Abstract: The human DNA polymerase .alpha. catalytic polypeptide has been functionally over-expressed by a recombinant baculovirus in insect cells at >1000 fold higher levels than that found in cultured normal human cells.

Abstract: Isolated and purified envelope protein of HTLV-I is provided devoid of non-envelope protein of HTLV-I and having substantially the same conformation as the envelope protein in native HTLV-I. The protein is produced recombinantly using a dual vaccinia/T7 polymerase system. Non-glycosylated and glycosylated forms of the protein are produced. Glycosylated forms are recognized by antibodies specific for the envelope protein of HTLV-I. Monoclonal antibodies are provided which are specific for the HTLV-I envelope protein and non-binding to HTLV-I envelope protein in denatured form. The HTLV-I envelope protein is cross-reactive with antibodies of HTLV-II and STLV. The envelope protein is useful in diagnosis of infection by HTLV-I and HTLV-II.

Abstract: Present invention based on the identification of the molecular interaction that forms the basis of the immunosuppressive activity of peptides comprising residues 71-80 of an MHC Class II protein (Class II peptides). Specifically the present invention discloses that Class II peptides bind to members of the PCNA family of proteins. Based on this observation, present invention provides methods for identifying agents that can be used to modulate immune system activity.

Abstract: The present invention relates to the discovery of a novel erbB receptor ligand, referred to hereinafter as "cdGF", which protein has apparently broad involvement in the formation and maintenance of ordered spatial arrangements of differentiated tissues in vertebrates, and can be used to generate and/or maintain an array of different vertebrate tissue both in vitro and in vivo.

Abstract: This invention relates to the use of promoters for ribonucleic acid amplification and other genetic manipulations. Processes are provided wherein complementary deoxyribonucleic acid (cDNA) is synthesized from a ribonucleic acid (RNA) sequence using a complementary primer linked to an RNA polymerase promoter region complement and then anti-sense RNA (aRNA) is transcribed from the cDNA by introducing an RNA polymerase capable of binding to the promoter region. Additional processes using the resulting aRNA are also described.

Abstract: A light emitting device made of semiconducting materials. The device has an optical microcavity which supports a resonant mode of predetermined photon energy. Within the cavity is a quantum well of predetermined thickness and energy depth. The quantum well is designed such that it forms bound electron, exciton, lower polariton, and hole energy states of predetermined energy. The energy of an exciton state is set to equal the predetermined photon energy of the microcavity mode such that polariton states are created. A means is provided for resonantly tunneling electrons into a quantum well energy state. In a first embodiment, electrons resonantly tunnel into an electron energy state. In a second embodiment, electrons resonantly tunnel into an exciton energy state, during which tunneling the electrons simultaneously fuse with holes to form excitons.

Abstract: A thermal cycling module includes an array of thermoelectric devices ?36! divided into multiple zones ?A, B, C, D! independently controlled by corresponding variable power supplies ?56, 58, 60, 62!. The thermoelectric devices ?36! provide localized, precise, and rapid control of both heating and cooling, while fluid from one of several fluid supplies ?64, 66, 68! provides bulk heating or cooling via a fluid heat exchanger ?38!. Sensors ?46, 48, 50, 52! provide feedback of temperature or other process parameters to a controller ?54! which generates control signals for controlling the power supplies ?56, 58, 60, 62!, the fluid supplies ?64, 66, 68!, and fluid valves ?70, 72! which control fluid flow through the heat exchanger ?38!.

Abstract: A compact high-power RF load comprises a series of very low Q resonators, or chokes ?16!, in a circular waveguide ?10!. The sequence of chokes absorb the RF power gradually in a short distance while keeping the bandwidth relatively wide. A polarizer ?12! at the input end of the load is provided to convert incoming TE.sub.10 mode signals to circularly polarized TE.sub.11 mode signals. Because the load operates in the circularly polarized mode, the energy is uniformly and efficiently absorbed and the load is more compact than a rectangular load. Using these techniques, a load having a bandwidth of 500 MHz can be produced with an average power dissipation level of 1.5 kW at X-band, and a peak power dissipation of 100 MW. The load can be made from common lossy materials, such as stainless steel, and is less than 15 cm in length. These techniques can also produce loads for use as an alternative to ordinary waveguide loads in small and medium RF accelerators, in radar systems, and in other microwave applications.

Abstract: A method for simultaneously performing bit serial analog to digital conversion (ADC) for a potentially very large number of signals is described. The method is ideally suited for performing on chip ADC in area image sensors. In one embodiment, to achieve N-bit precision, the method employs a one-bit comparator per channel (or set of multiplexed channels) and an N-bit DAC. To achieve N bits of precision, 2.sup.N -1 comparisons are sequentially performed. Each comparison is performed by first setting the DAC output to the desired value and then simultaneously comparing each of the pixel values to that value. If a pixel value is greater than the DAC output value, its comparator outputs a one, otherwise it outputs a zero. By appropriately choosing the sequence of comparison values, the pixel values are sequentially generated. In another embodiment, the DAC is omitted and a continuous ramp signal is generated for comparison with the analog input.

Abstract: A high-power RF switching device employs a semiconductor wafer positioned in the third port of a three-port RF device. A controllable source of directed energy, such as a suitable laser or electron beam, is aimed at the semiconductor material. When the source is turned on, the energy incident on the wafer induces an electron-hole plasma layer on the wafer, changing the wafer's dielectric constant, turning the third port into a termination for incident RF signals, and. causing all incident RF signals to be reflected from the surface of the wafer. The propagation constant of RF signals through port 3, therefore, can be changed by controlling the beam. By making the RF coupling to the third port as small as necessary, one can reduce the peak electric field on the unexcited silicon surface for any level of input power from port 1, thereby reducing risk of damaging the wafer by RF with high peak power.

Abstract: A method is disclosed for generating a categorical depth map of a scene using passive defocus sensing. In a preferred embodiment three synchronized CCD cameras focused at different distances detect three images of the same scene. An image processor partitions the images into an array of regions and calculates a sharpness value for each region. The sharpness value for a region is calculated by summing over all pixels (x,y) in the region the absolute difference in the intensity value of a pixel (x,y)( with pixel (x-k,y-l), where k and l are constants. The image processor then constructs a depth map of the scene by determining for each region the image with the greatest sharpness in that region. An application of the invention to a mobile robot control system is described in detail. Among other applications, the method may be used for collision avoidance, object detection, and speed measurement.

Abstract: An electron beam system provides low aberration, 10 nm resolution at 100 eV landing energy. The system comprises a lens unit ?46! having a built-in semiconductor junction detector ?58!. The detector surrounds the sample-side of a focusing electrode ?48! just upstream from a retarding electrode ?50! which is positioned less than a millimeter from the sample ?34!. Because the detector is within a few millimeters of the sample, it provides efficient detection of secondary electrons from the sample. The retarding electrode decreases the energies of the primary beam ?22! from 10 keV to less than 100 eV, reduces distortions due to sample surface topography, and serves to accelerate secondary electrons back toward the detector, further improving detection efficiency.

Abstract: An efficient digital waveguide synthesizer is disclosed for simulating the tones produced by a non-linearly excited vibrational element coupled to a resonator, such as in a piano. In a preferred embodiment, the synthesizer creates an excitation pulse from a table containing the impulse response of a piano soundboard and enclosure. Alternatively, this excitation pulse can be synthesized by filtering white noise. The excitation pulse is fed into a filter that simulates the collision of the piano hammer and string. Because the hammer-string interaction is nonlinear, the characteristics of this filter vary with the amplitude of the tone produced. The filtered excitation pulse is then fed into a filtered delay line loop which models the vibration of a piano string. Because the excitation pulse already contains the effects of the resonator, the tone produced by the delay line loop does not require additional filtering in order to model the resonator.

Abstract: A coupled mode digital filter which simulates any number of arbitrarily tuned modes coupled together so as to share the same loss element at a junction loaded by an arbitrary impedance function is formed from the combination of one first order allpass filter ?28! and one unit delay ?30! per mode and one shared coupling filter?36!.

Abstract: Ligands useful for transition metal catalyzed bond forming reactions are provided with a metal binding portion having at least one metal binding moiety ##STR1## wherein Ar and Ar' each is an aryl or a heteroaryl. These ligands may be prepared by providing an aromatic carboxylic acid having a diarylphosphino or diheteroarylphosphino substituent on the aromatic ring, and forming an ester or an amide derivative of the carboxylic acid by coupling with a chiral diol or a chiral diamine. The ligands facilitate, for example, flexible strategies for enantiocontrolled construction of five membered carbocyclic rings with varying substitution patterns and high enantioselectivity.

Abstract: A method and apparatus achieves rapid timing synchronization, carrier frequency synchronization, and sampling rate synchronization of a receiver to an orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) signal. The method uses two OFDM training symbols to obtain full synchronization in less than two data frames. A first OFDM training symbol has only even-numbered sub-carriers, and substantially no odd-numbered sub-carriers, an arrangement that results in half-symbol symmetry. A second OFDM training symbol has even-numbered sub-carriers differentially modulated relative to those of the first OFDM training symbol by a predetermined sequence. Synchronization is achieved by computing metrics which utilize the unique properties of these two OFDM training symbols. Timing synchronization is determined by computing a timing metric which recognizes the half-symbol symmetry of the first OPDM training symbol.

Abstract: Novel techniques are disclosed for eliminating multipath errors, including mean bias errors, in pseudorange measurements made by conventional global positioning system receivers. By correlating the multipath signals of different satellites at their cross-over points in the sky, multipath mean bias errors are effectively eliminated. By then taking advantage of the geometrical dependence of multipath, a linear combination of spherical harmonics are fit to the satellite multipath data to create a hemispherical model of the multipath. This calibration model can then be used to compensate for multipath in subsequent measurements and thereby obtain GPS positioning to centimeter accuracy.

Abstract: Methods and compositions are provided for the modulation of monocyte binding to endothelial cells, particularly during inflammatory episodes. Compositions are provided which bind to one or both of the monocyte surface membrane protein or the endothelial surface membrane protein which are complementary or result in the adhesion of the monocyte to the endothelial cell. The subject compositions can be used in diagnosis or therapy.

Abstract: A method is disclosed for publishing a hypertext file set on a world-wide web server machine by packaging the hypertext file set as an e-mail message on a client machine, transporting the e-mail message over the internet from the client machine to the world-wide web server machine, unpacking the e-mail message to recover the hypertext file set, and depositing the hypertext file set into a memory means on the world-wide web server machine. By using the e-mail transport mechanism, a direct internet connection between the client and server is not necessary. Consequently, the method allows files to pass through security firewalls and allows geographically disperse individuals to remotely update information at a WWW site without compromising server security. In addition, processing time is not wasted during direct connections sharing the server's resources and internet bandwidth is not wasted.

Abstract: The invention presents an apparatus and a method for core body warming of hypothermic mammals. The apparatus has an enclosing element to be placed around a predetermined body portion of a mammal in a vacuum-tight manner and a vacuum system connected to the enclosing element for generating and maintaining a predetermined negative pressure, preferably between -20 mmHg and -80 mmHg, inside the enclosing element. A heating unit delivers a thermal energy while the vacuum system is maintaining the predetermined negative pressure. The simultaneous application of thermal energy and negative pressure produces vasodilation which promotes absorption of the thermal energy through the surface of the body portion. The circulatory system of the mammal naturally carries the thermal energy to the core body of the mammal.