A chuck drive system, especially for a rotating clamping device of a machine tool, includes a rotating chuck cylinder, a stationary frame positioned adjacent the chuck cylinder, and a piston which subdivides the cylinder into two pressure chambers and is formed with a piston rod having one end rotatably supported in the stationary frame. Fluid under pressure is supplied to the pressure chambers, whereby check valves are positioned in the passageways to the pressure chambers to maintain the fluid pressure in the pressure chambers. In order to monitor the fluid pressure in the pressure chambers, a pressure monitoring unit is provided which includes pressure sensors that are respectively assigned to the pressure chambers for determining the fluid pressure in the pressure chambers separately and independently from one another. The pressure sensors form electrical output signals commensurate with the fluid pressure in the pressure chambers, with the monitoring unit deriving from the output signals an analog differential pressure signal to determine the actual actuation force applied upon the piston.

The present invention relates to a chuck drive system, especially for a rotating clamping device of a machine tool, and is directed in particular to a chuck drive system of a type including a rotating chuck cylinder receiving a piston subdividing the cylinder in two pressure chambers and having a piston rod rotatably supported in a stationary headstock, with the pressure chambers being supplied with a fluid under pressure via passageways through the piston rod, and with check valves being positioned in the fluid passageways for sealing the pressure chambers.
In general, a chuck is attached to the drive spindle of a machine tool and used to grip and actively engage a revolving workpiece, cutting tool, drill, tool holder etc., via a collet, whereby a displacement of the chuck in an axial direction between an advanced position and a withdrawn position will cause the collet to release or clamp the workpiece, cutting tool or the like. The pull-in and push-out forces are transmitted by the chuck most conveniently through supply of compressed oil to the pressure chambers by a stationary hydraulic mechanism by which the velocity of the piston and the pressure acting upon the piston is determined. In order to maintain and control these forces during rotation of the chuck, hydraulic fluid is continuously supplied to the opposing pressure chambers of the rotating cylinder via the headstock which runs with contactless gap seals. The clamping pressure is maintained through continuous supply of pressure fluid, e.g. compressed oil, during operation of the drive spindle, whereby leakage oil escaping from the sealing gaps represents a source of loss. A further source of loss is the viscous friction of oil within the sealing gaps which friction increases by the square of the rotational speed. Both these energy losses limit the application range of the conventional headstock and consequently the range of attainable rotational speeds and clamping forces.
German publication no. DE-OS 24 19 808 and European Pat. No. 0 220 134 B1 disclose chuck drive systems in which each of the pressure chambers can be hermetically sealed off by mutually unblocking check valves so that the supply of pressure fluid can be effectively shut off during operation of the cylinder. For safety reasons, the pressure inside the sealed-off pressure chambers must be continuously monitored. In order to minimize energy losses in the headstock, it is further necessary to ensure that pressure fluid is substantially purged from the sealing gaps during operation of e.g. the drive spindle, once the supply of pressure fluid is cut.
Conventionally, the clamping pressure inside the pressure chamber is monitored by mechanically operating devices in form of spring-biased floating secondary pistons positioned in the pressure chambers and securely joined together via a linkage for axially movement in unison with a ring which functions as a control disk. A fixed section of the drive supports a position sensor for axial displacement. Upon drop of the clamping pressure, the ring-shaped control disk is displaced which in turn is sensed by the position sensor which can be adjusted to the clamping pressure being monitored through axial displacement. Such a pressure control is not fully automatic since the operator is required to reset the position sensor by hand after the clamping pressure is adjusted in dependence on the workpiece. Consequently, the actions of the operator introduce a significant safety risk.
A further drawback of conventional chuck drive systems is their inability to differentiate between the prevalent pressures in the pressure chambers. In case a desired clamping pressure is effected in one of the pressure chambers while a residual pressure is still present in the other pressure chamber, only the difference in the two pressures is applied as a force to the piston rod, which means that only this resulting force is crucial for the force applied upon the piston rod. A residual pressure in the pressure chamber may be caused e.g. by a mechanical defect of the check valve which seals this pressure chamber and then fails to open. Conventional pressure monitoring systems are, however, unable to distinguish as to whether the desired clamping pressure is effected only in one pressure chamber or whether a residual pressure is still present in the other pressure chamber. Theoretically, a situation may be encountered in which the residual pressure reaches the desired clamping pressure so that the force applied to the chuck is effectively zero. Conventional pressure monitoring systems cannot recognize this extremely precarious operating state of the chuck cylinder but would simply indicate that the desired clamping pressure is applied. This is one of the reasons why such chuck cylinders have not yet been commercially implemented.
Also, since in conventional pressure monitoring systems only one position sensor is provided for both pressure chambers, this sensor will, of course, not recognize which of the pressure chambers experiences a build up of pressure and in which direction the piston rod will travel as a result. For the control of the machine tool, it is, however, important to receive confirmation that the piston rod travels in the desired direction and to know whether the piston rod applies a pull or a push force for actuating, e.g. a chuck.
In order to minimize energy losses during operation, German publication no. DE-OS 24 19 808 proposes to purge the oil from the gap seals in the headstock with compressed air. This requires however an additional energy source as well as separate valves, and separate annular grooves must be formed within the headstock. The air-oil mist which is created when the gap seal is purged, may in fact be impossible to control, since labyrinth seals as commonly used in these headstocks are ineffective when stationary.
European Pat. No. 0 220 124 B1 also describes a proposal to purge compressed oil from the gap seals by incorporating between the headstock (headstock frame) and the revolving part (spindle body) of the chuck cylinder a transmission block which is pressed against the chuck cylinder in axial direction only when hydraulic fluid is being introduced into one of the two pressure chambers. After the pressure chamber is filled, the transmission block is returned to its initial position by springs. The incorporation of the transmission block significantly complicates the hydraulic system which already is substantial as a result of the monitoring system. Moreover, the overall structural dimensions are increased and are hardly practicable to meet demanded space limitations. In addition, it would be difficult to determine the magnitude of the required contact force for the transmission block. While an excessive force results in an inadmissible metallic contact between the transmission block and the wall surface of the chuck cylinder, a force that is too small leads to excessive energy losses during transmission of pressure. In this way, the functionality of the system can become uncontrollable.

Chuck drive system, especially for a rotating clamping device of a machine tool


A docking device for receiving a portable computer is disclosed. The docking device includes a device housing and a charging connector that is provided on a side surface of the device housing and is connected to a battery connector of a battery pack in order to charge the battery pack. The charging connector is connectable to the battery connector in a state where the battery pack and the device housing are disposed on the same plane. When the charging connector and the battery connector are in a connected state and the device housing is being moved to a position within a predetermined height from the plane, the connection state between the charging connector and the battery connector is maintained. When the device housing is being moved to a position that exceeds the predetermined height from the plane, the battery connector will be separated from the charging connector due to the weight of the battery pack.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to docking devices in general, and in particular to a docking device capable of being mechanically and electrically connected to a portable computer to expand the capabilities of the portable computer.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, portable computers such as laptop personal computers (laptop PCs) have become ubiquitous. The capabilities of a laptop PC can be expanded without, compromising its portability via a docking device.
A docking device is a box-shaped appliance including various connection terminals such as a serial port and a parallel port, drives such as a CD-ROM drive and a DVD drive, and expansion slots. A connector for connecting to a connector of a laptop PC is provided on a top surface of the docking device. By mounting (docking) the laptop PC on the top surface of the docking device and connecting the connector of the laptop PC to the connector of the docking device, the capabilities of the docking device can be used as the capabilities of the laptop PC, thereby expanding the capabilities of the laptop PC.
For many laptop PCs, a packaged battery (battery pack) is detachably mounted to a laptop PC and used as a power source so that the laptop PC can be driven even in a place where commercial power is not available. In view of this, a docking device may include a function of charging a spare battery pack that is prepared separately from the battery pack mounted to the laptop PC. The docking device having the battery pack charging function includes a charging connector on its side surface, and a battery connector of the battery pack is connected to the charging connector in order to enable the battery pack to be charged.
When the docking device is being lifted by a user in a state where the battery connector is connected to the charging connector of the docking device, the battery pack leaves a plane of placement such as a desk, and as a result, the weight of the battery pack is put on the connection part with the docking device, which raises a possibility that the battery pack may drop off from the docking device. When the battery pack drops off from the docking device located at a high position and crashes to the ground, there is a danger that the battery pack may get damaged on impact.


A cover sheath includes a main body being adapted to define a channel for accommodating at least one conducting cable extending there through, and a hook and loop arrangement disposed on at least a portion of an outer surface of the main body. The main body is made of an electrically conducting material.

In aircraft construction, efforts are being made to use as load-bearing components increasingly components which are composed wholly or partly of fibre-reinforced composite materials, for example carbon fibre-reinforced plastics (CFRP). For example, DE 10 2007 062 111 A1 describes a transverse support structure which is composed of carbon fibre-reinforced plastic and serves to support the individual panels of an aircraft floor system for separating a passenger cabin from a cargo compartment arranged below the passenger cabin. Furthermore, it is known, for example from DE 10 2004 001 078 A1, to provide aircraft fuselage segments with a skin which is designed with a sandwich construction and made of fibre-reinforced composite materials. Finally, DE 10 2008 032 834 A1 and US 2010/0007056 A1 relate to a stiffening component composed of a fibre-reinforced composite material and configured in the form of an omega stringer.
Aircraft structural components which are composed wholly or partly of fibre-reinforced composite materials are not suitable for use as electrical return conductors. Further, these structural components do not provide for a shielding of conducting cables against electromagnetic radiation or lightning. In an aircraft comprising structural components made of fibre-reinforced composite materials conducting cables therefore usually are received in suitable protective shielding tubes. Moreover, additional return conductor cables are provided which may, for example, be twisted with the conducting cables and, together with the conducting cables, be received in the protective shielding tubes. The conducting cables and the return conductor cables are fastened to the aircraft structural components using screws, spacers, clamps and the like.
As an alternative, DE 10 2007 062 111 A1 proposes to design an aircraft structural component so as to comprise a hollow space forming an installation space for conducting cables. Inner surfaces of the installation space are covered by a layer of an electrically conductive material such as a metal or an electrically conductive plastic material so as to ensure a shielding of conducting cables installed in the installation space against electromagnetic radiation or lightning.

Cover sheath, fastening arrangement and method of fastening a conducting cable to a carrier component


A cooling system for an outboard motor of a marine vessel is provided. The cooling system includes an oil sump housing having an inner housing wall and an outer housing wall. The inner housing wall defines a transmission mounting cavity, and the inner housing wall and the outer housing wall defines an oil containment cavity that at least partially surrounds the transmission mounting cavity. The cooling system further includes a first sprayer nozzle and a second sprayer nozzle. Both the first sprayer nozzle and the second sprayer nozzle are coupled to the oil sump housing and configured to spray cooling fluid within the transmission mounting cavity onto an inner surface of the inner housing wall.

U.S. Pat. No. 10,336,428 discloses a marine propulsion device that has an internal combustion engine, an exhaust manifold that conveys exhaust gas from the internal combustion engine, and a cooling water sprayer that is configured to spray a flow of cooling water radially outwardly toward an inner diameter of the exhaust manifold. The cooling water sprayer has a sprayer body that is configured to convey the flow of cooling water radially into the exhaust manifold and a nozzle configured to spray the flow of cooling water radially outwardly in a fan-shaped pattern toward the inner diameter of the exhaust manifold.
U.S. Pat. No. 10,047,661 discloses a fuel module apparatus for a marine engine. The fuel module apparatus includes a housing having a fuel cavity and a fuel pump in the housing. The fuel pump is configured to pump fuel through the fuel cavity from an inlet on the housing to an outlet on the housing. A cooling fluid sprayer sprays cooling fluid onto an outer surface of the housing to thereby cool the housing and the fuel in the fuel cavity.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,808,432 discloses a cooling system for an out drive of a stern drive device that draws water from a body of water in which a marine vessel is operated and conducts the water through a conduit to an outlet end that is configured to direct a stream of water into a space which is defined under a removably attachable cover and above a surface of a heat producing portion of the out drive. The cover contains a turbulently flowing stream of water in the space in order to more efficiently conduct the water in thermal communication with the outer surface of the heat producing portion. Return passages are provided between the cover and the surface of the out drive to allow water to return, under the influence of gravity, back to the body of water from which it was drawn.
Japanese Patent No. 3,219,933 discloses an oil pan cooling structure for an outboard motor, in particular an improvement of the arrangement of the cooling water jetting nozzle to be able to wash away the salt deposited on the outer surface of the oil pan.
Each of the above patents is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An enzyme isolated from an extremophilic microbe, and a method for utilizing same is described, and wherein the enzyme displays optimum enzymatic activity at a temperature of greater than about 80° C., and a pH of less than about 2, and further may be useful in methodology including pretreatment of a biomass so as to facilitate the production of an end product.

It has long been known that it would be desirable to utilize sugars contained in cellulose and hemicellulose of lignocellulosic residues for the production of fuels and value-added chemicals in bio-refinery arrangements. Lignocellulosic residues include such materials as corn stover that consists of a heterogeneous three-dimensional matrix comprised primarily of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. It has long been known that because of the heterogeneous nature of lignocellulose, the cellulose and hemicellulose are not directly accessible to relatively large molecules such as cellulase enzymes.
Heretofore, acid pretreatment processes have been developed to hydrolyze and remove hemicellulose, and thereby increase the susceptibility of the cellulose in the matrix to cellulolytic attack by cellulase enzymes. While this approach has worked with some degree of success, it is long been known that these acid pretreatment processes have high capital and operating costs due to high temperatures and pressures required, and further produce significant amounts of toxic decomposition products depending upon the pretreatment severity provided by the process. Another shortcoming attendant with this same approach is that these same thermal decomposition products represent a loss of potential sugars that could be utilized for subsequent fermentations.
Therefore, a method for treating a biomass, and an enzyme that when utilized with a treatment process that would reduce the severity of acid pretreatments, lower the energy and capital costs to allow increased yields of hemicellulose-derived sugars and minimize the formation of toxic by-products, is the subject matter of the present application.

Enzyme and methodology for the treatment of a biomass


Systems and methods are disclosed to implement non-linear interference cancellation (NLIC) across chips or dies in communication systems to cancel or mitigate self-jamming interference. A victim transceiver may receive an analog baseband transmit (Tx) signal from an aggressor transceiver. The analog baseband Tx signal may be tapped from a digital analog converter (DAC) of the aggressor transceiver. Alternatively, the analog baseband Tx signal may be generated by the aggressor transceiver using an auxiliary down-conversion and filtering stage. The victim transceiver may receive a composite baseband Rx signal from the victim transceiver front-end. The composite baseband Rx signal includes the desired Rx signal and an interference signal. The victim transceiver may sample the analog baseband Tx signal to generate a digital signal replica of the analog baseband Tx signal for the NLIC operation to cancel or mitigate the interference signal present in the composite baseband Rx signal.

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, data, and so on. It is common to integrate multiple radios into a single communication system. For example, smartphones may have radios to support cellular communication, WiFi, GPS, and Bluetooth, etc., each operating on a different frequency band. Even for systems that have just a single radio, the radio may be a frequency division duplex (FDD) system, in which the transmit (Tx) and receive (Rx) links simultaneously operate on different frequency bands. In these systems, the strongest interference on an Rx signal may be caused by self-jamming leakage from a Tx signal that is simultaneously transmitted by the systems. For example, the Tx signal may leak to the Rx path through the finite isolation between the Tx and Rx paths. Although in a different frequency band, the Tx leakage signal may cause co-channel interference on the intended Rx signal due to non-linearities in the Rx chain. For example, non-linear behavior in the radio frequency (RF) down conversion components: such as low noise amplifier (LNA), mixer, switches, filters, data converters, etc., operating on the Tx leakage signal may generate interference in the Rx frequency band. Another scenario for Tx self-jamming arises when non-linearities present in the transmitter chain generate spectral re-growth such as harmonics of the Tx frequency that fall in the Rx frequency band. The effects of the self-jamming interference due to non-linearities of the Tx or the Rx chains are degradation in the performance of the communication systems.
If the Tx and Rx chains are on the same die, the Tx waveforms that generate the interference are known. Hence, the interference component at the victim Rx chain may be constructed via an adaptive non-linear interference cancellation (NLIC) scheme. For example, the NLIC may generate, based on the known baseband Tx signal, an estimate of the interference in the baseband Rx signal due to the Tx/Rx non-linearities. The Rx chain may remove the estimated interference from the baseband Rx signal to cancel or to mitigate the interference. In this regard, if the aggressor baseband module and victim baseband module are on the same die, NLIC may be implemented by streaming the digital baseband Tx samples from the aggressor baseband module to the victim baseband module via an internal bus or a shared memory.
However, there are situations where it may not be desirable to integrate the Tx and Rx chains, such as the aggressor baseband module and the victim baseband module, on the same die or chip. For example, integration of the Tx/Rx chains from the same radio or different radios on one transceiver die carries the risk that design bugs, design enhancements, or technology upgrade in the Tx or Rx chains may require a re-spin of the entire design. In another example, the bus/memory shared by the aggressor/victim baseband modules may become a limiting factor when the Tx and Rx chains are running at maximum speed or when trying to optimize the performance of the Tx or Rx chain. Furthermore, it may be desirable to pair Tx and Rx chipsets from different vendors together for specific feature-set requirements. Frequently, the aggressor transceiver and the victim transceiver may use different clocks. In these circumstances, the NLIC architecture complexity may become prohibitive as it would require additional modules to compensate for time drift and/or frequency drift between aggressor and victim clocks, increasing the complexity of the design. As such, there is a need for a solution to more easily implement NLIC if the aggressor and victim baseband modules are not on the same chip or on the same die.

Non-linear interference cancellation across aggressor transmitters and victim receivers


A surface having exposed doped silicon dioxide such as BPSG is cleaned with a vapor phase solution that etches thermal oxide at least one-third as fast as it etches the exposed doped silicon dioxide, resulting in more thorough cleaning with less removal of the exposed doped silicon dioxide. Specific applications to formation of container capacitors are disclosed. Preferred cleaning vapor phase solutions include about 1% water, about 5% hydrogen fluoride, and about 5% ammonias. The vapor phase solution is also useful in cleaning methods in which a refractory metal silicide is exposed to the cleaning vapor phase solution such as in cleaning prior to spacer formation or prior to a gate stack contact fill, in which case about 500 PPMV water, about 2% hydrogen fluoride, and about 2% ammonia is most preferred.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the manufacture of semiconductor devices. More particularly, the present invention is directed to methods employing vapor phase etchants for etching oxides of silicon during the manufacture of a semiconductor device such that the selectivity of the etchant is low. The methods of the present invention are also useful in removing contamination other than silicon oxides typically encountered in semiconductor manufacturing process flows, such as polymer residues, while providing low selectivity.
2. The Relevant Technology
In the continuing quest for ever denser DRAM devices, the problem of properly forming capacitors for each memory cell becomes increasingly acute. The problem is due to the need of providing both sufficiently large capacitance to preserve a charge between refresh cycles and sufficiently small size to allow further reductions in circuit dimensions. Dimensional tolerances in capacitor formation have thus tended to become a yield-limiting and density-limiting factor in DRAM devices.
Clean processes are a significant source of decreased dimensional control in the formation of capacitor structures. Removal of native oxides and other types of oxide contamination is required at various steps during capacitor formation. A short dip in a dilute solution of hydrofluoric acid (HF), such as a 100:1 volumetric ratio of water to 49% HF solution, is typically employed for this purpose. Problems arise because the dilute HF solution also significantly and even preferentially attacks doped silicon dioxide such as BPSG in which the capacitor structures are formed and defined, resulting in decreased control of critical dimensions associated with the capacitor. A less selective process is thus needed to remove native oxides and other types of oxide contamination during capacitor formation without excessively attacking doped silicon dioxide such as BPSG. As doped silicon dioxide is etched, an unacceptable level of residue can be built up.
When doped silicon dioxide, such as BPSG, is etched, HF and H.sub.2 O accumulate on the surface of the BPSG to form H.sub.3 PO.sub.4 and P.sub.2 O.sub.5, the later being from the phosphorous dopant in the BPSG. As the P.sub.2 O.sub.5 is etched, phosphoric acid is produced. This etching byproduct is detrimental in that the phosphorous remains on the semiconductor wafer. Phosphorous on the semiconductor wafer can form crystals which can then flake off and cause particulate contamination, or cause problems with photolithography. Additionally, the phosphoric acid residue can diffuse into the BPSG and then later out-diffuse, depending on ambient conditions, so as to selectively cause corrosion should the out diffusion occur in the presence of a corrosion prone metal. Consequently, it is best to avoid phosphoric acid build up on the semiconductor wafer.
A dilute HF solution is also typically employed to remove native oxide or other oxide contamination at process steps during which a refractory metal silicide such as titanium suicide is exposed to the solution. This may occur, for example, in a clean step prior to the formation of spacers around a gate stack that includes a refractory metal silicide layer, or during a clean step prior to filling a contact to a gate stack that includes a refractory metal silicide. As dimensions of gate stacks decrease, this use of dilute HF solution creates problems because the refractory metal silicide layer is preferentially etched by the dilute HF solution, such that where dimensional tolerances are small, the refractory metal silicide layer may be seriously damaged or even completely destroyed. A less selective process is thus needed to remove native oxide and other types of oxide contamination during gate formation and contact formation without excessively attacking refractory metal silicides.
Wet etching processes use a large quantity of chemicals that require clean-up procedures incident to their use. In addition to consumption of water by wet etching processing, wet etching may also have a detrimental environmental impact. An economical etching process that avoids such problems know to wet etching would be desirable.


A constrained random test bench methodology employing an instruction abstraction layer. The instruction abstraction layer includes an instruction streamer for generating random test instruction sequences that preserve instruction order dependencies and randomly selecting data values from a valid range of data values. Multiple instruction streamers may be employed to simulate interrupt handlers and other functional design units sharing a control command bus. A priority scheduler sequences the instruction sequences generated by multiple instruction streamers based on a specified priority scheme.

During the design of an integrated circuit, a test bench may be used to verify that the design is correct. The test bench may be a simulator that applies stimuli (test vectors) to the inputs of the design and captures responses from the outputs of the design during a simulation. As integrated circuit and application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designs increase in size and complexity, traditional directed test bench methods to verify the design may be less efficient at finding design errors. A directed test bench generally applies fixed sequences of test vectors to the design under test (DUT) during a simulation. To verify the control path of a DUT, a directed test bench typically is programmed with the exact register access sequence of instructions issued to the DUT via a control command bus.
The register access instruction sequence may vary due to an interrupt routine being started to service an interrupt. Additionally, when multiple functional design units share the same control command bus, the bus traffic may be more complex due to the traffic for various function design units being multiplexed with register access instruction sequences addressed to the DUT. However, generation of all possible test sequences may be a time consuming process when a directed test bench is used. To address some of the shortcomings of a directed test bench, a Constrained Random Test (CRT) test bench may be used. A Constrained Random Test bench architecture may be built on SystemVerilog, a standard language for chip design. SystemVerilog is a unified language for hardware design, specification and verification. SystemVerilog employs register transfer level (RTL) code to describe logic functionality.
What is needed is a constrained random verification methodology focused on the control path of the DUT. What is further needed is an instruction abstraction layer that allows test cases to be created using instructions having a higher level of abstraction. What is also needed is a CRT bench architecture that can randomize valid control oriented test sequences that preserves the validity of the test sequences. What is also needed is a test bench that can randomly insert a noise test sequence and/or an interrupt handling routine into a valid command sequence to test design sensitivity to commands issued outside its address space and/or sensitivity to when an interrupt occurs.

Method and apparatus for verifying integrated circuit design using a constrained random test bench


A system for detecting GNSS signal jammers to be positioned on a roadside, the system comprises: a first device for receiving a GNSS signal; a second device that is configured to measure at least one characteristic of a received GNSS signal and to detect, on the basis of at least one characteristic, interference in the GNSS signal caused by a jamming signal; a third device for triggering the capture of an image of the road if the GNSS signal is subject to interference caused by a jamming signal, the first device configured to receive, via a radio link, a sequence of a satellite radionavigation signal received by a vehicle and retransmitted by the vehicle to the system via the radio link.

A GNSS signal jammer transmits a signal that interferes with the GNSS signals transmitted by satellites and therefore makes it impossible for them to be used by a GNSS receiver and hence for a position to be calculated.
A problem arises when a personal GNSS jammer is used by a driver in proximity to a sensitive location, such as a station or an airport. The use of this type of jammer is liable to interfere with the operation of location devices used in the infrastructure of these sensitive locations, when they are traversed by or located in proximity to routes used by vehicles employing such jammers.
Additionally, personal jammers may also interfere with GBAS (ground-based augmentation system) differential stations, which are positioned on the ground to assist GNSS systems and to improve their accuracy.
Although their use is forbidden, these jamming sources are very common and may constitute a danger that should be counteracted, not only by means of regulations but also by dedicated detection and location devices.
Furthermore, solving this type of problem may become critical in the future with the large-scale deployment of self-driving cars on the horizon.
One solution to the aforementioned problem consists in incorporating, within all GNSS receivers for road use, anti-jamming or jammer detection measures, however such a solution appears to be unsuitable due to the substantial impact in terms of implementational complexity on mobile receivers.
The invention proposes coupling vehicle speed camera posts with devices for detecting GNSS jammers to identify offenders.
The proposed solution has the advantage of making use of the existing automotive speed camera infrastructure to incorporate jamming detection systems therein to identify vehicles making use of personal jammers, in the same way that vehicles travelling over the speed limit are identified.

System for detecting personal GNSS jammers


A portable, manually operated apparatus for filling fluid into a fluid container, the container having a check-valve port for discharging fluid and for receiving fluid. A base member has first and second spaced-apart bores, and a third bore connecting the first two bores. A manifold has fluid supply and return passages connected respectively to the first and second bores. A fluid pump connected to the manifold supply and return passages is adapted, when actuated, to supply fluid under pressure to the fluid supply passage.

I. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates broadly to the field of apparatus for filling and/or transferring fluid into a fluid container. The preferred embodiment of the invention is a portable, manually-operated apparatus for filling fluid into a pressurized fluid container (such as an aerosol can) wherein the fluid container has a "check-valve" type port means which when actuated permits the discharge of fluid under pressure from the container. However, the invention may be used in other applications and fields such as (i) reverse osmosis equipment and (ii) hydrostatic testing.
II. Discussion of the Prior Art
There are, of course, many prior art machines and systems for transferring fluid to a fluid container. The field of pressurized fluid containers is more specific and, of course, pressurized containers such as aerosol cans have been used on a world-wide basis for a number of decades. There are many diverse products supplied in aerosol cans and the manufacture of such cans and the filling thereof is highly developed.


A blister packaging machine comprises a forming station in which a plurality of cup-shaped depressions can be formed into a bottom sheet, a filing station, in which a product can be filled into the cup-shaped depressions, and a downstream sealing station, in which a cover sheet can be sealed onto the bottom sheet. The filling station comprises a brush box disposed above the bottom sheet, in which several rotatably driven roller brushes are disposed parallel to each other. The roller brushes are connected to a rotary drive which is received in a drive gearbox disposed next to the brush box. A magnetic coupling is thereby provided for transmitting a drive motion of the rotary drive to the roller brushes through a wall of the drive gearbox.

The invention concerns a blister packaging machine comprising a forming station, in which a plurality of cup-shaped depressions can be formed into a bottom sheet, a filling station, in which a product can be filled into the cup-shaped depressions, and a downstream sealing station in which a cover sheet can be sealed onto the bottom sheet, wherein the filling station comprises a brush box which is disposed above the bottom sheet and which contains several rotary driven roller brushes disposed parallel and next to each other, the roller brushes being connected to a rotary drive which is accommodated in a drive gearbox disposed next to the brush box.
A blister packaging machine of conventional structure comprises a forming station, in which a plurality of cup-shaped depressions are formed into a bottom sheet which consists of plastic material or aluminum. A product, e.g. a pharmaceutical tablet, is inserted into each depression at a downstream filling station. After product supply, the bottom sheet is transported to a sealing station. A cover sheet is introduced directly before or within the sealing station and is disposed on the bottom sheet. The cover sheet is tightly sealed onto the bottom sheet within the sealing station using heat, thereby enclosing the product in the cup-shaped depression.
The forming station is usually operated in cycles and therefore discontinuously. The filling and sealing stations can also be operated in cycles or, alternatively, continuously, wherein conventional compensation means effect transfer between cyclical operation of the forming station and continuous operation of the filling and sealing stations.
The filling station comprises a brush box which contains a plurality of roller brushes which are disposed in a rotating fashion and are in mutual, close and parallel adjacency to each other, and extend transverse to the direction of motion of the bottom sheet. The brush box is disposed directly above the bottom sheet and the cup-shaped depressions are open in an upward direction, i.e. facing the brush box. A sufficient amount of product, e.g. a large number of tablets, is supplied to the upper side of the brush box. The brush box has the task of distributing the tablets over the bottom sheet passing below it, such that the tablets fall into the cup-shaped depressions of the bottom sheet. A drive gearbox is disposed next to the brush box, which accommodates a drive for rotating the roller brushes. Each roller brush usually has its own drive motor whose rotary or drive motion is transmitted to the associated roller brush by a shaft which penetrates through an opening in the wall of the drive gearbox.
The number and design of the roller brushes in the brush box depends on the type and size of the product to be filled in. Format change during operation of the blister packaging machine therefore requires dismounting the brush box and replacing it with another brush box of suitable structure. Towards this end, each roller brush shaft must be released from its respective drive motor. After installation of the new brush box, the new roller brush shafts must be re-connected to the drive motors. Alternatively, the drive motors are conventionally dismounted together with the roller brushes for product change when the brush box is replaced by another supply system. Such handling is time-consuming and expensive.
Since product dust or product chips are always produced in the region of the brush box, the above-mentioned brush box structure always bears the risk of having these particles penetrate into the coupling and the opening region of the drive shafts, thereby soiling it. During product change, these locations must be thoroughly cleaned to prevent residues of previously processed product from entering into the new product to be subsequently processed.
It is the underlying purpose of the invention to produce a blister packaging machine of the above-mentioned type, wherein the brush box can be replaced in a simple manner while reliably preventing brush box particles from entering into the drive gearbox.


A robotized arm drives in rotation a drum carrying a tire being processed and conveniently moves it in front of a delivery nozzle supplying a continuous elongated element of elastomer material in order to form a tire component. The delivery nozzle is connected through at least one selecting valve with two or more extruders, each designed to supply a respective blend. The selecting valve connects the delivery nozzle with the outlet of one of the extruders, breaking communication between the nozzle and the other extruders. The outlets of the non-active extruders can be connected with at least one outlet duct. It is thus possible to replace the type of blend used for manufacturing the tire component without the article of manufacture having to be moved away from the delivery nozzle.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing tyres, and to the manufacturing apparatus to put the method into practice.
2. Description of the Related Art
A tyre generally comprises a carcass structure including at least one carcass ply having end flaps in engagement with respective annular anchoring structures, each of which is usually formed of a substantially circumferential annular insert to which at least one filling insert is applied at a radially outer position.
Associated with the carcass structure is a belt structure comprising one or more belt layers, disposed in radial superposed relationship with respect to each other and to the carcass ply, and having textile or metallic reinforcing cords with a crossed orientation and/or substantially parallel to the circumferential extension direction of the tyre. Applied to the belt structure, at a radially external position, is a tread band made of elastomer material like other semifinished products constituting the tyre.
It is to be herein pointed out, to the aims of the present description, that by the term "elastomer material" it is intended a composition comprising at least one elastomer polymer and at least one reinforcing filler. Preferably, this composition further comprises additives such as a cross-linking agent and/or a plasticizer, for example. Due to the presence of a cross-linking agent, this material can be cross-linked through heating so as to form the final article of manufacture. Respective sidewalls of elastomer material are further applied to the side surfaces of the carcass structure, each extending from one of the side edges of the tread band until close to the respective annular anchoring structure to the beads.
The carcass structure and belt structure together with the respective tread band, may be also provided to be made separately of each other in respective work stations, to be mutually assembled at a later time.
In accordance with conventional building methods the tread band and sidewalls are each made of a continuously extruded section member that, after being cooled to stabilise its geometrical conformation, is stored on suitable tables or reels. The semifinished product in the form of sections or made up of a continuous strip is then sent to a feeding unit the function of which is to pick up the sections or to cut sections of predetermined length from the continuous strip, each of these sections constituting the tread band or one of the sidewalls to be circumferentially applied to the tyre being processed.
In accordance with documents WO 00/35666 and WO 01/36185, in the name of the same Applicant, some tyre components, among which the tread band and sidewalls for example, are obtained through supply of an elongated element from an extruder, to be suitably distributed on the drum carrying the tyre being processed, while the latter is rotated around its own axis. Simultaneously, the support drum hanging from a robotized arm, is moved in front of the extruder to cause a transverse distribution of the elongated element and therefore form a plurality of circumferential coils with the latter, the coils being disposed in axial side by side and/or radial superposition relationship to define the structural tyre component.
In document WO 04/041522, in the name of the same Applicant as well, the carcass structure is provided to be formed through assembling of semifinished products on a support drum, to be subsequently coupled with the belt structure made on an auxiliary drum. The support drum used during the step of coupling the carcass structure with the belt structure is picked up by a robotized arm that will sequentially transfer and conveniently handle it in front of a series of extruders each set to lay on the carcass and/or the belt structure, a respective continuous elongated element of elastomer material having physico-chemical features specifically selected depending on the type of component that the individual extruder is designed to produce. More particularly, a first extruder is set to supply a first continuous elongated element directly against the belt structure, to form the tread band.
When manufacture of the tread band calls for formation of a so-called underlayer, an auxiliary extruder is provided to directly lay an auxiliary elongated element against the belt structure, before intervention of the first extruder, which auxiliary element is designed to form said underlayer of a suitable elastomer material.
A further extruder will supply a third continuous elongated element directly against the carcass ply, simultaneously with winding of the elongated element itself on the carcass structure carried by the drum, to make the tyre sidewalls.

Method and an apparatus for manufacturing tyres


Method and test kit for quantitative determination of Vitamin D metabolites in blood, wherein a predetermined amount of blood is pre-analytically immobilized on a solid sorption material. Thereby, hemolysis of the blood has no effect on the analysis of vitamin D metabolites. For quantitative analysis the dried blood spot on the sorption material is dissolved with an aqueous solvent buffer containing detergent, pH 7.0 to 10.0, and the vitamin D metabolites are eluted with a protic organic solution having a permittivity of less than 35. The eluate is analyzed for vitamin D metabolites using conventional methods.

Humans can form vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) in the skin using the UV portion contained in sunlight. Vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) is taken up from food. Ergo- and cholecalciferol differ in their side chains and biological activity. However, they are both bound by the vitamin D binding protein (VDBP) in circulation and metabolized to 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D or calcidiol) in the liver (see Schmidt-Gayk H, et al (ed.), Calcium regulation hormones, vitamin D metabolites and cyclic AMP, Springer publishing, Heidelberg (1990), pages 24-47). 25(OH)D represents the storage form in the body and is the vitamin D metabolite with the highest concentration in blood. When needed, 25(OH)D becomes hydroxylated in the kidney by 25-hydroxyvitamin D-1α-hydroxylase to 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D which is the D-hormone or calcitriol and the biologically active form. The activity of the vitamin D-hydroxylase is multiply regulated, e.g. by the parathyroid hormone and by the calcium level in the blood. Calcitriol is bound by the vitamin D receptor (VDR) intracellularly and transported into the nucleus where the complex with the vitamin D receptor associates to the DNA, leading to changes in protein synthesis.
Determination of vitamin D metabolites in blood or serum is medically indicated in case of suspected vitamin D deficiency, for example, due to insufficient synthesis, reduced intestinal absorption and malabsorption, liver dysfunction, increased vitamin D metabolism following the intake of antiepileptic drugs, increased loss of vitamin D in case of a nephrotic syndrome or a general disturbance of the calcium-phosphate balance. Up to one third of the elder normal population in Northern Europe are suffering for example from vitamin D deficiency when sunlight is poor during winter times (Sharla et al., Osteoporosis Int 1998; 8(2):7-12). A slight deficiency of less than 15 nanograms calcidiol per milliliter serum (37.5 nmol/L 25-OH-Vit. D/L) causes a rise in parathormone levels and increased bone resorption due to decreased calcium intake (Chapuy M C et al., J Clin Endocrinol Metab 1996, 81:1129-33). Vitamin D deficiency is therefore an important risk factor for senile osteoporosis. A severe deficiency of less than 5 nanograms calcidiol per milliliter serum (12.5 nmol/L) causes rachitis in children and osteomalacia in adults (Sharla et al., Exp Clin Endocrinol Diabetes, 1996, 104:289-292). A vitamin D deficiency is associated with a higher risk of breast, colon and prostate cancer and various autoimmune diseases such as juvenile diabetes and multiple sclerosis (Holick M F, Vitamin D deficiency. N Engl J Med (2007) 357:266-81). A vitamin D overdose causes the hypocalcaemia syndrome. The minimum serum concentration for bone health lies between 20 to 32 ng 25(OH)D/mL (50-80 nmol/L) and a concentration of more than 30 ng/mL or rather 75 nmol/L 25(OH)D should be sought.
The chemical methods for determination of vitamin D metabolites are laborious (see Tanner et al, J. Assoc of Analyt Chem (1988) 17, 607-710; Haddad, J G et al., J Clin Endocrinol Metab (1971) 33, 992-995 and Eisman J A et al., Anal Biochem (1977) 80, 298-305). U.S. Pat. No. 5,981,779 (Holick et al.), WO 89/01631 and EP 0 583 945 (DeLuca et al.) teach immunological determination methods. Prior to immunological determination, samples must be carefully prepared since more than 85% of vitamin D metabolites in human serum are bound to VDBP, albumin and other proteins. WO 99/67211 (Armbruster et al.) teaches an ethanol precipitation of the serum proteins and an analysis of vitamin D metabolites in the ethanol supernatant. EP 0 753 743 (Hollis) recommends a periodate precipitation of serum proteins and an analysis of the protein-free aqueous supernatant. DE 10 144 905 C2 (Armbruster et al.) teaches an analysis directly in serum following a release of the vitamin D metabolites from their binding sites through the addition of displacement agents such as salicylic acid, warfarin or aniline sulfonic acid. WO 2002/057797 (Quest Diagnostics Inc.) claims the addition of salicylic acid, cyclodextrin and a change of pH to obtain a release of vitamin D metabolites. EP 2 126 586 B1 (Immundiagnostik AG) teaches the digestion of serum proteins by a serine protease followed by an immunoassay with a protease-insensitive monoclonal antibody. In various automated procedures, the serum sample is subjected to deproteinization and delipidation using acetonitrile. WO 2011/122948 (Future Diagnostics BV) discloses a release of vitamin D metabolites in serum samples using a fluorine-containing surfactant such as perfluorooctanoic acid.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,745,226 B2 (Clarke et al.) teaches a combination of liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry for determination of vitamin D metabolites in serum. The various LC-MS, LC-SMS and LC-TMS are hereinafter referred to as LC-MS methods (see Vogeser M, Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry•Application in the clinical laboratory, Clin Chem Lab Med (2003) 41:117-26; Vogeser M. Seger C. A decade of HPLC-MS/MS in the routine clinical laboratory—goals for further developments. Clin Biochem (2008) 41:649-62). While LC-MS analysis is considered the new standard in vitamin D analysis, there are controversies on the reliability and interpretation of the measured values because, historically, the reference values had been established by immunological methods and all therapeutic recommendations are based on them. The immunological methods usually show about 15 percent lower values than the LC-MS methods. A conversion of the values is not possible, since many of the 25(OH)D levels in serum measured by means of LC-MS in the period from 2007 to 2008 has proven as being too high (see Andrew Pollack, New York Times, 7/8 Jan. 2009). Studies using the Roche automated 25(OH)D assay show that 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 in blood is stable up to 3 days at room temperature; in serum even longer (Wielders et al, Clin Chem (2009) 55(8), 1584-5). The Roche 25(OH)D assay, however, does not detect medication with vitamin D2 and said studies on temperature stability of 25(OH)D3 in serum do not take account of the real pre-analytical events in doctors' offices and hospitals. The 25(OH)D-EIA of Immunodiagnostic System Ltd and its automated version (Siemens ADVIA Centaur Vitamin D Total assay) are also prone to systematic errors (see Cavalier et al., JBMR (2011) 26:434-436). The current LC-MS and immunological methods may therefore lead to false measurements and to a wrong medication, in particular, when hemolysis has taken place in blood or serum samples. The prior art therefore represents a problem.

Determination of vitamin D metabolites in dried blood


In an electric motor comprising a plurality of permanent magnets (46) surrounding a motor armature (52) for supplying field flux to the armature, a cylindrical magnet cover (47) is fitted into an inner circumferential surface defined by the permanent magnets to protect the permanent magnets against chipping and other damages. The magnet cover is further provided with a radial flange (47b) having guide holes (47c) formed therein so that set bolts (48) passed axially inside the motor casings may be favorably guided as they are inserted from one axial end of the motor casing to the other. Preferably, to better guide the bolts, the guide holes may be each provided with a cylindrical guide boss (50, 51) which may be formed either by burring or cutting and lifting a part of the material of the flange.

In an electric motor including a plurality of permanent magnets disposed along an inner circumferential surface of a cylindrical yoke for supplying field flux to a motor armature, normally, the motor casing is formed by closing the axial ends of the cylindrical yoke with a pair of end plates, and joining the end plates to the cylindrical yoke by passing a pair of set bolts axially through the two end plates. Each of such set bolts is required to be fitted into a hole provided in one of the end plates, and after being passed through the interior of the yoke, is required to be properly fitted and threaded in an associated threaded hole provided in the other end plate. Because the set bolts are relatively long, and the threaded hole is not visible to the assembling personnel, there has been some difficulty in aligning the free threaded end of the set bolt with the associated threaded hole. In particular, this difficulty has prevented full automatization of the assembly work.
In such an electric motor, the permanent magnets are made of material having magnetically desirable properties, but are often highly brittle. Therefore, it has been proposed, for instance in Japanese patent publication No. 5-59661, to fit a cylindrical magnet cover inside an inner circumferential surface defined by the permanent magnets to reinforce the permanent magnets against chipping and prevent any fragments of the permanent magnets from dislodging from the permanent magnets.
Noting the above-mentioned difficulty in assembling the motor, and the need for the provision of a magnet cover, the inventors have discovered that by providing a flange to the magnet cover and forming bolt guide holes in the flange, it is possible to aid the aligning of the bolts passed through one of the end plates with the associated threaded holes formed in the other end plate.

Electric motor using permanent field magnets


According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a bridging system (100) and method provides a way of linking two independent data systems by receiving a dataset from a source data system. The bridging system (100) translates the dataset from a source schema to a target schema according to a set of mapping rules, and queues the translated data in persistent storage, and then sends the translated dataset to a destination data system. The system (100) includes an XML bridge (114), multiple application specific gateways (116,118), and a web admin interface (210), all in communication via a wide area network.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to the field of computer database systems, and more particularly relates to a system and method for translating and communicating between database systems.
2. Description of Related Art
The explosive growth of the World-Wide-Web, eCommerce, and networks (extranets) between enterprises has led to an increased demand and opportunity for connecting the backend databases of some enterprises to exchange information amongst themselves. A typical example includes a particular enterprise using the services of two other solutions and service-oriented organizations. The servicing organizations might need to have some of their networks and databases shared between them or alternatively bridged to be able to provide a good level of service to the serviced enterprise in some common area, for example IT related problem management. One of the servicing organizations might need to let the other servicing organization know the status of a particular problem that the serviced enterprise may have. Or one of the servicing organizations may want to update the other on some work that it may have performed and may be of interest to the other organization about a problem that the two might be involved with. If the servicing organizations would rather not give each other direct access to their resources then such situations give rise to the need for effectively bridging the resources, like backend request or problem management systems.
Other problem management systems have been bridged in the past using architecture schemes with a low level of versatility. Whenever a change occurs on one side of the system, the need to update underlying code propagates throughout the entire system. This adds expense and downtime to the system. Also, the entire system must be functional in order for the system to operate. If one side goes down, the whole system is inoperable, as both sides must be running in order to facilitate a smooth, uninterrupted transfer. This could possibly create stress on the relationship between organizations.
Therefore a need exists to overcome the problems with the prior art as discussed above, and particularly for a bridging system to provide continuous operation between the end database systems with versatility to be able to handle different real life situations.

Method for allowing simple interoperation between backend database systems

International Business Machines Corporation


In a thin film transistor and a flat panel display device having the same, cross-talk is minimized. The flat panel display device includes a substrate, a first thin film transistor, a second thin film transistor, and a display element. The first thin film transistor includes: a first gate electrode formed on the substrate; a first electrode insulated from the first gate electrode; a second electrode insulated from the first gate electrode and surrounding the first electrode in the same plane; and a first semiconductor layer insulated from the first gate electrode and contacting the first electrode and the second electrode. The second thin film transistor includes: a second gate electrode formed on the substrate and electrically connected to one of the first electrode and the second electrode; a third electrode insulated from the second gate electrode; a fourth electrode insulated from the second gate electrode and surrounding the third electrode in the same plane; and a second semiconductor layer insulated from the second gate electrode and contacting the third electrode and the fourth electrode.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a thin film transistor (TFT) and a flat panel display device comprising the same, and more particularly, to a TFT and a flat panel display device having a TFT in which cross-talk is minimized.
2. Related Art
In an inverted coplanar thin film transistor (TFT), gate electrodes are formed on a substrate, source electrodes and drain electrodes are formed above the gate electrodes, and a gate insulating layer is interposed between the source electrode and the gate electrode, and between the drain electrode and the gate electrode so that the source electrodes and the drain electrodes are insulated from the gate electrodes. A semiconductor layer contacts the source electrodes and the drain electrodes. The source electrodes and the drain electrodes may be interchanged.
In the above structure, the semiconductor layer is not patterned but is formed as a single body with two adjacent thin film transistors (TFTs). In this case, cross-talk by means of which adjacent TFTs affect one another due to leakage current and the like may occur. Thus, in order to prevent cross-talk from occurring, the semiconductor layer should be patterned so as to be separately used by each TFT. However, in the case of an organic TFT using an organic semiconductor layer as the semiconductor layer, it is very difficult to pattern the semiconductor layer, and even if the organic semiconductor layer is patterned, electrical characteristics of the organic semiconductor layer are degraded.

Thin film transistor and flat panel display device comprising the same

Nongseo-Dong, Giheung-Gu, Yongin, Gyunggi-Do


Apparatus and methods for communicating command and address inputs to a memory device. In one embodiment, a memory device includes a shared bus interface defined by a portion of pins from a command bus interface and a portion of pins from an address bus interface. Each portion of pins is configured to receive address and command inputs, depending a given command/address combination being asserted by a memory controller.

Modern computer systems typically include a memory device which may be accessed and/or controlled by a control device such as a memory controller. The memory controller may communicate with the memory device via one or more busses. For example, the memory controller and the memory device may be coupled by a command bus and an address bus. The command bus is configured to provide one or more control signals to the memory device, while the address bus is configured to provide address signals to the memory device. As an example, in a given clock cycle, data may be read out from the memory device by transmitting, from the memory controller to the memory device, a plurality of control signals and address signals over the command bus and address bus, respectively. The input signals are then decoded by the memory device, after which the requested data is returned to the memory controller.
A given command or address is typically defined by a plurality of inputs propagated over the respective command bus (in the case of a command) or address bus (in the case of an address). Each input is provided to a corresponding pin on a respective interface of the memory device. Thus, a given command/address input combination in a given cycle may require N command inputs to N pins of a command bus interface on the memory device, and P address inputs to P pins of an address bus interface on the memory device.
One of the design considerations in manufacturing memory devices, is the number of input pins required to support the various combinations of commands and addresses. The greater the number of pins required, the larger and the more costly the resulting memory device is.
Therefore, there is a need for reducing the number of pins needed to interface a memory with a control device, such as a memory controller or processor).

Method and apparatus for communicating command and address signals


A clamp for connecting flanged tubes comprising a pair of tangs having a tampered groove around their insides to engage the flanges. One of the tangs is provided with a pivotally connected screw, which passes through an aperture in one end. A nut attached to the screw holds the tangs in position. To prevent rotation of the tang about the screw, the lower shaft of the screw is provided in a non-circular shape, with the aperture in the tang being provided in mating conformity.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to clamps, particularly though not exclusively for connecting flanged tubes for use in the pharmaceutical, food and related industries.
2. Description of the Related Art
In my earlier patent, GB 2361753, I describe a clamp for connecting flanged tubes. This clamp is very successful for connecting flanged tubes of up to and including approximately four inches in diameter. However, for clamps of a larger size, I found that the hinge starts to fail on prolonged use.
While using the same screw and nut arrangement at both sides of the clamp provides a secure clamp, such a clamp is awkward, difficult to use and cannot be used one-handed.


A knowledge based threat evaluation and weapon assignment (TEWA) system and method. Upon identification of a hostile class track, if the track is outside national boundaries or defensive zones, a threat index is calculated to evaluate the threat. The index considers track speed, heading, altitude, and any known amplifying information such as flight size, airframe type, weapons load or missile type. If a threat enters a defensive zone, it becomes a target. Automatically a trial intercept calculation (TIC) will be calculated against the target. The TIC will utilize resources allocated to the zone; and with the aid of a zone target priority knowledge database and a target/weapon pairing database, the TIC will select the best available weapon to neutralize the target. The result of the TIC will be a weapon recommendation to the weapon's controller.

Automatic threat evaluation and weapon assignment (TEWA) has traditionally been approached in the following representative manner. If an unassigned hostile enters the system, a threat index is computed. The threat index rates the hostile with respect to defended areas and, if a threshold is attained, a trial intercept calculation (TIC) is triggered. There may be several defended areas or the whole country could be considered as one large defended area. The TIC performed typically selects from a list of weapon resources (interceptors and surface to air missiles (SAM) for example), and recommends a set of weapons, ordered by the shortest time to intercept, to engage the target. The intercept problem solved by TIC processing is the time-space problem of placing the target and weapon at the same point in time and space. Once a TIC has been calculated against a target, the target is no longer evaluated as a threat, since a recommendation has been made to the operator, and automatic TEWA processing is terminated for the target.
This traditional process has shortcomings, and in particular does not address several problems. If information regarding the target (such as type and weapons load) is known, this information is not utilized by TIC processing. The TIC recommends the shortest time to intercept solutions regardless of the target type or defensive weapon type. Hence, it is possible to recommend an interceptor with a weapons load which has virtually no chance of destroying the target. It would be desirable to pair targets with the type of defensive weapons which have a likelihood of destroying the target.
If several hostiles have entered the system, TIC processing does not consider the multiple target problem. That is, TICs are performed one at a time on a target by target basis. Thus, the TIC may recommend a weapon to intercept target number 1 whereas that weapon is most effective against target number 2. In such a situation, it would be desirable to recommend a weapon against the target number 2.
Another problem is that conventional automatic threat evaluation does not account for target maneuver. Consequently upon TIC completion, if the target has maneuvered, the TIC may no longer be valid for the target. Moreover, once a TIC is completed, the target is no longer eligible for automatic threat evaluation processing. This is undesirable in the event of a missed intercept.

Knowledge based automatic threat evaluation and weapon assignment


A cowling structure for an outboard motor having a top cowl and a bottom cowl for covering an engine, and sealing a mating face between the top cowl and the bottom cowl, including an annular sealing rail forming a sealing face and is attached to the bottom cowl. The annular sealing rail has a tight fitting part and an attaching part on the outer and inner sides of the sealing face, respectively.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an outboard motor having a cowling structure. More specifically, the present invention relates to a sealing arrangement for an outboard motor cowling.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, an outboard motor has a sealed structure, in which almost all portions of the outboard motor, including the engine, are covered with a cover, since the outboard motor is exposed to the weather, seawater or the like when in use. Problems caused by the entry of water into the outboard motor are thereby minimized or prevented.
The engine of the outboard motor is typically enclosed within a cowling made up of a bottom cowl and a removable top cowl. Mating portions of the top and bottom cowls generally are provided with a sealing member to protect against water intrusion between the mating portions. The top and bottom cowls preferably are coupled with each other by engaging bottom side hooks attached to the opening edge of the bottom cowl and top side hooks attached to the opening edge of the top cowl.
Japanese publication number 05-162692 shows a sealing structure in which a seal member is provided on the lower cowl. The seal is adapted to engage the top cowl. FIG. 11 of the present specification shows another arrangement of a sealing structure between top and bottom cowls. As shown, a rubber seal 101 is provided over a mating face 100a of the bottom cowl 100 to seal the top and bottom cowls 100 and 102.
In the above-discussed sealing structures, the bottom cowl has an increased thickness at or around the sealing portion. This structure undesirably increases the weight of the bottom cowl, and significantly affects the overall weight of the outboard motor.


The present invention relates to a novel T1 Receptor (T1R)-like ligand II protein. In particular, isolated nucleic acid molecules are provided encoding the T1R-like ligand II protein. T1R-like ligand II polypeptides are also provided, as are recombinant vectors and host cells for expressing the same. This invention further relates to pharmaceutical compositions and formulations comprising T1R-like ligand II. Also provided are methods of using T1R-like ligand II polynucleotides, polypeptides, antibodies or agonists/antagonists for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes. Diagnostic kits are further provided.

Interleukin-1 (IL-1). Interleukin-1 (IL-1α and IL-1β) is a "multifunctional" cytokine that a effects n early every cell type, and often in concert with other cytokines or small mediator molecules. (Dinarello, C. A., Blood 87:2095–2147 (Mar. 15, 1996).) There are three members of the IL-1 gene family: IL-1α, IL-1β and IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra). IL-1α and IL-1β are agonists and IL-1Ra is a specific receptor antagonist. IL-1α and β are synthesized as precursors without leader sequences. The molecular weight of each precursor is 31 kD. Processing of IL-1α or IL-1β to "mature " forms of 17 kD requires specific cellular proteases. In contrast, IL-1Ra evolved with a signal peptide and is readily transported out of the cells and termed secreted IL-1Ra (sIL-1Ra).
IL-1 Receptor and Ligands. The receptors and ligands of the IL-1 pathway have been well defined (for review, see Dinarello, C. A., FASEB J. 8:1314–1325 (1994); Sims, J. E. et al., Interleukin-1 signal transduction: Advances in Cell and Molecular Biology of Membranes and Organelles, Vol. 3, JAI Press, Inc., Greenwich, Conn. (1994), pp. 197–222). Three ligands, IL-1α, IL-1β, and IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) bind three forms of IL-1 receptor, an 80-kDa type I IL-1 receptor (IL-IR1) (Sims, J. E. et al., Science 241:585–589 (1988)), a68-kDa type II IL-1 receptor(IL-1RII) (McMahan, C. J. et al., EMBO J. 10:2821–2832 (1991)), and a soluble form of the type II IL-1R (sIL-1RII) (Colotta, F. et al., Science 261:472–475 (1993)).
The interactions between the IL-1 ligands and receptors play an essential role in the stimulation and regulation of the IL-1-mediated host response to injury and infection. Cells expressing IL-1RI and treated with IL-1α or IL-1β respond in several specific ways, including stimulating nuclear localization of the rel-related transcription factor, NF-κβ (for review, see Thanos, D. & Maniatis, T., Cell 80:529–532 (1996)), activation of protein kinases of the mitogen-activated protein kinase superfamily that phosphorylate residue threonine 669 (Thr-669) of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) (Guy, G. R. et al., J. Biol. Chem. 267:1846–1852(1992); Bird, T. A. et al., J. Biol. Chem. 268:22861–22870 (1991); Bird, T. A. et al., J. Biol. chem. 269:31836–31844 (1994)), and stimulation of transcription ofthe IL-8 gene (Mukaida, N. et al., J. Biol. chem. 265:21128–21133 (1990)).
IL-1RI-like family. Many proteins from diverse systems show homology to the cytoplasmic domain ofthe IL-1RI. This expanding IL-1RI-like family includes mammalian proteins, Drosophila proteins, and a plant (tobacco) protein. (Gay, N. J. & Keith, F. J., Nature 351:355–356 (1991); Hashimoto, C. et al., Cell 52:269–279 (1988); Schneider, D. S. et al., Genes & Dev. 5:797–807 (1991); Edon, E. et al., Development 120:885–899 (1994); Mitchan, J. L. et al., J. Biol. Chem 271:5777–5782 (Mar. 8, 1996)).
The mammalian IL-1RI-like receptor family members include a murine protein MyD88 (Lord, K. A. et al., Oncogene 5:1095–1097 (1990)) and a human gene, rsc786 (Nomura,N. et al., DNA Res. 1:27–35(1994)). Another murine receptor member, T1/ST2, was previously characterized as a novel primary response gene expressed in BALB/c-3T3 cells (Klemenz, R. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86:5708–5712 (1989); Tominaga, S., FEBS Lett. 258:301–304 (1989); Tominga, S. et al., FEBS Lett. 318:83–87 (1993)). The transmembrane protein mulL-1R AcP (Greenfeder, S. A. et al., J. Biol. Chem. 270:13757–13765 (1995)) has homology to both the type I and type II IL-1R. IL-1R AcP has recently been shown to increase the affinity of IL-1RI for IL-1 and may be involved in mediating the IL-1 response.
T1Receptors. T1/ST2receptors (hereinafter, "T1 receptors"), as a member of the IL-1 receptor family (Bergers, G., et al., EMBO J. 13:1176 (1994)), have various homologs in different species. In the rat, it is called Fit-1, an estrogen-inducible, c-fos-dependent transmembrane protein that shares 26% to 29% amino acid homology to the mouse IL-1RI and II, respectively. In the mouse, the Fit-1 protein is called ST2 and in the human it is called T1. The organization of the two IL-1 receptors and the Fit-1/ST2/T1 genes indicates they are derived from a common ancestor (Sims, J. E., et al., Cytokine 7:483 (1995)). Fit-1 exists in two forms: a membrane form (Fit-1M) with a cytosolic domain similarly to that of the IL-1 RI and Fit-1S, which is secreted and composed of the extracellular domain of Fit-M.
In many ways, these two forms of the Fit-1 protein are similar to those of the membrane-bound and soluble IL-1RI. It has been shown that the IL-1sRI is derived from proteolytic cleavage of the cell-bound form (Sims, J. E., et al., Cytokine 7:483 (1995)). On the other hand, the Fit-1 gene is under the control of two promoters, which results in two isoforms coding for either the membrane or soluble form of the receptor. Two RNA transcripts result from alternative RNA splicing of the 3′ end of the gene. Although IL-1β binds weakly to Fit-1 and does not transduce a signal (Reikerstorger, A., et al., J. Biol. Chem. 270:17645 (1995)), a chimeric receptor consisting ofthe extracellular murine IL-1RI fused to the cytosolic Fit-1 transduces an IL-1 signal (Reikerstorger, A., et al., J. Biol. Chem. 270:17645 (1995)). The cytosolic portion of Fit-I align with GTPase-like sequences of IL-1RI (Hopp, T. P., Protein Sci. 4:1851 (1995)) (see below).
IL-1 production in various disease states. Increased IL-1 production has been reported in patients with various viral, bacterial, fungal, and parasitic infections; intravascular coagulation; high-dose IL-2 therapy; solid tumors; leukemias; Alzheimer's disease; HIV-1 infection; autoimmune disorders; trauma (surgery); hemodialysis; ischemic diseases (myocardial infarction); noninfectious hepatitis; asthma; UV radiation; closed head injury; pancreatitis; periodontitis; graft-versus-host disease; transplant rejection; and in healthy subjects after strenuous exercise. There is an association of increased IL-1β production in patients with Alzheimer's disease and a possible role for IL-1 in the release of the amyloid precursor protein (Vasilakos, J. P., et al., FEBS Lett. 354:289 (1994)). However, in most conditions, IL-1 is not the only cytokine exhibiting increased production and hence the specificity of the IL-1 findings as related to the pathogenesis of any particular disease is lacking. In various disease states, IL-1β, but not IL-1α, is detected in the circulation.
IL-1 in Therapy. Although IL-1 has been found to exhibit many important biological activities, it is also found to be toxic at doses that are close to therapeutic dosages (Dinarello, C. A., Blood 87:2095–2147 (Mar. 15, 1996)). In general, the acute toxicities of either isoform of IL-1 were greater after intravenous compared with subcutaneous injection. Subcutaneous injection was associated with significant local pain, erythema, and swelling (Kitamura, T., & Takaku, F., Exp. Med. 7:170 (1989); Laughlin, M. J., Ann. Hematol. 67:267 (1993)). Patients receiving intravenous IL-1 at doses of 100 ng/kg or greater experienced significant hypotension. In patients receiving IL-1β from 4 to 32 ng/kg subcutaneously, there was only one episode of hypotension at the highest dose level (Laughlin, M. J., Ann. Hematol. 67:267 (1993)).
Contrary to IL-1-associated myelostimulation in patients with normal marrow reserves, patients with a plastic anemia treated with 5 daily doses of IL-1α (30 to 100 ng/kg) had no increases in peripheral blood counts or bone marrow cellularity (Walsh, C. E., et al., Br. J. Haematol 80:106 (1992)). IL-1 has been administered to patients undergoing various regiments of chemotherapy to reduce the nadir of neutropenia and thrombocytopenia.
Daily treatment with 40 ng/kg IL-1α from day 0 to day 13 of autologous bone marrow or stem cells resulted in an earlier recovery of neutropenia (median, 12 days; P<0.001) (Weisdorf, D., et al., Blood 84:2044 (1994)). After 14 days of treatment, the bone marrow was significantly enriched with committed myeloid progenitor cells. Similar results were reported in patients with AML receiving 50 ng/kg/d of IL-1β for 5 days starting at the time of transplantation with purged or nonpurged bone marrow (Nemunaitis, J., et al., Blood 83:3473 (1994)). Injecting humans with low doses of either IL-1α or IL-1β confirms the impressive pyrogenic and hypotension-inducing properties of the molecules.
Amelioration of Disease Using Soluble IL-1 Receptors. Administration of murine IL-1sRI to mice has increased the survival of heterotopic heart allografts and reduced the hyperplastic lymph node response to allogeneic cells (Fanslow, W. C., et al., Science 248:739 (1990)). In a rat model of antigen-induced arthritis, local instillation of the murine IL-1sRI reduced joint swelling and tissue destruction (Dower, S. K., et al., Therapeutic Immunol. 1:113 (1994)). These data suggest that the amount of IL-1sRI administered in the normal, contralateral joint was acting systemically. In a model of experimental autoimmune encephalitits, the IL-1sRI reduced the severity of this disease (Jacobs, C. A., et al., J. Immunol. 146:2983 (1991)).

T1 receptor-like ligand II and uses thereof


A method comprising the steps of (A) generating a call for a first operating system at a host, (B) sending the call for the first operating system from the host to a storage array over a network, (C) generating a response to the call for the first operating system from the host, (D) sending the response from the storage array to the host over the network and (E) capturing and storing the response in a device.

Conventional test environments encounter various issues. Included in those issues is the need for hardware like arrays and switches needed to test different operating system (OS) platforms (i.e., Windows, Unix, etc.). Furthermore, not all teams involved in the development of a symbol interface can afford to procure storage arrays to test a host software interface over a fibre channel (FC) implementation. Additional unnecessary use of arrays and fibre channel networks occurs during iterative testing when using in-band management applications over different OS platforms.
Conventional approaches use a number of hardware and software applications to certify management software on different OS platforms. Conventional approaches also need engineers to manually troubleshoot problems faced while testing management software of storage arrays on different OS platforms. Conventional approaches have a number of disadvantages. With such conventional approaches the cost of hardware resources, engineers and time is great. Avoiding duplication of efforts is also a main concern. Not all design teams can afford the expense to buy and maintain hardware resources while certifying the same storage manager over different OS platforms.
It would be desirable to implement a method and/or apparatus for certifying an in-band management application of an external storage array.

Method and/or apparatus for certifying an in-band management application of an external storage array


Streaming media servers are used to provide data streams of streaming media data to network devices across a communications network. In order to allow the servers to scale its processing as the number of data streams increases, these servers use a delay timer determination module for determining when a given CPU is to transfer its streaming media data corresponding to its group of data streams, a CPU wake up module for initiating an acceleration process for each CPU upon receipt of a signal from the delay timer determination module, and a plurality of CPU processing modules for transferring streaming media data corresponding to its group of data streams. The delay timer determination module uses a stagger and interval parameter where these parameters are calculated from a set of system parameters, including a number of processors available to support data streams, CPUnum, a size for the smallest data buffer within all of the network devices, MemReceiverMin, and the maximum bit data transfer rate, BRmax, supported.

Streaming media systems are being used to transmit video and audio data over a network to network devices that output the data for receipt by a user. These systems typically transmit data from a central server operated by a provider of the streaming media content data to the end user's network devices. The network used typically is a closed network operated by the provider of the streaming media content data or a service provider who resells the data to end users. Other networks, such as public networks and the Internet may also be used; however these alternate networks may present performance problems associated with providing a latency delay in delivery of the streaming media data within a specified maximum amount of delay.
The ability of the provider of the streaming media content data to increase the number of end users to the system has always presented problems associated with the cost of operating the streaming media servers that send the data to the end users. As the number of users increases, the need for additional servers, the need for additional processors within a server, and the need for additional peripheral devices to support these users' demand for data also increases. The nature of the increase in costs has limited the ability of streaming media providers to grow the size of their networks without incurring prohibitive costs.
Prior solutions utilizing software-only based systems typically were less expensive to create and operate yet these systems did not scale effectively as the number of users increased significantly. Hardware based solutions provided the timing and data transfer mechanisms to allow the number of users to scale more efficiently yet these systems required expensive network interface devices to be part of the streaming server systems. The present invention addresses the limitations of these prior systems to allow for more efficient operation of streaming media servers without the need for special and expensive hardware devices.

System and method for providing an enhanced enterprise streaming media server capacity and performance


Polypeptides derived from domain VI of the amino terminal globule of the A chain of laminin and having sequences of at least about 5 amino acids, and which exhibit cell adhesion and cell spreading capacity are described.. Medical devices such as prosthetic implants, percutaneous devices and cell culture substrates coated w. GOVERNMENT SUPPORT. This invention was made with government support under contract No. CA-29995 by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. The government has certain rights in the invention.

The adhesion of mammalian cells to the extracellular matrix is of fundamental importance in regulating growth, adhesion, motility and the development of the proper cellular phenotype. This has implications for normal cell growth and development, wound healing, chronic inflammatory diseases, diabetes, and tumor metastasis. Evidence accumulated over the last several years suggests that the molecular basis for the adhesion of both normal and transformed or malignant cells is complex and probably involves several distinct cell surface molecules. Extracellular matrices consist of three types of macromolecules: collagenous glycoproteins, proteoglycans and noncollagenous glycoproteins.
One noncollagenous adhesive glycoprotein of interest is laminin. Laminin likely is one of a multigene family of related molecules [Ohno et al., Conn. Tiss. Res., 15, 199-207 (1986); Hunter et al., Nature, 338, 229-234 (1989); Sanes et al., J. Cell Biol., 111, 1685-1699 (1990)]. Laminin is a high molecular weight (approximately 850,000; from the mouse Engelbreth-Holm-Swarm tumor) extracellular matrix glycoprotein found almost exclusively in basement membranes. [Timpl et al., J. Biol. Chem., 254, 9933-9937 (1979)]. Basement membranes are an ubiquitous, specialized type of extracellular matrix separating organ parenchymal cells from interstitial collagenous stroma. Interaction of cells with this matrix is an important aspect of both normal and neoplastic cellular processes. Normal cells appear to require an extracellular matrix for survival, proliferation, and differentiation, while migratory cells, both normal and neoplastic, must traverse the basement membrane in moving from one tissue to another.
Laminin isolated from the Engelbreth-Holm-Swarm murine tumor consists of three different polypeptide chains: B1 with 215,000 MW, B2 with 205,000 MW and A with 400,000 MW [Timpl and Dziadek, Intern. Rev. Exp. Path., 29, 1-112 (1986)]. When examined at the electron microscopic level with the technique of rotary shadowing, it appears as an asymmetric cross, with three short arms 37 nm long (the lateral short arms having two globular domains and the upper short arm having three globular domains [Sasaki et al., J. Biol. Chem., 263, 16536-16544 (1988)]}, and one long arm 77 nm long, exhibiting a large terminal globular domain [Engel et al., J. Mol. Biol., 150, 97-120 (1981)]. The three chains are associated via disulfide and other chemical bonds. Structural data shows that laminin is a very complex and multidomain protein with unique functions present in specific domains.
Laminin is a major component of basement membranes and is involved in many functions. Laminin has the ability to bind to other basement membrane macromolecules and therefore contributes to the structural and perhaps functional characteristics of basement membranes.
Laminin promotes the adhesion and spreading of a multitude of cells and binds a variety of proteoglycans [Timpl and Dziadek, supra (1986)]. Studies utilizing enzymatic digests of laminin or monoclonal antibodies raised against laminin have defined some of the biologically active regions of the 400 kD A chain of laminin. The amino terminal globular domain at the top of the molecule is involved in laminin-laminin self assembly [Yurchenco et al., J. Biol. Chem., 260, 7636-7644 (1985)] and the adhesion of hepatocytes [Timpl et al., J. Biol. Chem., 255, 8922-8927 (1983)]. In addition, its large carboxy-terminal globular domain binds heparin [Ott et al., Eur. J. Biochem., 123, 63-72 (1982); Skubitz et al., J. Biol. Chem., 263, 4861-4868 (1988)], while neurite cell outgrowth and cell adhesion is localized to the region directly above this globule [Edgar et al., EMBO J., 3, 1463-1468 (1984); Engvall et al., J. Cell Biol., 103, 2457-2465 (1986); Goodman et al., J. Cell Biol., 105, 589-598 (1987)].
Another important feature of laminin is its ability to associate with cell surface molecular receptors and consequently modify cellular phenotype in various ways. Receptors for laminin ranging in molecular size from 55 to 180 kD have been isolated from a variety of normal and malignant cell lines [Rao et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 111, 804-808 (1983); Lesot et al., EMBO J., 2, 861-865 (1983); Malinoff and Wicha, J. Cell Biol., 96, 1475-1479 (1983); Terranova et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 80, 444-448 (1983); Barsky et al., Breast Cancer Res. Treat., 4, 181-188 (1984); von der Mark and Kuhl, Biochim. Biophys. Acta., 823, 147-160 (1985); Wewer et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 83, 7137-7141 (1986); Hinek et al., J. Cell Biol., 105, 138a (1987); Yoon et al., J. Immunol., 138, 259-265 (1987); Smalheiser and Schwartz, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 84, 6457-6461 (1987); Yannariello-Brown et al., J. Cell Biol., 106, 1773-1786 (1988); Mercurio and Shaw, J. Cell Biol., 107, 1873-1880 (1988); Kleinman et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 85, 1282-1286 (1988); Hall et al., J. Cell Biol., 107, 687-697 (1988); Clegg et al., J. Cell Biol., 107, 699-705 (1988)]. In the case of human glioblastoma cells [Gehlsen et al., Science, 241, 1228-1229 (1988)], several chicken cell types [Horwitz et al., J. Cell Biol., 101, 2134-2144 (1985)], platelets [Sonnenberg et al., Nature, 336, 487-489 (1988)], and neuronal cell line PC12 [Tomaselli et al., J. Cell Biol., 105, 2347-2358 (1987); and J. Cell Biol., 107, 1241-1252 (1988)], the laminin receptor was determined to be an integrin. To date, however, the exact sequence of amino acid residues of laminin to which most of these receptors bind is unknown.
Recently, the amino acid sequences of the B1, B2, and A chains of laminin have been determined [Barlow et al., EMBO J., 3, 2355-2362 (1984); Sasaki et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 84, 935-939 (1987); Sasaki et al., J. Biol. Chem., 263, 16536-16544 (1988); Sasaki and Yamada, J. Biol. Chem., 262, 17111-17117 (1987); Pikkarainen et al., J. Biol. Chem., 262, 10454-10462 (1987); Pikkarainen et al., J. Biol. Chem., 263, 6751-6758 (1988); Hartl et al., Eur. J. Biochem., 173, 629-635 (1988)], allowing peptides to be synthesized from domains of laminin with reported functional activity. Three peptides have been synthesized from the B1 chain of laminin which promote cell adhesion. The first peptide, cys-asp-pro-gly-tyr-iso-gly-ser-arg (SEQ ID NO: 6), located near the intersection of the cross, promotes the adhesion of a variety of cells [Graf et al., Cell, 48, 989-996 (1987a); Biochemistry, 26, 6896-6900 (1987b)] and is thought to bind a 67 kD protein laminin receptor [Graf et al., supra (1987b); Wewer et al., supra (1986)]. The second, peptide F-9 (arg-tyr-val-val-leu-pro-arg-pro-val-cys-phe-glu-lys-gly-met-asn-tyr-thr-v al-arg) (SEQ. ID. NO: 7), also promotes the adhesion of a variety of cells and binds heparin (U.S. Pat. No. 4,870,160) Charonis et al. J. Cell Biol., 107, 1253-1260 (1988). A third peptide from the B1 chain of laminin, termed AC15 {arg-ile-gln-asn-leu-leu-lys-ile-thr-asn-leu-arg-ile-lys-phe-val-lys (SEQ. ID. NO: 8) [Kobuzi-Koliakos et al., J. Biol. Chem., 264, 17971-17978 (1989)]} also binds heparin, and is derived from the outer globule of a lateral short arm. AC15 promotes the adhesion of murine melanoma and bovine aortic endothelial cells [Koliakos et al., J. Cell Biol., 109, 200a (1989)].
Since the A chain was the last chain of laminin for which the entire amino acid sequence was determined, only a few peptides have been described with functional activity. Synthetic peptide PA 21 (residues #1115-1129; cys-gln-ala-gly-thr-phe-ala-leu-arg-gly-asp-asn-pro-gln-gly) (SEQ. ID. NO: 9), which contains the active sequence RGD, induces the attachment of human endothelial cells through an integrin receptor [Grant et al., Cell, 58, 933-943 (1989)]. Peptide PA22-2 (residues #2091-2108; ser-arg-ala-arg-lys-gln-ala-ala-ser-ile-lys-val-ala-val-ser-ala-asp-arg), (SEQ. ID. NO: 10), contains the active sequence ile-lys-val-ala-val (SEQ. ID. NO: 11) [Tashiro et al., J. Biol. Chem., 264, 16174-16182 (1989)] and has a number of biological functions such as promoting neuronal process extension [Tashiro et al., supra (1989); Sephel et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 162, 821-829 (1989)]. Recently the biological activity of this peptide has come into question.
The functions that have been described above make laminin an important component of many diverse and clinically important processes such as cell migration, cell adhesion, cell growth, cell differentiation, wound healing, angiogenesis in general, nerve regeneration, tumor cell invasion and metastasis [Liotta, Am. J. Path., 117, 339-348 (1984); McCarthy et al., Cancer Met. Rev., 4, 125-152 (1985)], diabetic microangiopathy, and vascular hypertrophy due to hypertension, atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease, and vessel wall healing after angioplasty. Laminin could also be used in various devices and materials used in humans. In order to better understand the pathophysiology of these processes at the molecular level, it is important to try to assign each of the biological activities that laminin exhibits to a specific subdomain or oligopeptide of laminin. If this can be achieved, potentially important pharmaceuticals based on small peptides or compounds that bind to the receptors producing specific functions of the native, intact molecule, can be synthesized.
Therefore, a need exists to isolate and characterize peptides which are responsible for the wide range of biological activities associated with laminin. Such lower molecular weight oligopeptides would be expected to be more readily obtainable and to exhibit a narrower profile of biological activity than laminin itself, thus increasing their potential usefulness as therapeutic or diagnostic agents.

Laminin A chain polypeptides from the amino terminal globular domain


A plunger for a gas well including an elongate body having a first end and a second end. A sleeve overlying the body. The sleeve being shorter in length than the elongate body and is axially moveable between the first end and the second end of the body. At least one circumferential seal on the exterior surface of the sleeve, thereby providing a barrier to the passage of fluids along the exterior surface of the sleeve. At least one fluid flow passage is provided through the sleeve. A first axial stop is provided at the first end of the body and a second axial stop is provided at the second end of the body to limit axial movement of the sleeve. The second axial stop having sealing shoulders which engage the second end of the sleeve to close off the at least one fluid flow passage.

U.S. Pat. No. 2,661,024 (Knox 1953) is representative of a style of plunger which has been used in gas wells for the last 50 years. The plunger has a tubular body with an exterior surface and an interior flow passage. A number of seals encircle the exterior surface to prevent fluid from passing along the exterior surface of the plunger. A valve member is positioned at the end of the tubular body. The valve member moves axially along the interior flow passage toward a valve seat. The valve has an open position and a closed position. In the open position, the valve is spaced from the valve seat allowing a free flow of fluids along the interior flow passage. In the closed position, the valve member engages the valve seat to prevent fluids from entering the interior flow passage. The valve has a stem which protrudes past an end of the tubular body. When the plunger reaches its receiver at a bottom of the gas well, this stem strikes the receiver and the valve is pushed from the open position to the closed position. When the valve member is closed, gas pressure building below the plunger causes the plunger to rise in the tubing. As the plunger rises, it pushes ahead of it accumulated liquids. Upon reaching the surface, the valve member is moved to the open position by striking the stem which permits gas to pass through the plunger. The plunger valve then descend back into the well, with gas passing through the interior flow passage of the plunger. Upon reaching the bottom of the well, the valve member is moved to the closed position so that gas pressure is allowed to build up again below the plunger.