Abstract: There is provided a reflective liquid crystal cell formed of a liquid crystal material disposed between first and second substrates. The first substrate is optically transparent and is formed with a coating of optically transparent and electrically conductive material on the side facing the liquid crystal material. The second substrate is formed with a plurality of coatings on the side facing the liquid crystal material. These coatings include in sequence a layer of metallic reflective material, a layer of electrically insulating material, a layer of na optically transparent and conductive material and a liquid crystal alignment layer.

Abstract: A metal induced lateral crystallization (MILC) poly-silicon material is produced by depositing a metal in a predefined pattern on amorphous silicon, and heat treating the silicon at a first temperature to form a MILC poly-Si material. The MILC poly-Si material is further heat treated at a second temperature higher than the first temperature to induce recrystallization. The second high temperature recrystallization step significantly enhances the material structure, and in particular the grain structure, of the poly-Si material with substantial benefits to the performance of semiconductor devices made therefrom.

Abstract: The structure and construction of a bistable twisted nematic liquid crystal display with very long lifetime are disclosed. The two stable twist states in this display when no voltage is applied have almost infinite lifetimes and do not decay. These two stable twist states differ by a twist angle of 180°. New design conditions of this bistable twist structure are disclosed such that the contrast and the brightness are both optimized. This display can be operated in transmittive mode with two polarizes or in the reflective mode with one polarizer.

Abstract: A low-dropout regulator comprises a high-gain error amplifier having a differential input stage and a single-ended output, a high-swing high-positive-gain second stage with input connecting to the output of the error amplifier and a single-ended output, a p-type MOS transistor with gate terminal connecting to the output of the second stage, source terminal connecting to the supply voltage, and drain terminal to the output of the low-dropout regulator. A first-order high-pass feedback network connects the output of the low-dropout regulator and the positive input of the error amplifier, and a damping-factor-control means comprising a negative gain stage with a feedback capacitor connects the input and output of this gain stage. A capacitor is connected between the output of the error amplifier and the output of the low-dropout regulator, while a voltage reference connects to the negative input of the error amplifier.

Abstract: A vaccine for treatment of foot-and-mouth disease of swine is provided. This vaccine is an antigenized antibody vaccine created from the grafting of peptide epitopes derived from FMDV into swine antibody CDR loops. FMDV peptide epitopes are cloned by PCR from VP1 gene of FMDV. The overlapping PCR method is used to insert the FMDV peptide epitopes into the CDR regions of swine immnuoglobulin heavy and light chains genes. The resulting antigenized antibody genes were cloned into mammalian expression vector. The plasmids are transfected into CHO or myeloma cells. The stable transfectant cell line was selected for high yield of the desired protein vaccine.

Abstract: There is disclosed a liquid crystalline polyacetylene having a repeat structure of the formula 1

Abstract: Hyperbranched organometallic polymers, including poly [1,1′-ferrocenylenesilynes], poly [1,1′-ferrocenylene-(alkyl)silynes], poly [1,1′-ferrocenylene(alkenyl)silynes] and poly [1,1′-ferrocenylene(aromatic)silynes], are useful as precursors to certain ceramic materials. Processes for the preparation of such polymers and the preparation of ceramic materials from such polymers are described, as are the resulting ceramic materials and their use as ferromagnetic materials and electrically conductive materials.

Abstract: The present invention concerns novel proteins capable of binding p35nck5a, and method of use of same.

Abstract: The present invention provides an integrated electronic microphone formed as part of a semiconductor device, and a manufacturing method therefor. The microphone is formed with a sensing electrode as part of a sensing membrane, and the sensing electrode is connected to the gate of a sensing transistor to provide an output. The microphone may be operated in constant bias or constant charge mode.

Abstract: The present invention relates to planar materials having bandgap properties. The materials are formed by depositing conductive fractal patterns on a non-conducting substrate. The bandgap location(s) are defined by parameters including the number of fractal levels, and the dimension of the fractal mother element. The bandgaps can also be actively controlled by injecting current into the conducting pattern.

Abstract: Semiconductor crystal grains are formed by metal-induced lateral crystallisation. The positions of the grain boundaries normal to the crystallisation direction are controlled, to position the grains correctly for subsequent formation of electronic devices within them. In a first technique, the grains are positioned by depositing the metal in short strips which each induce the crystallisation of a single corresponding grain. In a second technique, the grains are positioned by pre-patterning the amorphous silicon which is used to form the grains. Electronic circuit elements can be formed in each grain. The resultant structure can be used in a microelectronic mechanical system. Several grains can be formed successively and circuit elements formed in each layer to form a three-dimensional integrated circuit.

Abstract: It is known to represent a square block of an image which has a maximum horizontal or vertical extension N as N vectors each representing one column or row, and encode it using an N×N discrete cosine transform matrix. We introduce a technique which transforms an input vector, or array, representing a portion of an arbitrarily-shaped object block in which the maximum horizontal or vertical extension is at most N, by adding to it additional padding elements, to produce a vector or array which can be encoded using an N×N discrete cosine transform. The padding maximises the number of transformed elements which are zero. We propose encoding arbitrarily-shaped objects based on this padding technique.

Abstract: The present invention provides the conditions for new bistable twisted nematic liquid crystal displays, in particular the necessary twist angles, liquid crystal retardation values, input and output polarizer angles, for both transmissive and reflective liquid crystal displays.

Abstract: A phototransistor comprises a layer having two n-type semiconductor regions which constitute an emitter region and a collector region, and which sandwich a lightly doped p-type base region. In operating conditions the base region is completely depleted leading to punchthrough, and generation of high optical conversion gain when the phototransistor is illuminated. The base region and part of the emitter and collector regions are covered with an oxide layer. The phototransistor can be fabricated by CMOS processing technology, so very large scale integrated circuits can be fabricated comprising a large number of the phototransistors.

Abstract: The activation of cyclin dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5) depends on the binding of its neuronal specific activator Nck5a. The minimal activation domain of Nck5a has been experimentally determine comprise acid residues 150 to 291 of the protein. It has been demonstrated that a 28 residue peptide encompassing amino acid residues Ala 146 to Asp 173 of Nck5a is capable of binding Cdk5 and hence resulting in the inhibition of its Kinase activity. Additionally, this peptide could also inhibit Cdk2 with a similar potency as it does to Cdk5. The direct competition experiments showed that the Nck5a inhibitory peptide does not compete with Nck5a for Cdk5 or cyclin A for Cdk2. Steady state kinetic analysis indicated that the Nck5a peptide acts as a non-competitive inhibitor of Cdk5/Nck5a complex with respect to its substrate.

Abstract: We propose modifying the error-diffusion method for transforming a grey-scale image into a halftone image, so that binary data is hidden in the resulting halftone image. Simultaneously, a second halftone image is generated by error diffusion, not storing the hidden data. The hidden binary data is typically a binary image, and the dark regions of this binary image can be seen when the two halftone images are overlaid.

Abstract: A frequency divider circuit is disclosed that generates output signals having a frequency substantially half of the frequency of the input signal. The circuit comprises two D-Flip-Flop circuits wherein one employs the said input signal and the other one employs the complement of the said input signal, and each of the two D-Flip-Flop circuits consists of a pair of loading transistors, two regenerative pairs coupled with each others, and two common-gate switches.

Abstract: This invention relates to methods for preparing photo-patterned mono- or polychromatic, polarizing films. The polarizer can be pixelated into a number of small regions wherein some of the regions have one orientation of the principal neutral or color absorbing axis; and some other of the said regions have another orientation of the principal neutral or color absorbing axis. The axis orientation is determined by the polarization vector of actinic radiation and the multi-axes orientation is possible by a separated masked exposure. This polarizer can be placed on the interior substrate surface of the LCD cell.

Abstract: The present invention provides an integrated electronic microphone formed as part of a semiconductor device, and a manufacturing method therefor. The microphone is formed with a sensing electrode as part of a sensing membrane, and the sensing electrode is connected to the gate of a sensing transistor to provide an output. The microphone may be operated in constant bias or constant charge mode.

Abstract: A method is proposed for converting a multicolor image in which each pixel has a color intensity value for only a single color, into a full color image. For pixels for which the intensity value of a first color is known, the intensity value of a second (missing) color is interpolated as the intensity value of the first color multiplied by the local average intensity of the second color and divided by the local average intensity of the first color. Each of the intensity values of the first and second color values is determined over a set of nearest neighboring pixels. The smoothing artifact produced by the proposed method is much less than some known algorithms described above, but the computational complexity of the proposed method is low.