A method for selecting a gateway node to support handover when a user equipment (UE) attaches to a 4G long-term evolution (LTE) network may include receiving a prediction from a machine learning engine predicting whether the UE is more likely to handover between the 4G LTE network and a 3G network or between the 4G LTE network and a 5G network based on handover data in the UE's location area. The method may further include selecting a first gateway node if the prediction indicates that the UE is more likely to handover between the 4G LTE network and the 3G network, and selecting a second gateway node if the prediction indicates that the UE is more likely to handover between the 4G LTE network and a 5G network. The first gateway node may support 4G and 3G sessions, and the second gateway node may support 4G and 5G sessions.

Handover is a process in which a voice or data session is transferred from a serving base station to another base station to provide continuous service when the user's device reaches an edge of a cell range. A handover decision may be made when the received signal from the serving base station falls below a threshold and the signal from a nearby base station rises above a threshold. Depending on network coverage, handover may occur between the same radio technology (e.g., 4G to 4G, 3G to 3G, etc.) or between different generations of radio technologies (e.g, 3G to 4G, 4G to 5G, etc.). For a favorable user experience, the handover should be seamless without a perceivable disruption in the connection.
In a 4G long-term evolution (LTE) network with control and user plane separation, a packet data network gateway control plane function (PGW-C) may control the point of attachment to a data network. The mobility management entity (MME) may select between different PGW-C nodes when the user device attaches to the 4G LTE network, with one PGW-C node supporting both 4G and 3G and another PGW-C node supporting 4G and 5G. However, there is currently no gateway function that supports 3G, 4G, and 5G sessions and handover from 3G to 4G to 5G (and vice versa). Thus, if the MME selects the gateway function supporting 4G and 5G sessions (the 5G gateway), the user device will disconnect from the network and reconnect via the other gateway function if the user device attempts to handover from 4G to 3G. Likewise, if the MME selects the gateway function supporting 4G and 3G sessions, the user device will disconnect from the network and reconnect via the 5G gateway if the user device attempts to handover from 4G to 5G. For example, the MME may select the 5G gateway function if the user device is a 5G handset, even if the user's location is an area with poor 5G coverage and many of the user devices in the area are handing over to a 3G network. Consequently, handovers at the user device to the 3G network will fail if the 5G gateway is selected, leading to call or session disconnections during handover and a poor user experience.
As 5G and 3G network coverage may vary in a location over time, particularly with the deployment of 5G, there is a need for more intelligent and dynamic selection of the PGW-C node at the MME for supporting handover and improving user experience. The present disclosure provides a technical solution for this need.

Methods and systems for selecting a gateway node to support handover in a wireless communication network


A detector assembly for imaging a scene over a predetermined temperature range and a predetermined wavelength range including a central wavelength includes an imaging-sensor array, a plurality of focusing elements and a plurality of optical filtering elements. The imaging-sensor array includes a plurality of detector-array sections and the focusing elements are arranged with respect to the detector array such that each focusing element is capable of focusing upon a corresponding one of the detector-array sections an image of the scene correlating to the image of the scene that each of the other focusing elements is capable of focusing upon the detector-array section corresponding thereto. Each focusing element and the detector-array section corresponding thereto defines an associated optical path. Disposed within each optical path is an optical filtering element such that electromagnetic energy that passes through that filtering element impinges upon the detector-array section optically correlated with that filtering element. Each filtering element is configured to transmit, at a filter-specific maximum intensity, the central wavelength at a temperature disparate from the temperature at which each of the other filtering elements is configured to transmit the central wavelength. The transmittance as a function of temperature for each filtering element at least partially overlaps the transmittance as a function of temperature of at least one other filtering element among the plurality of filtering elements, thereby extending the operative temperature range of the detector assembly.

In a contemporary detection system, a viewed target or scene forms a single image upon a focal-plane detector array including a large number of discrete detector elements that are highly responsive to electromagnetic energy within a pre-selected wavelength range. The electrical outputs of the detector elements are communicatively linked to sophisticated signal processing circuitry. By rapidly analyzing the pattern and sequence of detector element excitations, the processing circuitry can identify and monitor sources of electromagnetic radiation that appear within a scene or field of view.
When it is desired to view a scene over different portions (wavelength ranges) of the electromagnetic spectrum, the scene is filtered through one or more optical filtering elements. In a traditional system, mechanically movable filters are interposed into an optical path defined by a focusing element and a corresponding section of the detector array onto which that focusing element projects an image of the scene. Generally, such filtering elements are selectively situated intermediate the focusing element and the detector array and are incorporated in what is know in the field as a "filter wheel" that is rotated to alter the wavelength ranges over which a scene is observed.
Although filter wheels are still used in some applications, practitioners in the field of spectral imaging have recognized shortcomings of systems that rely on the selective mechanical interposition of filters within an optical path in order to image a scene over different wavelength ranges. Among the disadvantages associated with such systems are the facts that they are inherently expensive, heavy, large and fragile. More specifically, the use of mechanisms to effect movement of the filters adds costs and weight to the detection system. More significantly, such mechanisms are mechanically complex and require a high degree of precision to obtain the desired results. Thus, the reliability and durability of moveable filters, and their drive mechanisms, are of particular concern. This is especially true in space-based applications wherein it is extremely difficult or impossible to conduct "field" repair of such systems. Mechanical movement of the filters also introduces an observation dead time associated with (i) the generation of control signals to initiate the filter change, (ii) settle-down times that depend on the inertial characteristics of the mechanical components, (iii) and slow speeds that may be necessary in order to preserve optical alignment, avoid setting up vibration, and prevent damage to fragile optics. In some military systems requiring extremely rapid response times, any time loss associated with filter switching may be highly undesirable or even unacceptable. Moreover, and quite significantly, moveable filters (e.g., filter wheels) provide spectral data that is necessarily sequential in nature. More specifically, a scene is viewed through a first filter and data representative of the scene is registered at the detector array and stored in computer memory. Subsequently, a second filter is moved into position to filter the scene over another wavelength range, and the procedure is repeated over as many filtered wavelength ranges as the particular application calls for. Much more desirable is the acquisition of all spectral data through all filter elements simultaneously. This is particularly important when viewing rapidly changing events such as missile launches, muzzle flashes, or other ephemeral events.
In recognition of the aforementioned considerations, multi-image detector assemblies have been developed. Such an assembly does not require the use of moveable filters or other optical components in order to sense different portions of the electromagnetic spectrum or otherwise modify the incoming source signal. Representative of such an assembly is that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,479,015 issued in the names of Rudman et al. on Dec. 26, 1995 (hereinafter, the '015 patent). The '015 patent is drawn to a multi-image detector assembly including an array of detector elements (e.g., a focal plane array) wherein the detector array includes a plurality of imaging-registering sections. Corresponding to each image-registering section is a focusing member that focuses an image of a scene upon the image-registering array section. The plural images focused upon the various array sections are, at least in their spatial aspects, substantially identical. Each focusing member defines, in combination with its corresponding array section, an optical path. Disposed within, and dedicated to, each optical path is an optical element that modifies the image transmitted along that optical path. The "optical elements" are optical filters that facilitate registration of various images of a single scene simultaneously over disparate wavelength regions within the electromagnetic spectrum.
Whether a filter wheel system or the more modern simultaneous image acquisition system, such as that described in the '015, is employed, the goal of each of these multi-filter systems has traditionally been to provide independent measures of the same scene. That is, to "view" and analyze a single scene over multiple wavelength ranges in an effort to discern, in broad terms, the spectral content of activity or "events" within the scene. Some detector systems, however, are configured to detect the presence of emission over a single narrow range including a central wavelength of interest, for example. For instance, in certain applications, the presence of potassium in combusting material may be of particular interest. Combusting potassium emits electromagnetic energy having a wavelength of 766 nm. Accordingly, an illustrative traditional system singularly configured to detect the combustion of potassium would include a focusing element optically aligned with a detector-array to define an optical path and a single filtering element, configured to transmit a very narrow spectral band centered at 766 nm, interposed within the optical path. A shortcoming of such systems, however, is that the transmittance of an optical filtering element shifts or "drifts" with changes in temperature. That is, inherent to an optical filtering element is a temperature coefficient. Consequently, a system configured for the detection of burning potassium may function perfectly well when the filter is in an environment of between 25° C. and 30° C., but the limitations of the filtering element may render the system "blind" to the 766 nm central wavelength when the filter temperature is outside the illustrative 5-degree range.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a multi-filter detector assembly that facilitates detection of the presence within a scene of a predetermined central wavelength over a broader operational temperature range than has been heretofore realizable through the implementation of traditional, single-filter solutions.

Multi-filter spectral detection system for detecting the presence within a scene of a predefined central wavelength over an extended operative temperature range


The present disclosure relates to a method for injecting an electrolyte to a pouch secondary battery which includes the steps of: interposing an electrode assembly between a first metal laminate film and a second metal laminate film forming a pouch casing, and sealing the edges of each of the films with an electrolyte inlet left therein, thereby providing a pouch secondary battery; mounting the pouch secondary battery between a first jig and a second jig, which are installed in a jig stand so as to have a controllable interval and form a gap space, with the electrolyte inlet facing up, and injecting an electrolyte through the electrolyte inlet; loading the jig stand to a vacuum chamber; increasing the width of the gap space by moving the first and the second jigs so that the area occupied by the electrolyte may be localized in the lower part of the pouch casing, and then forming vacuum atmosphere; and moving the first and the second jigs while maintaining the vacuum atmosphere so that the width of the gap space may be reduced gradually and the liquid surface of the electrolyte may be lifted gradually to a position higher than the top of the electrode assembly.

As technological development and demand for mobile instruments have been increased, batteries as energy sources for such mobile instruments are increasingly in demand. Therefore, many studies have been conducted about batteries which can meet various needs.
In terms of the shape of a battery, prismatic secondary batteries and pouch type secondary batteries which have a small thickness and can be applied to products, such as cellular phones, are in high demand.
In terms of a material, lithium secondary batteries, such as lithium-ion batteries and lithium-ion polymer batteries, which have high energy density, discharge voltage and output stability, are in high demand.
Recently, a pouch secondary battery provided with a structure in which a stack-type or stack/folded electrode assembly is received in a pouch casing including a metal (Al) laminate film has been given many attentions as a lithium secondary battery and use thereof has been increased gradually, since it requires low manufacturing cost, has a low weight and is easily deformable.
As generally known in the art, a pouch secondary battery is manufactured through the following process. First, electrode plates and porous insulating separators are stacked to form an electrode assembly. The separator is interposed between a positive electrode plate and a negative electrode plate.
Each of the positive electrode plate and negative electrode plate is coated with an active material. Typical examples of the positive electrode active material and the negative electrode active material include lithium metal oxide and graphite, respectively.
Each electrode plate has a protruding and extended electrode tab, and the electrode tab is connected to an electrode lead. The electrode assembly to which the electrode lead is connected is placed between two sheets of metal laminate films. Herein, such two sheets of metal laminate films form a pouch casing. The edges of the metal laminate films are sealed with an electrolyte inlet left therein. Then, an electrolyte is injected through the electrolyte inlet and the electrolyte inlet is sealed so that the electrode assembly may be sealed in the pouch casing.
A conventional process for injecting an electrolyte includes a pre-process of injecting an electrolyte to a pouch casing, and a post-process of loading the pouch casing having the electrolyte injected thereto to a vacuum chamber and removing the gases present in the electrode assembly.
Herein, the gases originate from the air remaining in the inner space of the pouch casing and the fine gap present in the electrode assembly, when the electrolyte is injected to the pouch casing.
In the post-process, a high degree of vacuum is required to remove the gases effectively. However, when a high degree of vacuum is set from the initial stage, the electrolyte may be ejected to the outside through the electrolyte inlet while the gases are emitted rapidly.
Such ejection of an electrolyte contaminates the surface of the pouch casing. Therefore, when carrying out the post-process, the vacuum degree of the vacuum chamber is increased by multiple stages. As such, the tack time of the process is increased.
Meanwhile, there is a limitation in removing the gases in the pouch casing rapidly when using the post-process alone. Therefore, a pre-vacuum post-injection process which includes removing the gases in the pouch casing preliminarily under vacuum atmosphere is used, before injecting the electrolyte.
However, the pre-vacuum post-injection process requires a time during which vacuum atmosphere is formed, before injecting the electrolyte, and thus still causes an increase in the tack time of the process. In addition, when injecting the electrolyte to the pouch casing under the vacuum atmosphere, there is an additional problem in that the electrolyte evaporates. Further, it is inevitable to modify a liquid injection system significantly, since a vacuum chamber and a depressurization device are further added into a system for injecting an electrolyte.

Method for injecting electrolyte to pouch secondary battery using gap-controlling jig


A spin valve sensor in a read head has a spacer layer which is located between a self-pinned AP pinned layer structure and a free layer structure. The free layer structure is longitudinally stabilized by first and second hard bias layers which abut first and second side surfaces of the spin valve sensor. The AP pinned layer structure has an antiparallel coupling layer (APC) which is located between first and second AP pinned layers (AP1) and (AP2). The invention employs a resetting process for setting of the magnetic moments of the AP pinned layers by applying a field at an acute angle to the head surface in a plane parallel to the major planes of the layers of the sensor. The resetting process sets a proper polarity of each AP pinned layer, which polarity conforms to processing circuitry employed with the spin valve sensor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of resetting self-pinned antiparallel (AP) pinned layers that have experienced amplitude flipping during manufacturing processes such as lapping. The resetting is accomplished by applying a canted magnetic field and, more particularly, resetting the orientation (polarity) of magnetic moments of such layers by canting a high magnetic field at an acute angle to the air bearing surface (ABS) of a read head in a plane parallel to the major planes of the layers of the read head.
2. Description of the Related Art
The heart of a computer is a magnetic disk drive which includes a rotating magnetic disk, a slider that has write and read heads, a suspension arm above the rotating disk and an actuator arm. The suspension arm biases the slider into contact with the surface of the disk or parks the slider on a ramp when the disk is not rotating but, when the disk rotates, air is swirled by the rotating disk adjacent an air bearing surface (ABS) of the slider causing the slider to ride on an air bearing a slight distance from the surface of the rotating disk. When the slider rides on the air bearing the actuator arm swings the suspension arm to place the write and read heads over selected circular tracks on the rotating disk where field signals are written and read by the write and read heads. The write and read heads are connected to processing circuitry that operates according to a computer program to implement the writing and reading functions.
An exemplary high performance read head employs a spin valve sensor for sensing the magnetic field signals from the rotating magnetic disk. The sensor includes a nonmagnetic electrically conductive first spacer layer sandwiched between a ferromagnetic pinned layer structure and a ferromagnetic free layer structure. An antiferromagnetic pinning layer typically interfaces the pinned layer structure for pinning a magnetic moment of the pinned layer structure 90 degrees to the air bearing surface (ABS) wherein the ABS is an exposed surface of the sensor that faces the magnetic disk. First and second leads are connected to the spin valve sensor for conducting a sense current therethrough. A magnetic moment of the free layer structure is free to rotate upwardly and downwardly with respect to the ABS from a quiescent or bias point position in response to positive and negative magnetic field signals from the rotating magnetic disk. The quiescent position, which is preferably parallel to the ABS, is the position of the magnetic moment of the free layer structure with the sense current conducted through the sensor in the absence of field signals.
The thickness of the spacer layer is chosen so that shunting of the sense current and a magnetic coupling between the free and pinned layer structures are minimized. This thickness is typically less than the mean free path of electrons conducted through the sensor. With this arrangement, a portion of the conduction electrons are scattered at the interfaces of the spacer layer with the pinned and free layer structures. When the magnetic moments of the pinned and free layer structures are parallel with respect to one another scattering is minimal and when their magnetic moments are antiparallel scattering is maximized. Changes in scattering change the resistance of the spin valve sensor as a function of cos θ, where θ is the angle between the magnetic moments of the pinned and free layer structures. The sensitivity of the sensor is quantified as magnetoresistive coefficient dr/R where dr is the change in the resistance of the sensor as the magnetic moment of the free layer structure rotates from a position parallel with respect to the magnetic moment of the pinned layer structure to an antiparallel position with respect thereto and R is the resistance of the sensor when the magnetic moments are parallel.
In addition to the spin valve sensor the read head includes nonconductive nonmagnetic first and second read gap layers and ferromagnetic first and second shield layers. The spin valve sensor is located between the first and second read gap layers and the first and second read gap layers are located between the first and second shield layers. In the construction of the read head the first shield layer is formed first followed by formation of the first read gap layer, the spin valve sensor, the second read gap layer and the second shield layer. Spin valve sensors are classified as a top spin valve sensor or a bottom spin valve sensor depending upon whether the pinned layer is located near the bottom of the sensor close to the first read gap layer or near the top of the sensor close to the second read gap layer. Spin valve sensors are further classified as simple pinned or antiparallel (AP) pinned depending upon whether the pinned layer structure is one or more ferromagnetic layers with a unidirectional magnetic moment or a pair of ferromagnetic AP layers that are separated by a coupling layer with magnetic moments of the ferromagnetic AP layers being antiparallel to one another. Spin valve sensors are still further classified as single or dual wherein a single spin valve sensor employs only one pinned layer and a dual spin valve sensor employs two pinned layers with the free layer structure located therebetween.
A magnetic moment of the aforementioned pinned layer structure is typically pinned 90° to the ABS by the aforementioned antiferromagnetic (AFM) pinning layer. After deposition of the sensor, the sensor is subjected to a temperature at or near a blocking temperature of the material of the pinning layer in the presence of a field which is oriented perpendicular to the ABS for the purpose of resetting the orientation of the magnetic spins of the pinning layer. The elevated temperature frees the magnetic spins of the pinning layer so that they align perpendicular to the ABS. This also aligns the magnetic moment of the pinned layer structure perpendicular to the ABS. When the read head is cooled to room temperature the magnetic spins of the pinning layer are fixed in the direction perpendicular to the ABS which pins the magnetic moment of the pinned layer structure perpendicular to the ABS. After resetting the pinning layer it is important that subsequent elevated temperatures and extraneous magnetic fields not disturb the setting of the pinning layer.
It is also desirable that the pinning layer be as thin as possible since it is located within the track width of the sensor and its thickness adds to an overall gap length between the first and second shield layers. It should be understood that the thinner the gap length the higher the linear read bit density of the read head. This means that more bits can be read per inch along the track of a rotating magnetic disk which, in turn, enables an increase in the storage capacity of the magnetic disk drive.
A scheme for minimizing the aforementioned gap between the first and second shield layers is to provide a self-pinned AP pinned layer structure. The self-pinned AP pinned layer structure eliminates the need for the aforementioned pinning layer which permits the read gap to be reduced by 120 Å when the pinning layer is platinum manganese (PtMn). In the self-pinned AP pinned layer structure each AP pinned layer has an intrinsic uniaxial anisotropy field and a magnetostriction uniaxial anisotropy field. The intrinisic uniaxial anisotropy field is due to the intrinsic magnetization of the layer and the magnetostriction uniaxial anisotropy field is a product of the magnetostriction of the layer and stress within the layer. A positive magnetostriction of the layer and compressive stress therein results in a magnetostriction uniaxial anisotropy field that can support an intrinsic uniaxial anisotropy field. The orientations of the magnetic moments of the AP pinned layers are set by an external field. This is accomplished without the aforementioned elevated temperature which is required to free the magnetic spins of the pinning layer. It should be noted that if the self-pinning of the AP pinned layer structure is not sufficient, unwanted extraneous fields can disturb the orientations of the magnetic moments of the AP pinned layers or, in a worst situation, could reverse their directions. Accordingly, there is a strong-felt need to maximize the uniaxial magnetostriction anisotropy field while maintaining a high magnetoresistive coefficient dr/R of the spin valve sensor.
It is also important that the free layer be longitudinally biased parallel to the ABS and parallel to the major planes of the thin film layers of the sensor in order to magnetically stabilize the free layer. This is typically accomplished by first and second hard bias magnetic layers which abut first and second side surfaces of the spin valve sensor. The orientation of the magnetic moments of the first and second hard bias layers is parallel to the ABS and parallel to the major planes of the layers, which orientation is perpendicular to the orientation of the magnetic moments of the AP pinned layers.
Another problem that has been experienced with regard to pinned layer polarity flipping is that even when sensors are constructed with the proper polarity at wafer level, after the wafers have been sliced into rows and the ABS has been lapped, one or more of the sensors on the row exhibit incorrect polarity. Therefore, even with exemplary polarity setting during sensor fabrication, sensor polarity can be improper after further manufacturing processes such as lapping. This problem can be experienced with either self pinned sensors (ie. no AFM pinning) or in standard AFM pinned sensors.

Method for resetting pinned layer magnetization in a magnetoresistive sensor

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.


A plasma display apparatus and a method of driving the same are disclosed. In the plasma display apparatus, a relative time ratio of one of a reset period, an address period or a sustain period of an r-th subfield of each of a p-th frame and a q-th frame is substantially equal to each other at a reference time point of the r-th subfield of each of the p-th frame and the q-th frame. The relative time ratio is the ratio of a duration of a portion of one period of a reset period, an address period or a sustain period in one subfield to a total duration of one period. The duration of the portion ranges from a start time point of one period to the reference time point.

1. Field
This document relates to a plasma display apparatus and a method of driving the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A plasma display panel comprises a front panel, a rear panel and barrier ribs formed between the front panel and the rear panel. The barrier ribs form unit discharge cell or discharge cells. Each of the discharge cells is filled with an inert gas containing a main discharge gas such as neon (Ne), helium (He) and a mixture of Ne and He and a small amount of xenon (Xe). When the plasma display panel is discharged by a high frequency voltage, the inert gas generates vacuum ultra-violet rays, which thereby cause phosphors formed between the barrier ribs to emit light, thus displaying an image. Since the plasma display panel can be manufactured to be thin and light, it has attracted attention as a next generation display device.
The plasma display panel is driven by dividing a frame into several subfields having a different number of emission times. Each of the subfields is subdivided into a reset period for uniformly generating the discharge, an address period for selecting cells to be discharged and a sustain period for representing gray scale in accordance with the number of discharges. For example, if an image with 256-level gray scale is to be displayed, a frame period (for example, 16.67 ms) corresponding to 1/60 sec is divided into eight subfields SF1 to SF8.
The duration of the reset period in a subfield is equal to the duration of the reset periods in the remaining subfields. The duration of the address period in a subfield is equal to the duration of the address periods in the remaining subfields. The sustain period increases in a ratio of 2n (where, n=0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) in each of the subfields. Since the sustain period varies from one subfield to the next subfield, a specific gray level of the image is achieved.

Plasma display apparatus and method of driving the same


Light generating devices for illuminating portions of vascular tissue, to render photodynamic therapy. In one embodiment, a light source array preferably including a plurality of light emitting diodes, a focusing lens, and a light diffusing element are included in a distal end of a catheter. A balloon is optionally provided to interrupt blood flow that can block the transmission of light, and to center the apparatus in a blood vessel. Optical fibers optionally direct light from the light source to the diffusing element. The light source array can have a radial or linear configuration and can produce more than one wavelength of light for activating different photoreactive agents. Linear light source elements are particularly useful to treat elongate portions of tissue in a vessel. One embodiment intended for use with a conventional balloon catheter integrates light sources into a guidewire.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a process whereby light of a specific wavelength or waveband is directed to tissues undergoing treatment or investigation, which have been rendered photosensitive through the administration of a photoreactive or photosensitizing agent. Thus, in this therapy, a photoreactive agent having a characteristic light absorption waveband is first administered to a patient, typically by intravenous injection, oral administration, or by local delivery to the treatment site. Abnormal tissue in the body is known to selectively absorb certain photoreactive agents to a much greater extent than normal tissue. Once the abnormal tissue has absorbed or linked with the photoreactive agent, the abnormal tissue can then be treated by administering light of an appropriate wavelength or waveband corresponding to the absorption wavelength or waveband of the photoreactive agent. Such treatment can result in the necrosis of the abnormal tissue.
PDT has proven to be very effective in destroying abnormal tissue such as cancer cells and has also been proposed for the treatment of vascular diseases, such as atherosclerosis and restenosis due to intimal hyperplasia. In the past percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) has typically been performed to treat atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases. A more recent treatment based on the use of drug eluting stents has reduced the rate of restenosis in some diseased vessels. As effective as such therapies are, a new platform of therapy is needed for treating peripheral arterial disease and more problematic coronary diseases, such as vulnerable plaque, saphenous vein bypass graft disease, and diffuse long lesions.
The objective of PDT may be either diagnostic or therapeutic. In diagnostic applications, the wavelength of light is selected to cause the photoreactive agent to fluoresce, thus yielding information about the tissue without damaging the tissue. In therapeutic applications, the wavelength of light delivered to the tissue treated with the photoreactive agent causes the photoreactive agent to undergo a photochemical reaction with oxygen in the localized tissue, to yield free radical species (such as singlet oxygen), which cause localized cell lysis or necrosis. The central strategy to inhibit arterial restenosis using PDT, for example, is to cause a depletion of vascular smooth muscle cells, which are a source of neointima cell proliferation (see, Nagae et al., Lasers in Surgery and Medicine 28:381-388, 2001). One of the advantages of PDT is that it is a targeted technique, in that selective or preferential delivery of the photoreactive agent to specific tissue enables only the selected tissue to be treated. Preferential localization of a photoreactive agent in areas of arterial injury, with little or no photoreactive agent delivered to healthy portions of the arterial wall, can therefore enable highly specific PDT ablation of arterial tissue.
Light delivery systems for PDT are well known in the art. Delivery of light from a light source, such as a laser, to the treatment site has been accomplished through the use of a single optical fiber delivery system with special light-diffusing tips affixed thereto. Exemplary prior art devices also include single optical fiber cylindrical diffusers, spherical diffusers, micro-lensing systems, an over-the-wire cylindrical diffusing multi-optical fiber catheter, and a light-diffusing optical fiber guidewire. Such prior art PDT illumination systems generally employ remotely disposed high power lasers or solid state laser diode arrays, coupled to optical fibers for delivery of light to a treatment sight. The disadvantages of using laser light sources include relatively high capital costs, relatively large size, complex operating procedures, and the safety issues inherent when working with high power lasers. Accordingly, there is a tremendous need for a light generating system that requires no lasers, and which generates light at the treatment site. For vascular application of PDT, it would be desirable to provide a light-generating apparatus having a minimal cross-section, a high degree of flexibility, and compatibility with a guidewire, so the light-generating apparatus can be delivered to the treatment site. Such an apparatus should provide a light uniformly to the treatment area.
For vascular application of PDT, it would be further desirable to provide a light-generating apparatus configured to be centered within a blood vessel, and which is configured to remove light absorbent material, such as blood, from the light path between the target tissue and the apparatus. Typically, centering of apparatus within a vessel can be achieved with an inflatable balloon catheter that matches the diameter of the blood vessel when the balloon is inflated. Such devices desirably occlude blood flow, enabling the light path to remain clear of obstructing blood. However, a single balloon is not sufficient to treat lesions in coronary blood vessels that are greater than about 30 mm in length, because a single inflated balloon may not provide good centering of the apparatus within such a long section. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a light-generating apparatus that is configured treat long lesions or long vessel segments.

Photodynamic therapy apparatus and method for vascular tissue treatment


An ornamental structure for a vehicle upholstery member provides a plurality of surface patterns by using a single vehicle upholstery member. The surface of the upholstery member is formed with a first emboss pattern and a second emboss pattern different from the first emboss pattern in a mutually superimposed relationship. Depending on the viewing angle of a vehicle occupant, the first emboss pattern obscures the light reflected from the profiles of the second emboss pattern or the second emboss pattern obscures the light reflected from the profiles of the first emboss pattern, and one of the patterns is more visually emphasized than the other.

The upholstery member used in the instrumental panel of a vehicle is required to be provided with favorable utilitarian attributes such as the ease of assembly work and high durability but also attractive appearance. It is known to texture or emboss the surface of the vehicle upholstery member, and impart the appearance of natural leather to the vehicle upholstery member. See Patent document 1.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A composition for delivery of osteogenic proteins is disclosed. The composition comprises an osteogenic protein, a calcium phosphate material as a carrier, and an effective amount of an effervescent agent. Methods of making the compositions and methods of using the osteogenic compositions to treat osteoporotic and/or osteopenic bone are also disclosed.

Much research in the area of biopharmaceutics is directed toward the development of effective implantable vehicles for drug delivery and other surgical applications. Such vehicles must be biocompatible and also must be capable of protecting the activity of any biologically active agent they are intended to deliver. Many biologically active agents are labile and easily lose activity when they are incorporated into a delivery material. Preservation of protein activity has posed particularly difficult problems.
In the drug delivery arena, calcium phosphate ceramics have been studied as potential delivery vehicles due to their well known biocompatibility and their affinity for protein reagents (see, e.g., Ijntema et al, Int. J. Pharm. 112:215 (1994); Itokazu et al., J. Orth. Res. 10:440 (1992); Shinto et al., J. Bone Joint Surg. 74-B:600 (1992); and Uchida et al., J. Orth. Res. 10:440 (1992)). Most of these materials have been in the form of prefabricated, sintered hydroxyapatite in either granule or block forms. These preparations have several drawbacks, including a limited ability to conform to skeletal defects, particularly in the case of blocks; inadequate structural integrity of granules (which do not bond together); and difficulty in modeling the implant to the shape of missing skeletal tissue with both blocks and granules. The block form of hydroxyapatite provides structural support, but among other complications, must be held in place by mechanical means, which greatly limits its use and its cosmetic results. Also, it is very difficult to saw a hydroxyapatite block into a shape that fits the patient's individual defect. The granular form produces cosmetically better results, but has a very limited structural stability and is difficult to contain during and after a surgical procedure. In general, all of these products are ceramics, produced by high temperature sintering, and are not individually crystalline, but rather have their crystal boundaries fused together. Most ceramic-type materials are in general functionally biologically non-absorbable (having an absorption rate generally not exceeding on the order of 1% per year).
A porous, non-resorbable material based on coral allows intergrowth with bone, but ultimately becomes only approximately 20% bone with the remaining 80% subsisting as scar tissue. HA RESORB® made by Osteogen is a form of absorbable hydroxyapatite, but is not a cement. It is granular and not adhesive. HA RESORB® is loosely rather than adhesively packed into place. For large uses, it is replaced by bone too quickly. In the dental materials market, HAPSET® is a composition of calcium phosphate granules and cementable plaster of Paris (calcium sulfate). This material is not truly a hydroxyapatite and contains too much calcium sulfate for most biological uses. The calcium sulfate component of such a composition is resorbable, but not the calcium phosphate granules.
At least one class of calcium phosphate compositions are precursors for the formation of hydroxyapatite and are biologically compatible, and have two unique properties that are not attainable in other calcium phosphate biomaterials: (1) self-hardening to form a mass with sufficient strength for many medical and dental applications, and (2) when implanted in bone, the material resorbs slowly and is completely replaced by new bone formation with no loss in the volume or integrity of the tissue that receives the implant. See U.S. Pat. Nos. Re. 33,221 and Re. 33,161 to Brown and Chow, which teach preparation of calcium phosphate remineralization compositions and of a finely crystalline, non-ceramic, gradually resorbable hydroxyapatite material based on the same calcium phosphate composition.
A virtually identical calcium phosphate system, which consists of tetracalcium phosphate (TTCP) and monocalcium phosphate (MCP) or its monohydrate form (MCPM) was described by Constantz et al. (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,053,212 and 5,129,905). This system reportedly involves conversion of the MCP to dicalcium phosphate, which reacts with TTCP and forms hydroxyapatite (HA), the major mineral component of teeth and bone, as the end product.
Another type of calcium phosphate composition comprises an amorphous, apatitic calcium phosphate as a reactant, a promoter, and an aqueous liquid to form a hardening paste. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,650,176; 5,676,976; 5,683,461; 6,027,742; and 6,117,456 to Lee et al. This system provides a bioactive ceramic material that is biocompatible, bioresorbable and workable for long periods of time at room temperature. The bioactive ceramic material may be formed at low temperatures, is readily formable and/or injectable, and yet can harden to high strength upon further reaction. The bioactive ceramic material contains poorly crystalline apatitic calcium phosphate solids with calcium-to-phosphate (Ca/P) ratios comparable to naturally occurring bone minerals and having stiffness and fracture roughness similar to natural bone. The bioactive ceramic composite material is strongly bioresorbable and its biosorbability and reactivity can be adjusted to meet the demands of the particular therapy and/or implant site. The material may be prepared as bone plates, bone screws and other fixtures and medical devices, including veterinarian applications, which are strongly bioresorbable and/or ossifying.
One of the goals of reconstructive surgery is to be able to replace damaged tissue with new tissue, using either a patient's own cells or growth enhancing proteins. For example, researchers have endeavored to develop cartilage regeneration systems in which isolated chondrocytes are injected into a damaged area in the context of a polymer scaffold (see, e.g., Atala et al., J. Urol. 150:747 (1993); Freed et al., J. Cell. Biochem. 51:257 (1993) and references cited therein). Similar seeded scaffold systems have been studied in the context of bone repair, where osteoblast cells are utilized in conjunction with polymeric or ceramic supports (see, e.g., Elgendy et al., Biomater. 14:263 (1993); Ishaug et al., J. Biomed. Mater. Res. 28:1445 (1994)). Of particular interest are osteoinductive materials such as bone morphogenetic proteins (e.g., recombinant human BMP-2), demineralized bone matrix; transforming growth factors (e.g., TGF-β); and various other organic species known to induce bone formation.
Three general types of calcium phosphate-based scaffold materials have been designed specifically for use with seeded compositions. One type of scaffold material consists of pre-formed calcium phosphate-based granules with the bioactive substance bound on the external surface. In general, large granules (ideally 100-1000 μm) are required to avoid eliciting inflammatory responses. However, such large pre-fabricated granules are not easily injectable through small gauge needles required for percutaneous injection. In addition, factors can only be admixed with preformed granules resulting in surface coating rather than the factor being embedded or dispersed throughout the matrix. Embedding the factor allows for a more controlled release of biomolecules as the matrix is resorbed. Pre-formed granules are typically difficult to handle and apply. Furthermore, most pre-formed hydroxyapatite granules are produced by a sintering process rendering them essentially non-resorbable.
A second type of scaffold material for seeded compositions consists of implantable porous hydroxyapatite or tricalcium phosphate blocks. Implantable porous blocks may be prepared with varying degrees of porosity, typically using a dry mixture of controlled particle size reactants. Other methods of promoting porosity include chemical or physical etching and leaching. Although they generally provide sufficient support, porous blocks have several significant drawbacks. First, like the pre-fabricated granules described above, block scaffolds do not have the osteoinductive substance embedded throughout the volume, and thus prevent controlled release of the active substance. Second, implantable blocks are not injectable, and thus require a more intrusive implantation procedure. Finally, and importantly, monolithic blocks may impede the rate of bone formation for clinical applications where an acceleration of healing is desired over the normal time course of healing. This delay may be due to slow resorption of the solid carrier and subsequent delayed release of the active substance. The presence of the monolithic matrix may also obstruct cell migration and infiltration to the fracture site. Assuming the block matrix contains interconnecting channels between the pores, new bone growth will be dictated by the pores and bounds of the scaffold walls, thus limiting new bone formation.
A third type of scaffold material involves calcium phosphate cements. Unlike the prefabricated granules and monolithic blocks, cements are readily injectable and can have the osteoinductive substance embedded throughout the volume. However, these cements tend to form monolithic aggregates that are inherently microporous. Although macroporous versions using biodegradable pore-formers have been described (see, e.g., PCT publication No. WO 98/16209, which is incorporated herein by reference), these cements form monolithic scaffolds which contain channels rather than microporous granules which, as discussed above, significantly restricts new bone growth.
Accordingly, despite substantial endeavors in this field, there remains a need for a drug delivery vehicle that is biocompatible, readily resorbable, and not detrimental to drug activity. Ideally, the vehicle should be injectable; malleable to enable injection or implantation into various sized fractures and defects; promote homogeneous distribution of bioactive materials throughout the matrix, thus permitting controlled release of the active substance; and, finally, form discrete macrogranules upon administration to the surgical or defective site. Granulation is desirable to facilitate cell migration and infiltration for secretion of extracellular bone matrix, and to provide access for vascularization. Granules also provide high surface area for enhanced resorption and release of active substance, as well as increased cell-matrix interaction. The present invention solves these needs, providing materials and compositions useful in drug delivery and in tissue repair.

Calcium phosphate delivery vehicles for osteoinductive proteins


A method of reducing photoelectron yield (PEY) and/or secondary electron yield (SEY) of a ceramic surface comprises applying pulsed laser radiation comprising a series of laser pulses emitted by a laser (4) to the surface of a target (10) to produce a periodic arrangement of structures on the surface of the target (10).

Photoelectron emission (PEE) refers to the emission of electrons due to interaction of photons with a surface. Secondary electron emission (SEE) refers to emission of a secondary electron from a surface due to interaction of a primary electron with the surface. Photoelectron yield (PEY) can be used to characterise PEE and secondary electron yield (SEY) can be used to characterise SEE. PEY and SEY may be taken to be the average number of emitted electrons per single incident photon or electron respectively.
PEE and SEE effects can cause significant difficulties in a wide variety of apparatus, for example in particle accelerators, beamlines, waveguides, for example r.f. waveguides, detectors, spacecraft, and vacuum chambers. PEE and SEE effects can lead, variously, to undesired electron cloud build-up, undesired increases in pressure, beam losses and instability, reduction in beam lifetimes, undesired heat loads, power loss, damage, reduction in apparatus lifetime, increase in noise, and decrease in sensitivity, depending on the particular type of apparatus and application in question.
The reduction of SEY or PEY for ceramic materials, such as >99.5% pure aluminium oxide (alumina), for example 99.7% pure alumina used for Kickers in accelerator beam transfer (Injection Kicker Systems) can be particularly challenging as, for example, SEY values may be significantly higher (for example 8 or above) than desired for some practical applications (for example less than 2, or less than 1.6 or even 1.4 in some cases). Although Al2O3 is generally referred to as aluminium oxide or alumina, it is also known in the art to refer to it as alumina oxide.
It is desired to provide improved or at least alternative methods for reducing PEY and SEY.

Method of reducing photoelectron yield and/or secondary electron yield of a ceramic surface; corresponding apparatus and product


A method for preparing aqueous polymer emulsions in the presence of a poly[(vinyl alcohol)-co-(vinyl amine)] copolymer as a protective colloid and aqueous polymer emulsions containing a poly[(vinyl alcohol)-co-(vinyl amine)] copolymer.

The deficiency in the industry has been the inability to balance the necessary hydrophilicity for emulsion polymerization with ultimate resistance to water in the resulting polymer products. Additionally, it has been difficult and costly to incorporate active functionality into emulsion polymers due to copolymerization considerations as well as to a lack of chemical versatility in the available functional monomers. Functional monomers are often not stable to the conditions of polymerization in aqueous emulsion systems and are, therefore, unsuited for providing appropriate and desired physical and mechanical property development in the ultimate uses of the emulsion polymer products. Typically, the functionality utilized to crosslink these emulsion polymers has been incorporated through copolymerization with the polymer itself.
Normally, aqueous polymer emulsions contain either hydrophilic polymers such as poly(vinyl alcohol) [PVOH], poly(ethylene oxide), or poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) or surfactants such as alkylphenol ethoxylates, alkyl sulfonates, or alkyl ammonium salts to allow stable polymerization in an aqueous continuous phase. Due to the necessary hydrophilicity of these materials, emulsion polymers prepared containing these materials remain sensitive to the presence of water even after polymers are cast into a solid film, as would be utilized for adhesives, for example. This water sensitivity leads to limitations in the types of applications where these emulsion polymers can be used. Emulsion polymers exhibiting this water sensitivity cannot typically be used, for example, in outdoor applications where exposure to the elements would cause degradation of polymer performance and ultimately in failure of the polymer product.
Previous solutions to this deficiency have involved incorporation of functional monomers into the emulsion polymers themselves where they remain until catalyzed or promoted to reaction by some mechanism. Typical monomers of this type are N-methylolacrylamide, hydroxyethyl acrylate, glycidyl (meth)acrylate and similar monomers. Several technical problems limit the utility of these types of monomers in addition to economic considerations. Such hydrophilic monomers are soluble in water and are therefore difficult to incorporate effectively into emulsion polymer compositions. Polymerization of these monomers in the aqueous phase can result in serious difficulty in controlling the viscosity of the dispersion and can lead to inadequate performance as crosslinking agents. Because the functional monomers are usually incorporated into the polymer with dissimilar monomers, consideration must be given for the differing reactivities of the two or more types of monomers in the system. These reactivity considerations can affect the available compositions for the individual monomers in the overall product as well as the distribution of the dissimilar monomers within the polymer molecules, thus limiting their effectiveness.
Crosslinking monomers are desirably incorporated into the polymer formed during the emulsion polymerization process. These active functionalities are then catalyzed or promoted to reaction either by a chemical process such as addition of an acid catalyst or by a physical process such as the application of heat or by some combination of both. Inherent to such utilization of these crosslinking monomers is their incorporation into the polymer formed during the polymerization in the system. Later, through catalysis or the promoted reaction, these functionalities react to form a larger molecular network which helps improve many of the physical and mechanical properties of the emulsion polymer such as the tensile strength and modulus and helps resist the degradation of properties on exposure to water or solvents.
Emulsion polymerization of monomers such as vinyl acetate, vinyl chloride and vinylidene chloride and their copolymers with ethylene or acrylates has long been known to be stabilized by protective colloids, water soluble polymers such as PVOH and hydroxyethyl cellulose. However, it has been difficult to polymerize exclusively acrylic monomers in the presence of the water soluble polymers at useful levels above 0.5% based on polymer solids.
Previous attempts to incorporate water soluble polymers such as PVOH into acrylic emulsion polymer products have focused on the post addition of the PVOH to the already polymerized acrylic emulsion. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,280,942, for example, the PVOH is added after the monomer has been completely added to the emulsion reaction. While this patent teaches the use of PVOH in an acrylic contact adhesive formulation, it does not specify in Example 1 the method of polymerization nor the means of PVOH addition to the emulsion product. Example 5 indicates that the PVOH solution is added to the emulsion after all of the monomer has been added. In addition, the examples disclosed in this patent also rely on the use of additional surfactants which act as primary emulsifier for the emulsion polymerization.
Other attempts (U.S. Pat. No. 5,011,883) have utilized copolymers of vinyl monomers such as vinyl acetate with acrylates to achieve incorporation of the PVOH into the emulsion product. This approach also has limitations in the level of vinyl acetate which can be homogeneously incorporated into the emulsion product and in the compromise in properties such as Tg that are expected due to copolymerization of the vinyl monomer with the acrylic monomers.
Other efforts have shown that incorporation of amine functionality into a polymer latex composition of acrylic polymers is desirable but the routes used to achieve this incorporation are difficult. EP 072,684 discloses the quaternization of amine functional monomers or polymers with epichlorohydrin as a route to incorporation of this functionality for adhesive compositions. EP 0,489,524 describes the preparation of amine containing emulsion products which incorporate amine functionality through the use of ammonium salts of fatty acids which are subsequently decomposed at elevated temperatures to produce acid functionality and ammonia. In that case, the conversion of the ammonium functionality used for stabilization to the thermalized acid fore results in the transformation of the compound from the water soluble to a water insoluble species.
Cationic PVOH has been used for the emulsion polymerization of acrylic and vinyl monomers (U.S. Pat. No. 4,308,189 and J 60058403A). These methods of cationic incorporation into the emulsion product rely on the copolymerization of (meth)acrylamide type monomers which typically limit the compositions of the stabilizing copolymers due to reactivity differences with vinyl acetate.

Poly[(vinyl alcohol)-CO-(vinyl amine)] copolymers as stabilizing protective colloids in aqueous emulsion polymerization


A boat hull or other marine structure is made by shaping a plastic foam core and covering it with a plastic outer skin glued in place by adhesive, mechanically fastened, or applied in liquid form. Minimal sawcuts to the foam core ease manufacture. Methods for anchoring fittings, masts, pipes and shade canopies are presented. No-sew sails for the boat have corners made of plastic sheet attached using both adhesive and mechanical fastening. Lateral resistance of the hull is provided by telescoping leeboards. A suite of these boats share the same modular masts and sails. Such boat hulls offer light weight, ease of transport, and unswampable buoyancy.

Field of the Invention
Present embodiments relate to lightweight marine craft. More specifically, present embodiments generally relate to, without limitation, lightweight, low cost marine craft which may be modular to change design, size and capacity, as well as related methods therefore.
Description of Related Art
For almost 70 years, boat builders have used fiberglass fabric or fibers embedded in epoxy or polyester resin to make the hulls of boats, either formed in a mold, or laid up over a substrate structure such as a wood form or foam core. These molds and substrates, and the extensive labor required to apply and finish fiberglass, add to cost. While fiberglass boats have offered durability and other performance advantages compared to their wood or metal predecessors, they are still relatively heavy. More recently, carbon fiber has been used in place of fiberglass, lowering weight but adding cost.
Traditional boats are formed of fiberglass or carbon fiber construction and use two part polyester or epoxy resin with its relative heavy weight and high levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
It would be desirable to overcome these and other issues related to the construction of marine craft in order to develop small lightweight marine craft which can be easily moved over land and quickly assembled for use.
The information included in this Background section of the specification, including any references cited herein and any description or discussion thereof, is included for technical reference purposes only and is not to be regarded subject matter by which the scope of the embodiments taught is to be bound.

Lightweight marine craft and methods thereof


A device for locking bicycle components to the bicycle frame comprises a threaded bolt with a corresponding nut having a rotatable casing surrounding the outer surface thereof and a key for engaging the nut. The key and the end face of the nut have at least one spigot and at least one hole such that the spigots of each fit into the holes of the other. When so engaged, the key is capable of turning the nut. The key preferably includes leverage arms for aiding the turning of the nut.

The most common mechanisms used to secure wheels and seats on bicycle forks and frames are of the quick release type or the simple hexagonal nut. The quick release device incorporates a lever that need only be slightly moved in order to release the wheel or seat. In both the quick release of hexagonal nut devices, the wheels, seat and/or handlebars of a bicycle are easily removed. Thus, the bicycle owner must lock both wheels to the bicycle using either a Kryptonite (U-shaped) lock, long chains etc., or must remove one of the wheels and lock it to the other or take it away. Any of these options is inconvenient and not very reliable. Various locking devices have been proposed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,519,979 and 5,112,176 and UK patent application 2,095,356. Although the nuts described in these references offer an improvement over the prior mechanisms and pose an impediment to removal using wrenches, they are prone to removal by means of common tools.
For example, the device taught in UK application 2,095,356 comprises a nut with a smooth outer surface surrounded by a rotatable casing. The face of the nut includes a plurality of holes which correspond with a plurality of spigots on a key. In such manner the key engages the nut face and is used to rotate same. Although the rotatable casing prevents removal of the nut by means of pliers etc. the nut still may be turned by inserting a variety of tools (for example needle nose pliers) into the holes and forcing the nut to rotate. Further, the key taught in this reference has an hexagonal outer surface therefore necessitating the use of a wrench in turning the nut.
Another deficiency in the quick release types of locks are that they are prone to inadvertent release thereby posing a safety hazard for the cyclist.
There is therefore a need for a simple, lightweight device that locks various components of a bicycle to the bicycle frame.


In a first aspect the present invention provides a tumor cell line stably transfected with an expression vector containing a reporter gene, preferably a fluorescent protein, operably linked to a promotor that also controls expression of a protein that is associated with tumor regression, stabilization of tumor growth or inhibition of metastatic growth, characterized in that said cell line is capable to form a tumor when implanted or injected into the non-human animal. Compared to the traditional in vivo models, the present invention differs in that the reporter gene is not constitutively expressed, but only after exposure to a test compound that results in the expression of a protein or enzyme associated with tumor regression, stabilization of tumor growth or inhibition of metastatic growth. Only when a compound to be tested got into circulation and infiltrated the tumor it may generate the reporter signal, provided it promotes the expression of a protein associated with tumor regression and the promoter of said protein is operably linked to the reporter gene.

There has long been a need for a representative animal model to test the efficacy of proposed new anti-neoplastic agents without having to perform long term xenograft studies. The present in vivo models with which potential anti-neoplastic agents are tested involve inplanting tumor cells into a non-human animal, treating the animal with the proposed new anti-neoplastic agent, and then monitoring the animals to determine the effect of treatment on the growth of the tumor. To aid the visualization of the tumor cells against the background of the host cells, many in vivo models use tumor cells stably transfected with a reporter gene such as the luciferase family and aequorin family of bioluminescent molecules.
A major drawback of these in vivo models, in the development of antitumor agents, is the limited troughput, i.e. a large number of animals and a large amount of proposed antitumor compound are required. Furthermore, these in vivo models are time consuming, as they require sufficient time for the implanted tumor to grow in the animal. Accordingly, an improved model was recently proposed by Lassota P. in the International Patent Application (PCT/EP02/00106) published as WO 02/055742 on 18 Jul. 2002. In this model the tumor cells with a reporter gene, which is activated by the antitumoral agent, are grown in a biocompatible semi-permeable encapsulation device, which is implanted in the non-human animal and removed after exposure of the animal to the compound to be tested. However, in view of the artificial environment of the tumor cells it is questionable whether the response of the tumor cells truly mimics the in vivo situation where a compound needs to get into circulation, infiltrate the tumor tissue and exert its biological effect.
Hence, to fulfil the need for an animal model for human neoplastic disease, which is without the above-mentioned deficiencies, the present invention discloses a new animal model that has the ability to truly mimic the pharmacological activity of a proposed anti-neoplastic compound in vivo. A model that allows monitoring the anti-neoplastic activity of a compound in a non-invasive way and that comprises the use of stably transformed tumor cells, which had been transfected with an expression vector containing a reporter gene operably linked to a promoter that also controls expression of a protein that is associated with tumor regression. In order to provide the desired animal model, the cells should;                retain the capability to form a tumor when implanted or injected into the animal;        generate a signal that parallels the endogenous response of a protein associated with tumor regression;        generate a signal with a good signal to noise ratio, to allow a real time analysis of the kinetic effect of drug substances in vivo;        generate a signal with a good reproducibility to provide a low variability between animals; and        generate a signal that allows non-invasive imaging of the induced response.

Animal model for the fast identification of pharmaceutical active compounds in vivo


A computer-implemented database and method providing an efficient, ordered reduced space representation of multi-dimensional data. The data values for each attribute is stored in a manner that provides an advantage in, for example, space usage and/or speed of access, such as in sort order and/or condensed form. Instances of each data value for an attribute are identified by instance elements, each of which is associated with one data value. Connectivity information is provided for each instance element that uniquely associates each instance element with a specific instance of a data value for another attribute.

State of the art database management systems (DBMS's), like the underlying data files out of which and on top of which they historically grew, continue to store and manipulate data in a manner that closely mirrors the users' view of the data. Users typically think of data as a sequence of records (or "tuples"), each logically composed of a fixed number of "fields" (or "attributes") that contain specific content about the entity described by that record. This view is naturally represented by a logical table (or "relation") structure (referred to herein as a "record-based table"), such as a rectilinear grid, in which the rows represent records and the columns represent fields.
The long-standing existence of record-based tables and their correspondence to a conventional user view, in the absence of generally recognized drawbacks, has led to their nearly universal acceptance as the major underlying internal representation of databases. Yet record-based tables contain key structural weaknesses including high levels of unorderedness and redundancy that have traditionally been regarded as unavoidable. For example, such tables can be sorted or grouped (i.e., the contiguous positioning of identical values) on at most one criterion (based upon column values or some function of either column values or multiple column values). This limitation renders essential database functions, such as querying and updating, on all criteria other than this privileged one awkward and overly resource-intensive.
The above deficiencies inhere in the fundamental properties of the record-based table structure, in particular, the requirement that the positioning of each field be made co-linear with all other fields in the same record. This arbitrary positioning of fields in record-based table structures excludes all other arrangements. It thus obscures natural and exploitable latent data relationships that are revealed by more ordered, condensed and efficient data arrangements. Moreover, the inability of record-based tables to effectively group or sort data leads to negative characteristics of state of the art DBMS's such as unorderedness, redundancy, cumbersomeness, algorithmic inefficiencies and performance instabilities.
Database research provides palliatives for these problems, but fails to uncover and address their underlying cause (i.e., the reliance on record-based table structures). For example, the inability to represent a natural, multi-dimensional grouping within the confines of a record-based table structure has led to the creation of index-based data structures. These supplementary structures are inherently and often massively redundant, but they establish groupings and orderings that cannot be directly represented using a conventional table. Index-based structures typically grow to be overly lengthy, convoluted and are cumbersome to maintain, optimize and especially update. Examples of common indexes are b-trees, t-trees, star-indexes, and various bit maps.
Other supplementary structures developed in the prior art have different drawbacks. For example, hash tables can provide rapid querying of individual data items, but their lack of sort ordering render them unsuitable for range queries or for any other operation that requires returning data in a specific order.
The ability to maintain an ordered, non-redundant, multi-dimensional data set, using flexible sorting and/or grouping criteria, is extremely useful to database management. Sorted data makes rapid searching and updating possible via, for example, binary search algorithms and insertion sorts. Grouped data enables condensation that reduces space requirements and further increases the speed of, for example, searching and updating.
A system of data storage in which most or all columns of a data table can be stored in grouped and/or sorted order is thus extremely desirable. Previous studies have investigated "fully inverted databases," which index each column through traditional methods, preserving all the inadequacies of records and indexes. Additionally, the bloated storage requirements necessary to accommodate complete indexing tend to make fully inverted databases impractical, especially, but not only, in main memory databases.


The present invention relates to stable formulations of Neisseria meningitis rLP2086 Subfamily B Antigens in immunogenic compositions. The present invention also relates to methods of preserving the conformation of Neisseria meningitis rLP2086 Antigens and methods for determining the potency of Neisseria meningitis rLP2086 antigens.

rLP2086 is a recombinant 28-kDa lipoprotein that induces cross-reactive bacterial antibodies against a number of Neisseria meningitidis strains. Based on deduced amino acid sequence homology, two different subfamilies of rLP2086 were identified, A and B. These two subfamilies were used in the formulation of the MnB-rLP2086 vaccine samples containing 20, 60, 120, and 200 μg/mL each in 10 mM Histidine (pH 6.0), 150 mM NaCl, and 0.5 mg/mL aluminum with varying levels of Polysorbate 80 (PS-80). Polysorbate 80, also known, as TWEEN 80, is a nonionic surfactant and emulsifier derived from sorbitol, and is frequently used in pharmaceutical formulations as an emulsifier, solubilizer and stabilizer. The presence of Polysorbate 80 in the MnB rLP2086 immunogenic composition is believed to prevent aggregation during formulation, processing, filtration, filling and shipping, reduce filter membrane absorption, and reduce tubing absorption.


A memory-access management method and system is provided for use with an SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic Random-Access Memory) or the like, for the purpose of increasing the performance of memory access to the SDRAM by means of tracking the memory-access history of previous access operations. The memory-page management system includes a page-table register unit including a page table for storing a predefined number of recently accessed memory locations of the memory unit. Further, the memory-page management system includes a comparison unit capable of, in response to each access request to the memory unit, checking whether the requested memory location is a hit to any one stored in the page table in the page-table register unit. A utilization-rate register unit is coupled to the page-table register unit for monitoring the least-recently-used records stored in the page-table register unit; and moreover, a validity-checking unit is coupled to the page-table register unit for checking whether the address data stored in the page table in the page-table register unit is valid or invalid.

This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application Ser. No. 88103372, filed Mar. 5, 1999, the full disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to computer memory management, and more particularly, to a memory-access management method and system which is designed for use with an SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic Random-Access Memory) or the like, for the purpose of increasing the performance of memory access to the SDRAM by means of tracking the memory-access history of previous access operations.
2. Description of Related Art
In a computer system, a master unit is used to control the access operations, whether read or write, to the primary memory of the computer system. In general, the memory access would be focused on some particular segments rather than all the segments in the primary memory; in other words, some segments would be most often accessed than others. In the design of a memory-access management system, the primary concern is directed to the reduction of overhead and latency.
The SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic Random-Access Memory) is a new type of memory device. Each SDRAM unit is typically partitioned into four sub-banks, each sub-bank containing a number of pages and only one of which can be opened at the same time. In other words, in each SDRAM unit, at most four pages can be opened at the same time. Conventionally, each sub-bank is associated with one memory control unit for managing the pages in the sub-bank. Therefore, for each SDRAM unit, four memory control units are required. This page management scheme, however, has the following drawbacks.
First, in the case a memory slot is unused or is mounted with an SDRAM unit that contains only two sub-banks, the provision of four memory control units will not be fully utilized, and therefore is cost-ineffective in utilization.
Second, when VC-SDRAM (Virtual Channel SDRAM) is used, since each VC-SDRAM unit can provide 16 channels, the provision of four memory control units will allow only four of the 16 channels to be usable and the other 12 channels to be unused. A solution to this problem is to provide 16 memory control units for each VC-SDRAM unit. However, this solution would require a very large circuit layout area to incorporate all the 16 memory control units, and therefore is quite cost-ineffective. Moreover, the use of 16 memory control units would cause a large delay to the access operation and therefore is unsuitable for use with a high-speed computer system.
There exists, therefore, a need for a new memory-access management method and system which can be used with various types of memory devices, including SDRAM, VC-SDRAM, and EDO DRAM.
It is therefore an objective of this invention to provide a new computer memory-access management method and system, which is designed for use with an SDRAM or the like, for the purpose of increasing the performance of memory access to the SDRAM.
In accordance with the foregoing and other objectives of this invention, a new computer memory-access management method and system is provided.
The memory-page management system of the invention includes a comparison unit, a page-table register unit, a utilization-rate register unit, and a validity-checking unit.
The page-table register unit includes a page table for storing a predefined number of recently accessed memory locations to the memory unit, each stored memory location being stored along with a least-recently-used record indicative of whether the stored memory location is least recently accessed.
The comparison unit is capable of, in response to each access request to the memory unit, checking whether the requested memory location is a hit to any one stored in the page table in the page-table register unit; if hit, the comparison unit generating a hit signal;
The utilization-rate register unit is coupled to the page-table register unit for monitoring the least-recently-used records stored in the page-table register unit; and the validity-checking unit is coupled to the page-table register unit for checking whether the address data stored in the page table in the page-table register unit is valid or invalid.
The page-table register unit includes: a latch circuit, coupled to the comparison unit, for latching the output signals from the comparison unit indicative of whether the memory location is a hit to the page table; and a selection circuit, coupled to the latch circuit, the utilization-rate register unit, and the validity-checking unit, for selecting one of the stored memory locations in the page table based on the output signals from the latch circuit, the utilization-rate register unit, and the validity-checking unit.
The page table further includes a plurality of validity bits, each being in association with one of the stored memory locations in the page table, with the validity bit indicating whether the associated memory location is valid or invalid. Each validity bit is set and updated by the comparison unit.
Each least-recently-used record is represented by a numerical value in a predefined range of numbers, with the smallest value indicating that the associated memory location has been most recently accessed and the highest value indicating that the associated memory location has been least recently accessed. The least-recently-used record in association with each stored memory location in the page table is set and updated by the utilization-rate register unit.
In the event that the current access request is a miss to the page table, the memory location of the current access request is used to replace the one whose least-recently-used record has the highest value; and before the memory location of the current access request replaces the one whose least-recently-used record has the highest value, the validity-checking unit checks whether the associated validity bit is set to indicate validity; if yes, a restore signal is generated to restore the corresponding memory location to original state.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the memory-page management system includes a page-table register unit including a page table for storing a predefined number of recently accessed memory locations to the memory unit, each stored memory location including a bank address and a page address, and each stored memory location being stored along with a least-recently-used record and a validity bit, with the least-recently-used record indicative of whether the associated memory location is least recently used and the validity bit indicative of whether the associated memory location is valid or invalid; and each least-recently-used record being represented by a numerical value in a predefined range of numbers, with the smallest value indicating that the associated memory location has been most recently accessed and the highest value indicating that the associated memory location has been least recently accessed. Further, the memory-page management system includes a comparison unit capable of, in response to each access request to the memory unit, checking whether the requested memory location is a bank hit or a page hit to any one of the memory locations stored in the page table in the page-table register unit; the comparison unit generating a bank-hit signal if bank hit and a page-hit signal if page hit. Moreover, a utilization-rate register unit is coupled to the page-table register unit for monitoring the least-recently-used records stored in the page-table register unit, and in the event of page miss and bank miss to the page table, capable of replacing the one of the stored memory locations in the page table that is least recently accessed with the memory location of the current access request; and a validity-checking unit is coupled to the page-table register unit for checking whether the address data stored in the page table in the page-table register unit is valid or invalid.
In accordance with another aspect, the invention provides a memory-page management method, which comprises the steps of: (1) providing a page table for storing a predefined number of recently accessed memory locations to the memory unit, each stored memory location being stored along with a least-recently-used record and a validity bit, with the least-recently-used record indicative of whether the associated memory location is least recently used and the validity bit indicative of whether the associated memory location is valid or invalid; (2) in response to an access request, comparing the requested memory location with the memory location data stored in the page table to see if there is a match; if yes, generating a hit signal; whereas if not, replacing the one of the stored memory locations in the page table that is least recently accessed with the memory location of the current access request; and (3) checking whether the associated validity bit of the least recently-accessed memory location is set to indicate validity; if yes, generating a restore signal is generated to restore the corresponding memory location to original state.
The memory-access management method and system of the invention has the following advantages. First, it can increase the memory access performance by tracking the history of the previous access operations to the SDRAM. Second, it can judge in advance whether the next pipelined access requires precharge or not; if yes, a pre-charge-enable signal is issued at the time the current access is being handled. As a result, the delay in access can be reduced. Overall, the memory access performance is increased.

Memory-access management method and system for synchronous random-access memory or the like


An output coding apparatus includes a coder for coding an inputted bitstream to an error correction and/or detection code composed of information bits and check bits; and a bitstream assembling section for assembling an outputted bitstream by inserting a synchronization code at any one of a plurality of synchronization code insertion positions previously determined in the outputted bitstream, arranging the information bits at any desired positions of the bitstream, and by arranging the check bits at positions other than the synchronization code insertion positions in the bitstream. Therefore, when the coding apparatus is combined with a resynchronization method using both an error correction and/or detection code and a synchronization code, it is possible to solve a problem caused by pseudo-synchronization or synchronization-loss pull-out or step-out due to erroneous detection of the synchronization code.

The present invention relates to a system for transmitting and/or storing information through a medium having a high error rate such as a radio transmission path, and more specifically to a coding and/or decoding apparatus for coding a bitstream obtained by a high efficiency compression coding to an error correction and/or detection code and for transmitting and/or storing the coded bitstream.
In a system for transmitting audio and/or video signals via a radio transmission path after the signals have been compression-coded at a high efficiency to reduce the signal quantity as small as possible, for instance as with the case of radio TV telephone, portable information terminal, digital TV broadcasting system, etc., since the error rate of the transmission path is relatively high, it is important to transmit the obtained bitstream in a high quality transmission process.
When the bitstream is transmitted and/or stored via a medium of high error rate as described above, an error correction code such as BCH code, RS code, convolution code, etc. has been so far widely adopted as means for reducing the error rate. On the other hand, as means for detecting an error on the reception side, an error detecting code such as check sum, CRC, etc. are used. In these error correction and/or error detection methods, error is corrected and/or detected by adding excessive (redundant) bits to information to be transmitted and/or stored in accordance with a prescribed rule and further by checking whether the transmitted and/or stored bitstream abides by the same rule when decoded.
However, in the above-mentioned method such that the bitstream obtained by high efficiency compression coding is further coded to an error correction and/or detection code and then transmitted and/or stored, there exists a problem in that it is difficult to combine this method with a resynchronization method for recovering a synchronization when synchoronization-loss occurs due to an erroneous bistream word caused by the transmission and/or storage medium. Here, as with the above-mentioned synchronization restoring method, there has been widely used such a method of inserting a unique word (referred to as synchronization code or start-code) decodable uniquely (unconditionally) and of resuming decoding operation, in case of synchronization-loss, from a time point when the synchronization code is detected again.
In order to form the synchronization code as a code word decodable unequivocally, it is necessary to construct the code word in combination with another code word in such a way that a an identification bit pattern will not appear. In the case of the general error correction and/or detection coding method, however, it is difficult to construct the code word in such a way that a specific bit pattern will not appear. On the other hand, when the bit pattern the same as the synchronization code appear, pseudo-synchronization may occur due to an erroneous detection of the synchronization code.
To overcome this problem, conventionally, the following method has been so far used: after the error correction and/or detection coding has been executed, the presence of the bit pattern the same as that of the synchronization code is checked in the bitstream; when the same bit pattern exists, stuffing bits are inserted into the pattern in accordance with a prescribed rule; and the inserted stuffing bits are removed in accordance with the same prescribed rule by the decoding apparatus in order to prevent the pseudo-synchronization. In this method, however, when the bitstream having an error is transmitted and/or stored, since there exists a possibility that the stuffing bits are also inserted erroneously, there still exists another problem in that an additional synchronization-loss or pseudo-synchronization may occur.
Further, when the bitstream is coded for error correction and/or detection and further the synchronization code is inserted, in the conventional method, since many insertion bits must be added to the bitstream at the last portion of a synchronization block sandwiched between two synchronization codes in order to compensate for a remainder of the information bits to be coded for error correction and/or detection, there arises another problem in that the coding efficiency is lowered.
On the other hand, in order to increase the error correction and/or detection capability, although it may be considered to increase the redundancy of the information to be transmitted and/or stored, in this case, however, the number of necessary bits increases when the same quantity of the information is transmitted. Therefore, when the error correction and/or detection capability is simply increased, there arises another problem in that a transmission path of higher transmission rate is required or that the number of bits of information to be stored is increased. Further, when the transmission rate or the storage capacity is the same, the quantity of information to be transmitted and/or stored decreases with increasing redundancy. As a result; in the case where audio and video information are compression-coded at a high efficiency and then transmitted and/or stored, if the redundancy is simply increased to increase the error resistance, as far as the transmission and/or storage rate is the same, since the information must be compression-coded down to a lesser information quantity, there causes another problem in that the audio quality and picture quality both deteriorate.
To overcome the above-mentioned problems, there exists a method referred to as hierarchical coding. In this method, the audio or picture information compression-coded at a high efficiency is classified according to the degree of error of deterioration of the audio quality or the picture quality; the error correction end/or detection code of a high redundancy and thereby a high error correction and/or detection capability is adopted for the information with more importance and a large error influence; and the error correction and/or detection coding of a low redundancy and thereby a low error correction and/or detection capability is adopted for the information with less importance and a small error influence. In this method, it is possible to increase the error resistance in spite of a relatively small averaged redundancy, as compared with when a correction and/or detection code is used uniformly for all the information in the same redundancy.
For instance, in the case of the coding method such that motion compensation prediction and orthogonal transformations are combined with each other (which is widely adopted for compression-coding moving picture information at high efficiency); that is, in the case of the coding method such that motion compensation prediction is executed for the input moving picture video signal, and the predicted residual is orthogonal-transformed (e.g., discrete cosine transform (DCT)), the error correction and/or detection code of a strong error correction and/or detection capability is used for the motion vector information or low-order coefficients of the orthogonal transform coefficients of the prediction residual signals (because this information deteriorates picture quality largely when an error occurs); and the error correction and/or detection code of weak error correction and/or detection capability is used for high-order coefficients of the orthogonal transform coefficients of the prediction residual signals (because this information exerts a relatively small influence upon the picture quality).
To realize the above-mentioned hierarchical coding, it is necessary to switch the error correction and/or detection codes of different error correction and/or detection capabilities midway in the output bitstream. As the method of switching the error correction and/or detection codings of different error correction and/or detection capabilities, there exists such a method that header information indicative of the sort of the error correction and/or detection code is added to the bitstream. FIG. 1 shows an example of a bitstream in which the error correction and/or detection codes are switched by adding header information. In more detail, in this example, two sorts of the error correction and/or detection codes FETC1 and FEC2 are switched. In each of the headers 1101 to 1104, header information indicative of the sort of the error correction and/or detection code and a number of code word is inserted. Therefore, the coding apparatus arranges the code word coded for error correction and/or detection after each header information, and the decoding apparatus decodes the header information; and the decoding apparatus decodes the header information and after that the error correction and/or detection code in accordance with the decoded header information.
However, in the above-mentioned method of switching the error correction and/or detection codes by adding the header information, however, there arises a problem in that the number of bits of the bitstream to be transmitted and/or stored increases due to the addition of the header information. In the case where audio or video signals are compression-coded, since some bits are used for the header information, the number of bits used for the compression-coding audio or video signals is inevitably reduced, with the result that the audio quality and/or the picture quality inevitably deteriorates.
As described above, when the error correction and/or detection coding is executed for a bitstream obtained by compression-coding of moving picture signals, since any bit pattern is generated, in the case where the error correction and/or detection coding is combined with the synchronization method using the unique word as a synchronization code, there exists a pseudo-synchronization due to erroneous detection of the synchronization code. Further, when the stuffing bits are inserted to prevent the pseudo-synchronization, there arises another problem in that the synchronization-loss and the pseudo-synchronization occur due to erroneous insertion of the stuffing bits.
Further, when the bitstream is coded for error correction and/or detection and further the synchronization code is inserted, in the conventional method, since a relatively large number of bits must be inserted to compensate for the remainder of the information bits to be coded for error correction and/or detection at the last portion of the synchronization block, there arises a problem in that the coding efficiency deteriorates.
Further, in the case of the coding and/or decoding apparatus in which the error correction and/or detection codes of different error correction and/or detection capabilities are switched by adding header information, since the number of bits to be transmitted and/or stored increases due to the addition of the header information, when audio or video signals are compression-coded at a high efficiency and then transmitted and/or stored, the information quantity used for audio or video information inevitably decreases, with the result there exists a problem in that the audio quality and the video quality both deteriorate.

Coding apparatus and decoding apparatus for transmission/storage of information