Abstract: A collagen-binding MSCRAMM entitled Ace from enterococcal bacteria is provided which was homologous to the ligand-binding region of Cna, the collagen-binding MSCRAMM from Staphylococcus aureus, and which can be utilized in a similar manner as other collagen-binding MSCRAMMs to inhibit adhesion of enterococcal bacteria to extracellular matrix proteins. The N-terminal region of Ace contained a region (residues 174-319), or A domain, which appears to be equivalent to the minimal ligand-binding region of the collagen-binding protein Cna (Cna 151-318), and contains several 47-residue tandem repeat units, called B domain repeat units, between the collagen-binding site and cell wall-associated regions. The Ace protein of the invention can thus be utilized in methods of preventing and/or treating enterococcal infection, and in addition, antibodies raised against Ace, or its A domain, can be used to effectively inhibit the adhesion of enterococcal cells to a collagen substrate.

Abstract: An annular fluid or packer fluid, and methods of making the same, that includes a water-miscible solvent, a viscosifying additive, a crosslinking agent, a crosslinking inhibitor having the facility to inhibit crosslinking between the viscosifying additive and the crosslinking agent, and an initiating agent having the facility to overcome an action of the crosslinking inhibitor and to initiate crosslinking between the viscosifying additive and the crosslinking agent, is shown and described. The fluid has a thermal conductivity of no more than about 0.25 btu/(hr·ft·° F.) and a potential to substantially increase its viscosity upon sitting for a selected period of time.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method for producing a calendered paper web. According to the method, a paper web is formed from a fibrous raw material in a paper machine, and the paper web is calendered. According to the invention, a fibrous raw material is used which is at least partly made up of a chemimechanical pulp of a species of the Populus family, and the calendering is performed by online soft-calendering. By means of the invention, the gloss and smoothness of papers can be improved without decreasing their bulk.

Abstract: Arsenic trioxide, an inorganic compound, is commercially available anti-cancer agent but it carries significant toxicity. Organic arsenicals, on the other hand, are much less toxic, to the extent that the methylation of inorganic arsenic in vivo into organic arsenicals has been considered a detoxification reaction. New organic arsenic derivatives have been synthesized, including S-dimethylarsino-glutathione, S-dimethylarsino-thiosuccinic acid and S-dimethylarsino-thiobenzoic acid, and established its potent in vitro cytotoxic activity against numerous human tumor cell lines, both of solid and hematological origin, as well as against malignant blood cells from patients with leukemia. Results form a basis for the development of S-dimethylarsino-glutathione, S-dimethylarsino-thiosuccinic acid, S-dimethylarsino-thiobenzoic acid, and other organic arsenicals as an anti-cancer therapy, combining high efficacy with very low, if any, toxicity.

Abstract: A rotary body sealing material device. The device prevents leakage of powder, by effectively sealing en end of a rotary body with a simple structure. An end seal which prevents toner leakage by contacting an outer circumference of a developing roller, has a contact portion made of a sealing material of yarns including porous hollow fibers. The seal, made of hollow fiber, exhibits reduced repulsive elasticity during compression, and high hermeticity is attained in the yarns by applying only a relatively light load to such an extent that deformation is not formed in a pressure-applying supporting plate and the to-be-pressed developing roller, thereby maintaining seal integrity.

Abstract: A signal transmitter for setting the operating states of an automatic gear shifting mechanism having a selector, deflectable in at least three direction, and automatically returnable into a normal position X, by which a shift position R for engaging a reverse gear, a shift position N for the interruption of torque transmission in the gear change mechanism, a shift position D for engaging a forward gear are made. Additionally, the selector can be deflected in a direction for shift position N, N1, N2 for the interruption of torque transmission in the gear change mechanism starting from the normal position X, then another direction different from the first direction and its opposite direction for selecting other shift positions R or D starting from the shift positions N, N1, N2, and again deflected in the first direction after deflecting to other direction for selecting the other shift positions R or D.

Abstract: In a cellular telecommunications network, a method and system for performing dormant hand-off for a dormant Mobile Node (MN) between a source packet zone an a target packet zone, when the MN still has an active A10 and Point-to Point Protocol (PPP) connection in the target packet zone. According to the method, when handed-off, the MN issues an origination request with a Data Ready to Sent (DRS) parameter set to zero for the target Base Station Controller (BSC-T) which responsive to the request further sends an A9-setup-A8 registration request to a target Packet Control Function (PCF-T). The PCF-T then sends an A-11 Registration Request message to a Packet Data Service Node (PDSN-T) of the target packet zone. Responsive to the receipt of the Registration request, the PDSN-T sends an agent advertisement message to the MN and initiates the Mobile IP (MIP) registration procedure, and the MN can register the care-of-address information relating to the new serving PDSN, the PDSN-T, with its Home Agent (HA).

Abstract: The present invention provides a flexible ARQ scheme. A communications channel is set up between a transmitter and a receiver. A value is selected for an ARQ parameter for data packets to be transmitted over the communications channel. The ARQ parameter value may be selected in accordance with a trade-off between a desired performance or goal, e.g., a specific throughput of data packets transmitted over the communications channel, and one or more communication resources required to support the desired performance or goal. An example of an ARQ parameter is a number of outstanding data packets to be acknowledged by the receiver before more packets can be sent to the receiver. Another parameter example is a delay associated with the ARQ scheme. In a preferred, non-limiting example embodiment, first and second ARQ parameter values are selected for a desired trade-off.

Abstract: An acoustic horn has an acoustic impedance matched with impedances of an ear and a driver. The acoustic horn can be used in an electroacoustic transducer including the driver, and the acoustic horn. The electroacoustic transducer is particularly well-suited for use in portable device such as a radiotelephone, pager, or other device.

Abstract: A radio transceiver, for example a mobile station, for use in a code division multiple access (CDMA) system, estimates the signal-to-interference ratio of received signals, for use in power control of transmissions thereto. The estimation algorithm, used to estimate the signal-to-interference ratio, is altered based on the estimated relative velocity of the transceiver.

Abstract: A peer-to-peer network of devices connected together with data being streamed over a digital network. Network devices include one or more data communication units that are locatable in two or more zones. Data communication units may be room stations and door stations connected to hub modules at an entertainment hub and local units connected to the entertainment hub. The entertainment hub may be connected to the Internet, either directly or, indirectly through one of the connected data communications units. Room stations include a sending unit, a receiving unit and an intercom unit (provide intercom, paging and station monitoring) and are located in different zones, each controlling local reception of data from the data stream and each may place data into the data stream.

Abstract: A mobile station adapted to be used in a radio communications system includes a receiver apparatus adapted to receive blocks of distorted information bits at a first rate from a transmitter via a communications link, and a first detecting apparatus adapted to detect information bits from the distorted information bits. The mobile station also includes a second detecting apparatus adapted, when the quality of the received blocks of information bits is above a given level, to detect information bits from the distorted information bits using fewer computation resources than the first detecting apparatus.

Abstract: The invention relates to for processing an electromagnetic input signal, wherein the signal is passed through an input to be modified across a plurality of modifying segments using a characteristic of the signal, and wherein the plurality of segments have a plurality of states controlled by a control signal, by determining a reference impedance for the input for one or more states of the plurality of segments; and adaptively adjusting impedance of the input toward the reference impedance. This may be accomplished for example, by using a matching circuit comprising one or more selected from the group consisting of a digital signal processor, a microprocessor, a logic circuit, an integrated circuit, a phase shifter, a resistor, a variable inductor, and a variable capacitor. The matching circuit determines shifts in impedance of the input after a change in state of the segments; and adaptively adjusts the impedance based upon the shift.

Abstract: An apparatus for a voice mail advertising system. Incoming telephone calls are routed to a user. If the user does not answer the call, the call is routed to a voice mail server, which communicates with an advertising server. The servers execute software for determining if the user has subscribed to voice mail advertising, selecting an advertisement for playback, playing the advertisement, recording an incoming message, if any, and billing the advertiser if the advertisement was played in its entirety without early termination by the caller.

Abstract: A guardrail support post includes a continuous structural member having a top edge, a bottom edge, and a generally uniform cross section from the top edge to the bottom edge. The structural member includes first and second generally parallel flanges, and a web forming a coupling between, and extending generally perpendicular to the first and second flanges. The structural member includes a lower portion for installing below grade adjacent a roadway, and an upper portion configured to be coupled with a guardrail beam. A mid portion of the structural member is disposed between the upper portion and the lower portion. In accordance with a particular embodiment of the present invention, the first and second flanges include first and second cutouts, respectively, that occur within the mid portion. The cutouts are operable to weaken the structural member about an axis generally perpendicular to the flanges without substantially weakening the structural member about an axis generally parallel to the flanges.

Abstract: A hardware accelerator for improving the decompression performance when decompressing data in Lempel-Ziv-Huffman compressed data format. The use of a Huffman encoding second stage in the popular and widely-used Lempel-Ziv-Huffman standard improves the compression ratio but complicates the decompression, because the Huffman encoding is applied selectively only to certain pails of the Lempel-Ziv tokens, and thus Huffman decoding must also be applied selectively during decompression. The present invention features a variable-length token decoder which is able to selectively decode the Huffman-encoded portions of the compressed data, and therefore enables high-performance decompression for compressed data having a very good compression ratio. Such an accelerator is well-suited for use in data processors which are to be loaded with pre-compressed data and software applications, particularly those employing flash memory.

Abstract: Transmit power control is achieved by determining a data rate of at least a first channel and controlling the transmit power of the at least first channel based on the determined data rate. The transmit power may be adjusted based on a ratio of power between the at least first channel and a second channel, and the ratio may be adjusted based on the data rate of the first data channel. The first data channel may be a data channel, and the second data channel may be a control channel. The ratio is adjusted such that a power offset between the first channel and the second channel is proportional to the data rate of the first channel. The ratio may be adjusted based on the coding rate, data transmission rate, and/or a rate matching parameter. The transmit power may also be adjusted based on received power control commands. The transmit power may be adjusted in this manner in the uplink or the downlink direction.