Abstract: Devices, systems and methods for monitoring excitable cells, such as cardiomyocytes, on microelectrode arrays that couple the electro-stimulation of excitable cells to induce or regulate cardiomyocyte beating and the simultaneous measurement of impedance and extracellular recording to assess changes in cardiomyocyte beating, viability, morphology or electrophysical properties in response to a plurality of treatments.

Abstract: The present invention relates to compositions, devices and methods for detecting microorganisms (e.g., anthrax). In particular, the present invention provides portable, surface-enhanced Raman biosensors, and associated substrates, and methods of using the same, for use in rapidly detecting and identifying microorganisms (e.g., anthrax).

Abstract: The present invention relates to compositions, devices and methods for detecting microorganisms (e.g., anthrax). In particular, the present invention provides portable, surface-enhanced Raman biosensors, and associated substrates, and methods of using the same, for use in rapidly detecting and identifying microorganisms (e.g., anthrax).

Abstract: A method for decoding an audio signal includes: obtaining a lower-band signal component of an audio signal corresponding to a received code stream when the audio signal switches from a first bandwidth to a second bandwidth which is narrower than the first bandwidth; extending the lower-band signal component to obtain higher-band information; performing a time-varying fadeout process on the higher-band information to obtain a processed higher-band signal component; and synthesizing the processed higher-band signal component and the obtained lower-band signal component. With the methods provided in the embodiments of the invention, when an audio signal has a switch from broadband to narrowband, a series of processes such as bandwidth detection, artificial band extension, time-varying fadeout process, and bandwidth synthesis, may be performed to make the switch to have a smooth transition from a broadband signal to a narrowband signal so that a comfortable listening experience may be achieved.

Abstract: The present invention relates to the role of 4-1BB (CD137) ligand and anti-4-1BB (CD137) antibody in the treatment of cancers and diseases associated with 4-1BB (CD137) expression. More particularly, the present invention relates to the use of (i) 4-1BB (CD137) ligand for inducing proliferation and activation and promoting survival of B lymphocytes and (2) anti-4-1BB (anti-CD137) antibody for inhibiting proliferation and activation and inducing death of B lymphocytes.

Abstract: Disclosed are isolated transposable elements, or isolated DNA sequences which encode a transposase protein or a portion of a transposase protein. The isolated transposable elements or the isolated DNA sequences are members of the mPing/Pong family of transposable elements. The invention also relates to a purified transposase protein, or peptide fragments thereof, encoded by such DNA sequences. Such transposable elements are useful in applications such as the stable introduction of a DNA sequence of interest into a eukaryotic cell. The sequence information disclosed herein is useful in the design of oligonucleotide primers which are useful for the isolation of related members of the mPing/Pong family of transposable elements, or for the detection of transpositions of the transposable elements.

Abstract: A surgical knife safety device having a handle, a blade connected to the handle, and a guard carried by the handle for sliding movement between a retracted position in which the blade is exposed for use, and an extended position for covering the sharp cutting edge of the blade. In the retracted position, an enlarged guard radius is provided at the distal end of the handle to allow improved handle control and blade orientation. The enlarged guard radius is positioned to allow the user to firmly grip a large distal handle portion which is preferably molded as a single piece with the blade holder, preventing unwanted blade or handle movement due to guard mechanism tolerances. A spring, such as leaf spring or a cantilever beam, and a pair of detents or slots are provided to fix the guard in the extended or retracted position and to provide resistance during movement between the two positions.

Abstract: A surgical knife safety device having a handle, a blade connected to the handle, and a guard carried by the handle for sliding movement between a retracted position in which the blade is exposed for use, and an extended position for covering the sharp cutting edge of the blade. In the retracted position, an enlarged guard radius is provided at the distal end of the handle to allow improved handle control and blade orientation. The enlarged guard radius is positioned to allow the user to firmly grip a large distal handle portion which is preferably molded as a single piece with the blade holder, preventing unwanted blade or handle movement due to guard mechanism tolerances. A spring, such as leaf spring or a cantilever beam, and a pair of detents or slots are provided to fix the guard in the extended or retracted position and to provide resistance during movement between the two positions.

Abstract: A method for decoding an audio signal includes: obtaining a lower-band signal component of an audio signal corresponding to a received code stream when the audio signal switches from a first bandwidth to a second bandwidth which is narrower than the first bandwidth; extending the lower-band signal component to obtain higher-band information; performing a time-varying fadeout process on the higher-band information to obtain a processed higher-band signal component; and synthesizing the processed higher-band signal component and the obtained lower-band signal component. With the methods provided in the embodiments of the invention, when an audio signal has a switch from broadband to narrowband, a series of processes such as bandwidth detection, artificial band extension, time-varying fadeout process, and bandwidth synthesis, may be performed to make the switch to have a smooth transition from a broadband signal to a narrowband signal so that a comfortable listening experience may be achieved.

Abstract: The present invention provides methods for eliciting an effective immune response against a weakly immunogenic disease or for priming T cells to become memory T cells against a weakly immunogenic disease by directly vaccinating into the bone marrow of the patient an antigen associated with the weakly immunogenic disease. Also included in the present invention is an isolated population of human memory CD8+ T cells from the bone marrow which is in a heightened activation state with a unique effector phenotype.

Abstract: Disclosed are isolated transposable elements, or isolated DNA sequences which encode a transposase protein or a portion of a transposase protein. The isolated transposable elements or the isolated DNA sequences are members of the mPing/Pong family of transposable elements. The invention also relates to a purified transposase protein, or peptide fragments thereof, encoded by such DNA sequences. Such transposable elements are useful in applications such as the stable introduction of a DNA sequence of interest into a eukaryotic cell. The sequence information disclosed herein is useful in the design of oligonucleotide primers which are useful for the isolation of related members of the mPing/Pong family of transposable elements, or for the detection of transpositions of the transposable elements.

Abstract: Disclosed are isolated transposable elements, or isolated DNA sequences which encode a transposase protein or a portion of a transposase protein. The isolated transposable elements or the isolated DNA sequences are members of the mPing/Pong family of transposable elements. The invention also relates to a purified transposase protein, or peptide fragments thereof, encoded by such DNA sequences. Such transposable elements are useful in applications such as the stable introduction of a DNA sequence of interest into a eukaryotic cell. The sequence information disclosed herein is useful in the design of oligonucleotide primers which are useful for the isolation of related members of the mPing/Pong family of transposable elements, or for the detection of transpositions of the transposable elements.

Abstract: The present invention relates to compositions and methods for detecting microorganisms (e.g., anthrax). In particular, the present invention provides portable, surface-enhanced Raman biosensors, and associated substrates, and methods of using the same, for use in rapidly detecting and identifying microorganisms (e.g., anthrax).

Abstract: A surgical knife safety device having a handle, a blade connected to the handle, and a guard carried by the handle for sliding movement between a retracted position in which the blade is exposed for use, and an extended position for covering the sharp cutting edge of the blade. In the retracted position, an enlarged guard radius is provided at the distal end of the handle to allow improved handle control and blade orientation. The enlarged guard radius is positioned to allow the user to firmly grip a large distal handle portion which is preferably molded as a single piece with the blade holder, preventing unwanted blade or handle movement due to guard mechanism tolerances. A spring, such as leaf spring or a cantilever beam, and a pair of detents or slots are provided to fix the guard in the extended or retracted position and to provide resistance during movement between the two positions.

Abstract: The voice print system of the present invention is a subword-based, text-dependent automatic speaker verification system that embodies the capability of user-selectable passwords with no constraints on the choice of vocabulary words or the language. An estimate of the enrollement channel and of the test channel is developed for inverse filtering of the enrollment or the test speech, respectively. Automatic blind speech segmentation allows speech to be segmented into subword units without any linguistic knowledge of the password. Subword modeling is performed using a multiple classifiers. The system also takes advantage of such concepts as multiple classifier fusion and data resampling to successfully boost the performance. Key word/key phrase spotting is used to optimally locate the password phrase. Numerous adaptation techniques increase the flexibility of the base system, and include: channel adaptation, fusion adaptation, model adaptation and threshold adaptation.

Abstract: Disclosed are isolated transposable elements, or isolated DNA sequences which encode a transposase protein or a portion of a transposase protein. The isolated transposable elements or the isolated DNA sequences are members of the mPing/Pong family of transposable elements. The invention also relates to a purified transposase protein, or peptide fragments thereof, encoded by such DNA sequences. Such transposable elements are useful in applications such as the stable introduction of a DNA sequence of interest into a eukaryotic cell. The sequence information disclosed herein is useful in the design of oligonucleotide primers which are useful for the isolation of related members of the mPing/Pong family of transposable elements, or for the detection of transpositions of the transposable elements.

Abstract: The voice print system of the present invention is a subword-based, text-dependent automatic speaker verification system that embodies the capability of user-selectable passwords with no constraints on the choice of vocabulary words or the language. Automatic blind speech segmentation allows speech to be segmented into subword units without any linguistic knowledge of the password. Subword modeling is performed using a multiple classifiers. The system also takes advantage of such concepts as multiple classifier fusion and data resampling to successfully boost the performance. Key word/key phrase spotting is used to optimally locate the password phrase. Numerous adaptation techniques increase the flexibility of the base system, and include: channel adaptation, fusion adaptation, model adaptation and threshold adaptation.

Abstract: The voice print system of the present invention is a subword-based, text-dependent automatic speaker verification system that embodies the capability of user-selectable passwords with no constraints on the choice of vocabulary words or the language. Automatic blind speech segmentation allows speech to be segmented into subword units without any linguistic knowledge of the password. Subword modeling is performed using a multiple classifiers. The system also takes advantage of such concepts as multiple classifier fusion and data resampling to successfully boost the performance. Key word/key phrase spotting is used to optimally locate the password phrase. Numerous adaptation techniques increase the flexibility of the base system, and include: channel adaptation, fusion adaptation, model adaptation and threshold adaptation.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a robust speech processing method and system which models channel and noise variations with affine transforms to reduce mismatched conditions between training and testing. The affine transform relating the training vectors C.sub.k with the vectors for testing condition c.sub.k', is represented by the form:c'.sub.k.sup.T =Ac.sub.k.sup.T +bfor k=1 to N in which A is a matrix of predicator coefficients representing noise distortions and vector b represents channel distortions. Alternatively, an affine invariant cepstrum is generated during testing and training for modeling speech to account for noise and channel effects. From the improved speech processing, improved speaker recognition with channel and noise variations is obtained.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a pattern recognition system which uses data fusion to combine data from a plurality of extracted features and a plurality of classifiers. Speaker patterns can be accurately verified with the combination of discriminant based and distortion based classifiers. A novel approach using a training set of a "leave one out" data can be used for training the system with a reduced data set. Extracted features can be improved with a pole filtered method for reducing channel effects and an affine transformation for improving the correlation between training and testing data.