diode (LED) D2, and a compensation network 108 to compensate the input signal of the optocoupler 104. Besides operating the converter 100 in fixed frequency PWM and providing protection functions, the controller 102 has to take care of light load efficiency to meet regulation requirement.
For pulse skipping mode, as load decreasing, some pulses from the oscillator are skipped. In FIG. 2, waveforms 200 and 202 represent the switching signal S1 provided by the controller 102 at full load and light load, respectively. As load RL decreasing, the controller 102 enters pulse skipping mode and, as shown by the waveform 202, some pulses 2022 are skipped. However, the oscillator in the controller 102 still generates constant frequency clock as in normal load. As the number of the pulses in the switching signal S1 reduces, the switching times of the power switch SW consequently reduces. Skipped pulses can be limited to prevent the system from operating into audio frequency. The ripple control under light load is easy to achieve.
For off time modulation mode, as load decreases, off time is increased so the switching frequency is also reduced. The lighter the load, the longer the off time. In FIG. 3, waveforms 204 and 206 represent the switching signal S1 provided by the controller 102 at full load and light load, respectively. As shown by the waveform 206, as load RL decreases, the controller 102 increases the off time Toff of the switching signal S1. Generally, this method is applied in "quasi-resonant converter". In pulse skipping mode and off time modulation mode, the frequency can be continuously reduced.
For burst mode, due to isolation, feedback voltage Vfb instead of output voltage Vout is taken to judge loading and compare with upper limit and lower limit of burst mode control. In FIG. 4, waveforms 208 and 212 represent the switching signal S1 provided by the controller 102 at full load and light load, respectively, and waveform 210 represents the feedback signal Vfb. As the feedback signal Vfb reaches upper limit V_high, the oscillator clock and thereby the switching signal S1 are blanked. As the feedback signal Vfb reaches lower limit V_low, the oscillator clock and thereby the switching signal S1 are released. The output ripple can be controlled by adjusting the upper limit V_high and lower limit V_low. However, the burst mode may cause the controller 102 turning off abnormally when loading becomes further lighter or no load.
Therefore, it is desired a method and apparatus to improve the efficiency when a switching mode converter operates at much lighter load or no load.

Method and apparatus for improving the light load efficiency of a switching mode converter


A communication orchestration service automatically orchestrates dynamic multiple party, multiple media communications. A customer expresses his or her communications needs in the form of a high-level goal or goals. A goal-based search finds a combination of building block predicates that can be used to satisfy the customer's needs. In conjunction with the search process, the mechanism uses the SIP OPTIONS request or presence information to actively query device status and capabilities during the search. This enables the search to actively explore the communications environment at runtime. Once a solution is found, the necessary parties can be contacted, resources can be provisioned, and the multiple media, multiple user collaboration/conference can be initiated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to Internet telephony and, in particular, to automatic orchestration of dynamic multiple party, multiple media communications.
2. Description of the Related Art
Telephone companies are investing in, creating, and deploying voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) infrastructure. Session initiation protocol (SIP) has emerged as the open, de facto standard for inter-device signaling and provides a means for initiating and tearing down media sessions between two endpoints, as well as negotiating the media types supported by the two endpoints. SIP also allows for mid-call changes to the media sessions, as well as the network location of the media packet sources and sinks.
Because of the expected jump in the number of SIP-enabled, the increased functionality offered by SIP devices, as compared to traditional public switch telephone network (PSTN) lines, and the blur in traditional communications media offered by technologies such as video conferencing, speech-to-text, text-to-speech, etc., the VoIP landscape is rapidly growing in both size and complexity.
As opposed to carrying circuit services on top of the Internet protocol (IP), the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) offers operators the opportunity to build an open IP based service infrastructure that will enable an easy deployment of new rich multimedia communication services mixing telecom and data services. Alcatel® IMS solution is based on 3GPP specifications but is also able to provide common IMS services for mobile and other access networks including fixed ones. Before trying to emulate circuit switched domain, IMS first provides new services that are not too demanding for the underlying access network.
While single media collaboration, such as voice conferencing or group instant messaging (IM) chat, can be done on the fly, orchestrating multiple media collaboration among a dynamic set of participants remains largely unsolved, other than by manual, brute-force methods. For example, if a user wishes to have a voice conference with two or more other participants, then a simple single-media session may be initiated. However, if the participants have different media capabilities, then orchestrating the session requires the initiator to coordinate multiple "legs" for the session. For instance, one participant may have voice capabilities while a second participant may have text-only capabilities. The initiator must then set up text-to-voice and voice-to-text conversion for the text-only device to participate in the session. All of these disparate services must be set up and coordinated in order for the session to take place.

Automatic orchestration of dynamic multiple party, multiple media communications

International Business Machines Corporation


The invention relates to a lighting arrangement comprising: a housing (1) extending along a longitudinal axis (L); an LED light source (2) for generating a light, arranged within the housing (1) and extending along the longitudinal axis (L), wherein a lighting outlet opening (3) for the light is delimited by the housing (1); a sensor (4), in particular for detecting a brightness and/or a movement in a vicinity of the lighting arrangement; and a support element (5) for the sensor (4), which is configured to be arranged in the housing (1) in different longitudinal positions relative to the LED light source (2) with respect to the longitudinal axis (L).

From the most recent background art, it is known to mount a brightness or motion sensor, which is used to control a ceiling recessed light with an elongated LED light source, to the ceiling next to the ceiling recessed light in a separate form. By means of this arrangement of the sensor, the design options of the outer appearance of the arrangement are limited. As a general rule, the sensor is perceived as being disturbing with reference to its outer appearance.
If the sensor is integrated into a corresponding ceiling light by being designed as a permanent component of the elongated LED light source, the problem generally exists that, when installing the ceiling light, the sensor cannot be arbitrarily positioned due to the underlying conditions specified by the spatial surroundings. Thereby, the sensor can only be positioned in a certain manner within the room to be illuminated. This principally represents a serious restriction, particularly in the case of a comparably long length of the ceiling light.
In addition, when positioning a corresponding sensor within the light, there is the risk that the signal generated by the sensor, which is formed to control the light, is negatively influenced by the light source located within the light so that the control is consequently modified in an undesired manner.
The object of the invention is to indicate a correspondingly improved lighting arrangement. In particular, the lighting arrangement should have improved characteristics with reference to the sensor.

Elongated lighting arrangement with sensor


For constructing a pillar in an earthen foundation, a consolidating fluid is sprayed inside the earthen foundation from consolidating fluid spray nozzles provided on a rotating shaft, and then the consolidating fluid and the soil of the original foundation are stirred and mixed. The consolidating fluid spray nozzles which spray the consolidating fluid approximately horizontally are provided on the rotating shaft. The pillar is formed in the earthen foundation by stirring and mixing together the consolidating fluid and the soil of the original foundation in such a way that the rotating speed of the rotating shaft is faster for clayish soil than for sandy soil, the pressure from the consolidating fluid spray nozzles is higher for clayish soil than for sandy soil, and the penetration speed of the rotating shaft is slower for clayish soil than for sandy soil. Consequently, it makes possible to form in the earthen foundation a high-quality foundation-improvement pillar by the most efficient method with respect to differences in the soil.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for forming earth retaining walls, cut-off walls, and foundation piles in an earthen foundation or for forming a pillar in an earthen foundation for the purpose of foundation improvement.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the past, a method for forming a pillar in an earthen foundation in which consolidating fluid spray nozzles which spray consolidating fluid horizontally are provided on an excavating shaft, consolidating fluid is sprayed horizontally from the consolidating fluid spray nozzles while excavating is executed by the excavating shaft, and the consolidating fluid and the soil of the original earthen foundation are stirred and mixed together was disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication [KOKOKU] No. 59-16049. In addition, a method for forming a pillar in an earthen foundation is also known in which an excavating shaft is positioned inside a casing tube, consolidating fluid spray nozzles which spray consolidating fluid horizontally are provided on said excavating shaft, the earthen foundation is excavated by the bit at the tip of the excavating shaft inside the casing tube, consolidating fluid is sprayed horizontally from the consolidating fluid spray nozzles, and the consolidating fluid and the soil of the original earthen foundation are stirred and mixed together inside the casing tube. In these examples of the prior art, because the consolidating fluid sprayed from the consolidating spray nozzles provided on the excavating shaft and the soil of the original earthen foundation are stirred and mixed together while the consolidating fluid is being sprayed horizontally, in addition to the soil of the original foundation being finely sheared by the consolidating fluid which is being sprayed horizontally, the consolidating fluid which is being sprayed horizontally revolves as a result of the rotation of the rotating shaft, and thus the finely sheared soil of the original foundation and the consolidation fluid are stirred and mixed together.
However, with either of the examples of the prior art described above, the rotating speed of the excavating shaft, the spray pressure from the consolidating fluid spray nozzles, and the penetration speed of the rotating shaft were set at fixed values regardless of the characteristics of the soil, such as clayish soil, sandy soil, etc. Because of this, such problems existed as differences in the soil causing the strength of the pillar formed in the foundation to be inconsistent, it not being possible to achieve high-quality foundation improvement, which is the objective, the consolidating fluid being supplied in greater amounts than needed, or excessive work time being required.
In addition, with a method in which the consolidating fluid is sprayed horizontally, although the method has the characteristics described above, because the stirring and mixing are accomplished within the range in which the consolidating fluid is sprayed while revolving, the stirring and mixing range for one rotation of the rotating shaft is an approximately circular shape, and in consideration of the viewpoint of achieving efficient stirring and mixing in accordance with the conditions of the earthen foundation and at such times as when the excavating shaft is ascending or descending, in some situations, horizontal spraying, or horizontal spaying alone, is not sufficient.
In consideration of the problems of the prior art described above, this invention proposes a method for forming a pillar in an earthen foundation, the first objective of which is to make it possible to form in an earthen foundation a high-quality foundation-improvement pillar by the most efficient method with respect to differences in the soil, and, in addition, the second objective of which is to make it possible to achieve the most efficient stirring and mixing together of the soil of the original foundation and the consolidating fluid in accordance with the conditions of the earthen foundation and the descent and ascent of the excavating shaft.

Method for forming a pillar in an earthen foundation


A node device in a tree-type broadcast system having hierarchy levels of node devices while locating a broadcast device at its top, whereby information is sequentially transferred from a higher hierarchy level to a lower hierarchy level, the node device including:                a means for receiving connection destination candidate information, broadcasted from the node device in the higher hierarchy currently connected or from the broadcast device;        a means for specifying a node device suitable as a reconnection destination candidate out of the connection destination candidate information;        a means for memorizing network address information, being the reconnection destination candidate; and        a means for selecting one node device memorized in the reconnection destination candidate memory means as the reconnection destination and connecting to it when the connection to the node device or the broadcast device is released and the own node device is newly reconnected to another node device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a peer-to-peer (P2P) type communication system including a plurality of node devices mutually communicable through a network.
2. Discussion of Related Art
As this kind of system, there is known a technique of so-called application layer multicast (ALM) which relays to deliver a content stream while broadcast (deliver) routes of the content data are managed at an application layer. In this ALM, packets generated from content data files are relayed in real time between node devices, thereby delivering content data broadcasted from a broadcast station (broadcast device) to arbitrary node devices (multicast).
In a case of reconnection to a new upper hierarchy node device triggered by quality deterioration of receiving stream (content stream from the node device of the upper hierarchy) or withdrawal (separation) of the upper hierarchy (upstream) node device, the node device participating in a topology formed under such ALM uses a method where the node device requests a connection destination introduction server managing topology to thereby acquire network address information of a connection destination candidate and uses this to reconnect, or a method that the node device autonomously reconnects in use of network address information of the connection destination candidate which respective node devices exchange with each other and store. It is often the case that either of the above methods is used.
By the former method, because an appropriate connection destination candidate can be introduced from entire topology information collected in real time by the connection destination introduction server, it is possible to carry out a robust connection process in use of the connection destination candidate. However, since burden loaded on the connection destination introduction server increases in a case where a lot of node devices participate in the topology, there is a problem that the system tends to be unstable in its entirety.
By the latter method, since reconnection is carried out in use of network address information that respective node devises exchange with neighbor node devices, burden is not loaded on the connection destination introduction server for acquiring the connection destination candidate. However, since it is difficult to select an appropriate connection destination candidate from the entire topology, there is a high possibility that a connection trial on a node device to be a connection destination candidate is failed to necessitate retrial of connection.
Further, Patent Document 1 discloses that a connection destination introduction server manages a predetermined number of connection destination candidates with respect to every attribute information of the node devices, and the node device which desires participation in a topology and accompanies the own attribute information requests the connection destination introduction server to thereby acquire a connection destination candidate. By this method, the node device requests a node device to be connected for connection in use of network address information of the connection destination candidate which is acquired from the connection destination introduction server in response to the connection destination candidate acquisition request, and the connection is established in a case where the node device to be connected permits connection. According to this method, the appropriate connection destination candidate is not selected in the connection destination introduction server but the node device to be connected responds whether or not the connection is permitted, after judging conditions of the node device requesting connection in detail. Therefore, it is possible to reduce a load related to the process for the connection destination introduction server to select the appropriate candidate.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2006-319466

Tree-type broadcast system, reconnection process method, node device, node process program, server device, and server process program


The present invention provides isolated nucleic acid molecules comprising a polynucleotide sequence encoding a DHN polypeptide that enhances chilling tolerance in plants.

This invention relates to plant genetic engineering and plant breeding. In particular, it relates to methods of modulating chilling tolerance in plants
The prior art lacks means for enhancing seed emergence in cool soils by expressing of genes associated with endomembrane integrity. The present invention addresses these and other needs.
Tropical crops such as cotton, maize, and cowpea, are sensitive to chilling soil temperatures often encountered during early sowing in subtropical regions in spring. Early spring sowing can be beneficial in the subtropics because it results in a longer growing season and higher yields. However, early sown seeds that are subjected to chilling temperatures suffer reductions in rate of emergence and maximal emergence. Variation in chilling sensitivity at germination has been found among genotypes of warm season annuals such as cowpea (Ismail et al., Crop Sci. 37:1270-1277 (1997)), soybean (Ismail et al. Crop Sci. 37:1270-1277 (1997)), cotton (Christiansen, M. N. and Lewis, C. F., Crop Sci. 13:210-212 (1973)) and maize (Cal, J. P. and Obendorf, R. L., Crop Sci. 12:369-373 (1972)). Numerous studies have suggested positive associations between the extent of electrolyte leakage from seeds and pre-emergence mortality of embryos at chilling temperature for chilling sensitive crops (Bramlage et al., Plant Physiol. 61:525-529 (1978); Leopold, A. C., Plant Physiol. 65:1096-1098 (1980)).
Soluble sugars (Koster, K. L., and Leopold, A. C., Plant Physiol. 88:829-832 (1988); Chen, Y., and Burris, J. S., Crop Sci. 30:971-975 (1990)) and proteins, typically LEA (late embryogenesis-abundant) (Blackman et al., Physiol. Plant. 93:630-638 (1995); Close, T. J., Physiol. Plant. 97:795-803 (1996); Close, T. J., Physiol. Plant. 100:291-296 (1997); Ingram, J. and Bartels, D., Annu. Rev. Plant Physiol. Plant Mol. Biol. 47:377-403 (1996)) are known to accumulate during seed development and are thought to play a role in protecting the embryo during desiccation. Studies with soybean indicated that accumulation of LEA proteins during embryogenesis might reduce the extent of desiccation-induced electrolyte leakage in immature seeds suggesting a role in membrane protection (Blackman et al., Physiol. Plant. 93:630-638 (1995)). Dehydrins (DHN, LEA D11 family) are among the most commonly observed proteins induced by environmental stress associated with dehydration or low temperature (Close, T. J., Physiol. Plant. 97:795-803 (1996); Close, T. J., Physiol. Plant. 100:291-296 (1997)). Distinct subclasses of DHNs have been noted (Close, T. J., Physiol. Plant. 100:291-296 (1997)). Several lines of evidence suggested a role of DHNs in membrane interactions and/or protein stabilization (Ismail et al., Crop Sci. 37:1270-1277 (1997); Close, T. J., Physiol. Plant. 100:291-296 (1997); Egerton-Warburton et al., Physiol. Plant. 101:545-555 (1997); Danyluk et al., Plant Cell. 10:623-638 (1998)).
In cowpea, two closely related lines (F6 siblings) were found to vary in maximal emergence under chilling field conditions (Ismail et al., Crop Sci. 37:1270-1277 (1997)), but also in other characters (Ismail, A. M. and Hall, A. E., Crop Sci. 38:381-390 (1998)). Dry, mature seeds of the chilling-tolerant line, 1393-2-11, were found to contain a substantial quantity (estimated to be about 1% of total soluble protein) of a xcx9c35-kDa DHN protein that was not detectable in the seeds of the genetically similar line, 1393-2-1. Also the chilling-tolerant line had slower electrolyte leakage from its seeds during imbibition at low temperature. Based on studies with reciprocal hybrids, the chilling tolerance of 1393-2-11 was hypothesized to be due to additive and independent effects of the DHN under dominant nuclear inheritance and a maternal effect associated with slower electrolyte leakage from seeds during imbibition compared with line 1393-2-1 (Ismail et al., Crop Sci. 37:1270-1277 (1997)).
Despite these advances, the prior does not provide nucleic acids useful for conferring chilling tolerance on seedlings during and after emergence in soil. The present invention addresses these and other needs.
The present invention provides isolated nucleic acid molecules comprising a polynucleotide sequence encoding a DHN polypeptide that enhances chilling tolerance in plants. The proteins comprise an amino acid sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO:2. The nucleic acid encoding the protein preferably has a polynucleotide sequence that specifically hybridizes to SEQ ID NO: 1. The invention also provides recombinant expression cassettes comprising the polynucleotide sequences of the invention. The expression cassettes typically comprise a seed-specific promoter or promoter from the allele described here.
The invention also provides transgenic plants comprising a recombinant expression cassette comprising a promoter operably linked to the polynucleotide sequence. The transgenic plants of the invention can be, for example, cowpea. In addition, marker assisted selection as described here can be used to identify related genes and alleles in other plants. Using these markers one of skill can use conventional breeding techniques to confer chilling tolerance to a variety of plant species. Such methods are particularly useful in other members of the legume family, such as soybean.
The term xe2x80x9cDHN polypeptidexe2x80x9d refers to polypeptides having at least substantial identity to SEQ ID NO: 2 and that confer chilling tolerance on plant seedlings. As discussed in more detail below, DHN polypeptides of the invention, and the genes that encode them, are distinct from other allelic variants in a number of ways. Among the differences is the presence of one additional "PHgr"-segment ("PHgr"7). The general structure of these proteins, and in particular "PHgr"-segments, is discussed in detail in Close, T. J., Physiol. Plant. 100:291-296 (1997).
The phrase xe2x80x9cnucleic acid sequencexe2x80x9d refers to a single or double-stranded polymer of deoxyribonucleotide or ribonucleotide bases read from the 5xe2x80x2 to the 3xe2x80x2 end. It includes chromosomal DNA, self-replicating plasmids, infectious polymers of DNA or RNA and DNA or RNA that performs a primarily structural role.
The term xe2x80x9cpromoterxe2x80x9d refers to regions or sequence located upstream and/or downstream from the start of transcription and which are involved in recognition and binding of RNA polymerase and other proteins to initiate transcription. A xe2x80x9cplant promoterxe2x80x9d is a promoter capable of initiating transcription in plant cells. Such a promoter can be derived from plant genes or from other organisms, such as viruses capable of infecting plant cells.
The term xe2x80x9cplantxe2x80x9d includes whole plants, shoot vegetative organs/structures (e.g. leaves, stems and tubers), roots, flowers and floral organs/structures (e.g. bracts, sepals, petals, stamens, carpels, anthers and ovules), seed (including embryo, endosperm, and seed coat) and fruit (the mature ovary), plant tissue (e.g. vascular tissue, ground tissue, and the like) and cells (e.g. guard cells, egg cells, trichomes and the like), and progeny of same. The class of plants that can be used in the method of the invention is generally as broad as the class of higher and lower plants amenable to transformation techniques, including angiosperms (monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plants), gymnosperms, ferns, and multicellular algae. It includes plants of a variety of ploidy levels, including aneuploid, polyploid, diploid, haploid and hemizygous.
A polynucleotide sequence is xe2x80x9cheterologous toxe2x80x9d an organism or a second polynucleotide sequence if it originates from a foreign species, or, if from the same species, is modified from its original form. For example, a promoter operably linked to a heterologous coding sequence refers to a coding sequence from a species different from that from which the promoter was derived, or, if from the same species, a coding sequence which is not naturally associated with the promoter (e.g. a genetically engineered coding sequence or an allele from a different ecotype or variety).
A polynucleotide xe2x80x9cexogenous toxe2x80x9d an individual plant is a polynucleotide which is introduced into the plant by any means other than by a sexual cross. Examples of means by which this can be accomplished are described below, and include Agrobacterium-mediated transformation, particle-mediated methods, electroporation, and the like. Such a plant containing the exogenous nucleic acid is referred to here as a T1 (e.g. in Arabidopsis by vacuum infiltration) or R0 (for plants regenerated from transformed cells in vitro) generation transgenic plant. Transgenic plants that arise from sexual cross or by selfing are descendants of such a plant.
xe2x80x9cRecombinantxe2x80x9d refers to a human manipulated polynucleotide or a copy or complement of a human manipulated polynucleotide. For instance, a recombinant expression cassette comprising a promoter operably linked to a second polynucleotide may include a promoter that is heterologous to the second polynucleotide as the result of human manipulation (e.g., by methods described in Sambrook et al., Molecular Cloningxe2x80x94A Laboratory Manual, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., (1989) or Current Protocols in Molecular Biology Volumes 1-3, John Wiley and Sons, Inc. (1994-1998)) of an isolated nucleic acid comprising the expression cassette. In another example, a recombinant expression cassette may comprise polynucleotides combined in such a way that the polynucleotides are extremely unlikely to be found in nature. For instance, human manipulated restriction sites or plasmid vector sequences may flank or separate the promoter from the second polynucleotide. One of skill will recognize that polynucleotides can be manipulated in many ways and are not limited to the examples above.
Two nucleic acid sequences or polypeptides are said to be xe2x80x9cidenticalxe2x80x9d if the sequence of nucleotides or amino acid residues, respectively, in the two sequences is the same when aligned for maximum correspondence as described below. The terms xe2x80x9cidenticalxe2x80x9d or percent xe2x80x9cidentity,xe2x80x9d in the context of two or more nucleic acids or polypeptide sequences, refer to two or more sequences or subsequences that are the same or have a specified percentage of amino acid residues or nucleotides that are the same, when compared and aligned for maximum correspondence over a comparison window, as measured using one of the following sequence comparison algorithms or by manual alignment and visual inspection. When percentage of sequence identity is used in reference to proteins or peptides, it is recognized that residue positions that are not identical often differ by conservative amino acid substitutions, where amino acids residues are substituted for other amino acid residues with similar chemical properties (e.g., charge or hydrophobicity) and therefore do not change the functional properties of the molecule. Where sequences differ in conservative substitutions, the percent sequence identity may be adjusted upwards to correct for the conservative nature of the substitution. Means for making this adjustment are well known to those of skill in the art. Typically this involves scoring a conservative substitution as a partial rather than a full mismatch, thereby increasing the percentage sequence identity. Thus, for example, where an identical amino acid is given a score of 1 and a non-conservative substitution is given a score of zero, a conservative substitution is given a score between zero and 1. The scoring of conservative substitutions is calculated according to, e.g., the algorithm of Meyers and Miller, Computer Applic. Biol. Sci. 4:11-17 (1988) e.g., as implemented in the program PC/GENE (Intelligenetics, Mountain View, Calif., USA).
The phrase xe2x80x9csubstantially identical,xe2x80x9d in the context of two nucleic acids or polypeptides, refers to sequences or subsequences that have at least 60%, preferably 70%, more preferably 80%, most preferably 90-95% nucleotide or amino acid residue identity when aligned for maximum correspondence over a comparison window as measured using one of the following sequence comparison algorithms or by manual alignment and visual inspection. This definition also refers to the complement of a test sequence, which has substantial sequence or subsequence complementarity when the test sequence has substantial identity to a reference sequence.
One of skill in the art will recognize that two polypeptides can also be xe2x80x9csubstantially identicalxe2x80x9d if the two polypeptides are immunologically similar. Thus, overall protein structure may be similar while the primary structure of the two polypeptides display significant variation. Therefore a method to measure whether two polypeptides are substantially identical involves measuring the binding of monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies to each polypeptide. Two polypeptides are substantially identical if the antibodies specific for a first polypeptide bind to a second polypeptide with an affinity of at least one third of the affinity for the first polypeptide.
For sequence comparison, typically one sequence acts as a reference sequence, to which test sequences are compared. When using a sequence comparison algorithm, test and reference sequences are input into a computer, subsequence coordinates are designated, if necessary, and sequence algorithm program parameters are designated. The sequence comparison algorithm then calculates the percent sequence identity for the test sequence(s) relative to the reference sequence, based on the designated program parameters.
Optimal alignment of sequences for comparison can be conducted, e.g., by the local homology algorithm of Smith and Waterman, Adv. AppL Math. 2:482 (1981), by the homology alignment algorithm of Needleman and Wunsch, J Mol. Biol. 48:443 (1970), by the search for similarity method of Pearson and Lipman, Proc. Nat""l. Acad. Sci. USA 85:2444 (1988), by computerized implementations of these algorithms (GAP, BESTFIT, FASTA, and TFASTA in the Wisconsin Genetics Software Package, Genetics Computer Group, 575 Science Dr., Madison, Wis.), or by visual inspection (see generally, Current Protocols in Molecular Biology, F. M. Ausubel et al., eds., Current Protocols, a joint venture between Greene Publishing Associates, Inc. and John Wiley and Sons, Inc., (1995 Supplement) (Ausubel)).
Examples of algorithms that are suitable for determining percent sequence identity and sequence similarity are the BLAST and BLAST 2.0 algorithms, which are described in Altschul et al. (1990) j. Mol. Biol. 215: 403-410 and Altschuel et al. (1977) Nucleic Acids Res. 25: 3389-3402, respectively. Software for performing BLAST analyses is publicly available through the National Center for Biotechnology Information. This algorithm involves first identifying high scoring sequence pairs (HSPs) by identifying short words of length W in the query sequence, which either match or satisfy some positive-valued threshold score T when aligned with a word of the same length in a batabase sequence. T is referred to as the neighborhood word score threshold (Altschul et al, supra). These initial neighborhood word hits act as seeds for initiating searches to find longer HSPs containing them. The word bits are then extended in both directions along each sequence for as far as the cumulative alignment score can be increased. Cumulative scores are calculated using, for nucleotide sequences, the parameters M (reward score for a pair of matching residues; always greater than 0) and N (penalty score for mismatching residues; always less than 0). For amino acid sequences, a scoring matrix is used to calculate the cumulative score. Extension of the word hits in each direction are halted when: the cumulative alignment score falls off by the quantity X from its maximum achieved value; the cumulative score goes to zero or below, due to the accumulation of one or more negative-scoring residue alignments; or the end of either sequence is reached The BLAST algorithm parameters W, T, and X determine the sensitivity and speed of the alignment. The BLASTN program (for nucleotide sequences) uses as cefaults a wordlength (W) of 11, an expectation (E) of 10, M5, N=4, and a comparison of both strands. For amino acid sequences, the BLASTP program uses as defaults a wordlength (W) of 3, an expectation (E) of 10, and the BLOSUM62 scoring matrix (see Henikoff and Henikoff, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89:10915 (1989)).
In addition to calculating percent sequence identity, the BLAST algorithm also performs a statistical analysis of the similarity between two sequences (see, e.g., Karlin and Altschul, Proc. Nat""l. Acad. Sci. USA 90:5873-5787 (1993)). One measure of similarity provided by the BLAST algorithm is the smallest sum probability (P(N)), which provides an indication of the probability by which a match between two nucleotide or amino acid sequences would occur by chance. For example, a nucleic acid is considered similar to a reference sequence if the smallest sum probability in a comparison of the test nucleic acid to the reference nucleic acid is less than about 0.1, more preferably less than about 0.01, and most preferably less than about 0.001.
A further indication that two nucleic acid sequences or polypeptides are substantially identical is that the polypeptide encoded by the first nucleic acid is immunologically cross reactive with the polypeptide encoded by the second nucleic acid, as described below. Thus, a polypeptide is typically substantially identical to a second polypeptide, for example, where the two peptides differ only by conservative substitutions. Another indication that two nucleic acid sequences are substantially identical is that the two molecules hybridize to each other under stringent conditions, as described below.
xe2x80x9cConservatively modified variantsxe2x80x9d applies to both amino acid and nucleic acid sequences. With respect to particular nucleic acid sequences, conservatively modified variants refers to those nucleic acids which encode identical or essentially identical amino acid sequences, or where the nucleic acid does not encode an amino acid sequence, to essentially identical sequences. Because of the degeneracy of the genetic code, a large number of functionally identical nucleic acids encode any given protein. For instance, the codons GCA, GCC, GCG and GCU all encode the amino acid alanine. Thus, at every position where an alanine is specified by a codon, the codon can be altered to any of the corresponding codons described without altering the encoded polypeptide. Such nucleic acid variations are xe2x80x9csilent variations,xe2x80x9d which are one species of conservatively modified variations. Every nucleic acid sequence herein which encodes a polypeptide also describes every possible silent variation of the nucleic acid. One of skill will recognize that each codon in a nucleic acid (except AUG, which is ordinarily the only codon for methionine) can be modified to yield a functionally identical molecule. Accordingly, each silent variation of a nucleic acid which encodes a polypeptide is implicit in each described sequence.
As to amino acid sequences, one of skill will recognize that individual substitutions, in a nucleic acid, peptide, polypeptide, or protein sequence which alters a single amino acid or a small percentage of amino acids in the encoded sequence is a xe2x80x9cconservatively modified variantxe2x80x9d where the alteration results in the substitution of an amino acid with a chemically similar amino acid. Conservative substitution tables providing functionally similar amino acids are well known in the art.
The following six groups each contain amino acids that are conservative substitutions for one another:
1) Alanine (A), Serine (S), Threonine (T);
2) Aspartic acid (D), Glutamic acid (E);
3) Asparagine (N), Glutamine (Q);
4) Arginine (R), Lysine (K);
5) Isoleucine (I), Leucine (L), Methionine (M), Valine (V); and
6) Phenylalanine (F), Tyrosine (Y), Tryptophan (W).
(see, e.g., Creighton, Proteins (1984)).
An indication that two nucleic acid sequences or polypeptides are substantially identical is that the polypeptide encoded by the first nucleic acid is immunologically cross reactive with the antibodies raised against the polypeptide encoded by the second nucleic acid. Thus, a polypeptide is typically substantially identical to a second polypeptide, for example, where the two peptides differ only by conservative substitutions. Another indication that two nucleic acid sequences are substantially identical is that the two molecules or their complements hybridize to each other under stringent conditions, as described below.
The phrase xe2x80x9cselectively (or specifically) hybridizes toxe2x80x9d refers to the binding, duplexing, or hybridizing of a molecule only to a particular nucleotide sequence under stringent hybridization conditions when that sequence is present in a complex mixture (e.g., total cellular or library DNA or RNA).
The phrase xe2x80x9cstringent hybridization conditionsxe2x80x9d refers to conditions under which a probe will hybridize to its target subsequence, typically in a complex mixture of nucleic acid, but to no other sequences. Stringent conditions are sequence-dependent and will be different in different circumstances. Longer sequences hybridize specifically at higher temperatures. An extensive guide to the hybridization of nucleic acids is found in Tijssen, Techniques in Biochemistry and Molecular Biologyxe2x80x94Hybridization with Nucleic Probes, xe2x80x9cOverview of principles of hybridization and the strategy of nucleic acid assaysxe2x80x9d (1993). Generally, highly stringent conditions are selected to be about 5-10 C. lower than the thermal melting point (Tm) for the specific sequence at a defined ionic strength pH. Lower stringency conditions are generally selected to be about 15-30xc2x0 C. below the Tm. The Tm is the temperature (under defined ionic strength, pH, and nucleic concentration) at which 50% of the probes complementary to the target hybridize to the target sequence at equilibrium (as the target sequences are present in excess, at Tm, 50% of the probes are occupied at equilibrium). Stringent conditions will be those in which the salt concentration is less than about 1.0 M sodium ion, typically about 0.01 to 1.0 M sodium ion concentration (or other salts) at pH 7.0 to 8.3 and the temperature is at least about 30xc2x0 C. for short probes (e.g., 10 to 50 nucleotides) and at least about 60xc2x0 C. for long probes (e.g., greater than 50 nucleotides). Stringent conditions may also be achieved with the addition of destabilizing agents such as formamide. For selective or specific hybridization, a positive signal is at least two times background, preferably 10 time background hybridization.
Nucleic acids that do not hybridize to each other under stringent conditions are still substantially identical if the polypeptides which they encode are substantially identical. This occurs, for example, when a copy of a nucleic acid is created using the maximum codon degeneracy permitted by the genetic code. In such cases, the nucleic acids typically hybridize under moderately stringent hybridization conditions.
In the present invention, genomic DNA or cDNA comprising nucleic acids of the invention can be identified in standard Southern blots under stringent conditions using the nucleic acid sequences disclosed here. For the purposes of this disclosure, suitable stringent conditions for such hybridizations are those which include a hybridization in a buffer of 40% formamide, 1 M NaCl, 1% SDS at 37xc2x0 C., and at least one wash in 0.2xc3x97SSC at a temperature of at least about 50xc2x0 C., usually about 55xc2x0 C. to about 60xc2x0 C., for 20 minutes, or equivalent conditions. A positive hybridization is at least twice background. Those of ordinary skill will readily recognize that alternative hybridization and wash conditions can be utilized to provide conditions of similar stringency.
Nucleic acids that do not hybridize to each other under stringent conditions are still substantially identical if the polypeptides that they encode are substantially identical. This occurs, for example, when a copy of a nucleic acid is created using the maximum codon degeneracy permitted by the genetic code. In such cases, the nucleic acids typically hybridize under moderately stringent hybridization conditions. Exemplary xe2x80x9cmoderately stringent hybridization conditionsxe2x80x9d include a hybridization in a buffer of 40% formamide, 1 M NaCl, 1% SDS at 37xc2x0 C., and a wash in 1xc3x97SSC at 45xc2x0 C. A positive hybridization is at least twice background. Those of ordinary skill will readily recognize that alternative hybridization and wash conditions can be utilized to provide conditions of similar stringency.
A further indication that two polynucleotides are substantially identical is if the reference sequence, amplified by a pair of oligonucleotide primers, can then be used as a probe under stringent hybridization conditions to isolate the test sequence from a cDNA or genomic library, or to identify the test sequence in, e.g., an RNA gel or DNA gel blot hybridization analysis.

Nucleic acids conferring chilling tolerance

The Regents of the University of California


A radiation detecting element, particularly a photographic element having a radiation detecting composition, in particular a silver halide emulsion. The composition provides the element with a wavelength of peak sensitivity, .lambda.peaksens, and a decreasing sensitivity around .lambda.peaksens. An absorber dye of defined characteristics is chosen, which has the effect of decreasing the change in sensitivity which the element otherwise has without the absorber dye (that is, the absorber dye increases the wavelength range over which the sensitivity is relatively constant). The element is preferably sensitive to infra-red.

A favoured technique for detecting radiation is through the use of a photographic element containing a silver halide emulsion. Such an element is usually exposed with light (which includes infra-red and ultraviolet as well as visible light) in order to form a latent image that is developed during photographic processing to form a visible image. Silver halide is intrinsically sensitive only to light in the blue region of the spectrum.
It is well known that to use sensitizing dyes to sensitize the silver halide to other than the blue region (for example, to other areas of the visible spectrum or to infrared light). Sensitizing dyes are chromophoric compounds (usually cyanine dye compounds). Their usual function is to adsorb to the silver halide and to absorb light (usually other than blue light) and transfer that energy via an electron to the silver halide grain thus, rendering the silver halide sensitive to radiation of a wavelength other than the blue intrinsic sensitivity. However, sensitizing dyes can also be used to augment the sensitivity of silver halide in the blue region of the spectrum. The resulting sensitized emulsion will generally have a sensitivity versus wavelength curve with a peak sensitivity the same as, or close to, the wavelength of peak absorption of the sensitizing dye used. The sensitivity curve will then fall off fairly rapidly on either side of the peak sensitivity wavelength.
One particular application of photographic elements in the form of paper or film, is for recording the output from devices such as laser printers which are designed to reproduce black and white or color digitized photographic images. Those printers operate by scanning a photographic element with a controlled laser beam modulated in accordance with the digital image. Following exposure, the photographic element is developed in the same manner as other photographic materials. Typically, the laser beam is in the infra-red region, for example 780nm, and is generated by laser diodes. Any color couplers incorporated in such a silver halide emulsion therefore produce a false-color image.
A difficulty with printers of the foregoing type is that the laser diodes vary in their output wavelength from diode to diode. For example, manufacturers may specify the wavelength of a monochrome printer being 780 nm.+-.20 nm. Thus, there may be variation in wavelengths within a given printer using multiple diodes, as well as between printers. Since the sensitized emulsion has a wavelength dependent sensitivity curve as described above, the undesirable result is that the intensity of a given point to be recorded on the photographic element may vary from diode to diode and printer to printer. In view of this situation, IR sensitive films and papers used in such printers desirably have a constant photographic response over a range of wavelengths so as to provide invariable results in printers using an array of laser diodes, or from printer to printer.
One method for providing a broad sensitivity in the infrared region of the spectrum is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,013,642 to Muenter et al. The Muenter et al. patent describes the use of a combination of sensitizing dyes with maximum sensitivities differing by between about 5 to 100 nm. It would be desirable though, to provide a radiation detecting element, particularly a silver halide photographic element useful in printers of the type described, which has a decreased change in sensitivity over a given wavelength range.

Radiation sensitive element with absorber dye to enhance spectral sensitivity range


The present disclosure discloses a conformal manufacture method for 3D printing with high-viscosity material. The method comprises the steps: using 3D design software to design a 3D model of a component and a conformal contactless support; importing the 3D model data of the component and the conformal contactless support into slice software; importing multiple slice data of the component and the conformal contactless support into a 3D printing device, and sequentially scanning a high-viscosity material by laser till completing the printing; and removing the support and the uncured materials to finally obtain the component. The support and the component to be manufactured are easy to be separated, and no trace is left on the surface of the component. The present disclosure provides a conformal contactless support method for manufacturing a component having a complex bottom surface structure by using a 3D printing technology, and has a wide application prospect in the field of 3D manufacture.

3D printing technology is to perform laser scanning on multiple layers of an adhesive material such as a special wax material, powder metal, plastic and the like based on a digital model file to manufacture a 3D object. Such technology has high molding precision, greatly shortens a development cycle of products, improves productivity, reduces production costs and improves competitiveness of the enterprise. Furthermore, the 3D printing technology can also print some internal cavities and appearances which cannot be manufactured by the traditional production technologies, simplifies the whole production procedure and has the characteristics of rapidness, high efficiency and the like.
The 3D printing technology can use numerous materials, wherein in order to prevent warping deformation influenced by thermal stress and also prevent spheroidization or sinking removal influenced by surface tension, molding technologies such as SLA, FDM, SLM, EBSM and the like require to add a support on an overhanging structure of a molded component to ensure successful printing of the component.
In a 3D printing procedure, the component needs to be supported by a supporting structure, wherein the support should fully consider an overhanging structure of the component such that the support should have a certain strength and is not broken under the influence of the thermal stress or the scratch of the scraper, the support should be conveniently removed after the manufacture is completed, and the structure of the component is not broken when the support is removed; and a post-processing time of the support is shortened, and the surface quality of a supporting surface is improved.
A common supporting structure of the current 3D printing technology comprises a thin-wall support and a solid support, wherein the thin-wall support comprises a point support, a line support, a block support, a mesh support and the like, such support has a complete coverage on the overhanging surface of the component and low strength, and is easy to be broken due to influence of the thermal stress so as to cause molding failure, the following removing time of support is long, and after a fine structure adds the thin-wall support, the support is hard to be removed; and the solid support mainly comprises a prototype support and a thickened block support, such support has a great strength and is not easy to be broken, but the molding time of support is long, too much powder is consumed, and the support is hard to be removed subsequently. As shown in FIG. 1, a ceramic denture is in contact with the surface of the component, so, after a support is removed, there is a serious damage on the surface of the component.
Chinese Patent Application No. 2016214673815 discloses a tree-shaped supporting structure, wherein a branch portion of the support has an axisymmetric structure and is cylindrical, the cylindrical branch increases a contact area with the component, and because the diameter of the cylinder is large and consistent, the branches are not easy to be broken when the support is removed, or are not broken at preset portions so as to cause damage to the component, which also increases the following processing steps of the surface of the component.

Conformal manufacture method for 3D printing with high-viscosity material


Disclosed is a medical bed comprising: a bed plate on which a patient is laid in a desired posture; and a device for retaining the patient in the desired posture in such a manner that the patient is prevented from moving along the bed plate. The retaining device comprises: a plurality of elongated members for blocking motion of the patient along the bed plate; and a plurality of recessed of the bed plate or suction pad equipped to each elongated member for adjustably fitting the elongated members to the bed plate to adapt the elongated members for the desired posture of the patient.. The medical bed with the retaining device is suitable for medical treatment of patients, and in particular, for treatment of infant patients.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a medical bed, and in particular to a medical bed on which a patient, especially an infant patient, is laid and retained in a posture required for medical care, the bed being equipped with a device that allows the patient in a retaining posture to be adjustably set.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When a doctor or some other medical practitioner treats a patient, especially in the case of treating an infant patient, it is sometimes necessary for safety of the patient to retain the patient in a specific posture on a bed. For example, in the case of sampling cerebrospinal fluid from a patient for diagnostic analysis, the patient must be kept in a sidefacing position. However, in such a case if the patient is an infant, it often hates to keep still on the bed, and it wants to move around. As a result, two or more nurses must hold the infant patient in a fixed posture on the bed during treatment. Consequently, the assistance of several people is required in order to treat one patient. In more difficult cases, a local or general anesthetic treatment is required for keeping the patient completely still. In many circumstances like the above-mentioned case, a way has been sought to retain a patient in a desired posture on a bed through easy and simple means that can be quickly carried out by one person.

Medical bed with device for retaining patient


A phenothiazinium compound, compositions and medicaments for use in promoting wound healing and a method for promoting wound healing or cosmetic use by applying or administering a phenothiazinium compound of Formula (1)

The rate of chronic and acute wound healing can be delayed or impaired by a number of factors (exogenous and endogenous) and a variety of medical conditions. Examples include infection, ulceration particularly through diabetes, circulation problems associated with vascular disease, malnutrition, stress, cancer radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy, compromise of the immune system or simply due to the normal aging process. At present there is a clear need for therapeutic and cosmetic approaches that promote wound healing processes.
The literature describes the PDT use of various photosensitisers in attempts to improve wound healing. For example, Photofrin (a porphyrin, Photofrin is a trade mark of Johnson & Johnson) showed delayed wound healing in rat skin flap reconstruction (Kubler et al Lasers in surgery and Medicine (1996), 18(4), 397-405. Parekh et al concluded in Lasers in surgery and Medicine (1999), 24(5), 375-381 that a benzoporphyrin and a phthalocyanine didn't alter wound healing. Lambrects et al concluded in Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences (2005), 4(7), 503-509 that a porphyrin delayed wound healing. Hamblin concluded in Journal of infectious diseases (2003), 187(11), 1717-25 that for a photosensitiser (Poly-lysine-chlorin e6) topical PDT did not accelerate wound healing, compared with that in untreated wounds. Belmont et al in the Laryngoscope (1999), 109(6), 886-90 using Photofrin concluded that PDT has been shown to delay wound healing. Heckenkamp et al in Journal of vascular surgery, (2000), 31(6), 1168-77 concludes that local photodynamic action of methylene blue exerts a retarding effect on intimal hyperplasia (one of the natural wound healing processes).
Compounds, methods and compositions/medicaments have now been identified which address these problems and provide a basis for promoting the wound healing process.

Abstract: to a wound site or the skin, and optionally exposing the wound site or skin to light.


A circuit combines a read signal from an MR/GMR read head with a signal generated by a matched filter, the parameters of which depend on the geometry of the head and the output of which, generated every Nth clock period, includes a real part and an imaginary part that models an expected head response. The combined signal is phase equalized and sent to a complex correlator, which integrates the signal over N clock periods to output a correlated signal having real and imaginary portions of the Nth root of unity which correspond to bits in an N-clock data unit. The real and imaginary portions can subsequently be digitized and analyzed for errors.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to processing signals from magnetoresistive (MR) and giant magnetoresistive (GMR) storage media heads using matched filters.
2. Description of the Related Art
In data recording devices such as magnetic disk drives and tape drives, MR and GMR heads are used to read data that has been recorded on the devices. These heads detect magnetic transitions on the storage medium that have been previously established (xe2x80x9cwrittenxe2x80x9d) on the medium to represent data. The output voltage of the head, including its phase, represents the transitions and, thus, the data on the medium.
As recognized herein, random and systematic errors can be introduced in the output signal of read heads in several ways. For example, errors can be introduced by incorrect read performance of the read head itself. To detect errors, data can be encoded with error correction symbols prior to writing and then decoded during the read process and checked to determine whether any errors occurred, but it is possible that a loss of synchronization between the encoding and decoding operations can itself result in errors. Errors can also be caused by so-called xe2x80x9cthermal asperitiesxe2x80x9d, wherein the head accidentally contacts the recording medium (or a particle that rests on the medium).
In any case, significant encoding and decoding is undertaken along with accompanying error detection and correction as part of storing and retrieving data on, e.g., hard disk drives. The present invention understands that as the density of data on storage media increases and as the data transfer rates associated with improved storage devices also increase, the process of data storage and retrieval, including error detection and correction, grows ever more complicated. Moreover, when data is read every clock period and the clock periods grow ever shorter, the energy consumed by the read circuitry grows, an undesirable outcome particularly in the context of smaller, battery-powered computing devices.
In existing MR read devices the signal from the read head is shaped by an amplitude equalizer (xe2x80x9cPR equalizerxe2x80x9d) and then sampled every clock period, with the sampled amplitudes of the shaped pulses then being digitized and their values used for detection. The present invention understands that this process, which requires sampling the output of the head each clock period, becomes performance-limiting and energy inefficient as the clock period shortens. Furthermore, the phase of the transitions sensed by the read head and represented by the output signal of the head cannot be measured directly using the PR equalizer structure, but must be indirectly determined by subsequent processing, which is undesirable as the data transfer rates of hard disk drives increase.
A read system includes a matched filter that is defined preferably by the geometric parameters of a read head device. The matched filter generates a matched output. A signal combiner combines the matched output with a read signal that represents magnetically stored data and that is generated by a read head of the read head device, and more particularly that represents the phase of an N-clock portion of a magnetic readback signal.
In a preferred embodiment, the matched output includes at least one symbol, and the matched filter generates successive symbols every N clock periods, wherein N is an integer such as three. Also, a complex correlator receives the combined signal and correlates the matched output with the read signal to render a correlated signal. In a preferred implementation, the signal combiner multiplies the matched output by the read signal to render the combined signal and the complex correlator integrates the combined signal. As disclosed in greater detail below, at the complex correlator output each symbol is represented as an imaginary number and a real number.
In a particularly preferred implementation, the matched filter includes a transform for generating the real number component of each symbol. Further, the matched filter includes delays, with each delay being characterized by a respective distance defined by the geometry of the head device. If desired, a phase equalizer can be provided for receiving the combined signal and equalizing phases between symbols, and then outputting a phase-equalized signal to the complex correlator.
In another aspect, a method for processing a signal from an MR or GMR head having a response includes generating a model of the response, and then generating a matched filter using the model. The method also includes processing an actual read signal from the head using the matched filter.
In still another aspect, a circuit is disclosed for processing a read signal from an MR or GMR read head device. The circuit includes a signal generator that generates a signal modelled on an expected signal of the read head device. A combiner receives the signal from the signal generator and combines it with the read signal to render a combined signal. Also, a phase equalizer processes the combined signal, and a correlator receives the output from the phase equalizer and generates a correlated signal.
The details of the present invention, both as to its structure and operation, can best be understood in reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals refer to like parts, and in which:

System and method for processing MR/GMR head signal using phase measurement

International Business Machines Corporation


Disclosed is a kite or wing with a canopy made of a film material which cannot be folded without being creased but having one or more strips of flexible material running across the canopy, wherein the flexible material can be folded without creasing, The kite or wing can be folded along the flexible material strips and then rolled up from the canopy ends for storage or transport.

Kites and wings are structures used for wind sports. Their canopies are usually formed from woven canopy material (e.g., Ripstop™) that can easily be folded or creased for size reduction, to fit for example, into a relatively small bag for transport or storage. Canopies can also be made of materials that cannot be creased, but can be tightly rolled up.
Typical woven canopy materials stretch excessively when filled with wind and under load, so the profile (known as the camber or foil) of the wing changes dramatically in use in wind. The canopy foil controls the force of its lift (for a wing or a kite) or its pull/push force (for a sail). Accordingly, changing the foil in use dramatically affects the canopy performance characteristics. Due to the stretching, the canopies will often flutter in use; whereby the fluttering portions are not in a foil conformation and are not lifting or pushing/pulling. Moreover, the stretching leads to permanent deformation of the canopy material and the foil.
Thus, what is needed is a wing or foil constructed to hold the foil shape in use, and which doesn't stretch, and which can be easily folded to a compact size for transport or storage without damaging the canopy or the structure.


Magnesium silicate mineral wools having a relatively high liquidus temperature of at least about 1400° C. and to methods for the production thereof are provided. The methods of the present invention comprise melting a magnesium silicate feedstock (e.g., comprising a serpentine or olivine ore) having a liquidus temperature of at least about 1400° C. to form a molten magnesium silicate, and subsequently fiberizing the molten magnesium silicate to produce a magnesium silicate mineral wool. In one embodiment, the magnesium silicate feedstock contains iron oxide (e.g., up to about 12% by weight). Preferably, the melting is performed in the presence of a reducing agent to produce an iron alloy, which can be separated from the molten ore. Useful magnesium silicate feedstocks include, without limitation, serpentine and olivine ores. Optionally, silicon dioxide can be added to the feedstock to lower the liquidus temperature thereof.

Asbestos is the common name for a group of fibrous minerals having relatively long and thin fibrous crystals. Asbestos was a widely used material for heat insulation in building materials and in various industrial applications in the United States from the late 19th century to the last quarter of the 20th century. Asbestos is still used in some applications (e.g., brake shoes and gaskets) today. The popularity of asbestos insulation was due, at least in part, to the very high resistance to heat, electricity, and chemical damage, high mechanical strength, as well as good acoustic insulation properties of the material. In many heat insulation applications, asbestos fibers are combined with a binder to form sheets, or are woven into fabrics or mats. The major drawbacks to the use of asbestos are the health and environmental hazards associated with exposure to the asbestos fibers. Asbestos exposure is linked to several serious illnesses, including mesothelioma, various forms of cancer, and asbestosis. Since the mid 1980s, many uses of asbestos have been banned around the world, particularly in applications where there would be wide spread workplace or consumer exposure.
Accordingly, there is an on-going need for alternatives to asbestos insulation materials due to the known health and environmental hazards associated with asbestos, particularly, for asbestos replacements having a liquidus temperature and heat resistance as close to that of asbestos as is feasible. The present invention provides such alternative asbestos replacement products and methods for producing such products.

Method for the production of mineral wool and iron from serpentine ore

The United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy


A pulse jitter reduction circuit employs a low jitter system clock coupled to synchronize a pulse generating device and an ultra low jitter flip-flop to generate substantially jitter-free trigger signals employed to generate high voltage pulses for a flight tube of a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. By eliminating time fluctuations due to jitter in the triggering signal, the predictability of the arrival time of ions along a flight tube of a time-of-flight mass spectrometer is greatly improved, thereby improving the resolution of the mass spectrometer.

The present invention relates to a pulse jitter reduction circuit which is employed as a last stage synchronizer for synchronizing a pulser circuit for a time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometer with the data acquisition circuits to improve the signal resolution of the spectrometer.
A TOF mass spectrometer relies upon precise timing between the high voltage acceleration pulse applied to the flight tube to accelerate ions along the flight tube and the subsequent detection of the time of arrival of the ions by the data acquisition system. The high voltage pulse employed for accelerating the ions, therefore, must be synchronized with the data acquisition timing, such that ions corresponding to particular elements can be accurately identified. The more precise the timing relationship of the respective signals, the more precise and higher the resolution of the mass spectrometer. With conventional pulse-trigger systems employed to provide the high voltage pulses to the flight tube, inherent uncertainty exists in the pulse initiation. This inherent fluctuation in the pulse initiation time is referred to as "jitter" and is a limiting factor of the resolution of a TOF mass spectrometer. Jitter as high as 100 pico seconds (ps) or higher is common and adversely affects the resolution of a mass spectrometer, particularly where samples having closely grouped elemental ions are involved.
Thus, there exists a need for an improved triggering circuit which eliminates or greatly reduces jitter existing in conventional triggering circuits.


High-speed and low-power consumption CMOS receivers using adaptively-regulated power supply and pseudo differential digital logic to: 1) reduce the power consumption of the transceiver; and, 2) increase the power supply rejection (PSR) during processing the data.

To increase the performance of the dynamic random access memory (DRAM) system of a computer system, the technology of Fully Buffered Dual In-line Memory Module (FB-DIMM) has been developed.
FB-DIMM technology uses point-to-point connections between memory modules. For example, the host memory controller is connected to a first memory module; and a first memory module is connected to a second memory module; etc. Thus, the load of each link is constant. No branch is needed in this type of point-to-point connection. The memory modules operate at a substantially constant load environment regardless of the number of memory modules used in the system.
Advanced Memory Buffer (AMB) is a portion of a FB-DIMM which provides the point-to-point link in the memory system. An AMB typically includes two serial ports and a parallel port. One of the serial port is for connecting to the host memory controller or the AMB of the adjacent memory module that is closer to the host memory controller; the other serial port is for connecting to the AMB of the adjacent memory module that is further away from the host memory controller; and the parallel port is for connecting to the bus to the memory chips that are on the same memory module as the AMB.
For example, serial data from the host memory controller sent through a downstream serial link to the AMB is temporarily buffered in the AMB before being sent to the DRAM chips on the memory module. The serial data contains the address, data and command information, which is converted in the AMB and placed onto the DRAM bus on the memory module. The AMB writes in and reads out from DRAM chips as instructed by the memory controller. The data retrieved from the DRAM is converted to serial data in the AMB and sent to the memory controller through an upstream serial link.
High-speed transceivers play an important role in data communications, such as in the AMB. A typical data transceiver structure for the AMB includes a multiplexer (MUX) for time multiplexing data received from a parallel port into a serial form, a pre-driver and an output driver coupled to the multiplexer to drive the data in the serial form over a serial port. The typical data transceiver structure for the AMB further includes a clock recovery (CR) circuitry and a data recovery (DR) circuitry to recover clock and data signals from a serial port and a de-multiplexer (DEMUX) for converting the serial data into the parallel form for transmission over a parallel port.
Traditionally, a high performance transceiver is implemented using current mode logic (CML) circuits. A current mode logic circuit amplifies a differential input through switching a current between two paths. CML circuits are typically implemented using MOS transistors.
A conventional transceiver implemented using the CML technique uses a substantially constant power supply current, since the substantially same constant current is switched between the two paths regardless of the working frequency, data transition pattern, fabrication process and working temperature variations. While the use of constant power supply current reduces the power supply noise, a huge amount of power is wasted during the normal operation of the transceiver.

High speed transceiver with low power consumption


A depth-of-cut bushing is mounted above a cutter-arm array to provide a cutting head mounted on a rotary lawn mower or mower/trimmer. The bushing is shaped so that it acts together with the cutter-arm array to accomplish control of the cutting action. This control enables chipping of stumps or roots at the low horsepowers available with lawn mowers or mower/trimmers.

Many proposals have been made for attachment of rotary cutters to lawn mowers and other small powered garden tools for use as stump cutters or chippers. In general, however, satisfactory results are not obtainable at the small power inputs provided by such garden tools, say 3 or 4 hp. The cutters tend to bite into the wood and stall. This can to some extent be avoided by gingerly manipulating the cutter head in an attempt to control the depth of cut, but that is difficult to do, particularly since the cutter is located under the power tool and out of the user's direct line of vision.
Successful stump and root cutters are generally driven by much more powerful engines, commercial units for example often running say 35 or 50 hp. The present invention can be also be used with such higher horsepower drives, if desired.


A method and system for improving the reception of uplink transmissions in a heterogeneous wireless communication system includes a high-power node such as a macro-cell and a low-power node such as a femto-cell or pico-cell. To address an uplink imbalance where a nearby low-power node power controls a UE such that uplink transmissions of an HSDPA control channel are poorly received at the serving cell, an RNC can instruct the UE to boost its uplink transmit power, remove the UE from soft handover, or disable power control of the UE by the low-power node. To address inter-cell interference, the RNC can limit the UE transmit power and/or enable the victim cell to suppress the interference. Further, a common control channel can be used to power control UEs outside of the convention set of UEs available for power control.

Field
Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communication systems, and more particularly, to interference mitigation in heterogeneous wireless communication systems.
Background
Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide various communication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcasts, and so on. Such networks, which are usually multiple access networks, support communications for multiple users by sharing the available network resources. One example of such a network is the UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN). The UTRAN is the radio access network (RAN) defined as a part of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), a third generation (3G) mobile phone technology supported by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). UMTS, which is the successor to Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) technologies, currently supports various air interface standards, such as Wideband-Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA), Time Division-Code Division Multiple Access (TD-CDMA), and Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA). UMTS also supports enhanced 3G data communications protocols, such as High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), which provides higher data transfer speeds and capacity to associated UMTS networks.
Recently, heterogeneous networks have been an area of intense interest due to their promise of improved wireless coverage in otherwise difficult-to-cover areas like train stations, tunnels, office buildings, and homes. A heterogeneous network includes convention high-power macro-cells, as well as various low-power nodes such as micro-cells, pico-cells, and femto-cells, with varying capacities, coverage areas, and power capabilities. However, with such a deployment where different base stations have different power levels, a number of issues can arise relating to interference between the different base stations, or between user equipment served by one or the other type of base station. Additionally, due to the varying power capabilities of the different types of base stations, power control of uplink transmissions by user equipment by one type of base station can adversely affect reception of those transmissions by another type of base station.
As the demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase, research and development continue to advance the UMTS technologies not only to meet the growing demand for mobile broadband access, but to advance and enhance the user experience with mobile communications.

Apparatus, method, and system for uplink control channel reception in a heterogeneous wireless communication network


A variable gain amplifier (VGA) circuit and an automatic gain control (AGC) method thereof are disclosed. The VGA circuit includes an amplifier circuit and an AGC circuit. The amplifier circuit amplifies an input signal to an output signal according to a predetermined gain and the AGC circuit is connected to the amplifier circuit for regulating the predetermined gain. The AGC circuit further includes a peak detector detecting a peak of the output signal, a replica of the peak detector for detecting a peak of a reference signal, and a comparator for comparing the peak of the output signal with the peak of the reference signal to provide a control signal and then providing the control signal to the amplifier circuit to regulate the predetermined gain.

In communication technology, the communication data are conventionally modulated onto a signal and transmitted over a transmission channel. At a receiver end, the communication data are then recovered from the received signal. The amplitude of the received signal has an amplitude attenuation that is dependent on the length of the transmission path. Because the length of the transmission path, and thus the amplitude attenuation, are generally unknown, the amplitude of the received signal is consequently uncertain. In order to demodulate the communication data from the received signal, a variable gain amplifier (VGA) circuit is therefore included in the receiver to amplify the received signal. The VGA circuit conventionally operates in an automatic gain control (AGC) loop so as to generate a signal with a constant amplitude value independently of the received signal.
FIG. 1 shows a typical circuit diagram of a prior art receiver 100. The receiver 100 mainly includes an antenna 101, a low-noise amplifier (LNA) 103, a mixer 105, a local oscillator circuit (OSC) 107, a band pass filter (BPF) 108, a VGA circuit 109, an analog to digital converter (ADC) 111, and a demodulator 113. A high frequency signal that is modulated by the communication data is firstly received by the antenna 101, and then amplified by the LNA 103, mixed with a reference wave from the OSC 107 by a mixer 105, and filtered by the BPF 108. An intermediate frequency (IF) signal IF_IN is provided from the BPF 108 to the VGA circuit 109. The VGA circuit 109 further amplifies the IF signal IF and provides an amplified signal IF_OUT. Then, the ADC 111 converts the amplified signal IF_OUT from the VGA circuit 109 to a digital signal and the demodulator 113 demodulates the communication data from the digital signal.
FIG. 2 shows a circuit diagram of the VGA circuit 109 in FIG. 1. The VGA circuit 109 includes an amplifier unit 102 that consists of a variable gain amplifier 110 and a fixed gain amplifier 112, and an AGC loop 104 that consists of a peak detector 114, a comparator 116 and a loop filter 118. In the amplifier unit 102, the IF signal IF_IN from the BPF 108 firstly passes through the variable gain amplifier 110 and then through the fixed gain amplifier 112. Through the amplifier unit 102, the IF signal IF_IN is translated into the output signal IF_OUT with a predetermined gain. Furthermore, the level of the output signal IF_OUT is further stabilized by the AGC loop 104. Thus, the output signal IF_OUT obtains a constant and optimal voltage level that satisfies the dynamic range requirement of the ADC 111.
As shown in FIG. 2, one configuration of the AGC loop 104 is that the peak detector 114 receives the output signal IF_OUT from the output terminal of the fixed gain amplifier 112 and then provides a peak signal that indicates the peak of the output signal IF_OUT. The peak signal is then compared with a reference signal Vref by the comparator 116, which generates a control signal according to the comparison. After being filtered by the loop filter 118, the control signal is then used to regulate the gain of the variable gain amplifier 110. The AGC loop 104 will continue to regulate the gain until the peak signal is identical to the reference signal Vref. When the gain regulation completes, the output signal IF_OUT becomes constant.
Considering the input voltage range requirement of the peak detector 114, another configuration (not shown) of the AGC loop is conceived. In this configuration, the peak detector 114 is connected to the input terminal of the fixed gain amplifier 112. The remaining circuitry of the AGC circuit is the same as shown in FIG. 2.
However, performance of the peak detector 114 tends to change with process, voltage and temperature (PVT) variation. Thus, for both configurations of the AGC loop described above, the output signal IF_OUT cannot be accurately controlled. Furthermore, conventional fixed gain amplifier is also vulnerable to the PVT variation and therefore undermines the constancy of the output signal IF_OUT.
Therefore, it is desirable to have a circuit and method that does not suffer from the PVT variation and maintains the output signal constant and optimal. It is to such a circuit and method the present invention is primary directed.

Peak detector and fixed gain amplifier circuit for automatic gain control and variable gain amplifier circuit


Water absorbing material provided in a planar shape over the substantially entire surface of a front side surface of cooling clothing is layered with an intermediate cloth having air permeability and a waterproof material or sheet, which is waterproof, to be sandwiched and wrapped therewith. By sewing or by sealing and joining the intermediate cloth and waterproof cloth or sheet, waterproof water dividers having length in the horizontal direction are provided at a suitable inclined angle of locations. Water that is inserted from a water inlet in the upper part of the cooling clothing by a PET bottle or the like flows toward the lower part of the cooling clothing between the surface of the water absorbing material and the waterproof cloth, meandering left and right continuously or in a stepwise shape, and making a puddles arise like terraces in prescribed locations here and there.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to cooling garment for cooling the body and thereby promote vaporization of the water that is the water retention in the water absorbing material. And, similar cooling cover such cool the head of the people, etc., about the wearable implement.
2. Description of Related Art
Measures the heat of the outdoors in the summer, as heat stroke measures, there is a cool vest, etc. that can be worn by dog animals and the human body.
Cooling garment that can be provided on the planar water-absorbing material for water retention of moisture in the clothes, and absorbs heat in the heat of vaporization by the evaporation of the water, to cool the body is well known.
For example, prior art documents, there is a JP 11-172510.
And immersing the entire surface water such as a container filled with water the water absorbing material of surface shape, and squeeze excess water. And I have put in the pocket of the chest or back pocket of fire-fighting clothing.
There is an example that describes the adoption of an arrangement for cooling the body and in a high temperature environment of the fire.
In addition, there is a description example of a cooling garment Vest that in JP 2001-40512, is provided with a fan at the upper end, flowing air by providing a mere air passage space between the inner fabric and outer fabric, air-cooling the human body.
And outdoor work under the hot weather of summer, incinerators around the fire work like high-temperature environment, I want to get sufficient cooling effect in the upper half of the body of the human body. To do so, in the water absorption of the surface material's built-in pre-sewing, etc., that you cover the entire upper body as much as possible of it is necessary to such clothes Vest.
And, to a cooling garment high cooling effect this, there is a problem such as (1) to (4) below.
(1);That in order to soak in water uniformly throughout the water absorption of the material, a large container filled with water is required.
(2); The operation to narrow twisting the clothes considerable force with both hands is necessary in order to eliminate squeeze any excess water .
(3); Furthermore , cooling effect time under the hot weather and the like end , it reaches the dry state , again , take off their clothes , and infiltrate water retention in the water providing a large container again , filled with the water , to be worn again there is a hassle that must behave .
(4); There is a cooling garment incorporating a water-absorbing material. You want to include in this cooling garment electric blower for sending air to air passage between the inner fabric and the middle cloth. In this case,
Air passage also may give rise to large wind pressure loss places closed is twisted, the electric blower is weak to water, it is difficult to incorporate.
There is a problem to be solved that.