Disclosed herein is a capacity-changing unit of an orbiting vane compressor that is capable of performing normal operation and no-load operation in inner and outer compression chambers through simple manipulation of a rotary valve plate, thereby easily changing the capacity of the compressor according to operation modes. The capacity-changing unit comprises a rotary valve plate disposed between a cylinder and a subsidiary frame for opening or closing a communication channel connected between an inlet port of the cylinder and inner and outer outlet ports of the cylinder as an actuator is rotated in alternating directions. Consequently, the present invention has the effect of reducing power consumption and preventing reduction in service life of the parts of the orbiting vane compressor due to repetitive on/off operation of the orbiting vane compressor, and therefore, improving the performance and reliability of the orbiting vane compressor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an orbiting vane compressor, and, more particularly, to a capacity-changing unit of an orbiting vane compressor that is capable of performing normal operation and no-load operation in inner and outer compression chambers through simple manipulation of a rotary valve plate, thereby easily changing the capacity of the compressor according to operation modes.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, an orbiting vane compressor is constructed to compress refrigerant gas introduced into a cylinder through an orbiting movement of an orbiting vane in the cylinder having an inlet port. Various types of orbiting vane compressors, which are classified based on their shapes, have been proposed.
FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view illustrating the overall structure of a conventional rotary-type orbiting vane compressor. As shown in FIG. 1, a drive unit D and a compression unit P, which is disposed below the drive unit D, are mounted in a shell 1 while the drive unit D and the compression unit P are hermetically sealed. The drive unit D and the compression unit P are connected to each other via a vertical crankshaft 6, which has an eccentric part 6a.
The drive unit D comprises: a stator 2 fixedly disposed in the shell 1; and a rotor 3 disposed in the stator 2 for rotating the crankshaft 6, which vertically extends through the rotor 3, when electric current is supplied to the rotor 3.
The compression unit P comprises an orbiting vane 4 for performing an orbiting movement in a cylinder 5 by the eccentric part 6a of the crankshaft 6. As the orbiting vane 4 performs the orbiting movement in the cylinder 5, refrigerant gas introduced into the cylinder 5 through an inlet port 51 is compressed. The cylinder 5 has an inner ring 52. Between the inner ring 52 and the inner wall of the cylinder 5 is defined an annular operation space 53. A wrap 40 of the orbiting vane 4 performs an orbiting movement in the operation space 53. As a result, compression chambers are formed at the inside and the outside of the wrap 40, respectively.
At the upper and lower parts of the compression unit P are disposed a main frame 7 and a subsidiary frame 7a, which support opposite ends of the crankshaft 6. The subsidiary frame 7a has a discharge chamber 8a, which is formed by a muffler 8. The discharge chamber 8a is connected to a pipe-shaped discharge channel 9, which extends vertically through the compression unit P and the main frame 7, such that the compressed refrigerant gas is discharged into the shell 1 through the discharge channel 9.
Unexplained reference numeral 11 indicates an inlet tube, 12 an outlet tube, and 10a an Oldham's ring for preventing rotation of the wrap 40 of the orbiting vane 4.
When electric current is supplied to the drive unit D, the rotor 3 of the drive unit D is rotated, and therefore, the crankshaft 6, which vertically extends through the rotor 3, is also rotated. As the crankshaft 6 is rotated, the orbiting vane 4 attached to the eccentric part 6a of the crankshaft 6 performs an orbiting movement.
As a result, the wrap 40 of the orbiting vane 4 performs an orbiting movement in the operation space 53 of the cylinder 5 to compress refrigerant gas introduced into the cylinder 5 through the inlet port 51 in the compression chambers formed at the inside and the outside of the wrap 40, respectively. The compressed refrigerant gas is discharged into the discharge chamber 8a through inner and outer outlet ports (not shown) formed at the cylinder 5 and the subsidiary frame 7a. The discharged high-pressure refrigerant gas is guided into the shell 1 through the discharge channel 9. Finally, the compressed refrigerant gas is discharged out of the shell 1 through the outlet tube 12.
FIG. 2 is a plan view, in section, illustrating the compressing operation of the conventional orbiting vane compressor shown in FIG. 1.
As shown in FIG. 2, the wrap 40 of the orbiting vane 4 of the compression unit P performs an orbiting movement in the operation space 53 of the cylinder 5, as indicated by arrows, to compress refrigerant gas introduced into the operation space 53 through the inlet port 51. The orbiting movement of the wrap 40 of the orbiting vane 4 will be described hereinafter in more detail.
At the initial orbiting position of the wrap 40 of the orbiting vane 4 of the compression unit P (i.e., the 0-degree orbiting position), refrigerant gas is introduced into an inner suction chamber A1, which is disposed at the inside of the wrap 40, through the inlet port 51, and compression is performed in an outer compression chamber B2, which is disposed at the outside of the wrap 40, while the outer compression chamber B2 does not communicate with the inlet port 51 and an outer outlet port 53b. Refrigerant gas is compressed in an inner compression chamber A2, and at the same time, the compressed refrigerant gas is discharged out of the inner compression chamber A2.
At the 90-degree orbiting position of the wrap 40 of the orbiting vane 4 of the compression unit P, the compression is still performed in the outer compression chamber B2, and almost all the compressed refrigerant gas is discharged out of the inner compression chamber A2 through an inner outlet port 53a. At this stage, an outer suction chamber B1 appears so that refrigerant gas is introduced into the outer suction chamber B1 through the inlet port 51.
At the 180-degree orbiting position of the wrap 40 of the orbiting vane 4 of the compression unit P, the inner suction chamber A1 disappears. Specifically, the inner suction chamber A1 is changed into the inner compression chamber A2, and therefore, compression is performed in the inner compression chamber A2. At this stage, the outer compression chamber B2 communicates with the outer outlet port 53b. Consequently, the compressed refrigerant gas is discharged out of the outer compression chamber B2 through the outer outlet port 53b.
At the 270-degree orbiting position of the wrap 40 of the orbiting vane 4 of the compression unit P, almost all the compressed refrigerant gas is discharged out of the outer compression chamber B2 through the outer outlet port 53b, and the compression is still performed in the inner compression chamber A2. Also, compression is newly performed in the outer suction chamber B1. When the orbiting vane 4 of the compression unit P further performs the orbiting movement by 90 degrees, the outer suction chamber B1 disappears. Specifically, the outer suction chamber B1 is changed into the outer compression chamber B2, and therefore, the compression is continuously performed in the outer compression chamber B2. As a result, the wrap 40 of the orbiting vane 4 of the compression unit P is returned to the position where the orbiting movement of the orbiting vane 4 is initiated. In this way, a 360-degree-per-cycle orbiting movement of the wrap 40 of the orbiting vane 4 of the compression unit P is accomplished. The orbiting movement of the wrap 40 of the orbiting vane 4 of the compression unit P is performed in a continuous fashion.
Unexplained reference numeral 55 indicates a slider for maintaining the seal between the high-pressure and low-pressure parts.
FIG. 3 is a plan view, in section, illustrating another example of the compression unit of the conventional orbiting vane compressor shown in FIG. 1.
As shown in FIG. 3, an annular operation space 53 is formed in the cylinder 5. The annular operation space 53 has opposite ends separated from each other by a closing part 58. At one end of the operation space 53 is formed a side inlet port 51. At the other end of the operation space 53 are formed inner and outer outlet parts 53a and 53b.
The wrap 40 is configured such that the length of the wrap 40 is less than that of the operation space 53. The wrap 40 is disposed in the operation space 53 such that a suction channel is formed between the end of the wrap 40 at the inlet port side and the operation space 53. Sealing is maintained between the inner and outer compression chambers by the slider 55 at the end of the wrap 40 at the outlet port side.
The outlet port side operation space 53 has a linear part 59 although the other part of the operation space 53 is approximately formed in the shape of a ring. Consequently, the slider 55 is disposed in the linear part 59 of the operation space 53 such that the slide 55 can be linearly reciprocated. The slider 55 is brought into tight contact with the outlet port side end of the wrap 40 by the discharge pressure of the compressed refrigerant gas, which is discharged through a gas discharge hole 57 of the operation space 53, whereby sealing is maintained between the high-pressure and the low-pressure parts.
Meanwhile, an energy-saving operation of a refrigerating apparatus or an air conditioning apparatus, such as a refrigerator or an air conditioner, is generally performed as follows. When the temperature in the refrigerator or the temperature in a room where the air conditioner is installed reaches a predetermined temperature, the operation of the compressor of the refrigerator or the air conditioner is stopped. When the temperature in the refrigerator or the temperature in the room exceeds the predetermined temperature, on the other hand, the operation of the compressor of the refrigerator or the air conditioner is initiated. In this way, the operation of the compressor is repetitively turned on and off. Generally, power consumption when the operation of the compressor is initiated is greater than power consumption when the compressor is normally operated. Furthermore, interference between the compressed gas in the compressor and the parts of the compressor is caused due to abrupt interruption of the compressor and initiation of the compressor, and therefore, the parts of the compressor are prematurely worn, which reduces the service life of the compressor.
For this reason, it is required to change the capacity of the compressor without the repetitive on/off operation of the compressor as described above. An inverter system may be used to change the capacity of the compressor. In the inverter system, the number of rotations of the motor is controlled to change the capacity of the compressor. However, the inverter system has problems in that expensive electric circuit control devices and relevant parts are needed. Consequently, the manufacturing costs of the compressor are increased, and therefore, the competitiveness of the product is decreased.

Capacity-changing unit of orbiting vane compressor


An acceleration proxy device includes a network module, an application acceleration module, and a strategy routing module. The network module includes at least one bridge, and each bridge is associated with an IP address segment. The strategy routing module stores routing tables of the at least one bridge, and a routing table of each bridge includes a gateway corresponding to the bridge.

In existing network deployment, VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network) is a commonly used technology. In the routing/switching field, a forwarding port of the VLAN is known as a trunk port. The trunk technology allows interconnection between switches, such that different VLANs communicate with the same VLAN in other switches through shared links. Currently, to provide services such as caching response and optimizing back-to-source links upon user's request, an acceleration proxy device often needs to be introduced into the network. The acceleration proxy devices are often deployed at the uplink of a core switch of a client network environment and at the downlink of a network address translation (NAT) device.
When the core switch is connected to the NAT device through the trunk port, the existing acceleration proxy device shows following drawbacks:
because of various aspects of reasons such as not supporting the bridge of multiple VLANs, the back-to-source address of the application layer being determined by the system, and not supporting the multi-segment routing, the existing acceleration proxy device cannot be deployed at the trunk circuit. Accordingly, the existing acceleration proxy device does not support the traverse of multiple VLANs. Further, if the acceleration proxy device is deployed at the uplink of the NAT device, because the safeguard of the client is often deployed at the NAT device, the acceleration proxy device needs to bear the safety risk. As such, the existing acceleration proxy device cannot be well integrated with the VLAN technology.

Acceleration proxy device, acceleration proxy method, and content management system


A flow channel substrate has pressure chambers, and the pressure chambers communicate with nozzle openings for ejecting liquid. Each of piezoelectric elements on the flow channel substrate has a piezoelectric layer, a pair of electrodes, and a wiring layer coupled to the electrodes. The wiring layer has an adhesion layer and a conductive layer on the adhesion layer. The adhesion layer contains at least one selected from nickel, chromium, titanium, and tungsten. The piezoelectric element has an insulating film at least between the wiring layer and the electrodes. The wiring layer and the electrodes of the piezoelectric element are coupled via contact holes created through the insulating film.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid ejecting head that ejects liquid through nozzle openings, a liquid ejecting apparatus that has a liquid ejecting head, a piezoelectric element for liquid ejecting heads or similar devices, and a method for manufacturing a piezoelectric element.
2. Related Art
A known liquid ejecting head ejects droplets of liquid through its nozzle openings by deforming piezoelectric elements (piezoelectric actuators) to change the pressure in the liquid in pressure chambers that communicate with the nozzle openings. A representative example of a liquid ejecting head is an ink jet recording head, which ejects droplets of ink.
A typical ink jet recording head has a flow channel substrate, and also has pressure chambers and piezoelectric elements on either side of the flow channel substrate. The pressure chambers communicate with nozzle openings. The piezoelectric elements operate to deform diaphragms and change the pressure in the ink filled in the pressure chambers. As a result, droplets of the ink are ejected through the nozzle openings.
In a typical structure, each piezoelectric element has a first electrode, a piezoelectric layer, and a second electrode all placed on a diaphragm, and the first electrode and the second electrode are coupled to a wiring layer for coupling with wiring that leads to a driving IC and other components (e.g., see JP-A-2008-114370, JP-A-2009-172878, and JP-A-2009-196329).
When the wiring layer has an adhesion layer made of nickel-chromium or a similar material, patterning the adhesion layer by wet etching causes electrochemical corrosion to occur at the boundaries between the adhesion layer and the electrodes because the wet etching process uses an acid as etchant. This sort of damage may lead to events such as detachment of the electrodes or the wiring layer.
Such problems are not unique to ink jet recording heads. Similar problems may also be encountered with liquid ejecting heads used with any kind of liquid other than ink. Besides piezoelectric elements for liquid ejecting heads, piezoelectric elements for other devices may also have similar problems.

Liquid ejecting head, liquid ejecting apparatus, piezoelectric element, and method for manufacturing piezoelectric element


A lottery ticket and continuous process of forming the same in which the front and rear surfaces of the lottery ticket and provided with scratch-off lottery games which may be accessed by the player without first having to remove a break-open window.

Scratch-off lottery tickets are well known in the art in which play indicia appear below a removable scratch-off layer. The player removes the scratch-off layer, thereby exposing the play indicia. If the play indicia meet the requirements of a winning ticket, then the player may claim a prize.
Lottery tickets vary in size but typical scratch-off lottery tickets have a single game printed on one side of the lottery ticket, although some lottery tickets have imprinted more than one game on the same side of the lottery ticket. The game or play side includes play indicia printed beneath a scratch-off layer and other graphics and information which may be relevant to the theme of the game and/or validation/authentication of the lottery ticket.
Efforts have been made to increase the number of games played on a single lottery ticket. One such approach has been to provide multi-panel tickets. The tickets are comprised of two or more panels connected together through fold lines in which the panels may be folded upon each other. However, each panel has a lottery game appearing only on a single side of the lottery ticket. The panels may be folded upon each other to reduce the space occupied by the lottery ticket. However, for each panel, there is a single lottery game with no provision for printing a lottery game on the reverse side of the lottery ticket or panel.
Recently, a technique has been developed to print lottery games on both sides of the lottery ticket. Such efforts have included forming a lottery ticket with a break-open or pull tab construction in which the lottery indicia is covered by a break-open window or pull tab typically made out of paper stock or cardboard. Break-open lottery tickets of the type discussed above are disclosed, for example, in Canadian Patent Document Nos. 2,066,489; 2,282,770; 2,282,777; 2,282,768; and 2,359,581.
Break-open lottery tickets require the formation of a break-open window in which two substrate sheets are laminated together. In order to play the game, the player must lift the break-open window to expose the lottery indicia. Break-open tickets are typically constructed by printing a sheet containing multiple combinations of lottery indicia thereon. The sheet is then cut into sections. The opposite side of the sheet includes prize categories, serial numbers, etc. A second sheet contains break-open windows or pull tabs which are formed in the card stock such that the break-open windows overlap the lottery indicia.
The break-open window type of scratch-off lottery ticket is advantageous because it provides the means of placing lottery games on both sides of a lottery ticket. However, such tickets are more expensive to produce than a typical one sided scratch-off lottery ticket in part because of the necessity of forming a break-open window. No one to date has been able to produce a lottery ticket in which scratch-off games appear on both sides of the ticket without requiring a break-open window because of the anticipated problems in manufacture. In particular, the problems with producing double sided scratch-off lottery tickets include extra layers needed to produce the ticket resulting in a higher rate of production rejection and inadvertent scratching. The scratch-off layers may adhere to production rollers contributing to the high rate of rejection of tickets.
Another problem is the characteristic shrinkage of the lottery card stock during production which can result in loss of capacity to register production on both sides of the ticket. If a technique for printing double-sided lottery tickets could be developed, the lottery tickets produced by such a process would increase the number of lottery games available to player on a single ticket, would make the playing of the game simple and would cost less to fabricate than break-open lottery tickets.

Double sided scratch-off lottery tickets and methods of manufacturing the same


The present invention enables the configuration of a disk array device to be changed in accordance with its purpose of use. Plural disk drive groups each comprising plural disk drives 81 are disposed in the same disk drive unit. Respective disk drive groups are connected to respectively different HDD control boards 82. Each HDD control board 82 is disposed with a connection circuit 200 and switch circuits 210. A signal is outputted from a management terminal to switch the switch circuits 210, whereby adjacent HDD control boards 82 can be connected and operated. Also, by switching the switch circuits 210, adjacent HDD control boards 82 can be mutually separated and operated independently.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disk array device and a method of changing the configuration of the disk array device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A disk array device is a device where, for example, plural disk drives are disposed in an array and constructed on the basis of RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Inexpensive Disks) A logical volume that is a logical storage region is formed on a physical storage region that each disk drive has. A LUN (Logical Unit Number) is pre-corresponded to this logical volume. A host computer specifies the LUN, whereby the host computer issues a write command or a read command of a predetermined format with respect to the disk array device. Thus, the host computer can conduct reading and writing of desired data with respect to the disk array device.
As shown in FIG. 14, in the prior art (JP-A-7-20994), plural disk drives 510 are respectively connected to plural disk adapters (DKA) 500. Each disk drive 510 includes plural ports, and these plural ports are respectively connected to the DKA 500 via separate paths. An A port of each disk drive 510 is connected to the DKA 500 via connection boards 520A, and a B port of each disk drive 510 is connected to the DKA 500 via connection boards 520B. Thus, even if trouble arises in the path of either the A port or the B port, the disk drives 510 can be accessed via the other path serving as an alternate path. In the example shown in FIG. 14, RAID groups according to, for example, RAID 5 are configured by the plural disk drives 510 connected to respectively different DKA 500. Thus, even if trouble arises in any one of the disk drives 510 belonging to the same RAID group, data can be recovered on the basis of data stored in the other disk drives 510 belonging to the same RAID group.
As other prior art, the disk array device shown in FIG. 15 is conceivable. In this prior art, disk control units 601 and 602 and disk drives 610 are respectively connected via two connection boards 611 and 612. Each disk drive 610 is respectively disposed with an A port and a B port. The A-side disk control unit 601 shown at the left side of FIG. 15 is respectively connected to the A ports of the plural disk drives 610 via the A-side connection board 611. The B-side disk control unit 602 shown at the right side of FIG. 15 is respectively connected to the B ports of the plural disk drives 610 via the B-side connection board 612.
In recent years, there has been a demand for disk array devices with larger capacity and higher performance. The more the number of disk drives 510 connected to the DKA 500 increases, as in the prior art shown in FIG. 14, the more the processing time required for protocol conversion of interface units increases and data transfer speed also drops. Thus, when the connection number of the disk drives 510 is simply increased, the writing speed and the reading speed from the standpoint of the host computers using the disk array device end up dropping.
A case will be considered where, as shown in FIG. 14, trouble has respectively arisen at two places: sites F1 and F2. When either the connection board 520A or the connection board 520B is replaced in order to recover the trouble, the alternate path of the disk drives 510 connected to the trouble sites F1 and F2 is lost.
That is, in a case where, for example, the connection board 520A is first replaced, the disk drives 510 connected to the trouble site F2 can no longer be accessed from either the A ports or the B ports. This is because the path of the A ports is lost at the point in time when the connection board 520A is removed and the path of the B ports is unusable due to the trouble site F2. In a case where the connection board 520B is first replaced, the alternate path of the disk drives 510 connected to the trouble site F1 is lost. That is, the path of the A ports of the disk drives 510 is unusable due to the trouble site F1 and the path of the B ports is lost at the point in time when the connection board 520B is removed.
It is possible to access the disk drives 510 that are unrelated to the trouble sites F1 and F2. Thus, in a case where trouble has arisen at both of the trouble sites F1 and F2, data that is to be written to the disk drives 510 that have become inaccessible is recovered on the basis of the storage content of other disk drives 510 within the same RAID group after the connection boards 520A and 520B have been respectively replaced with normal connection boards. This data restoration processing (data recovery processing) must be completed before new trouble arises in the disk drives 510 related to the data recovery. This is because it becomes impossible to conduct data recovery in a case where new trouble has arisen prior to the completion of the data recovery processing. In a RAID 5, data can be recovered on the basis of the storage content of the remaining disk drives, even if one of the disk drives within the same RAID group is inaccessible. However, in a RAID 5, data cannot be recovered in a case where plural disk drives have become inaccessible in the same RAID group.
In this manner, in a case where trouble has respectively arisen at the plural trouble sites F1 and F2, it is necessary to conclude data recovery processing before new trouble arises. However, because there is a trend for the number of disk drives 510 connected to the DKA 500 to increase, there is a trend for the period required for data recovery to increase. Also, it is necessary to prevent as much as possible new trouble from arising in other disk drives 510 until the data recovery processing is completed. However, because there has been a demand in recent years for higher density packaging, higher data transfer speed and higher drive access speed, it is not at present simple to significantly lower the rate of occurrence of trouble in the connection boards 520A and 520B and the disk drives 510.
Additionally, in the prior art shown in FIG. 15, the A-side connection board 611 handles the connection to the A ports of the plural disk drive groups and the B-side connection board 612 handles the connection to the B ports of the plural disk drive groups. Thus, in a case where trouble has arisen in one of the connection boards and that connection board is replaced, the plural disk drive groups are affected when the connection board in which the trouble has arisen is removed. Thus, in the prior art shown in FIG. 15, there is the potential for the problems described in connection with FIG. 14 to arise and for the range of influence to increase.

Disk array device and method of changing the configuration of the disk array device


The object of the present invention is to provide a novel dehydrogenase having a property which is different from that of known dehydrogenases. The present invention provides a dehydrogenase having the following physicochemical properties:                (1) effect: to produce N-alkyl-L-alanine from pyruvic acid and alkylamine or dialkylamine using NADPH and/or NADH as coenzyme;        (2) substrate specificity: to show activity to alkylamine or dialkylamine but not to ammonium;        (3) optimal pH when using phenylpyruvic acid and methylamine as substrates is around 10; and        (4) when treated at 30 ° C. for 30 minutes, the enzyme is stable at around pH 5 to 10.5.

Chemical reactions such as reductive alkylation of azides (J. Org. Chem. 1995, 60, p 4986–4987) or reductive ring-opening reaction of oxazolidine derivatives (Tetrahedron Letter 39 (1998) 1985–1986) and the like have been known for the production of N-substituted amino acids.
Although microbiological methods for producing amino acids from 2-oxocarboxylic acid derivatives using a dehydrogenase or aminotransferase are known, these methods mainly include simple amination. The known methods using a substituted amino group are only a simple methylamination method such as the method of producing N-methylalanine from pyruvic acid using microorganisms of genus Pseudomonas (J. Biol. Chem., 250, p 3746–3751 (1975)) and the methylamination method using microorganisms of genus Rhodococcus and Arthrobacter (JP Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2001–190298).
With respect to enzymes involved in the above reaction, it is reported in J. Biol. Chem., 250, p 3746–3751 (1975) that N-methylalanine dehydrogenase from Pseudomonas MS ATCC 25262 was purified.
On the other hand, as for a method of producing cyclic amino acid chemically, such methods have been known as producing L-azetidine-2-carboxylic acid (Stephen Hanessian et al., Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters (1999) vol. 9, pp. 1437–1442, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,942,630); pipecolic acid (Concepcion F Garcia et al., Tetrahydron Asymmetry (1995) vol. 6, pp. 2905–2906); 4- and 5-hydroxypipecolic acid (Roland E. A. Callens, et al, Bull. Soc. Chim. Belg. vol. 91, (1982) pp 713–723); 1,4-thiazane-3-carboxylic acid (Biosci. Biotechnol. Biochem., vol. 62, pp 2382–2387 T Shiraiwa, et al.)(Acta Chemica Scandinavica, 1994, vol. 48, pp 517–525, U Larsson et al.); L-3-morpholine carboxylic acid (Bull. Chem. Soc. Jpn., vol. 60, pp 2963–2965, 1987, Y Kogami et al.); (S)-azepane-2-carboxylic acid (Liebigs. Ann. Chem. 1989, pp 1215–1232, D. Seebach et al.); and the like.
As for a method of producing cyclic amino acid biochemically, such methods have been known as producing L-pipecolic acid from L-lysine while utilizing pyrroline-5-carboxylate reductase (EC 188.8.131.52) (Tadashi Fujii et al., Bioscience Biotechnology Biochem (2002) vol.66, pp. 1981–1984); L-proline from L-omithine while utilizing pyrroline-5-carboxylate reductase (EC 126.96.36.199) (Janet Kenklies et al., Microbiology (1999), vol.145, pp. 819–826; and Ralph N Costilow et al., Journal of Bacteriology (1969) vol.100, pp. 662); L-proline from L-ornithine with ornithine cyclodeaminase (Ralph N Costilow et al., Journal of Biological Chemistry (1971) vol.246, pp. 6655–6660); various types of cyclic amino acids from various types of diamino acids with omithine cyclodeaminase (International Publication WO 02/101003); and the like.
On the other hand, as for an enzyme that reduces a cyclic amino acid having a double bond at 1-site, pyrroline-2-carboxylate reductase: EC220.127.116.11, for example, derived from animal or fungus is known as the enzyme that reduces Δ-1-pyrroline-2-carboxylic acid and Δ-1-piperidine-2-carboxylic acid to generate proline and pipecolic acid respectively (Alton Meister et al., Journal of Biological Chemistry (1957) vol. 229, pp. 789–800).
Further, there is a report that describes such metabolism of a bacterium belonging to Pseudomonas species as generating L-pipecolic acid from D-lysine through Δ-1-piperidine-2-carboxylic acid as an intermediate, and that piperideine-2-carboxylate reductase: EC 18.104.22.168 conducts the reduction reaction in the reactions (Cecil W Payton et al., Journal of Bacteriology (1982) vol. 149, pp. 864–871).
In addition, it has been found that ketimine-reducing enzyme: EC 188.8.131.52 derived from liver of porcine reduces S-aminoethylcysteine ketimine, lanthionine ketimine and cystathionine ketimine (Mirella Nardini et al., European Journal of Biochemistry (1988) vol.173, pp. 689–694).
However, the method reported by Fujii et al. (Tadashi Fujii et al., Bioscience Biotechnology Biochem (2002) vol.66, pp. 1981–1984) includes steps of using L-lysine 6-aminotransferase for L-lysine to generate Δ-1-piperidine-6-carboxylic acid as the intermediate, and further acting the reductase on it to give L-pipecolic acid. The method can deal with only the case where the starting material is L-lysine, and can not be applied to the production of other cyclic amino acids.
The report of Costilow et al. (Ralph N Costilow et al., Journal of Biological Chemistry (1971) vol.246, pp. 6655–6660) describes the step of obtaining L-proline by using Omithine Cyclase for L-ornithine, but also does not describe any products other than proline. Denis et al. (WO 02/101003) disclose a method of obtaining L-pipecolic acid, L-Thiomorpholine-2-carboxylic acid, 5-hydroxy-L-pipecolic acid and the like by using Ornithine Cyclase, but do not describe yield, optical purity and the like.
In any of the aforementioned methods, the optical purity of the produced cyclic amino acid depends on the optical purity of a starting amino acid, and an optically active cyclic amino acid can not be obtained from a starting material of whole racemic body with a high yield.
On the other hand, a method employing a cyclic amino acid having a double bond at 1-site as an intermediate is advantageous industrially, because it can use racemic cyclic amino acids or diamino acids.
Enzyme reactions that deal with L-proline and L-pipecolic acid, L-Thiomorphine and the like, respectively, are confirmed. However, in each case, an enzyme reaction is confirmed only biochemically, and no example of industrial production has been known. Further, there is such a description that enzymes derived from animal are very unstable, making practical application difficult by using these enzymes.

Dehydrogenase and a gene encoding the same


Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for tagging media files from a media capture device with location information gathered from a portable device when the portable device determines that a user of the media capture device frequents the location and that the media item was captured in the location.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to tagging media files and, more specifically, to tagging media files with location data.
2. Introduction
Digital media files, such as digital photographs, can include metadata fields for describing a place in which the media file was captured. Some electronic devices can also determine their own location. However, when an image capture device cannot determine its own location, the captured media does not include metadata describing location.

Adding location names using private frequent location data


A push notification delivery system includes a server system including a processor, a network interface, and memory storing program instructions having code segments for receiving a received push notification, code segments for determining at least one of a favorable push time and a favorable message format based upon a database of received push information developed from a plurality of prior sent push notifications, and code segments for pushing the message to the destination in accordance with the at least one of a favorable push time and a favorable message format. A method for delivering push notifications includes receiving a received push notification including a message and a destination, sending a sent push notification derived from the received push notification to the destination in accordance with at least one favorable condition, receiving received push information related to the sent push notification, and storing the received push information in a database.

Push technology (aka "server push") is a type of Internet-based communication where the request for a given transaction is initiated by a "publisher" or server. It is contrasted with pull technology where the request for transmission of information is initiated by a receiving device or "client."
Push services are sometimes based upon information preferences expressed in advance. This is referred to as a "publish/subscribe" model. For example, a client might subscribe to one or more information "channels." The server associated with the channels can then push information to the client when new content becomes available.
There are many types of push services. For example, synchronous conferencing and instant messaging are forms of push services. Increasingly popular are push-enabled web applications including market data distribution (e.g. stock tickers), online chat/messaging systems (e.g. "webchat"), auctions, online betting and gambling, sports results, monitoring consoles and sensor network monitor.
There are also hybrid push/pull systems. For example, email begins as a push system in that the SMTP protocol upon which it is based is a push protocol. However, the last step in the delivery of an email, e.g. from a mail server to a desktop computer, typically uses a pull protocol such as POP3 or IMAP.
As will be appreciated, there are many and widespread uses for push technology. However, one drawback of such technology is that it is, essentially, a unidirectional technology where pushes are sent to devices and then forgotten. This limits the opportunity to improve the effectiveness of future pushes by deriving feedback as to the effectiveness of prior pushes.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Push notification delivery system with feedback analysis


An olefin and methanol co-production plant for co-production of an olefin and methanol from a source gas containing methane includes: an olefin production unit for producing the olefin; and a methanol production unit for producing methanol from a carbon oxide gas in the olefin production unit. The olefin production unit includes a partial oxidative coupling device for producing the olefin by partial oxidative coupling reaction of methane contained in the source gas. The methanol production unit includes a reforming device for producing hydrogen by reforming reaction of methane, and a methanol production device for producing methanol by reaction with hydrogen produced by the reforming device. At least one of the reforming device or the methanol production device is configured to perform reaction using the carbon oxide gas in the olefin production unit.

As a method for producing olefins such as ethylene and propylene, the MTO (Methanol To Olefin) method is known. In the MTO method, methanol is produced from a source gas (e.g., natural gas) containing methane, and further, olefins are produced from methanol. However, in the MTO method, since olefins are produced via methanol, which is an intermediate product, the total energy consumed for producing olefins is large. Therefore, as a new method for producing olefins, partial oxidative coupling reaction of methane (hereinafter simply referred to as OCM reaction) has been attracting attention.
As a technique for producing olefins using the OCM reaction, a technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 is known. Patent Document 1 describes that olefins are produced from methane using the OCM reaction.

Olefin and methanol co-production plant and olefin and methanol co-production method

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engineering, Ltd.


An improved head support mechanism for a magnetic card reader is described which has a support plate for each magnetic head. The magnetic head is supported to be capable of moving in the plane perpendicular to the support plate and rocking around an axis parallel to the direction in which the card is moved. A projection is placed in a predetermined position on each support plate. A leaf spring contacts each projection at the predetermined position to apply pressure and ensure that the magnetic head contacts the magnetic card to be read.

The present invention relates to a head support mechanism in a magnetic card reader comprising a head support plate, which supports a magnetic head, and a leaf spring that applies pressure to the head support plate toward a magnetic card.
When a magnetic card having a magnetic strip is transferred on a card transferring path in a magnetic card reader, magnetic information on the magnetic strip is read out from or written onto the card by a magnetic head placed on the card transferring path. FIGS. 7(a)-7(b) show a magnetic head support mechanism of conventional technology. FIG. 7(a) is an overhead view, and FIG. 7(b) is a side view of a cross section.
As shown in FIGS. 7(a) and 7(b), magnetic heads 70 and 71 are placed next to each other in the direction perpendicular to the card transferring direction. Magnetic head 70 is supported by head support plate 72 while magnetic head 71 is supported by head support plate 73. Head support plates 72 and 73 are formed of a rigid material and restrained by two positioning pins 80 and 81 formed on a head support mechanism body (not shown) Accordingly, magnetic heads 70 and 71 supported by head support plates 72 and 73 can rock and move back and forth.
Leaf spring 74 is formed above head support plates 72 and 73. Leaf spring 74 is fixed to part 90 (see FIG. 7(b)) of the head support mechanism body (not shown) with fixing portions 91 and 92 such as screws. The end of leaf spring 74 is split into two pieces (arm portions); one of the arm portions, 75, applies pressure on head support plate 72 toward the magnetic card (downward in FIG. 7(b)) while other arm portion, 76, applies pressure on head support plate 73 toward the magnetic card (downward in FIG. 7(b)).
As shown in FIGS. 7(b) and 8, one end of arm portions 75 and 76, which is facing head support plate 72 and 73, respectively, is warped to form a hemisphere. A section of arm portions 75 and 76 at which arm portions 75 and 76 contact head support plates 72 and 73 has hemispheric projecting portions 77 and 78, respectively. Accordingly, projecting portion 77 of arm portion 75 applies pressure on head support plate 72 toward the magnetic card while projecting portion 78 of arm portion 76 applies pressure on head support plate 73 toward the magnetic card. As a result, magnetic heads 70 and 71 come in contact with the magnetic card with a given pressure applied by a pad placed across from magnetic heads 70, 71.
Movement of head support plates 72 and 73 needs to follow the warped shape of the magnetic card. Therefore, head support plates 72 and 73 can rock in the direction perpendicular to the card transferring direction with the two positioning pins 80 and 81 as an axis. Positioning pins 80 and 81 also function to establish an axis of a rocking motion of magnetic head 70 and 71.
However, head support plates 72 and 73 and leaf spring 74 are separate parts. Therefore, if the relative position of head support plates 72 and 73 and leaf spring 74 is not precise during assembly of these parts, projecting portions 77 and 78 will be displaced from the line between positioning pins 80 and 81. As a result, application of pressure by projecting portions 77 and 78 to head support plates 72 and 73 is no longer along the axis. Additionally, it is extremely troublesome to precisely position head support plates 72 and 73 and leaf plate 74 to enable projecting portions 77 and 78 to apply pressure to head support plates 72 and 73 on the line between positioning pins 80 and 81 towards the magnetic card.
The present invention intends to solve the above issues of conventional technology and to provide a head support mechanism in a magnetic card reader such that even when the alignment of the head support plates with the leaf spring is not precise, the leaf spring can continuously apply pressure to the head support plate at the desired position and the magnetic heads are brought in contact with a magnetic card with high accuracy.
The present invention provides a head support mechanism in a magnetic card reader comprising a head support plate that supports a magnetic head such that said magnetic head is able to rock and move in a plane perpendicular to the direction in which a magnetic card is transferred and a leaf spring for applying pressure to said head support plates towards the magnetic card such that the magnetic head comes in contact with said magnetic card. Formed on the head support plate is a projecting portion, which extends in a direction perpendicular to the card transferring direction and is provided for contacting a pressure applying portion formed on the leaf spring.

Head support mechanism in magnetic card reader


A laminated counterweight for connecting the main shaft with the crankpin of a crankshaft in which the counterweight includes a pair of end laminations which are circular in shape and have a central opening dimensioned to receive the main shaft and a crankpin opening radially spaced from the central opening and dimensioned to receive the crankpin. A plurality of central laminations is sandwiched in between the end laminations. Each central lamination, like the end laminations, includes a central opening dimensioned to receive the main shaft as well as a crankpin opening dimensioned to receive the crankpin. A pair of cutouts is provided through each central lamination and, said cutouts being disposed on opposite sides of the radius extending between the central opening and the crankpin opening.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a crankshaft with a counterweight and, more particularly, to such a crankshaft with a laminated counterweight.
II. Description of the Prior Art
In a conventional crankshaft, the crankshaft includes a segmented main shaft having an axis aligned with the axis of rotation of the crankshaft. One or more crankpins are also provided at a position radially spaced but parallel to the main shaft. A piston is then secured to each crankpin in order to rotatably drive the crankshaft about its axis of rotation.
Since the crankpins are radially offset from the axis of rotation of the crankshaft, counterweights are conventionally provided for securing the main shaft to the crankpins so that the overall crankshaft has a balanced rotation. Such counterweights are typically made of a single heavy body of metal which is machined so that the crankshaft, including the main shaft segments and crankpins, is of a one-piece construction. Machining such crankshafts, however, is necessarily expensive which increases the overall cost of the crankshaft.
There have, however, been previously known crankshafts which utilize laminated counterweights so that the overall crankshaft is of a multi-piece construction. Such a laminated counterweight, which reduces the overall cost of the crankshaft, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,342,236 to Everts which issued on Aug. 3, 1982.
These previously known crankshafts with laminated counterweights, however, merely duplicate the shape of the counterweight with the laminations. As such, the laminations are substantially triangular in shape with an opening for the main shaft segment extending through the center of the triangle and an opening for the crankpin provided at an apex of the triangle.
Since these previously known crankshafts with laminated counterweights merely duplicate the overall shape of the conventional one-piece counterweight, the volume of the crankcase for the engine remains substantially the same regardless of whether a one-piece counterweight is used or a laminated counterweight is used. Furthermore, reduction in the overall volume of the crankcase would advantageously result in the overall reduction of emissions of noxious fumes from the engine, especially for two-cycle engines.


Method and apparatus used for continuous casting of copper alloy rods and tubes for obtaining a fine grain size therein. Liquidus copper alloy material flows from a reservoir area or crucible into a continuous casting die through spaced apart feed slots disposed in the casting die cap, thereby effecting agitation of the liquidus material, which prevents the formation of thermal gradients large enough to produce gross directional solidification of the alloy at the liquid-solid state transition zone. The desired agitation is effected by altering the number, location, size and angle of the feed slots in accordance with formulas provided for that purpose.

This invention pertains to the art of continuous casting and more particularly to continuous casting of tubes and round shaped rods, although it is also applicable to the casting of other shapes.
The invention is particularly applicable to a method and apparatus for effecting a fine grain structure in continuous cast copper alloy rods and tubes of various cross-sections and will be described with particular reference thereto. Those skilled in the art, however, will appreciate that the invention has broader applications and may be adapted for use with other alloys or materials in other environments.
In continuous casting of rods and tubes, one type of general casting system employed utilizes a stationary die wherein the casting is intermittently moved generally longitudinally in order to effect the required casting conditions. During a so-called withdrawal stroke, the casting moves fast enough so that only liquid metal enters the cooled length of the die for causing intimate die metal contact. This stroke is followed by a dwell period during which the casting is stopped or slowed down so that it will exit from the solidification zone at the proper temperature.
Heretofore, in continuous casting of copper and copper alloy rods and tubes using the above-described as well as other techniques, gross directional solidification occurred in the rods during alloy transition from the liquid to the solid state. Such gross directional solidification resulted in the development of crystals or grains which grew generally opposite to the direction of heat flow. The grains were usually quite long in the direction of casting and coarse to fine at right angles to that direction. As a result, cold drawing or working of continuous cast copper alloy rods had previously been very difficult or impossible due to the thick grain boundaries generally associated with these structures. Attempts at such cold drawing had undesirably caused cracks and imperfections to appear in the rods as a result of the coarse grains. This, in turn, generated scrap and/or unacceptable end products.
Moreover, if the liquid metal is too hot and/or the casting speed too slow, the grain structure takes on a coarse elongated configuration generally in the direction of casting. Such grain structure is wholly undesirable for metals which are to be subsequently cold drawn. Thus, while it is possible to vary the casting parameters within normal casting practice so as to alter the grain structure of the cast rod, it had not been possible to alter these parameters by an amount, or to the degree, necessary to effect a grain structure which was readily conducive to cold working.
It has been known to be beneficial to all casting and metal working schemes to have the grain boundaries be as thin as possible. For this reason, it was considered desirable to develop an arrangement which would readily facilitate obtaining such fine grain structures in continuous cast copper alloy rods and tubes. Such rods and tubes would then satisfactorily accommodate subsequent cold drawing or working. Thus, U.S. Pat. No. 4,315,538 disclosed a method and apparatus to effect a fine grain size in continuous cast metals. This involved the use of a continuous casting die totally submerged in a reservoir of liquid alloy material and the use of feed openings in the die arranged so that the liquid metal entering the die would impart a generally cyclonic motion at the interface zone between the liquid and solid alloy material. This cyclonic motion caused shearing of primary dendrites in the alloy material from adjacent the internal side wall of the die and distributed those dendrites across the interface zone to provide nuclei for equiaxed crystals, thereby preventing the formation of thermal gradients in the alloy material of a sufficient magnitude to produce gross directional solidification at the interface zone.
Using the continuous casting arrangements disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,315,538 has taught that their ability to produce fine grain structures in tubes with wall thicknesses of more than 0.5 inch could be improved. Accordingly, the subject of this invention is a die construction for use with the same type of continuous casting apparatus, but with an improved ability to produce a fine grain structure in tubes with wall thicknesses more than 0.5 inch, as well as in other cast shapes, such as round shaped rods.

Method and apparatus to effect a fine grain size in continuous cast metals


A motor vehicle includes a folding passenger seat assembly having a seat portion and a backrest portion. The backrest portion has a left end and a right end both of which are hinged to the seat portion so that the backrest portion can be folded from a vertical use position to a horizontal non-use position. A child safety seat is secured to the backrest portion. The left hinged end of the backrest portion is provided with a manual latch for selectively locking the left end of the backrest portion in the vertical use position. The right end of the backrest cushion is provided with an inertial latch for automatically locking the right end of the backrest portion in its vertical use position only in response to sudden deceleration of the motor vehicle. Weight, component cost and labor are conserved by installing the manual latch on only the left end of the backrest portion to lock it in its vertical use position. The backrest portion is freely folded to its non-use position by actuating the manual latch; the inertial latch only locks during sudden deceleration.

Passenger seat assemblies in motor vehicles are often designed with a backrest portion which folds or collapses to a generally horizontal non-use position for increased cargo carrying capacity. Usually these backrest portions are either freely pivotal between their vertical use position and horizontal folded position with an inertial latch provided in the event of sudden deceleration, or in the alternative are locked in the vertical use position with a manual latch requiring deliberate manipulation to release to the non-use position. The former option is considered more convenient and is usually less costly to manufacture. Inertial latches as used in motor vehicle seating applications are well known in the art. Examples of such may be had in U.S. Pat. No. 4,318,569 to Bilenchi et al., issued Mar. 9, 1982, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,100,202 to Hughes, issued Mar. 31, 1992.

Combined mechanical and inertial latch for vehicle seat


A method to automatically determine a computer's current level of anti virus protection is described. When a client machine submits a request, a request filter determines if the version of the anti-virus protection software present on the user's computer is sufficient to allow access to the requested destination. If the version of anti virus software on client machine is not sufficient, then the request filter directs the request to an alternate location.

As the proliferation of the Internet increases, so to does the ease with which individuals and commercial entities perform electronic transactions. However, along with these positive advances comes the threat from cyber hackers, terrorists, and other elements that focus on attacking computer networks in general and the Internet in particular. The continual attacks cause large financial losses for commercial entities as well as a concomitant loss of confidence among ordinary users. Hence, the need for and the expectation of electronic security are now greater than ever.
Unlike physical structures, which are vulnerable to physical attacks, computer networks are vulnerable to both physical attack and "virtual" attacks. Hackers execute these virtual attacks using specially designed computer programs like viruses. Since computer systems are accessible from anywhere on a network to which they are attached, they can be harder to protect than a physical structure. For example, a would-be hacker can attack a computer network from computer systems located in foreign nations far removed from the threat of United States or other law enforcement.
As the complexity and effectiveness of anti-virus and anti-intrusion methods has increased, so has the creativity of the hackers. Conventionally, a multitude of specially designed computer programs exist that have the potential to damage computer system and the networks with which they communicate. For example, conventional viruses exist that infect program files, infect the boot sector of disk drives, execute under the guise of a macro, operate as worms or Trojan Horses, as memetic viruses, or use some other method to infect targeted systems. Each type of virus functions in an at least a somewhat different manner, making them collectively harder to fight.
For example, a "classic" virus is a computer program that instructs the computer to do something harmful. The classic virus can also replicate itself and spread from one computer to another. A worm can be an even more dangerous iteration of the classic virus. Many conventional viruses spread across a network by attaching themselves to legitimate messages or programs. A worm, however, does not need to attach itself to a specific computer program. Instead, a worm copies itself across computer systems and networks without attaching to a host program. In contrast, the Trojan Horse programs appear to do something desirable, but also perform a harmful secondary function. A common example is a Trojan Horse program that secretly steals passwords from an unsuspecting user.
The need for better Internet security has never been greater. In 2000, viruses caused $17.1 billion in damages (Reuters, Aug. 31, 2001, http://www.cs.nmt.edu/˜cs491—02/IA/viruscost.htm). Eradication of these programs can be very expensive. For example, according to Computer Economics, the "Love Bug" virus cost $8.75 billon to eradicate, the "Code Red" virus cost $2.62 billion, the "SirCam" virus cost $1.15 billion, and the "Nimda" virus cost $635 million (http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/16407.html). The major costs of virus cleanup include cleaning up infected machines, eradicating viruses, user downtime, and associated losses in productivity.
According to BusinessWeek Online, there are more than 36,000 known viruses and an average of 10-15 new viruses appear every day (http://www.internetnanager.com/productfamily/antivirus.shtml). Therefore, Internet security issues will continue to affect the financial health of commercial entities for the foreseeable future. A need exists to eliminate or at the very least minimize the effects of these conventional harmful computer programs.
Various conventional methods exist to control and eliminate computer viruses and other harmful programs. For example, anti-virus protection software can neutralize certain conventional viruses. When a virus is present on a computer system, the anti-virus software detects it. However, the effectiveness of the anti-virus software depends on how up-to-date the installed version of the software is on the computer system. One problem with these programs is that they rely on individual users to download current versions of the anti-virus software onto their systems. However, individual users, whose primary job function is not computer and network security and maintenance, tend not to actively update their computers for anti-virus software. Therefore, relying on individual users to update their anti-virus software is not an effective method to combat viruses and other harmful programs. Furthermore, if the virus software is outdated, a new virus that infects the user's computer may escape detection. If the virus goes undetected, when the user accesses an internal or external network server, the user may very well infect the server as well as any computers connected to a network to which the server is connected.
One conventional solution for the problem of maintaining effective virus protection is to assign a system administrator for a computer network to the task of monitoring anti-virus updates as they become available from the vendor. When they become available, the system administrator distributes the anti-virus software to individuals' computers without the active participation of the individual. The network administrator may utilize a centralized software management system to perform these updates. The centralized software management system distributes, updates and probes the computers on a network and automatically installs updates as directed by the system administrator. Examples of such management systems include, but are not limited to, Simple Network Management Tool, Novell IPX, Microsoft SMS, HP Open View, and IBM SNA.
Typically, these software management systems inventory the current software on each individual computer, allow distribution, extraction and updating of software from a central location, monitor the network for problems and provide other methods that enable effective network management. Therefore, when using a centralized software management system, a dedicated system administrator would automatically update the computer to make sure that the virus program was current. Thus, the need for each user at each terminal to replicate this task is eliminated. Conventional systems focus on performing virus checks using these centralized software management systems to probe, monitor and update the network. Therefore, centralized software management systems achieve methods for network security. However, centralized software management systems are often expensive to implement and still rely on the system administrator to update the virus software.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,298,445 (the '445 patent) describes using a centralized management software system. The '445 patent describes a probe that monitors the system for security breaches and for security vulnerabilities. According to the '445 patent, the monitoring system assesses the operating systems of various computers and monitors the network for security vulnerabilities. Once the system administrator determines that enhancements are necessary, a push system sends the software enhancements to each system electronically.
However, not all computer networks have a network administrator who constantly updates individual computers' virus software. As the popularity and installed base of virtual private networks (VPN) increase, so does the risk of having unmanaged computers connected to the network. VPN systems are becoming increasingly popular because they provide cost savings by replacing more costly dedicated leased lines with secure connections across a public network. Furthermore, VPN systems do not require permanent links between sites, an advantage for users who need to travel. Unfortunately, with this freedom comes risk. If a remote computer becomes infected with a virus and accesses the VPN before receiving anti-virus software updates, the remote computer may infect the entire network.
A company may have other reasons for not utilizing a centralized software management system for managing every computer. For example, the cost of purchasing and implementing a centralized software management system may be prohibitive. Alternatively, a company may voluntarily choose not to link certain people's computers to the network because of the fear of compromising sensitive information present on certain computer systems. Therefore, in the absence of a centralized software management system, network security relies on individual users updating the virus protection programs on individual computers. In the absence of a diligent user performing these updates, harmful computer programs have an opportunity to attack an entire network. Thus, a solution is needed in which user security is maintained without the need for implementing a centralized software management system.
Another conventional solution to protect networks involves screening every data packet across the network for viruses and other harmful programs. U.S. Pat. No. 6,219,786 (the '786 patent) describes such a system. In the '786 patent, as data packets are transmitted throughout the network, each packet is analyzed at decision nodes distributed throughout the network. The decision nodes confirm if the user has the necessary security clearance to access/transmit that data across the network and check if the data packet has any viruses. If a virus is located in a data packet, the system alerts the user who is transmitting the virus. However, the system disclosed in the '786 patent requires decision nodes to screen every data packet transmitted across the network for viruses. For large networks, checking every data packet in every electronic transmission is impractical and cumbersome.
When a user accesses the Internet, the user is really accessing a computer server that contains the website. In principle, when accessing web pages or accessing a company server, the user is performing the same function, the user is accessing a server that contains the information the user wants. Users access servers or websites by many means. A user can access a website by a dedicated remote link or use an Internet browser and specify the address of the web page. The web page address merely directs the data packet to a computer server that contains the particular web page. Therefore, when the user requests to go to a particular website, the user is really specifying which file on a server the user wishes to access.
None of the conventional approaches to anti-virus protection provides a means of efficiently and effectively monitoring virus compliance of users whose systems are not maintained by a system administrator and without monitoring every data packet that is transmitted across the network. Such a means is needed.

Systems and methods for determining anti-virus protection status


The present invention discloses an antiinflamatory agent or immunosuppressant that contains as its active ingredient a peptide that inhibits phosphorylation of I.kappa.B.alpha., an example of which is the peptide having the following amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 1): Met-Leu-Pro-Glu-Ser-Glu-Asp-Glu-Glu-Ser-Tyr-Asp-Thr-Glu-Ser-Glu-Phe-Thr-Gl u-Phe-Thr-Glu-Asp-Glu-Leu.

A region referred to as .kappa.B and usually composed of 10 nucleotides was clearly shown to promote gene transcription activity as a part of an enhancer by analysis of the protein-binding region in the enhancer region of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and antibody .kappa. light chain. When the transcription regulating protein, nuclear factor .kappa.B (NF.kappa.B) binds to this region, transcription of gene downstream from the .kappa.B region is promoted (Gilmore, T. & Morin, P. J.: Trends in Genetics (1993) 9, 427-432).
According to a study using a pre-B cell line, 70Z/3 cells, and Hela cells, it is known that these cells contain in their cytoplasm NF.kappa.B that does not have any DNA binding activity, and that by phorbol ester stimulation, the DNA binding activity is derepressed causing NF.kappa.B to translocate into the nucleus (Baeuerle, P. A. & Baltimore, D.: Cell (1988) 53, 211-217).
NF.kappa.B is a heterodimeric or homodimeric transcription factor comprising two subunits (p50, p65), and is induced by various stimuli. It is currently estimated to be involved in the transcription activity of more than 20 genes (Baeuerle, P. A.: Biochim. Biophys. Acta (1991) 1072; 63-80).
NF.kappa.B is also located upstream from the cytokine genes of Interleukin-8, Interleukin-1.beta., tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-.alpha., Interleukin-6 and Interleukin-2 as well as cyclooxygenase-2 (Kujubu, D. A. et al., J. Biol. Chem. (1991) 266, 12866-12872) or 5-lipoxygenase (Hoshiko, S. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. (1990) 87, 9073-9077; Chopra, A. et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. (1992) 185, 489-495), which are enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of metabolites of the arachidonic acid cascade, mediators of inflammations, and the genes of adhesion factors such as ELAM-1 (endothelial leukocyte adhesion molecule-1) (Hooft van Huijsduijnen, R. et al., J. Biol. Chem. (1992) 267, 22385-22391) and VCAM-1 (Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1) (Iademarco, M. F. et al., J. Biol. Chem. (1992) 267, 16323-16329). NF.kappa.B is considered to be involved in the control of the transcription of these genes.
The action of steroids, which are currently used as antiinflammatory agents (Mukaida, N. et al., J. Biol. Chem. (1994) 269, 13289-13295) and the powerful immunosuppressant, FK-506 (Okamoto, S.-i. et al., J. Biol. Chem. (1994) 269, 8582-8589) is suggested to at least involve an inhibition of the activation of NF.kappa.B. In the cytoplasm, NF.kappa.B binds with protein I.kappa.B.alpha., which inhibits the function of NF.kappa.B, resulting in inhibition of its activation (Inoue, J-I. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (1992) 89, 4333-4337; Hatada, E. et al., EMBO (1993) 12, 2781-2788).
Zabel, U. et al. reported to have isolated I.kappa.B.alpha. as a 37 kDa homogeneous protein from human placenta (Cell (1990) 61, 255-265). This was followed by the isolation of the cDNA of human I.kappa.B.alpha. (Sporn, S. A. et al., J. Immunol. (1990) 144, 4434-4441; Haskill, S. et al., Cell (1991) 65, 1281-1289, see WO 92-20795).
I.kappa.B.alpha. not only inhibits the binding of NF.kappa.B to DNA, but also inhibits the translocation of NF.kappa.B into the nucleus (Baeuerle, P. A. & Baltimore, B. Science (1988) 242, 540-546). I.kappa.B.alpha. has been clearly shown to be phosphorylated in response to various stimuli such as TNF.alpha. and so forth.
NF.kappa.B translocates into the nucleus and binds to the protein-binding site on DNA as a result of phosphorylation or degradation of I.kappa.B.alpha. in this manner or by phosphorylation of the proteins comprising NF.kappa.B, followed by activation of the transcription of genes located downstream (Baeuerle, P. A.: Biochim. Biophys. Acta (1991) 1072, 63-80). Although the above-mentioned mechanism is known to occur at the time of activation of NF.kappa.B, the enzyme group that phosphorylates NF.kappa.B and I.kappa.B.alpha. in vivo, the phosphorylation site and its detailed mechanism have not been determined.

Peptide suppressing I.kappa.B.alpha. phosphorylation


Provided is a method of manufacturing a wire gird polarizer. The method includes sequentially stacking a conductive wire layer and a first neutral layer, forming guide patterns, reducing widths of the guide patterns and patterning the first neutral layer, forming a second neutral layer, applying a first block copolymer, arranging the first block copolymer as a first monomer block and a second monomer block, removing one of the first monomer block and the second monomer block, removing the second neutral layer exposed, removing the remaining monomer block and the guide patterns, applying a second block copolymer, arranging the second block copolymer as a third monomer block and a fourth monomer block, removing one of the third monomer block and the fourth monomer block, and patterning the conductive wire layer to thereby form conductive wire patterns.

1. Field Inventive Concept
The present inventive concept relates to a method of manufacturing a wire grid polarizer.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, an array of parallel conducting wires in which parallel conductor wires are arranged in order to polarize only specific polarized light in electromagnetic waves may be called a wire grid.
A wire grid structure having a cycle shorter than a wavelength of corresponding light may have polarizing characteristics in which the wire grid structure may reflect light vibrating in a direction parallel to the wire direction while pass through light vibrating in a direction perpendicular to the wire direction. This type of polarizer is advantageous in that reflected polarized light may be reused, as compared to an absorbing type polarizer.
As demand for the miniaturization and compactification of devices has been continuously made, the development of a fine pattern process has been required. In particular, in order to develop various types of the next generation nano-scale devices, manufacturing nano-scale patterns having a large area with a high density through a process requiring a relatively inexpensive cost may be important.
Until now, photolithography technologies such as I-line, ArF and the like have been mainly used. However, there is a limitation in manufacturing patterns having a size of about 25 nm or less. Further, photolithography technologies for forming the wire grid polarizer have problem in that regions covered with photoresist remain unpatterned.

Method of manufacturing wire grid polarizer


A liquid coating composition, comprising (a) from about 5 to 100 percent of resin solids of a mixture of (i) a substantially saturated polyhydroxylated polydiene polymer, having terminal hydroxyl groups, and (ii) a chlorinated polyolefin, wherein the weight of the polydiene polymer is between about 5 and 95 percent of the total weight of the mixture of polyhydroxylated polydiene polymer and chlorinated polyolefin; (b) about 0 to about 95 percent by weight of resin solids of a film forming polymer selected from liquid and carrier-reducible film forming polymers; and (c) a carrier material. The liquid coating composition can be solvent-based or aqueous based and can additionally contain at least on pigment. The liquid coating composition can be coated onto plastic substrates to improve the adhesion of subsequently applied coatings and to substantially improve the solvent resistance, especially to gasoline, of the finally coated plastic part.

The present invention relates to coatings compositions for thermoplastic and thermosetting plastic materials and the coated plastic articles.
Plastic materials such as thermoplastic olefin (TPO) have been developed which are useful in many applications, such as automobile parts and accessories, containers, household appliances, and other commercial items. It is often desirable to coat articles made from such plastic materials with organic coating compositions to decorate them or to protect the plastic materials from degradation when exposed to atmospheric weathering conditions such as sunlight, moisture, heat and cold. To achieve longer lasting and more durable parts, it is necessary for the coatings to be tightly adhered to the surface of the plastic.
Plastic substrates made from a variety of thermoplastic and thermosetting plastic materials have widely varying surface properties including surface tension, roughness, and flexibility, which make it difficult to achieve adequate adhesion of the organic coatings to such materials, particularly after aging or environmental exposure of the plastic materials. The problems are particularly difficult in automotive applications where in addition to the requirement that decorative and protective coatings adhere well to the plastic substrate, there are other requirements which are difficult to achieve. In respect to the utilization of thermoplastic polyolefin substrates, these requirements include a high degree of resistance of the finally coated part to organic solvents, particularly gasoline, and a high degree of resistance of any hardened coating to humidity.
A number of proposals have been made for overcoming the adhesion problem ranging from flame or corona pretreatments to the application of various primer compositions containing chlorinated polyolefins to the plastic polyolefin substrate. Some examples of chlorinated polyolefins for use in coating compositions can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,997,882; 5,319,032; and 5,397,602.
However, while such techniques have achieved a fair measure of success with respect to the adhesion problem, there remain various disadvantages such that the goal, for example, of achieving a desired combination of excellent adhesion, solvent resistance, particularly to gasoline, and humidity resistance in an advantageously economic manner has remained elusive.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a coating composition for use on thermoplastic polyolefin substrates that provides excellent adhesion, humidity resistance, and solvent resistance, particularly to gasoline.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a thermoplastic polyolefin article coated with the coating composition of this invention.

Coating composition for plastic substrates and coated plastic articles


For coordinated multipoint transmission arrangements there is provided a device, including a controller module, configured to control a plurality of transmission points, each constituted by a set of at least one transmit antenna, to transmit data to another device in a coordinated transmission from at least a subset of the plurality of transmission points, wherein each subset with resources allocated thereto defines a respective coordinated transmission scheme, wherein the controller module is configured to transmit information on resources pertaining to multiple coordinated transmission schemes, and send at least one biasing parameter associated to at least one of the transmission schemes, to be applied for biasing a channel quality parameter. Another device includes a controller module, configured to report feedback responsive to such coordinated transmission, and the controller module is, among others, configured to apply the at least one biasing parameter to derived channel quality parameters.

Mobile data transmission and data services are constantly making progress. With the increasing penetration of such services, data throughput and transmission reliability find more and more attention.
Under one aspect, investigation is made in scenarios for mobile communication which comprise a plurality of transmission points, each constituted by a set of at least one transmit antenna, for transmitting data to another device in a coordinated transmission from at least a subset of the plurality of transmission points.
It should be noted that concepts outlined in connection with the present invention are generally independent of any particular communication standard; rather, they are generally applicable to a variety of compatible standards. In order to properly describe the concept(s), however, for explanatory purposes only and without any intention to limit the applicability of the concept(s) introduced in the specification to a particular standard, those concept(s) are described with reference to an example scenario. As the example scenario, LTE (Long Term Evolution) and/or LTE-A (LTE-Advanced) was chosen for the network infrastructure.
That is, e.g. in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), single cell single-user (SU-) and multi-user (MU-) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) network performance is interference-limited, especially at the cell edge.
Therefore, introduction of the coordinated multipoint (CoMP) transmission/reception technology has been considered, where in downlink (from a network device such as an eNB (evolved NodeB) towards a terminal such as a user equipment UE), multiple points cooperate in scheduling and transmission in order to strengthen the desired signal and to mitigate inter-cell interference.
According to e.g. the 3GPP technical report (TR) on CoMP, TR36.819, a point is defined as a set of geographically co-located transmit antennas and the sectors of the same site correspond to different points. It should be noted that a cell is formed by one or multiple points.
The above mentioned CoMP TR was approved after a recent RAN meeting. The agreed CoMP working item definition proposes the following focus for the CoMP work during a subsequent release (e.g. Rel-11):
"The work for specifying CoMP support in Rel-11 should focus on                Joint transmission (JT)        Dynamic point selection (DPS), including dynamic point blanking        Coordinated scheduling/beamforming (CS/CB), including dynamic point blanking".
In joint transmission (JT) CoMP, two or more points transmit simultaneously to a CoMP user. Dynamic point selection (DPS) on the other hand refers to a scheme where the transmission point is switched according to changes in signal strength. In coordinated beamforming/scheduling (CB/CS), in turn, the scheduling decisions of neighbor points are coordinated in order to reduce interference. In principle, all schemes may include blanking/muting which means that one or more transmission points are blanked/muted (switched off or not used for transmission) to decrease the interference.
The agreed CoMP working item targets specification of intra-cell and inter-cell DL CoMP schemes which operate in homogeneous and heterogeneous configurations. Four main scenarios have been studied so far: intra-site (scenario 1), inter-site with high power remote radio head (RRH) (scenario 2), low power RRH within the coverage of the macro cell, without and with the same cell ID (scenarios 3 and 4, respectively).
CoMP working item addresses both frequency division duplex FDD and time division duplex TDD. Hence, unified solutions should be targeted, as it is always the case in LTE specifications.
CoMP is intended to improve the performance of cell edge users, as especially at cell edge the performance is interference limited. A CoMP measurement set is formed by M cells/points for which the UE is measuring channel state information. The reporting set has been limited to N cells/points defining the number of points for which CSI feedback is reported. A common assumption has been that the CoMP reporting set is formed by two to three points. Also the CoMP reporting set could be equivalent to the CoMP measurement set. The number of points involved in CoMP scheme (cooperation set) does not need to be signaled to the UE or mentioned in specifications but is left for network implementation. The point from which the UE would receive transmission in single-cell mode is defined as the serving point.
In Release 10, different reference signals (RS) were defined for CSI estimation and data demodulation purposes. Namely, channel state information reference symbols (CSI-RS) and demodulation reference symbols (DM-RS).
Such reference symbols are assigned to (specific) physical resource elements RE within physical resource blocks PRB. A resource element RE is represented by a time slot and a frequency (bandwidth) assigned to it within the frequency-time domain. A plurality (defined number) of resource elements in frequency/bandwidth domain form a physical resource block PRB (in frequency domain), and a plurality of PRBs are present within a channel.
PDSCH (Physical downlink shared channel) resource element muting is also specified, allowing for multi-cell channel estimation. The baseline feedback has been agreed to be implicit feedback which consists of rank indicator (RI), precoding matrix index (PMI) and a channel quality indicator (CQI). Hence, the UE estimates the channel, selects rank and PMI and calculates the post-processing (after receiver) SINR (signal to interference noise ratio) and derives the CQI based on that. CQI may be seen as indicative of the post processing SINR. Release 10 feedback operates per point. The CoMP specific flavors are that a UE may receive CSI-RS resources from more than one point and it is possible to design aggregated (over multiple CSI-RS resources) or per point (per CSI-RS resource) feedback. The per-point PMIs may be improved by a combiner feedback that may be an inter-point phase and/or amplitude value.
Table 1 summarizes the feedback and channel estimation options for each CoMP scheme.
TABLE 1Feedback for different CoMP schemesCS/CB +JTDPS + mutingmutingFeedback1) Per pointPer pointPer pointPMI/CQI (+PMI/CQI +PMI/CQI orcombiner)point selection +CS/CB +2) Per point PMIpossiblemuting specific(+combiner) +mutingadditionalaggregated CQI +indicationfeedbackserving pointCQI3) AggregatedPMI/CQI +serving pointPMI/CQIChannelPer point CSI-RSPer point CSI-Serving pointestimationor aggregatedRSCSI-RS +single CSI-RSpossibly otherpatternpoint CSI-RS
During a recent RAN meeting, the following working assumption was agreed:
"Definition: "CSI-RS resource" here refers to a combination of "resourceConfig" and "subframeConfig" which are configured by higher layers.
Standardize a common feedback/signaling framework suitable for scenarios 1-4 that can support CoMP JT, DPS and CS/CB. Feedback scheme to be composed from one or more of the following, including at least one of the first 3 sub-bullets:                feedback aggregated across multiple CSI-RS resources        per-CSI-RS-resource feedback with inter-CSI-RS-resource feedback        per-CSI-RS-resource feedback        per cell Rel-8 CRS-based feedback
Note that use of SRS sounding reference signal (SRS) used in uplink measurement may be taken into account when reaching further agreements on the above."
The CoMP problem relates mostly to the CQI feedback. The CQI is used by the eNB to perform adaptive modulation and coding which means the transmission rate is adapted based on channel conditions. Accuracy of the CQI value affects greatly on the system performance, especially if the CQI is overestimated and too high transmission rate is assigned which is not supported by the actual radio link. The CQI depends on the transmission hypotheses made by UE at a given time. For example:                When reporting an aggregated JT CQI, UE assumes combined transmission from N points to the UE,        When reporting a DPS CQI without muting, UE assumes transmission from a selected transmission point and interference from other transmission points,        When reporting a DPS CQI with muting, UE assumes transmission from one point and zero interference from points that are assumed to be muted,        When reporting CQI for CS/CB, UE assumes transmission from one point and reduced interference or muting from other transmission points.
In addition to the transmission hypothesis, the CQI value depends on the hypothesis of the interference.
Generally, current activities in CoMP related research target to designing common feedback for the CoMP schemes.
In current TR 36.819, which was agreed after a recent RAN1 meeting, a baseline feedback is individual per-point feedback with or without complementary inter-point feedback. Several contributions indicate the need of unified feedback, though several contributions did not present any possible solutions but only stated a viewpoint in terms of a need of a unified solution.
Further, a hierarchical feedback structure to support CS/CB, DPS and JT CoMP was presented. In this regard, proposed is a fallback feedback for serving cell and additionally RI/PMI/CQI to other points, and if JT is configured, also inter-point phase and/or amplitude. The PMI reports to other points support CS/CB as such, and the per point CQIs are assumed to support also the possible JT transmission using eNB implementation-based CQI adaptation mechanisms. However, thus no aggregated CQI for JT is discussed. Muting assumptions for the CQIs were not discussed and additional feedback to support dynamic muting (blanking) was left for further study (FFS).
Another contribution proposes, for JT, a per CSI-RS resource feedback and aggregated CQI corresponding to JT hypothesis. For DPS, per point (CSI-RS resource) CQI is proposed based on which network decides the transmission point. Additionally, CQIs for different muting options may or may not be required as the CQI for muting can also be approximated by the eNB. For CS/CB the other resource PMI feedback is the required support. It is concluded that the per resource CSI-RS feedback with possible enhanced interference estimates supports a seamless mixture of all the CoMP categories.
However; a concrete CQI feedback design is not presented in that contribution. Either the UE reports both, aggregated CQI for JT and per resource CQIs for DPS, or the CQI reporting mode is configured by the network.
In another contribution, studies are made on different assumptions for CQI calculations for per point CQI reporting with the assumption that from N per point CQIs the eNB derives the CoMP CQI.
Still further, there is a proposal to have per point CQI/PMI feedback with possible combiner feedback to support both, DPS and JT CoMP. The muting option in the CQI calculations remained unconsidered.
An analysis on the performance of JT CoMP with different feedback assumptions was presented in another contribution. The conclusions from that simulations is that non-coherent JT with aggregated CQI can achieve similar performance as coherent JT (with aggregated CQI). Thus, in that scenario, the per point CQIs and the aggregated CQI may not have the same value for JT CoMP performance.
Further contributions are related to CoMP CQI. Several thereof did not discuss the CQI derivation details. Others presented equations on how the eNB can derive the CQI for joint transmission from per point CQIs with a given assumption on interference. The assumptions on how the UE would estimate the interference level for the per-point CQIs was not considered.
Still other contributions discuss measurement objectives as follows "Observation 1: for each CoMP scheme, considering the coordination method, the interference should: Include signals from all the points/cells outside of the transmission set or coordination set; consider the actual resource elements causing interference to the PDSCH; not include signals from the point/cell the UE assumes as transmitting the PDSCH; not include signals from the point/cell with blanking on some or all resource elements"; but no concrete scheme for measurement is shown.
For example in the case of CS/CB, coordination between points reduces the level of interference, though the level of interference reduction is typically not known by the UE.
For describing the problem this invention relates to, the following shall be considered.
The terminal device UE is able to measure the interference and evaluate the channel quality indicators (CQIs) for different CoMP schemes (hence under respective different CoMP hypothesis) and to subsequently pick (or determine for selection and reporting towards the network device eBB) the best CoMP scheme for the UE. ("Best" in the sense that the selected CoMP scheme optimizes the UE's communication "experience" e.g. in terms of highest data rate/throughput, lowest interference or the like).
However, from UE perspective, certain CoMP schemes, e.g. joint transmission, might always be better than the other available schemes. On the other hand, from the perspective of the whole system (represented by the eNB for example) it might be more beneficial to utilize e.g. dynamic point selection or CS/CB (rather than joint transmission (JT) preferred by the UE).
Hence, the system performance might not be fully optimized. Several options for CQI computation and reporting are possible that may avoid such situation:
1) Use of Multiple CQI Values in Reporting:
One would report CQIJT and (one or more) CQInon-JT, covering multiple CQI hypothesis. Hence, in this case, the UE would report CQIs for multiple schemes, but let the eNB decide which to use. CQnon-JT may be computed also as a delta CQI compared to CQIJT. However, from feedback perspective, multiple CQIs (or differences delta between the multitude of CQI values) need to be transmitted. This implies an increased overhead on the feedback (uplink control) channels.
2) Use of a RRC Configured CQI Type
In this case, the eNB would indicate the specific (single) hypothesis for which the CQI needs to be computed. As to computation complexity, the complexity involved is the one resulting for only one hypothesis CQI calculation, and also from the feedback perspective, only one CQI would have to be transmitted. However, flexibility to utilize different schemes and to use those more dynamically based on current interference situations the UE sees, is then lost.
Thus, existing and/or discussed systems for CoMP still leave it unaddressed to control the selection of the CoMP transmission scheme applied at a given time (for transmission from an eNB towards a UE).
Thus, there is still a need to further improve such systems.

Devices and methods related to improvements in coordinated multipoint transmission arrangements


One embodiment of the present invention is a protein having affinity for an immunoglobulin, which is a protein having two or more domains derived from any of the amino acid sequences of E, D, and A domains of protein A, and in the amino acid sequence of at least one of the domains, one or more lysines are included, and the C-terminal lysine is deleted or substituted, or a protein having affinity for an immunoglobulin, which is a protein having two or more domains derived from any of B, C, and Z domains of protein A, and in the amino acid sequence of at least one of the domains, one or more lysines are included, and lysine at position 4 and the C-terminal lysine are deleted or substituted.

An antibody has a function to specifically bind to a substance called "antigen", and also has a function to detoxify and remove a factor having antigenicity in cooperation with another biomolecule or a cell. The name of "antibody" is a name that centers on the function to bind to such an antigen, and is called "immunoglobulin" as a substance.
Recently, as the progress of genetic engineering, protein engineering, and cell engineering, a pharmaceutical product utilizing the function of an antibody called "antibody preparation" has been actively developed. The antibody preparation acts on a target molecule more specifically than conventional preparations, and therefore is expected to further reduce adverse effects, and also to obtain a high therapeutic effect, and actually contributes to the improvement of various pathological conditions.
On the other hand, the antibody preparation is administered to a living body at a high dose, and therefore, it is said that the effect of the purity thereof on the quality is large as compared with other recombinant protein pharmaceutical products. Due to this, in order to produce an antibody with high purity, a method such as affinity chromatography utilizing an adsorption material using a molecule which specifically binds to an antibody as a ligand is generally employed.
What has been developed as an antibody preparation is basically a monoclonal IgG antibody, which is produced in a large amount using a recombinant cultured cell technique or the like, and purified by utilizing a protein having affinity for an IgG antibody.
As an immunoglobulin-binding protein having affinity for an IgG antibody, protein A is well known. Protein A is a kind of cell wall protein produced by a Gram-positive bacterium, Staphylococcus aureus, and is constituted by a signal sequence S, five immunoglobulin-binding domains (E domain, D domain, A domain, B domain, and C domain), and an XM region which is a cell wall-binding domain (NPL 1). In an initial purification step (capture step) in an antibody preparation production step, a column for affinity chromatography formed by immobilizing Protein A as a ligand on a water-insoluble support is generally used.
In order to improve the performance of this column for affinity chromatography, recently, various developments on Protein A to serve as a ligand have been conducted, and an attempt to use recombinant Protein A modified by protein engineering has been made.
For example, as the recombinant Protein A, Protein A in which the XM region with no immunoglobulin-binding activity has been removed (rProtein A Sepharose (registered trademark), manufactured by GE health care, Japan), Protein A having Z domain which is a modified domain obtained by introducing a mutation into B domain disclosed in PTL 1, and the like are known.
The Z domain is a modified domain obtained by introducing a mutation into the B domain such that glycine at position 29 is substituted with alanine, and is known to have higher alkali resistance than the B domain. In this manner, in order to improve the ligand function, recombinant Protein A having enhanced alkali resistance, and recombinant Protein A capable of eluting an antibody at a weak acidic pH have been developed.
In PTL 2, in order to enhance alkali resistance, an affinity chromatography ligand including a deletion of 3 to 5 successive amino acids at the N t nus of C, B, and Z domains of Protein A is disclosed.
In PTL 3, in order to enhance alkali stability, an affinity chromatography ligand having a sequence in which Asn-Lys-Phe-Asn at positions 3-6 of a domain C unit of Protein A is deleted is disclosed.
In PTL 4, in order to enhance alkali resistance, an immunoglobulin-binding protein in which asparagine at positions 3 and 6 of B and Z domains of Protein A is substituted with another amino acid is disclosed.
In PTL 5, in order to enable antibody desorption at a weak acidic pH, an antibody recognition and binding protein having a sequence in which lysine and cysteine residues are not included in E, D, A, B, and C domains of Protein A is disclosed.

Protein having affinity for immunoglobulin, affinity separation agent and column for liquid chromatography using the same