The method for wet-gunning a castable refractory composition includes the steps of (a) preparing a cement-free, castable refractory composition comprising 70-98 weight % of refractory aggregate having a particle size of 10 mm or less, 2-30 weight % of ultrafine refractory powder having a particle size of 10 .mu.m or less, and 0.01-1.0 weight % (outer percentage) of a dispersing agent, and further a thickener (in the case of factory premixing); (b) premixing the cement-free, castable refractory composition with water in situ or in a factory to provide an in-situ premixed or factory-premixed, water-containing refractory material having a castable fluidity; (c) conveying the in-situ premixed or factory-premixed, water-containing refractory material to a gunning nozzle by a pump; (d) adding 0.1-1 weight % (outer percentage) of an alkali silicate or an alkali aluminate as a shape retention agent in the form of an aqueous solution to the in-situ premixed or factory-premixed, water-containing refractory material together with compressed air in the gunning nozzle; and (e) gunning the resulting mixture through the gunning nozzle.

The present invention relates to a method for wet-gunning a dense, castable refractory composition to construct linings of vessels for molten metals such as ladles, tundishes and troughs, etc.
Lately, castable refractories with easy installation have been more and more replaced for bricks as materials for linings of vessels for molten metals, as the castable refractories have been provided with improved durability. However, casting methods are still disadvantageous in terms of time and labor needed for placement of molds in casting. In these respects, gunning methods are advantageous in reduced time and labor requirements and in versatility of repair, because these methods do not require the formation of molds and can quickly make partial repair. Accordingly, the gunning methods have been finding more and more applications.
Most widely used is a dry-gunning method. However, refractory layers formed by the dry-gunning method are poor in durability and suffer from rebound loss, poor working environment due to dusts, etc. To overcome the problems of the dry-gunning methods, developments have thus been made recently to provide various gunning methods such as a semi-dry gunning method, a wet-gunning method, etc., and refractory materials therefor.
In the semi-dry gunning method, the gunning refractory material is premixed with part of necessary water by a mixer, pneumatically conveyed to a gunning nozzle of a dry-gunning machine, mixed with the remaining water, or with a solution or a suspension containing a hardening agent in the gunning nozzle (or before reaching the gunning nozzle), and then gunned through the nozzle. The semi-dry gunning methods are exemplified in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-111973, and Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 2-27308, 6-17273, 5-63437 and 5-21866, etc.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-111973 discloses the combination of a hardening accelerator and sodium silicate (binder), and Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 2-27308, 6-17273 disclose low-cement castables. Also, both of Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 5-63437 and 5-21866, owned by the same applicant, disclose castable refractory materials containing ultrafine powder and dispersing agents, which are not hardened at room temperature. Specifically, in the former reference a refractory clay is used as indispensable ultrafine powder and solidified by Ca(OH).sub.2, sodium silicate or sodium aluminate introduced at a nozzle to improve the resistance to dry-explosive spalling. In the latter reference, a refractory composition to which a moisture retention agent is added is premixed with water in an amount of 1/5-3/4 of the normally required amount in a factory to provide a wet refractory material, which is then solidified by sodium silicate, sodium aluminate or colloidal silica introduced at a nozzle.
Though improvements were achieved to some extent in these semi-dry gunning methods in reducing dust generation and rebound loss, these semi-dry gunning methods still provide the formed refractory layers with poor adhesion, homogeneity and density, since the refractory materials should be mixed with water in a gunning nozzle very quickly, resulting in poor mixing at an unstable water ratio.
The wet-gunning methods typically include the following two methods:
(1) Gunning refractories supplied in a dry state are premixed with all of water required for gunning by a mixer at a construction site, conveyed to a nozzle and then gunned. This method may be called "an in-situ premixing, gunning method." PA0 (2) Gunning refractories premixed with all of water required for gunning in a factory are supplied to a nozzle and gunned therethrough. The gunning refractories may be called "factory-premixed water-containing refractory materials," and this gunning method may be called "a factory-premixing, gunning method."
In the wet-gunning methods, it is possible to add a small amount of an aqueous solution of a hardening agent or a hardening-adjusting agent to the gunning refractories in a nozzle. The wet-gunning methods are classified into a gunning machine method and a pumping method depending on conveying means of gunning materials. In the case of the pumping method, compressed air is introduced into the gunning nozzle to spray gunning materials. The present invention belongs to the latter category. Depending on the amount of water added, there are provided gunning materials with various workabilities ranging from a plastic level to a slurry level.
These wet-gunning methods are exemplified in Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 57-7350, 62-21753, 2-33665, 2-1795, etc. Because the gunning materials disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 57-7350 are in the form of a slurry having a water content of 10-20%, they are not expected to be formed into dense refractory layers suitable for linings of vessels for molten metals. In the latter three methods, the gunning refractory materials are supplied in the form of a moist premix containing water or an aqueous solution, making it possible for them to be produced and stored in factories. These wet-gunning methods contribute to the reduction of labor and the improvement of working environment because blending is not needed at the gunning site.
However, these conventional methods do not utilize the dispersion action of ultrafine refractory powder to reduce the amount of water added to the castable refractory compositions. Also, because particles contained in the gunning materials have maximum particle sizes of 4 mm or less, they are still not different from gunning technologies of the previous generation. Accordingly, the gunned refractory layers are insufficient in denseness and thus poor in durability, as compared with those produced by casting methods of dense, castable refractory materials.

Wet-gunning method for dense castable refractory composition


A hand held completely self-contained and shirt pocket size oxygen analyzer for secondary monitoring of oxygen percentage is formed of a housing that contains display and control electronics and a visible display screen. The housing is shaped to form an integral handle and receptacle section for manipulation of a hollow elongated cylindrical configuration having an open end that receives a cylindrical oxygen sensor. The integral cylindrical receptacle section together with the oxygen sensor are arranged to be snugly received in a T-section fitting that is placed in tubing that is connected for inhalation therapy.

The present invention relates to oxygen sensing and more particularly concerns a small, portable self-contained instrument for secondary oxygen sensing.
In inhalation therapy a patient is provided with a controlled oxygen breathing mixture that is generally oxygen enriched air and often humidified or moisturized. The controlled oxygen breathing mixture is either provided for the interior of an enclosure or tent that surrounds the patient or is provided by inhalation therapy tubing connected between an oxygen percentage controlling device, such as for example a nebulizer or humidifier, and a breathing mask of the patient. The breathing mixture is provided for the patient by mixing ambient air with pure oxygen gas. The mixture is established and controlled by various types of oxygen control apparatus. Such apparatus may include gauges for precision reading and control of oxygen percentage and mixture flow rates and pressures or may comprise a nebulizer with built-in adjustable controls for establishing and maintaining percentage of oxygen in breathing mixtures provided to the patient.
Although breathing oxygen percentage and other components of breathing mixtures are established and maintained by primary mechanisms at the breathing mixture source, it is useful and even necessary from time to time to monitor the oxygen content of a breathing mixture actually transmitted to the patient. Thus, it is desirable for an attendant to be able to readily and conveniently monitor oxygen content at or close to the patient without adjusting or controlling remote primary oxygen sources.
Systems and apparatus presently available for gas monitoring include relatively large complex electrical devices and mechanisms, most of which are not readily portable. Some systems include a box containing monitoring and electronic circuitry connected by a long cable to a standard type of oxygen sensor. Typical of such oxygen sensors are those described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,367,133 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,077,861. The sensor generates an electrical current signal indicative of percentage of oxygen, or actually indicative of partial pressures of oxygen, and such electrical signal is transmitted to standard types of electronic circuitry for indication of oxygen content of gas being monitored. The monitoring equipment thus includes several different parts, a box or container, a sensor holder, sensor electric coupling and interconnecting cabling. Equipment of this type is relatively inconvenient to handle, store and carry. Therefore it is not readily carried about by an attendant who moves from one patient to another for various service tasks only one of which may comprise monitoring of oxygen concentration of breathing mixtures.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a portable oxygen sensor that avoids or minimizes above mentioned problems.


A digital to analog converter employs an operational amplifier as an active summing device for summing a first analog voltage corresponding to most significant bits of a digital value and a second analog voltage corresponding to least significant bits of the digital value. In a multi-channel application, a single MSB DAC can be shared by all channels through first MUXs in each channel with each channel having an independent LSB DAC. Alternatively, a single LSB DAC can be shared by all channels through second MUXs in each channel. Gain of the voltage summing operational amplifier in each channel is determined by values of a resistor connecting the output of the LSB DAC to the inverting negative input of the operational amplifier and of a feedback resistor connecting the amplifier output to the inverting negative input.

This invention relates generally to digital-to-analog converters (DAC), and more particularly the invention relates to multi-channel DACs.
Most DAC implementations use a single network to translate all of the digital data bits to analog levels. However, the feasibility of such an approach becomes limited as the number of bits, and therefore the network size and accuracy, increase. Furthermore, the feasibility of implementing multiple DACs which match each other is even further reduced since all of the channels use completely independent networks. One solution shown in prior art uses a single DAC whose output feeds multiple sample and hold amplifiers. This implementation gives excellent matching between channels but requires a systematic updating of each channel which causes glitches in the DAC outputs, as well as calibration wait cycle problems and slow digital update rate characteristics. Furthermore, only one DAC channel can be updated at a particular time.
The accuracy of a DAC is dominated by the network which maps the most significant bits (MSB) of the digital value to an analog value. It is known that a DAC can be split into two or more independent parts, one accurate network for the MSBs and one or more less accurate networks for LSBs. The outputs of these separate networks are then summed together. Where all of the networks output a current, the outputs can be tied together to produce a sum. Where all of the networks output a voltage, the outputs can be summed together with resistors. Prior art also shows that an output voltage can be created using an operational amplifier with resistive feedback by applying voltage to the positive terminal of the amplifier and a high output impedance current source to the negative terminal of the operational amplifier. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,811,017.

Multi-channel digital to analog converter


A thin film transistor (TFT) substrate including a base, a plurality of scan lines and data lines and a pixel unit is provided. The scan lines are disposed on the base. The data lines are disposed above the scan lines and are perpendicular to the scan lines to define a plurality of pixel areas. The pixel unit is disposed on the base and inside one of the pixel areas. The pixel unit comprises a TFT and a pixel electrode. The TFT comprises a source and a drain. The pixel electrode is electrically connected to the drain. The pixel electrode comprises a first main electrode, a second main electrode and a plurality of branch electrodes. The first main electrode is perpendicular to the second main electrode. The branch electrodes are connected to the first main electrode and/or the second main electrode. The first main electrode substantially divides the pixel area evenly.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a thin film transistor (TFT) substrate, a liquid crystal panel and a liquid crystal display (LCD) device using the same, and more particularly to a TFT substrate having a polymer stabilized alignment layer.
2. Description of the Related Art
The liquid crystal display (LCD) technology has made rapid progress in recent years, and factors crucial to the quality of an LCD device such as response time, view-angle and brightness are continually improved.
Referring to FIG. 1, a diagram of a TFT substrate is shown. In the pixel unit 10, the through hole connected to the TFT 4 is disposed on the common electrode 2, and is connected to the common electrode 2 by the conducting wire 1a of the second metal layer 1 (M2) along the main electrode 3a of the pixel electrode 3, such that the aperture rate is increased. However, repair becomes very difficult when breakage occurs to the second metal layer 1. The TFT 4 is positioned at a corner of the pixel unit 10, and the conducting wire 1a has to bend to pass through the pixel electrode 3. If mismatch occurs between the pixel electrode 3 and the second metal layer 1, overlapping will cause the aperture rate to decrease, further reducing the brightness of the pixel unit. To the worse, during the UV-light exposing process of forming a polymer alignment layer, the change in electrical field effect will affect the arrangement of liquid crystals and result in disclination line.
Besides, precision requirement has to be satisfied when matching the black matrix (BM) of the color filter substrate on the top layer with the TFT substrate on the bottom layer, so the design of pixel has to take the precision requirement of the manufacturing process into account. If mismatch occurs during assembly, the aperture rate is decreased and the brightness is reduced, and the arrangement of liquid crystal will be affected and disclination line will occur.

Thin film transistor substrate, liquid crystal panel and liquid crystal display device using the same


Provided is an intelligent mobile wireless access point device that is set-up to allow for remote configuration of the access point device, via a mobile communication network, by a configuration server. A configuration file for a mobile wireless access point device is maintained by a service provider in a configuration server. The configuration file is delivered to the mobile wireless access point devices over the mobile communication network, which allows multiple mobile wireless access point devices to be configured substantially simultaneously and without the multiple mobile wireless access point devices being physically located at an enterprise location. In addition, the remote configuration examples of a mobile wireless access point device mitigate the opportunities for unauthorized use of the mobile wireless access point, and provide additional security features for authorized users.

Business mobility continues to evolve from controlled environments in which information technology (IT) departments dictate hardware, software/applications, carrier/plan, and release schedules, to fragmented environments driven by advances in hardware, form-factors, different operating systems and applications, resulting in increasingly less control for the enterprise business across the mobility ecosystem used by personnel of the business enterprise.
The practice of "Bring Your Own Device" (BYOD) is perpetuating the challenge with numerous "Smart End Points" (SEPs) including smartphones, tablets and laptops, being leveraged to access corporate assets. BYOD implies each end-user makes the decision on device type and thus the operating system, and in an increasing number of cases, each end-user makes the decisions as to the carrier, the carrier's service plan, applications and the network connection. IT department control and influence over standardization is circumvented, resulting in an absence of consistency and in an ever-increasing complexity of policy management challenges. For example, challenges include the development of consistent and equitable methods for employee reimbursement for "business usage" across multiple carriers and varying connectivity plans; consistent enforcement of policies associated with connection-security for mobile devices when accessing business resources; issues related to leveraging incumbent virtual private network solutions; multiple and rapidly changing mobile device form factors; multiple and rapidly evolving operating systems and/or applications; multiple connectivity service providers (e.g., Wi-Fi provider at different locations (e.g., coffee shop, library, public parks and the like), cellular, wireline, and the like), a wide variance of connectivity service plans and pricing.
Such management challenges are exacerbated with the current mobile wireless access point devices also referred to as "mobile hotspot" devices, such as the MiFi® and Jetpack® devices, and in-vehicle Wi-Fi hotspots, that provide access to the Internet for various Wi-Fi enabled devices, such as a smartphone, laptop or tablet and the like, through a cellular data connection. A mobile wireless access point device typically only provides WiFi or similar wireless local area network connectivity to local end user devices and routes communications of the end user device to/from the Internet via a mobile wireless wide area communication network service, e.g. via a public cellular data network. In other words, a mobile wireless access point as discussed herein is a device that is dedicated to providing wireless access for end user devices to data communication networks and that is unequipped to provide the direct voice communication functions of a cellular telephone or a smartphone. The mobile wireless access point device includes universal serial bus (USB) port or other wired connection port that allows tethering as well as allowing an enterprise IT administrator to access the configuration settings of the mobile wireless hotspot device. Such mobile wireless hotspot devices, which are separate and different from a smartphone, are targeted to consumers so the consumer can access the Internet from various devices, which may not have mobile wide area communication service or have more expensive mobile wide area communication service, through the mobile wireless access point device data connection. The mobile wireless access point device allows the user to manage the mobile wireless access point device either via an on-device user interface (UI) or through a server-based configuration manager application that requires an IT administrator of the device owner to physically connect to the mobile wireless access point device and change settings via the IT administrator's desktop UI that is similar to a web-browser. This server-based configuration manager application may be hosted on a server and may interact with a web client that is local to the mobile wireless access point device. Presently, the configuration settings of the mobile hotspot cannot be remotely accessed by the enterprise's IT administrator. It is anticipated that the challenge will also exist with in-vehicle mobile hotspots.
Enterprise customers also are distributing mobile hotspot devices to their workforce in increasing numbers. As a result, the enterprise IT administrators must spend more time manually configuring and assigning each of the mobile hotspot devices for distributed to respective workforce employees. Enterprise customers will be faced with the same challenge when leveraging the hotspot capability in corporate owned vehicles.
While enterprise customers deploying mobile wireless access point devices to their employees want the ability to remotely manage mobile wireless access point devices, presently there is no mechanism for securely providing remote configuration. The limitations of having to have physical possession of the mobile wireless access point device to configure or reconfigure the mobile wireless access point device are further magnified when the mobile wireless access point device user may be located in locations remote from IT administrators. Furthermore, since large scale use of mobile wireless access point devices in which tens or hundreds of mobile wireless access point devices are deployed at a single time with similar configurations, present enterprise IT administrators only have limited time and resource to manually manage the configuration of each of the tens or hundreds of mobile wireless access point devices. In order to maintain the enterprise's mobile wireless access point device, IT organizations spend considerable time and money executing their deployment and support processes. In some instances, remote employees even have to ship their mobile wireless access point device back to headquarters to get their mobile wireless access point device reconfigured.
In addition to having to manually configure/reconfigure mobile wireless access point devices, the security features of the present day mobile wireless access point devices may be bypassed by an employee or other user by performing a factory reset of the mobile hotspot device, which changes all of the security settings made by the enterprise IT administrator to the factory default settings of the mobile wireless access point device. The factory default settings include a standard password, e.g., "guest" or "Admin" and login name. Now without a proper secure configuration, an unauthorized user, e.g., an enterprise employee's child may be able to access the Internet via the mobile communication network, which may incur additional and unauthorized charges to the enterprise mobile communication network subscriber account for the mobile wireless access point device and possibly allow an unauthorized user access to an enterprise network.

Remotely configurable mobile wireless access point device


Gas passages of a gas-passage plate disposed between fuel cells are improved, in order to enhance gas utilization efficiency and output performance. The supply-gas passages formed on the gas-passage plate on a surface to face one gaseous diffusion electrode comprise an inlet-side channel part, an outlet-side channel part, and an intermediate channel part which connects the inlet-side channel part and the outlet-side channel part. The inlet-side channel part and the outlet-side channel part are lattice-shaped passages. The intermediate channel part has the shape of being folded plural times, and comprises groups of a plurality of straight independent passages, and lattice-shaped passages formed at portions returning from one independent-passages group to the next independent-passages group.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to gas-passage plates of a solid polymer electrolyte type fuel cell.
2. Description of the Related Art
With regard to the configuration of this type of fuel cell, a pair of catalyst-carrying gaseous diffusion electrodes are overlaid on both main surfaces of an ion-conductive solid polymer electrolyte membrane (hereinafter, referred to as a solid electrolyte membrane), thereby producing a power generating cell. In order to obtain a desired voltage output by connecting a plurality of these single power generating cells in series, the plurality of power generating cells are stacked with a separator interposed between neighboring two power generating cells. In this case, the separator has electric conductivity and functions as a current collector of two diffusion electrodes disposed on both the sides of the separator.
When a fuel gas and an oxidation gas are respectively supplied on both the sides of the separator so as to supply the fuel gas and the oxidation gas to respective gaseous diffusion electrodes, ionic conduction proceeds at solid electrolyte membranes and chemical reactions proceed at the respective gaseous diffusion electrodes. A voltage is thereby generated between a pair of gaseous diffusion electrodes, and output to an outside circuit through a pair of separators which are disposed on both ends and serve as current collectors. In generating power, how uniformly the supply gases are supplied on electrode surfaces of the gaseous diffusion electrodes determines gas utilization ratios, and directly affects power generating efficiency and output performance.
However, when the supply gases are supplied to the entire surfaces of the gaseous diffusion electrodes, there are no contact areas of the separators and the gaseous diffusion electrodes, and accordingly it becomes difficult to collect a generated electric current efficiently and remove heat generated at the gaseous diffusion electrodes. Therefore, at boundary portions of the separators and the gaseous diffusion electrodes, channels are formed so as to restrict the flow directions of the supply gases, and certain ratios of contact areas of the separators and the gaseous diffusion electrodes are secured. Since these channels are generally formed on the separators, the separators will be referred to as gas-passage plates hereinafter in this specification. All types of separators including a separator comprised of a plurality of component parts will be referred to as gas-passage plates.
By the way in the above fuel cells, in order to make ion conductivity of the solid electrolyte membranes exhibited fully and to keep power generating efficiency high, the supply gases (the fuel gas and the oxidation gas) are humidified and water vapor concentrations are increased in the supply gases.
Moreover, the solid polymer electrolyte-type fuel cells function to convert the energy of the electrochemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen forming water into electrical energy, water is produced at the cathode. (Depending on the type of membrane, a certain liquid is produced at the anode.)
Consequently, in the above channels for the supply gases, a large amount of water generated from the reaction is contained in the downstream, especially on the outlet side, and there is a fear that liquidified water fills the gas channels and causes flooding.
In order to prevent the supply gases from stagnating due to the reaction-generated water, various types of gas channels have been proposed, as disclosed in the publications of Japanese Unexamined Publication (KOKAI) Nos. H6-215,780, H6-96,781, and H6-86,730. The gas channels disclosed in these publications are roughly classified into three types. In the first type the contact surfaces of one gas-passage plate and one electrode are regularly dotted and the gas passages have the shape of a lattice. The second type includes gas passages and contact surfaces arranged in stripes. In the third type the gas passage is a single path extending from an inlet port to an outlet port.
All of these passage types have advantages and disadvantages. The channel in the form of a lattice does not cause flooding, but does not positively allow gaseous diffusion or water discharge. The channel in the form of stripes is simple in structure, but has problems with gas supply and water dischargeability. The channel in the form of a single path secures a high gas flow speed and attains superior gaseous diffusivity, but pressure loss (passage resistance) is increased and accordingly initial pressure at a gas supply apparatus must be increased and the electric power balance sheet of this system does not necessarily improve.


A predistortion system uses a pilot signal to determine a predistortion function which is used to produce amplitude and/or phase adjustment(s) of an input signal on a signal path. Rather than simply detecting the input signal envelope before and after distortion generating circuitry, such as an amplifier, a pilot signal is provided on the signal path prior to the distortion generating circuitry. After the distortion generating circuitry, the pilot signal is detected. The predistortion system can determine the predistortion function by using the generated pilot signal and the detected pilot signal, for example, to provide improved characterization of the amplifier amplitude and/or phase response or to directly improve the determination of the predistortion function. In certain embodiments, the predistortion function is implemented using a look-up table to produce the amplitude and/or phase adjustment values, and the pilot signal is produced on the signal path by adding the pilot signal to the amplitude and/or phase adjustment values of the look-up table.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to communications, and, more particularly, to a system and method for reducing distortion using predistortion.
2. Description of Related Art
An ideal power amplifier amplifies an input signal with no waveshape alteration. The ideal power amplifier is therefore characterized as having a transfer function (input signal vs. output signal) which is linear with no transfer function discontinuities. In practice, however, a power amplifier has a transfer function with nonlinear and xe2x80x9clinearxe2x80x9d regions. Whether the power amplifier is operating in a linear or nonlinear region depends in part on the amplitude of the input signal. For the power amplifier to achieve as near to linear operation as possible, the power amplifier is designed to operate within its linear region given the range of possible input signal amplitudes. If the input signal has an amplitude which causes the power amplifier to operate outside the linear region, the power amplifier introduces nonlinear components or distortion to the signal. When the input signal possesses amplitudes which cause the amplifier to compress, to saturate (no appreciable increase in output amplitude with an increase in input amplitude) or to shut-off (no appreciable decrease in output amplitude with a decrease in input amplitude), the output signal is clipped or distorted in a nonlinear fashion. Generally, an amplifier is characterized as having a clipping threshold, and input signals having amplitudes beyond the clipping threshold are clipped at the amplifier output. In addition to distorting the signal, the clipping or nonlinear distortion of the input signal, generates spectral regrowth or adjacent channel power (ACP) that can interfere with an adjacent frequency.
In wireless communications systems, high power amplification of signals for transmission are commonly encountered with very large peak to average power ratios (PAR). For example, in a time division multiple access (TDMA) system, such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) or North American TDMA, when multiple carrier signals are combined for amplification with a power amplifier, the resulting PAR is about 9-10 dB for a large number of carriers. In a code division multiple access (CDMA) system, a single loaded 1.25 Mhz wide carrier can typically have a PAR of 11.3 dB. For orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), multicarrier signals can have a PAR of up to 20 dB. These signals have to be amplified fairly linearly to avoid generating ACP.
Unfortunately, efficiency of the base station amplifier is inversely related to its linearity. To achieve a high degree of linearity, the amplifiers are biased to operate in the class A or xe2x80x9cslightxe2x80x9d class AB (meaning class AB operation that is closer to class A than to class B). Maximum AC to DC efficiency achievable for class A operation is 50%, whereas that of a class AB amplifier is between 50 and 78.5% (the latter representing the maximum efficiency of a class B amplifier). The closer the particular class AB operation is to class A, the lower the maximum efficiency. For amplifiers employing field effect transistors, the class of operation is set in accordance with the gate voltage applied, which controls the quiescent (idle) drain current. For class A operation, the gate voltage is set so that the idle drain current is approximately in the middle of the range between cutoff and saturation. Class B amplifiers are biased near cutoff, resulting in a rectified drain current waveform. Class AB amplifiers are biased in between the bias points of classes A and B.
Typically, strict linearity requirements in modern wireless communication systems dictate the use of the relatively inefficient class A or slight class AB modes. As a result, significant DC power is dissipated by the amplifiers, thereby generating heat which must be controlled to avoid degrading amplifier performance and reliability. Hence, the use of elaborate heat sinks and fans become a necessary by-product of the high linearity system. Naturally, these measures add to the cost, size and weight of the base station equipment. As the number of wireless communications users continues to grow, so do the number of base stations and the need to keep them small, light and inexpensive. Thus, a great deal of research has focused on the quest to improve amplifier efficiency in these and other systems.
Various linearization methods are used to enable the use of more cost-effective and more power efficient amplifiers while maintaining an acceptable level of linearity. Feed-forward correction is routinely deployed in modern amplifiers to improve the linearity of the main amplifier with various input patterns. The essence of the feed-forward correction is to isolate the distortion generated by the main amplifier on a feed forward path. The distortion is provided to a correction amplifier on the feed forward path which amplifies the distortion. The distortion on the feed forward path is combined with the distortion on the main signal path to cancel the distortion on the main signal path.
Predistortion techniques are commonly used to improve the performance of RF power amplifiers. Predistortion techniques distort the input signal prior to amplification by taking into account the transfer function characteristics for the amplifier. The desired amplified signal is achieved from the predistorted input signal by intentionally distorting the signal before the amplifier, so the non-linearity of the amplifier can be compensated.
FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an adaptive power amplifier predistortion system 10. The baseband digital input signal un on a main signal path 12 is input into the predistortion function 14 (A(.)) to produce a predistorted output xn where n is the time index. After digital to analog conversion by digital to analog (D/A) converter 16, the resulting baseband analog signal is frequency up-converted in an up-conversion process 18 to radio frequency (RF). The analog RF signals are amplified by power amplifier 20 for transmission over the air using antenna 22. A replica of the amplified analog RF signals is coupled off the main signal path 12 onto a predistortion feedback path 24. The amplified analog RF signals on the predistortion feedback path 24 are down-converted by a down-conversion process 26.
The down-converted analog signals on the predistortion feedback path 24 are provided to an analog to digital (A/D) converter 28 for conversion into the digital domain. The resulting digital signal, which represents the output of the amplifier 20, is provided to an amplifier characteristics estimation block 30 along with the digital baseband signal xn which represents the corresponding input to the amplifier 20. Given the digital signals xn prior to amplification and the digital signals yn resulting from the amplification of the analog- and frequency-converted versions of the digital signals xn, the amplifier characteristics estimation block 30 can determine the characteristics or model function of the amplifier 20. Once the characteristics function of the amplifier 20 is estimated, a predistortion calculation process 34 determines the predistortion function as the inverse of the amplifier characteristics function, and the predistortion function 14 (A(.)) applied to the input signal un is updated based on the predistortion calculation process 34.
Thus, predistortion techniques require prior understanding of the response of the amplifier. Both pure digital and RF/digital predistortion implementations use polynomial approximation to predict the amplitude and phase distortion of the RF amplifier from which the predistortion function is determined. Alternatively, the predistortion function can be directly determined using inputs and outputs of the amplifier 20. In any event, adaptive predistortion systems monitor the signals prior to and after the power amplifier to determine the predistortion function, for example by updating the coefficients of the amplifier characteristics polynomial and calculating the inverse of the amplifier characteristics polynomial. Improving the detection of signals prior to and after the amplifier can improve the determination of the predistortion function, thereby improving the performance of the predistortion system. For example, the improved detection of signals prior to and after the amplifier can improve the determination of the amplifier characteristics function from which a better inverse function can be obtained. In a standard predistortion system implementation, the input signal envelope is detected and used as a pointer to a look-up table which implements the predistortion function. The values of the look-up table are passed to a digital to analog (D/A) converter that modulates or predistorts the input signal to compensate for the distortion of the amplifier. Improvement in amplifier performance is constrained by how well the signals used in the determination of the predistortion system are detected for different input signal levels.
The present invention is a predistortion system which uses a pilot signal to determine a predistortion function which is used to produce amplitude and/or phase adjustment(s) of an input signal on a signal path. Rather than simply detecting the input signal envelope before and after distortion generating circuitry, such as an amplifier, a pilot signal is provided on the signal path prior to the distortion generating circuitry. After the distortion generating circuitry, the pilot signal is detected. The predistortion system can determine the predistortion function by using the generated pilot signal and the detected pilot signal, for example, to provide improved characterization of the amplifier amplitude and/or phase response or to directly improve the determination of the predistortion function. In certain embodiments, the predistortion function is implemented using a look-up table to produce the amplitude and/or phase adjustment values, and the pilot signal is produced on the signal path by adding the pilot signal to the amplitude and/or phase adjustment values of the look-up table.

Predistortion system and method using a pilot signal


In a telecommunications network, a method and apparatus for allocating channels makes signal quality measurements for channels that are in use or available for use and for channels that may become available for use. Already selected channels (i.e., channels in use or available for use) that exhibit poor signal quality characteristics are exchanged with candidate channels (i.e., channels that may become available for use) that exhibit better signal quality characteristics to thereby improve the overall signal quality of the network.

The present invention relates to cellular telecommunication systems, and more particularly to the automatic allocation of frequency channels to cells in a cellular telephone system.
In cellular telephone networks, maintaining or improving the speech quality in each communication channel is of great importance. One factor affecting speech quality is the level of co-channel interference. Co-channel interference results when two cells, located close to one another geographically, use the same frequency. One way to avoid this problem is to assign a dedicated group of frequency channels to each cell in the network, so that no two cells utilize the same frequency channel. While this would clearly avoid the problem of co-channel interference, the network would quickly run out of frequency channels since there are only a fixed number of frequency channels available.
To avoid running out of available frequency channels, cellular telephone networks employ reuse plans. Reuse plans allow a network to assign a frequency channel to more than one cell. While some co-channel interference is expected, excessive co-channel interference can be avoided by making sure the two or more frequency channels are located far enough apart.
In general, reuse plans are well known to those of ordinary skill in the art. A fixed reuse plan, as the term suggests, involves the assignment of a fixed, dedicated group of frequency channels to each cell in the network. Frequency channels can be assigned to more than one cell as long as the cells are located far enough apart to avoid excessive co-channel interference.
As previously mentioned, each cell in a network that employs a fixed frequency channel reuse plan will be limited to the specific frequency channels assigned; therefore, the traffic-handling capability for each cell will be limited despite the avoidance of excessive co-channel interference. In other words, fixed reuse plans are inherently inflexible; there is no provision to adjust the frequency channel allocations in each cell as demand fluctuates from cell to cell over the course of a given time period. The result is a degradation in both speech quality and traffic-handling capacity. Therefore, adaptive reuse plans, also known as adaptive channel allocation plans, were conceived.
Adaptive frequency channel reuse plans attempt to avoid the degradation in speech quality and traffic-handling capability by providing greater flexibility. Rather than assigning a fixed group of frequency channels to each cell in the network, allocations will vary over time to meet the changing needs of each cell. The way this is accomplished is by periodically measuring the signal quality for each frequency channel in each cell. As required, cells will have frequency channels allocated as long as the signal quality measurements for the channels meet or exceed certain signal quality criteria. For example, if cell A requires an additional frequency channel to handle an increase in telephone traffic, frequency channel X is not likely to be allocated if it is already being used in a nearby cell. Co-channel interference due to the use of frequency channel X in the nearby cell will be measured in cell A as interference. Thus, frequency channel X will not meet the required signal quality criteria.
There are different types of adaptive channel allocation plans. The primary difference between each plan is the application of criteria used to determine whether a frequency channel should or should not be allocated in a given cell at a given time. For example, H. Eriksson, "Capacity Improvement by Adaptive Channel Allocation", IEEE Global Telecomm. Conf., pp. 1355-1359, Nov. 28-Dec. 1, 1988, suggests using the mobiles to measure the signal quality of the downlink for each channel, then channels are assigned on the basis of those having the highest carrier to interference (C/I) ratios. A somewhat different approach is expressed by G. Riva, "Performance Analysis of an Improved Dynamic Channel Allocation Scheme for Cellular Mobile Radio Systems", 42nd IEEE Veh. Tech. Conf., pp. 794-797, Denver 1992, where frequency channels may be allocated if their signal quality measurements meet or exceed a preset C/I threshold. In Y. Furuya et al., "Channel Segregation, A Distributed Adaptive Channel Allocation Scheme for Mobile Communication Signals", Second Nordic Seminar on Digital Land Mobile Radio Communication, pp. 311-315, Stockholm, Oct. 14-16, 1986, an adaptive channel allocation plan is described whereby the recent history of signal quality for each channel is measured and used in making channel allocation decisions.
When employing a conventional adaptive channel allocation plan, it is most effective to measure both uplink (i.e., the radio path from the mobile to the base station) and downlink (i.e., the radio path from the base station to the mobile) signal quality for each frequency channel. In digital systems such as D-AMPS (Digital Advanced Mobile Phone System), uplink measurements can be made by equipment located in the base station. Downlink measurements can be made by the mobile assisted handover (MAHO) unit in each mobile; the mobile then transmits the measurements back to the base station.
While adaptive channel allocation strategies provide a more flexible plan which ultimately leads to better signal quality and traffic-handling capacity, planning and frequency allocation is still, for the most part, a manual process. Network operators use elaborate off-line tools, terrain maps, and signal quality measurements, as described above, to manually allocate the most effective frequency channels for each cell. However, this process is quickly becoming unmanageable as more base stations, and cells, are being added per unit area to improve traffic-handling capacity and to meet the demand of an ever increasing number of cellular telephone users. The inability to keep up with the manual allocation of frequency channels eventually causes a degradation in signal quality and traffic-handling capacity; therefore, this manual process is unacceptable. It is thus of great interest to develop algorithms and tools to avoid the difficult and time consuming work necessary for manual frequency planning and allocation. Ideally, base stations should be capable of selecting their own frequencies without manual intervention from the operator and to adapt to a changing radio environment due to the addition of new base stations, cells, geographical obstructions or simply periodic fluctuations in traffic. Therefore, the invention presents an automatic and adaptive frequency allocation system for improving both speech quality and traffic-handling capacity.

Adaptive frequency allocation in a telecommunication system


A method of allocating a mobile station unique number and method of configuring a public long code mask (PLCM) using the same are disclosed, which are suitable for a normal operation between the mobile station and the system. The present invention includes the steps of re-allocating a manufacturer code of the mobile station unique number to a mobile station and transmitting to the mobile station re-allocation type (RECYCLED_TYPE) information indicating how many times the re-allocating step is carried out. Accordingly, the present invention enables allocation of additional ESN without collision with PLCM even if ESN is exhausted.

Generally, an electronic serial number (hereinafter abbreviated ESN) is used in identifying a specific mobile station in the cdma2000 system and mobile stations.
FIG. 1 is a structural diagram of an electronic serial number (hereinafter abbreviated ESN) having a 32-bit length.
Referring to FIG. 1, an ESN of a mobile station consists of an upper 8-bit manufacturer code and a lower 24-bit serial number. The 8-bit part is a code uniquely allocated to each mobile station manufacturer by TIA (telecommunication industry association) authorized by FCC (Federal Communications Commission). And, the serial number part corresponds to a code granted to each mobile station by the corresponding mobile station manufacturer.
And, the ESN is used for user authentication and public long code mask (hereinafter abbreviated PLCM) generation in a mobile communication system and mobile station.
FIG. 2 is a structural diagram of a PLCM generated using an ESN.
Referring to FIG. 2, a PLCM has a 42-bit length. Upper 10-bits of the PLCM are set to a value to avoid collision with a different public long code mask, whereas lower 32-bits are set to a permutated ESN.
Meanwhile, a unique number called a user identification Module ID (hereinafter abbreviated 'UIM_ID) is allocated to an R-UIM (removable user identity module). The UIM_ID has a 32-bit length. The UIM_ID is allocated within a range not overlapped with the ESN in an area where the TIA authorized by the FCC allocated the ESN.
It the R-UIM is allocated to a mobile communication terminal, a bit called a UIM_ID usage indicator is set to '1' and UIM_ID can be provided to the position used by the ESN. Hence, in case of a mobile station to which a R-UIM is allocated, the PLCM shown in FIG. 2 includes a Permutated-UIM_ID in the lower 32-bits instead of a Permutated-ESN.
However, as the mobile communication industry expands, the demand for mobile communication terminals rises and the number of manufacturers of the mobile communication terminals increases. Hence, the ESN and UIM_ID are on the verge of being exhausted. If the ESN and UIM_ID are exhausted, collision occurs in the PLCM generated using the ESN or UIM_ID. In case that the collision occurs in the PLCM, capacity is considerably reduced as well as a problem of crosstalk may take place.

Method for allocating electronic serial number for mobile station


Disclosed herein is a mobile services network including an electronic device with an update agent that may be capable of updating firmware and application software stored in non-volatile memory and employing multiple FLASH memory chips. The update agent may employ an update package generated to update firmware/software data segments and code segments. In an embodiment according to the present invention, the update agent may also employ a flash library supporting multiple FLASH memory chips from the same or different manufacturers. In an embodiment according to the present invention, the FLASH memory chips may be grouped. The update agent may also be capable of updating code in the multiple FLASH memory chips in the non-volatile memory of the electronic device.

Electronic devices (i.e., mobile electronic devices having software/firmware), for example, mobile cellular phones, personal digital assistants (PDA's), pagers, MP3 players, digital cameras, etc. often contain firmware and/or application software that are either provided by the manufacturers of the electronic devices, telecommunication carriers, or third parties. These firmware and application software often contain bugs. New versions (updates) of the firmware and software are periodically released to fix the bugs, introduce new features, or both.
Update programs, code, or functions employed to update the firmware or firmware components may need to be changed or updated. However, the upgraded programs, code or functions may not fit into the space originally available in the electronic device (FLASH memory or another type of memory or storage). Changes to firmware or firmware components may need to be performed in a fault tolerant mode, but fault tolerant code may be difficult to implement.
Electronic devices may employ non-volatile memory, such as FLASH memory chips, to store code and data. Sometimes, more than one memory device may be employed. Updating code or data distributed across multiple memory devices may be difficult, especially if the chips are made by different manufacturers. For example, it is often the case where the architecture of a supplier's FLASH memory chip may not be known. Writing across multiple FLASH memory chips grouped in a distributed fashion may require knowledge of the architecture of the individual FLASH memory chips. Some components in electronic devices may have an embedded FLASH memory segment, which may not be accessible from an external system.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with some aspects of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings appended hereto.

Update system capable of updating software across multiple FLASH chips

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


The present invention provides a method of diagnosing a cyathostomin infection, said method comprising the step of identifying a level of anti-cyathostomin larval antigen antibodies in a sample, wherein a level of anti-cyathostomin larval antigen antibodies is indicative of a cyathostomin infection.

Members of the Cyathostominae group of nematodes infect almost all grazing horses. Most horses have burdens to the order of tens of thousands of cyathostomins and usually do not exhibit clinical disease, however, in some animals, infection leads to a severe inflammatory enteropathy [15]. This disease occurs following accumulation of cyathostomin larvae that encyst and undergo inhibited development as early third larvae (EL3) in the large intestinal wall. Vast numbers of encysted larvae can accumulate and these can reactivate simultaneously to cause an inflammatory enteropathy known as larval cyathostominosis. The principal effect of this syndrome is weight loss, but horses can exhibit other signs including diarrhea, colic, subcutaneous oedema and/or pyrexia [25]. Up to 50% of animals with larval cyathostominosis die as a result of the condition [15]. This disease most commonly occurs in younger horses, however horses have a lifelong susceptibility to infection and disease may occur at any age [15, 35]. Encysted larvae can persist for prolonged periods (up to two years in some cases) and it has been proposed that encystment is favoured by a variety of factors including; negative feedback from mature worms in the large intestinal lumen, a large larval challenge or a 'trickle' infection [29]. cyathostomin EL3 have limited susceptibility to several currently available anthelmintics [12, 19] and drug resistance is common, particularly with regard to benzimidazole and pyrantel compounds [17]. Moxidectin is now only drug available that has high efficacy against EL3, but for which resistance is not yet widespread. It is therefore important that the high efficacy of this anthelmintic be maintained for as long as possible.
To reduce the spread of anthelmintic resistance, it is important that only animals with moderate to high cyathostomin burdens are targeted strategically for treatment [32]. Targeted treatments can be undertaken on the basis of faecal egg counts however the latter have no value in estimating burdens of mucosal larvae. Indeed, horses with high mucosal burdens often have low or negative faecal egg counts [31] and there is no specific, non-invasive method to diagnose pre-patent cyathostomin infection. A diagnostic test for mucosal larvae would allow veterinarians to identify horses that require larvicidal anthelmintic treatments. Recently, we identified two larval antigen complexes (observed to migrate at 20 and 25 kDa by 1-dimensional SDS PAGE) that have diagnostic potential [9-11]. Significant increases in serum IgG(T) specific to these antigen complexes were observed as early as 6 weeks post infection (PI) in experimentally-infected ponies [11]. Antigens present in both complexes appeared to be specific for mucosal larval cyathostomins, indicating their utility as markers of pre-patent infection [11]. When serum IgG(T) levels were compared amongst groups of naturally- and experimentally-infected horses, there was a strong significant correlation of anti-25 kDa serum IgG(T) responses with total mucosal burden, particularly EL3 burden [10]. In naturally infected horses, IgG(T) responses to both larval complexes were significantly greater than those in uninfected individuals [10] and IgG(T) levels to both complexes were significantly higher in larval cyathostominosis clinical cases than in helminth-naïve ponies and parasite-negative horses from an abattoir [10]. These results indicate that an immunoassay based on antigens present in these complexes could ultimately be used to differentially diagnose larval cyathostominosis, or used to target horses with high mucosal burdens for treatment. The native mucosal larval preparations are extremely time-consuming to prepare and rely on a continuous source of infected mucosa. Therefore, it would be advantageous if genes encoding proteins present in these complexes were isolated and cloned and the associated proteins expressed in recombinant form.


The present invention relates to a method of vaccinating a mammal against papillomavirus by administering papillomavirus virus-like particles transdermally to a mammal under conditions effective to induce an immune response to the papillomavirus.

The family Papovaviridae constitutes a group of DNA viruses that induce both lytic infections and either benign or malignant tumors. Structurally, all are naked icosahedral virions with 72 capsomeres and contain double-stranded circular DNA. Viruses included in the family are: (1) human and animal papillomaviruses, (2) mouse polyomavirus, (3) simian vacuolating virus, and (4) human viruses BK and JC.
Human papillomaviruses (HPV) infect cutaneous, genital, oral, and respiratory epithelia in a tissue-specific manner. Infection with HPV has been associated closely with the development of both benign lesions and malignancies (Reichman et al., Papilomaviruses, pp. 1191–1200 (1990); and Mandell et al., Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases, 3rd Edition, Churchill Livingstone, New York, N.Y.). For example, HPV type 1 (HPV-1) is present in plantar warts, HPV types 6 or 11 (HPV-6 or HPV-11) in condylomata acuminata (anogenital warts), while HPV types 16 or 18 (HPV-16 or HPV-18) are common in premalignant and malignant lesions of the cervical squamous epithelium (See Crum et al., "Human Papillomavirus Infection and Cervical Neoplasia: New Perspectives," Int. J. Gynecol. Pathol. 3:376–388 (1984); zur Hausen, Genital Papillomavirus Infections, pp. 83–90 (1985); Rigby et al., Viruses and Cancer, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK; and Koutsky et al., "Epidermology of Genital Human Papillomavirus Infection," Epidemiol. Rev. 10:122–163 (1988)).
However, difficulties in propagating HPV in vitro has led to the development of alternative approaches to antigen production for immunologic studies. For example, Bonnez et al., "The PstI-XhoII Restriction Fragment of the HPV-6b L1 ORF Lacks Immunological Specificity as Determined by Sera from HPV 6 Condyloma Acuminatum Patients and Controls," UCLA Symp. Mol. Cell. Biol., New Series, 124:77–80 (1990); Jenison et al., "Identification of Immunoreactive Antigens of Human Papillomavirus Type 6b by Using Escherichia coli-Expressed Fusion Proteins," J. Virol. 62:2115–2123 (1988); Li et al., "Identification of the Human Papillomavirus Type 6b L1 Open Reading Frame Protein in Condylomas and Corresponding Antibodies in Human Sera," J. Virol. 61:2684–2690 (1987); Steele et al., "Humoral Assays of Human Sera to Disrupted and Nondisrupted Epitopes of Human Papillomavirus Type 1," Virology 174:388–398 (1990); and Strike et al., "Expression in Escherichia coli of Seven DNA Segments Comprising the Complete L1 and L2 Open Reading Frames of Human Papillomavirus Type 6b and the Location of the 'Common Antigen'," J. Gen. Virol. 70:543–555 (1989), have expressed recombinant capsid protein coding sequences in prokaryotic systems, and used them in Western blot analyses of sera obtained from individuals with HPV infection of the genital tract. Results from these studies have suggested that antibodies to denatured, i.e. linear, epitopes of HPV capsid proteins can be detected in the sera of some infected individuals.
Whole virus particles have also been used to detect antibodies in human sera, including antibodies directed against conformational epitopes. These studies have been difficult to conduct, because most naturally occurring HPV-induced lesions produce few particles. Whole virus particles can be obtained, however, in amounts sufficient to conduct immunologic assays from HPV type 1-induced plantar warts (Kienzler et al., "Humoral and Cell-Mediated Immunity to Human Papillomavirus Type 1 (HPV-1) in Human Warts," Br. J. Dermatol. 108:65–672 (1983); "Pfister et al., Seroepidemiological Studies of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV-1) Infections," Int. J. Cancer 21:161–165 (1978); and Steele et al., "Humoral Assays of Human Sera to Disrupted and Nondisrupted Epitopes of Human Papillomavirus Type 1," Virology 174:388–398 (1992)) and experimentally-induced HPV-11 athymic mouse xenographs (Kreider et al., "Laboratory Production in vivo of Infectious Human Papillomavirus Type 11," J. Virol. 61:590–593 (1991); and Kreider et al., "Morphological Transformation in vivo of Human Uterine Cervix With Papillomavirus from Condylomata Acuminata," Nature 317:639–641 (1985)). More particularly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,071,757 to Kreider et al., discloses a method of propagating infectious HPV-11 virions in the laboratory using an athymic mouse xenograph model system. Although this system is capable of producing quantities of infectious virus that could be used for the development of a serologic test for genital HPV infection, this system is very expensive and cumbersome. Furthermore, only one genital HPV type has so far been propagated in this system, thus, limiting its usefulness. In addition, the infectious virus produced using this system represents a biohazard and, therefore, would be difficult to use in a vaccine formulation Zhou et al., in "Expression of Vaccinia Recombinant HPV 16 L1 and L2 ORF Proteins in Epithelial Cells is Sufficient for Assembly of HPV Virion-like Particles", Virology 185:251–257 (1992), have reported the formation of HPV-16 virus-like particles in CV-1 cell nuclei following infection with a vaccinia virus HPV-16 L1/L2 double recombinant expression vector. However, the authors were not able to produce VLPs with a vector expressing L1 alone. Furthermore, the VLPs produced lacked a well-defined symmetry, and were more variable in size and smaller, only about 35–40 nm in diameter, than either HPV virions (55 nm) or the VLPs of the present invention (baculovirus produced HPV-11 VLPs, about 50 nm in diameter).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,045,447, to Minson, discloses a method of screening hybridoma culture supernatants for monoclonal antibodies with desired specificities. Minson's method is exemplified by the production of antibodies to the L1 protein of human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV-16) using this protein as the target antigen in mice. However, Minson fails to disclose the expression of the L1 protein or production of HPV virus-like particles (VLPs).
U.S. Pat. No. 4,777,239, to Schoolnik et al., discloses short peptide sequences derived from several of the papillomavirus early region open reading frames which elicit type-specific antibodies to papillomavirus. However, the inventors fail to disclose any sequences directed to the major late open reading frame, L1.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,057,411 to Lancaster et al., discloses a polynucleotide sequence of about 30 nucleotides of the papillomavirus L1 capsid protein open reading frame that the inventors contend encode a papillomavirus type-specific epitope. However, the inventors do not disclose infected animals that produced antibodies which recognize this sequence. Instead, they synthesized a bovine papillomavirus type 1 (BPV-1) version of the sequence (a 10 amino acid peptide, or decapeptide), then immunized rabbits and tested the antiserum's ability to react with either BPV-1 or BPV-2 induced fibropapilloma tissue. The peptide antiserum only reacted with BPV-1 and not BPV-2 tissue. The inventors then concluded that the peptide contained an antigenic determinant that was type-specific, and therefore, all papillomavirus L1 coding sequences contain a type-specific epitope at this locus. This is theoretical speculation on the part of the inventors, who give no supporting data for this hypothesis. In addition, the amino acid sequences disclosed (i.e. 10 amino acids) are generally thought not to be capable of adopting higher order antigenic structures, i.e., conformational epitopes that possess a three-dimensional structure such as those produced by the method described herein.
Another problem associated with papillomavirus infections is the need for alternative therapeutic and prophylactic modalities. In 1944, Biberstein treated condyloma acuminatum patients with an autogenous vaccine derived from the patients' warts (Biberstein, "Immunization Therapy of Warts," Arch. Dermatol Syphilol. 50:12–22 (1944)). Thereafter, Powell et al., developed the technique typically used today for preparing autogenous wart vaccines for the treatment of condyloma acuminatum (Powell et al., "Treatment of Condylomata Acuminata by Autogenous Vaccine," South Med. J. 63:202–205 (1970)). Only one double-blind, placebo-controlled study has attempted to evaluate the efficacy of the autogenous vaccine (Malison et al., "Autogenous Vaccine Therapy for Condyloma Acuminatum A Double-blind Controlled Study," Br. J. Vener. Dis. 58:62–65 (1982)). The authors concluded that autogenous vaccination was not effective in the treatment of condylomata acuminata, although this interpretation may be erroneous. The small number of patients studied precluded drawing valid negative conclusions. ID any event, autogenous vaccines, as presently described, have several disadvantages. First, the patient needs to have relatively large warts (2 g to 5 g) in order to prepare the vaccine. Secondly, the practitioner needs access to laboratory equipment and expertise each time a new patient is to be treated. Thus, vaccine preparation is very expensive, tedious, and in cases involving relatively small lesion mass, not possible.
The present invention is directed to overcoming these deficiencies in the art.

Transcutaneous immunization against papillomavirus with papillomavirus virus-like particles


A transfer support and a method for fusing a transferable toner image to a face of a digital disc. In the method, a transferable toner image is electrophotographically printed onto a transfer layer. The transfer layer has a surface energy insufficient to retain the transferable toner image against a peel force of greater than about 550 Newtons/meter. The transferable image is registered against the face of the digital disc to provide a transfer support-digital disc pair. The transferable image is fused to the face of the digital disc. Registry of the transferable image and the face of the digital disc is maintained during fusing.

The term "electrophotographic printer" is used hereafter to refer generically to electrostatographic copiers and printers, unless otherwise indicated by context.
The term "digital disc" is used herein to refer generically to an article of digital storage media that takes the form of a thin and rigid disc of unitary structure. A digital disc has a surface, referred to herein as the "face", available for display of printed information. Information stored on a digital disc is generally in optically readable form; however, magnetic storage is not excluded.
Digital discs are finding increasing use in the high density storage of digital information, such as digitized music, digitized photographs, and computer programs. At present, three principal types of digital discs are in common use. The first type, referred to as a CD or ROM (read only memory) disc, is manufactured by pressing depressions into a substrate, in a manner analogous to the manufacture of phonograph records. A second type of digital disc, referred to as a writable optical storage disc, has the capability of having information recorded (written) thereon at some time after fabrication of the medium. A third type, referred to as an erasable disc, can also have information added after fabrication, but that information can be erased or modified at a later time.
A digital disc has a substrate overlaid with a layer that stores the digital information. The substrate is transparent to the radiation used to read the disc. Overlying the storage layer is a protective layer. The surface of the protective layer, also referred to as the "face" or "face", commonly bears printed information. U.S. Pat. No. 5,317,337 teaches a method for printing the face of a digital disc using an ink jet printer. Alternative methods or printing, including solid-ink printing, thermal-transfer technology, dye-diffusion methods, and color laser printing are mentioned in relation to an article in the periodical "Computer Design". U.S. Pat. No. 5,282,187 teaches the use of a felt tip pen or the like to mark the face of a compact disc.
Digital discs are most often marketed with one or more pieces of human readable printed material. For convenience, the term "information package" is used herein to refer to the information included for the user, in a digital disc of whatever type, along with the information printed on the accompanying printed media. Commonly, a digital disc is marketed in a plastic storage box, commonly referred to as a "jewel box". A jewel box, typically has a transparent base that includes a folded sheet of informational printed media, referred to herein as a "backplate", covered by an insert (commonly opaque) that grips the digital disc. A transparent cover is hinged to the base. A booklet having one or more sheets of folded printed media, referred to herein as an "insert booklet", is commonly held by the cover. U.S. Pat. No. 4,709,812 teaches a printed, folded paperboard alternative to a jewel box.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,271, U.S. Pat. No. 5,207,050, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,285,620 teach apparatus and methods for assembling digital discs and literature into jewel boxes or the like.
The above methods have the shortcoming that the printing of a digital disc and its accompanying literature are not produced by the same printer at the same time. This presents a problem if it is desired to match the colors of pictorial copy on both the face of a digital disc and on accompanying literature, particularly if it is impractical to proof the color match before a product run. A particular situation in which it is impractical to proof colors is the preparation of individual digital disc information packages on demand.
It would be desirable to provide a method for fusing a transferable image to a digital disc and a transfer support having a low surface energy transfer layer.

Transfer support and method for fusing a transferable image to a digital disc


An electrorheological fluid comprises a nanoparticle composition comprising a nanoparticle, uncoated or coated with a polymeric or metallic coating and covalently bonded to or coated on a surface of a polymeric or inorganic particle; and a dielectric fluid having a dielectric constant lower than that of the nanoparticle composition. A nanoparticle composition also comprises a carbon-based nanoparticle, covalently bonded to or coated on a surface of a conjugated polymer particle or inorganic particle, wherein the nanoparticle composition is a dielectric material.

Electrorheological fluids are compositions that generally include dielectric particles suspended in a dielectric base fluid, and that show a change in viscosity when in the presence of an electric field. Since the dielectric constant is greater than that of the base fluid, these particles are polarized in the presence of an external electric field. Upon polarization in the electrical field, the particles interact by aligning and orienting to form chain-like and/or lattice-like structures within the fluid. In turn, the aligned particles cause an increase in the effective viscosity of the bulk fluid. Removal of the electric field causes the particles to de-orient and to adopt an amorphous configuration, and hence, viscosity in turn decreases.
Typically, such electrorheological fluids include polarizable materials with a low conductivity and a high dielectric constant, such as low molecular weight phenolic/phenolate oligomers, salts of (meth)acrylate oligomers and polymers, and other such materials, suspended in a dielectric fluid such as a silicone or mineral oil. However, there remains a need for electrorheological fluids with improved properties such as a greater range of effective viscosity for a given electrical field strength and loading of the polarizable dielectric material, and a faster response time as well as high temperature performance.

Polarizable nanoparticles and electrorheological fluid comprising same


In the present application are disclosed a method for enhancing or improving the flavor of foods or drinks in general with the use of a non-volatile thiazolidine compound alone or a non-volatile flavor compound and/or a reaction flavor concurrently with the non-volatile thiazolidine compound, a simple and effective method for improving the flavor of a retort food by suppressing the flavor-deterioration upon heat sterilization or the unpleasant odor at the time of eating, and a simple and effective method for improving the flavor of a soybean-incorporated food product by suppressing the unpleasant, weed-like odor peculiar to soybean.

It is very important in the production of food products to retain good flavors of just-made foods or drinks until they are eaten or drunk, and develop the good flavors when necessary.
However, in the actual food industries, the flavors inherent in such products as seasonings, processed foods or the like may be weakened or lost by such operations as concentration, drying or the like during the production process of the products. Meanwhile, flavors unfavorable to commercial products may develop during the production process or distribution channel. Under the circumstances, a technology for enhancing good flavors of food or drink products and developing the good flavors stably over a long time period has been strongly desired.
Meanwhile, a number of studies have been so far made on the technology for controlling the retention and development of aromas ("Latest Technology for Food Flavors", issued by Kougyo Gijyutsukai in 1988). For example, encapsulation of aromas in microcapsules, confinement of aromas in matrices, inclusion of aromas by cyclodextrin or the like, action of enzymes on volatile aroma constituent precursors such as glycosides are known.
However, there are problems, e.g., in a method of physically retaining aromas, it is difficult to control its amount of development at will, whereas in a method using glycosides, it has such problems that the target compounds are limited only to alcohols and that enzymes used are deactivated in a system heated for using the enzymes.
Further, as to processed foods, the flavors inherent in the products may be weakened or lost by such operations as concentration, drying or the like during the production process of the products.
Meanwhile, sulfur-containing compounds which are aroma substances generally has a low aroma threshold and often play an important role in aroma characteristics for perfume cosmetics, food products and the like. For example, it is known that fran-derivative thiol compounds (such as 2-Furylmethanethiol (FMT) and 2-Methyl-3-furanthiol (MFT) and the like) greatly contribute to the aromatizing of foods including coffees and livestock meats ("Sulfur Compounds in Foods", ACS Symposium Series 564, American Chemical Society (1994)). However, since these thiol compounds have a low threshold, it is difficult to retain the development amount of their aroma within a proper range and to retain their aroma concentration within a predetermined range over a long time period. Therefore, a method for retaining or developing the aroma effectively has been expected to be developed.
It is very important, as has been described, in the production of food products to retain good flavors of just-made foods or drinks until they are eaten or drunk and develop the good flavors when necessary.
However, in the actual food industries, flavors are gradually volatilized and weakened or lost, or degraded or turned into unpleasant odors during each step of production, distribution, storage, and the like. Under these circumstances, a technology for enhancing good flavors of food or drink products and developing the good flavors stably over a long time period has been strongly desired.
Meanwhile, as has been also described, a number of studies have been so far made on the technology for controlling the retention and development of aromas ("Latest Technology for Food Flavors", issued by Kougyo Gijyutsukai in 1988). For example, encapsulation of aromas in microcapsules, confinement of aromas in matrices, inclusion of aromas by cyclodextrin or the like, action of enzymes on volatile aroma constituent precursors such as glycosides are known.
Further, as a method for preventing the volatilization of aroma components, there have been proposed, e.g., a method in which an aroma material is dissolved in a solvent material which can dissolve the aroma component of the aroma material and which has a higher boiling point than the sublimation and/or volatilization temperature of the aroma component, and then the resulting mixture is mixed into foods or perfume cosmetics (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 50084/1999), a method of blending polylysine or a salt thereof as active ingredients (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 30712/1994), and a method of adding a whey protein or a derivative thereof to foods or drinks; and for the purpose of enhanced storage stability of aromas, there have been proposed a method of sealing or confining an aroma component within carbohydrate(s), as exemplified by a sorbitol-encapsulated flavor obtained by sealing or confining a flavor within a molten mixture of sorbitol, mannitol and saccharine (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 71866/1983), a composite flavor having a flavor contained in xylitol (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 76062/1983), and the like.
As for a method for suppressing unpleasant odors of foods or drinks, there have been practiced, as measures for preventing the deterioration of aromas by oxygen, the development of a container or bag made of a synthetic resin having a reduced oxygen permeability, the introduction of a food production process comprising deoxygenation operations, the addition of antioxidants, and the like. As measures for preventing the deterioration of aromas by light, there have been proposed a milk-containing acidic drink to which rutin, morin or quercetin has been added for the purposes of preventing the occurrence of substances causing unpleasant odors and/or tastes and improving preservability (Japanese Patent Publication No. 21450/1992); a method of preventing the deterioration of flavors by sunshine by using chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid or ferulic acid which are derived from the extracts from raw coffee beans, and vitamin C, rutin or quercetin in combination (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 27374/1992); and a method of preventing the deterioration of a natural aroma material by adding chlorogenic acid derived from coffee beans to a aroma composition derived from a natural material (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 345693/1992). Further, as measures for suppressing the deterioration of flavors by light, heat or oxygen, a method wherein a specific flavone derivative is used (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 169148/1999) has been proposed.
Meanwhile, it has heretofore been well known that a variety of thiols are widely distributed as aroma components in a variety of food products. The thiols include those which are contained in naturally occurring materials such as vegetable essential oil and the like as well as those which are produced secondarily by heat treatment, enzyme reaction or the like at the time of processing. These have the problem that the aromas inherent in such thiols are lost by heat treatment at the time of food processing such as sterilization treatment and the like or by long-time preservation, and it is thought that the problem is caused by the decomposition, deterioration or volatilization of the thiols by heat. In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 281697/2000 disclosed is a method in which when a thiol compound exhibiting an aroma is used in the form of a glycoside, the stability of the thiol compound against the heat or the like applied during the production process of food products is increased, while the aroma inherent in the thiol is also exhibited as the glycoside is gradually decomposed due to the influences of heat and/or pH, whereby the aroma can be prolonged although the thiol compound is used in low concentrations due to a low threshold. However, the method does not have the function of developing aroma at the time of eating foods and is therefore different from the present invention described below in greater detail.
The background art concerning frozen foods is as follows:
Conventionally, when a component having a strong aroma volatility is to be incorporated into frozen foods, an essential oil-like component is added as it is or the component in the form of a powder obtained by causing dextrin or the like to adsorb the component and powdering the resulting product, is added. According to this method, however, it is difficult to cause a sufficient amount of the component to remain in an end product since most of the component is volatilized under severe heating conditions such as frying or the like. Further, since the volatilization of the component added proceeds gradually during frozen preservation, measures such as sealing with the use of a gas-impermeable packaging materials, or the like, must be taken.
Further, there has been proposed a frozen food which contains an oil-like aroma volatile component encapsuled in capsules whereby the aroma volatile component remains in an sufficient amount in the end product even after the product has undergone a heating operation (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 014332/2000), and there has been also proposed a composition containing an amino acid, reducing sugar, protein and water as a topping composition for a microwave oven which topping composition is capable of giving favorable browning and/or roasted savor to foods by microwave cooking (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 103790/1999).
Further, the background art concerning retort foods is as follows:
As is well known, retort foods include so-called "retort pouch foods" (in the narrow sense) produced by filling with food material, a bag-shaped container (pouch) made of a light-shielding plastic film obtained by laminating an aluminum foil or a transparent plastic film having a low oxygen permeability, sealing the opening of the container by heat sealing and subjecting the container to commercial heat sterilization at temperatures higher than 100° C. by using a pressurized sterilizer (retort) as well as canned foods and bottled foods (in the broad sense). Since the retort foods can be preserved over a long time period at room temperature, they are widely used due to convenience thereof.
However, since retort foods are produced by being subjected to heat treatment at high temperatures (retort treatment), a so-called "retort odor" which is an unpleasant odor may be produced. This has been considered unfavorable from the viewpoint of product quality.
Substances causing the unpleasant odor (to be sometimes referred to as "retort odor" hereinafter) are not yet identified.
To alleviate the retort odor, the easing of conditions for heat sterilization and the like have heretofore been studied. However, in order to distribute retort foods at ordinary temperature, they must be sterilized at high temperatures to some extent, and the easing of the conditions for heat sterilization is limited as an operation for preventing the deterioration of flavors.
Further, there have been proposed a method in which a gas-impermeable package is used as the package for retort foods (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 29845/1992) and a method in which the inside of the package is substituted with a nitrogen gas at the time of sterilizing the retort food (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 254167/1986). In addition, a method in which cyclodextrin is added at the time of producing retort foods (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 75366/1985), a method in which sucrose fatty acid ester is added at the time of producing retort foods (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 17407/1982) have also been considered.
However, the improvement in the package and the substitution with nitrogen increase costs, since the existing packaging materials and filling equipment must be altered accordingly. Meanwhile, satisfactory results have not been obtained by the method using cyclodextrin or sucrose fatty acid ester.
Thus, the development of a simple and effective method for suppressing or masking the retort odor whereby the flavor of retort foods is improved, has been desired.
Furthermore, the background art concerning soybean-incorporated or -utilized food products is as follows:
Soybean protein may be mentioned as a typical example of soybean-incorporated or -utilized food products. The soybean protein which is a vegetable protein, is used not only as a major edible protein source but also in a variety of food processings by taking advantage of its characteristics and is expected to be used more and more in the future along with increasing consciousness in health.
However, although soybean protein is excellent from the viewpoint of its nutritive value and functionalities such as emulsifying property and the like, it is limited in many cases when it is used as an ingredient or raw material of food, since it has a unique taste, smell, color and the like. Further, it is known that the unique taste and smell are greatly attributable to the lipid moiety remaining in the soybean protein. In other words, unsaturated fatty acids such as linoleic acid, linolenic acid and the like cause oxidation due to enzymatic or non-enzymatic factors and are converted into carbonyl compounds or the like typified by aldehydes such as hexanol, and the like, and it is said that these substances are attributable to the taste and smell peculiar to defatted soy milk, isolated soybean protein, or the like.
Therefore, for removing or alleviating the unpleasant odor peculiar to soybean protein, a number of studies have heretofore been made. There are known, for example, methods such as enzyme treatment, microorganism treatment, activated carbon treatment,. thermo-vacuum treatment and the like (Wolf, W. J.: J.Agric.Food Chem., 23, 136(1975), Ryuzo Sasaki, Hideo Chiba; Chemistry and organism, 21, 536(1983), Warner, K., Mounts, T. L., Rackis, J. J. and Wolf, W. J.; Cereal Chem., 60, 102(1982) and so on). Further, as a simple method, a method in which a variety of masking agents are added has also been studied.
Further, a method in which a solution containing soybean protein is brought into contact with a weak-basic anion-exchange resin, an amphoteric ion-exchange resin or a functional group-free synthetic adsorption resin to remove the "soybean odor" peculiar. to soybeans which is called "bean-like odor" or "weed-like odor", has also been studied (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 276955/1994).
However, the above methods such as enzyme treatment, microorganism treatment, activated carbon treatment, thermo-vacuum treatment, ion-exchange resin treatment and the like have not yet succeeded in removing the unpleasant odor, that is, soybean smell, completely. In addition, these treatments make the process complicated and increase costs, and are therefore accompanied with some problems to be solved with regard to actual applications. Further, the above-described method of adding masking agents exhibits some effects, but it is basically not for removing the soybean smell. Therefore, the method has the problem that it can not be applied when soybean protein is used as the main ingredient in high concentrations and its amount to be used is restricted.

Composition for retaining and developing the flavor of a food or drink


A hub assembly for collapsible structures includes a first hub portion and a second hub portion. The first hub portion has a substantially U-shaped configuration and defines at least a first opening. The second hub portion has a substantially U-shaped configuration and defines at least a first pair of aligned openings. The first hub portion and the second hub portion are connected in a crossing-configuration, such that at least part of the second hub portion is received within the first pair of aligned openings of the first hub portion and at least part of the second hub portion is received within the first opening of the first hub portion.

Collapsible structures are known in which a flexible covering is supported by a framework of flexible poles that are interconnected by hubs. For example, a wall of the flexible covering may include pockets at its corners in which outer ends of each of the fabric poles are disposed. The inner ends of the flexible poles are pivotally connected to a hub. The hub allows movement of the flexible poles between collapsed and deployed positions. In the collapsed position, the outer ends of the flexible poles could be adjacent to one another, and the wall of the flexible cover is not held taut. In the deployed position, the flexible poles establish a somewhat planar configuration for the wall of the flexible cover and are held in an over-center condition with respect to the hub by tension that is induced within the poles by the wall of the flexible cover. A structure of this general type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,810,482.