A method for design of a fuel assembly for nuclear reactors, including structural components made from zirconium alloy: the mean uniaxial tensile or compressive stress to which the components are subjected during the assembly life is calculated, the zirconium alloy of which the components are made is selected according to the following criteria: those components subjected to an axial or transverse compressive stress of between −10 et −20 MPa are made from an alloy with a content of Sn between Sn=(=0.025σ−0.25)% and Sn=−0.05σ%: those components subjected to such a stress of between 0 et −10 MPa are made from an alloy the Sn content of which is between Sn=traces and Sn=(0.05σ+1)%: those components subjected to such a stress of between 0 and +10 MPa are made from an alloy the Sn content of which is between Sn=0.05% and Sn=(0.07σ+1)%: and those components subjected to such a stress of between +10 and +20 MPa are made from an alloy the content of SN of which is between 0.05% and 1.70%. A fuel assembly made according to the method.

An apparatus for treating a radioactive nitrate waste liquid includes: a denitrification tank (12) that accommodates active sludge which adsorbs or takes in a radioactive substance in a nitrate waste liquid (11) containing nitrate and the radioactive substance and in which an anaerobic microorganism that reduces the nitrate to nitrogen gas grows; a reaeration tank (14) that aerates and mixes a denitrification-treated liquid (24) treated in the denitrification tank (12) with the active sludge in which the aerobic microorganism grows; and a sludge dissolution tank (81) that dissolves redundant sludge (26A, 26B) discharged from the denitrification tank (12) and the reaeration tank (14). Acetic peracid (80) is supplied to the sludge dissolution tank (81) to dissolve redundant sludge, a sludge lysate is supplied to the denitrification tank (12) as a carbon source (22), and acetic acid is supplied to the denitrification tank (12).

Illustrative embodiments provide a nuclear fission reactor, a vented nuclear fission fuel module, methods therefor and a vented nuclear fission fuel module system.

A reactor installation tool and method for installing a reactor unit in a reactor tube. A reactor installation tool including a movable assembly and a fixed assembly linked together such that the movable assembly can be adjusted relative to the fixed assembly. The movable assembly including a reactor sleeve attachment means for releasably securing a reactor sleeve loaded with a reactor unit to the tool. The fixed assembly including an expandable clamping unit for releasably securing the tool to a reactor tube. A reactor unit can be installed in the reactor tube by adjusting the movable assembly to extract the reactor unit from the reactor sleeve as the fixed assembly is rigidly secured to the reactor tube. The fixed assembly can be released from the reactor tube and the reactor installation tool can be removed from the reactor tube.

A method for measuring the neutron flux in the core of a nuclear reactor, the method including several steps recurrently performed at instants separated by a period, the method comprising at each given instant the following steps: acquiring a total signal by a cobalt neutron detector placed inside the core of the reactor; assessing a calibration factor representative of the delayed component of the total signal due to the presence of cobalt 60 in the neutron detector; assessing a corrected signal representative of the neutron flux at the detector from the total signal and from the calibration factor; assessing a slope representative of the time-dependent change of the calibration factor between the preceding instant and the given instant; the calibration factor at the given instant being assessed as a function of the calibration factor assessed at the preceding instant, of the slope, and of the time period separating the given instant from the preceding instant.

Disclosed embodiments include methods of assembling a vented nuclear fission fuel module. Given by way of non-limiting example and not of limitation, an illustrative method of assembling a vented nuclear fission fuel module includes receiving a nuclear fission fuel element capable of generating a gaseous fission product. A valve body is coupled to the nuclear fission fuel element, and the valve body defines a plenum therein for receiving the gaseous fission product. A valve is disposed in communication with the plenum for controllably venting the gaseous fission product from the plenum. A flexible diaphragm is coupled to the valve for moving the valve. A cap is mounted on the valve, and a manipulator extendable to the cap for manipulating the cap is received.

The invention relates to a polypeptide having a mutation at one or more position corresponding to T219 of SEQ ID NO: 55, wherein the polypeptide has at least 50% sequence identity with SEQ ID NO: 55, and wherein the polypeptide has permease activity.

Disclosed herein are compounds that inhibit Hsp90 interactions with IAP proteins, such as Survivin, XIAP, cIAP1, or cIAP2, and methods for identifying and using such compounds.

The present invention relates to isolation of whey proteins and the preparation of a whey product and a whey isolate. In particular the present invention relates to the isolation of a β-lactoglobulin product and the isolation of an α-enriched whey protein isolate from whey obtained from an animal. The α-enriched whey protein isolate provided by the present invention is besides from being low in β-lactoglobulin also high in α-lactalbumin and immunoglobulin G.

A composition having proanthocyanidin compounds having an average degree of polymerization of at least about 6. A method of administering to an immunosuppressed patient or a patient diagnosed with sepsis or septic shock a composition having a proanthocyanidin. A method of administering to a patient diagnosed with a gram negative bacterial infection a composition having proanthocyanidin compounds having an average degree of polymerization of at least about 6.

The present invention relates to a compound which is a polysaccharide derivative of GCSF, or of a GCSF like protein, wherein the polysaccharide is anionic and comprises between 2 and 200 saccharide units. The present invention also relates to pharmaceutical compositions comprising the novel compounds, and methods for making the novel compounds.

The present invention relates to gastrin derivatives comprising gastrin or an analogue or fragment thereof and a derivatisation group and therapeutic use thereof.

The present invention relates to novel antibodies, particularly antibodies directed against deletion mutants of epidermal growth factor receptor and particularly to the type III deletion mutant, EGFRvIII. The invention also relates to human monoclonal antibodies directed against deletion mutants of epidermal growth factor receptor and particularly to EGFRvIII. Diagnostic and therapeutic formulations of such antibodies, and immunoconjugates thereof, are also provided.

Monitoring user activity on a mobile device is described. In one aspect, video content is received and played to a user of the mobile device. The monitoring activity detects an interruption of playback of the video content and determines an event associated with the interruption. The event is stored in the mobile device and communicated to a remote device.

A system or method for inferring and selective display of visual and sound media content based on a pet(s)'s level of engagement or reactions to content displayed on any number of content display devices including, but not limited to, television screens, computer monitors, tablets, and cell phones and measured by a sensor. A content selection algorithm takes as input the sensor measurements and historical or pre-computed data to infer the pet(s)'s preference for content. A content modification algorithm interposes algorithmically computed shapes and sounds overlaid on top of the existing content to attract the attention of the pet(s) observing the display.

A method includes receiving, at a multimedia device, a data stream representing multimedia content, the data stream comprising first timing information for the multimedia content, and metadata representing interactive event information associated with the multimedia content, the metadata comprising second timing information for the interactive event information. During the playback of the multimedia content, a first user interactive event is identified that is associated with a first time point in the playback of the multimedia content based on the interactive event information, and the first user interactive event is performed concurrent with the first time point in the playback of the multimedia content.

An interactive television program guide system with program series reminder and recording capabilities is provided. The system allows a user to set a reminder or schedule a recording for a single episode or for each episode of a program series. In addition, other options may be provided that allow the user to determine, for example, whether to schedule reminders/recordings for episodes on all channels on which the program airs or only on a selected channels, whether to schedule reminders/recordings for all episodes including reruns or only new episodes, whether to schedule reminders/recordings for network or syndicated episodes, and whether to schedule reminders/recordings for episodes on all days or only on selected days of the week. Before the scheduled broadcast time of each episode of each selected program series, the system sends a reminder message to the user that reminds the user of the program episode or sends a record command to a videocassette recorder to initiate recording of the episode. The system allows a user to view a list of all currently requested program reminders and scheduled program recordings. The user may update, change, or cancel any entry in either list or the system may automatically update the lists to match new broadcast schedule information. If the user sets a reminder or schedules a recording that conflicts with an existing reminder or recording, the system may inform the user of the conflict and allow the user to resolve the conflict or the system may resolve the conflict.

System and method for providing a probabilistic order of tiles relative to a current section of a video that a user is viewing. A cache implementation uses this ordering to decide what tiles to evict from the cache, i.e. which tiles will probably not be accessed within a particular timeframe, but not when to evict (this is up to the cache implementation). A cache implementation can also use the prioritized list of the present embodiment to pre-fetch tiles.

A method and apparatus for extracting advertisement keywords in association with situations of scenes of video include: establishing a knowledge database including a classification hierarchy for classifying situations of scenes of video and an advertisement keyword list, segmenting a video script corresponding to a received video in units of scenes, and determining a situation corresponding to each scene with reference to the knowledge database, and extracting an advertisement keyword corresponding to the situation of a scene of the received video with reference to the knowledge database.

Provided is an adhesive composition for a protective film including an acrylic emulsion resin capable of providing contamination resistance on the film and low peel strength and minimizing generation of static electricity during peeling of the protective film. The acrylic emulsion resin includes a mixture including 80 to 99.9% by weight of a polymer of a (meth)acrylic acid ester monomer including a C1-C14 alkyl group and a (meth)acrylic acid ester monomer including an alkylene oxide unit, and 0.1 to 20% by weight of a monomer including a carboxyl group and/or a hydroxyl group or a combination thereof, and 5 to 30 parts by weight of a reactive emulsifier having a double bond structure radical-polymerizable with the polymer and including an alkylene oxide unit based on 100 parts by weight of the mixture.

This invention relates to whitlockite and a method for manufacturing the same. The method includes adding, to water, a calcium ion supplying material and a cation supplying material containing a cation (X) other than the calcium ion to prepare a cation aqueous solution, adding a phosphoric acid supplying material to the cation aqueous solution, and aging the cation aqueous solution including the phosphoric acid supplying material. As a result, whitlockite having high purity and high crystallinity can be mass produced using a simple process.

Provided is a zinc-plated steel sheet for hot pressing having outstanding surface characteristics, comprising: a steel foundation plate comprising a metal surface diffusion layer of which the Gibbs free energy reduction per mole of oxygen during oxidation is less than that of Cr; an aluminum-rich layer containing at least 30 wt. % of aluminum formed on the surface diffusion layer, and a zinc plating layer formed on the aluminum-rich layer. In this way, a metal having a low affinity for oxygen is coated to an effective thickness prior to annealing and thus the creation of annealing oxides at the surface of the steel sheet is suppressed and a uniform zinc plating layer is formed, and alloying of the zinc plating layer is promoted during press-processing heat treatment. Cracking in the steel foundation plate during hot press molding is prevented.

A chimeric protein containing neutrophil inhibitory factor and hirugen, the chimeric protein having an amino acid sequence that includes FPRPGSGG (SEQ ID NO:21) Also provided is a pharmaceutical composition comprising the chimeric protein, which can be used for treating or preventing cerebral injury and cerebral edema, or for inhibiting platelet aggregation.

Peptides having a structure characterized by the presence of two loops constrained in cyclic structure by the presence of covalent bonds between amino acid side chains, the amino acid sequences of the first and the second loop being substantially homologues to that of loop 1 (residues 29-38) and of loop 4 (residues 92-97) of NGF, respectively, displaying nerve growth factor (NGF) agonist or partial agonist activity.

The present invention provides a method for enhancing an immune response in a mammal to facilitate the elimination of a chronic pathology. The method involves the removal of immune system inhibitors such as soluble TNF receptor from the circulation of the mammal, thus, enabling a more vigorous immune response to the pathogenic agent. The removal of immune system inhibitors is accomplished by contacting biological fluids of a mammal with one or more binding partner(s) such as TNFα muteins capable of binding to and, thus, depleting the targeted immune system inhibitor(s) from the biological fluids. Particularly useful in the invention is an absorbent matrix composed of an inert, biocompatible substrate joined covalently to a binding partner, such as a TNFα mutein, capable of specifically binding to a targeted immune system inhibitor such as soluble TNF receptor.

The present invention relates to methods for producing a polypeptide having biological activity, comprising: (a) cultivating a fungal host cell in a medium conducive for the production of the polypeptide, wherein the fungal host cell comprises a first polynucleotide encoding the polypeptide operably linked to a second polynucleotide encoding a variant signal peptide or a variant prepropeptide; and (b) isolating the secreted polypeptide having biological activity from the cultivation medium.

The invention relates to human medicine and to the use of epidermal growth factor (EGF) for preparing a pharmaceutical composition which is administered by infiltration into the periphery of nerve ganglia and/or trunks for the morphofunctional restoration of peripheral nerves in painful sensory-motor neuropathy as well as manifestations of ischemic neuritis. The invention also includes a composition containing EGF which can be formulated together with anesthetics or analgesics or encapsulated in microspheres and to the use thereof for the morphofunctional restoration of peripheral nerves in painful sensitive-motor-type diabetic neuropathy and the manifestations of ischemic neuritis.

The present invention provides spreading agents based on sequence-specific oligomers comprising a peptoid, a peptide-peptoid chimera, a retropeptoid or a retro(peptoid-peptide) chimera, and methods for using the same, including for the treatment of respiratory distress of the lungs. The spreading agents are sequence-specific oligomers, including retrosequence-specific oligomers, based on a peptide backbone, that are designed as analogs of surfactant protein-B or surfactant protein-C.

The present invention provides processes for the manufacturing of polypeptide conjugates. In particular, the invention provides methods for the purification of polypeptide conjugates, which include at least one polymeric modifying groups, such as a poly(alkylene oxide) moiety. Exemplary poly(alkylene oxide) moieties include poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and poly(propylene glycol). In an exemplary process, hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) is used to resolve different glycoforms of glycoPEGylated polypeptides.

The present invention is relevant to human medicine, and, in particular, to the use of Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF) in a pharmaceutical composition, said composition is administered through infiltration at the periphery of nerve trunks and/or ganglia, for the morphofunctional restoration of peripheral nerves in painful, sensory-motor neuropathy, as well as ischemic neuritis. It is also relevant to an EGF containing composition, where this molecule can be formulated together with anesthetic or analgesic drugs, or encapsulated in microspheres, and their use for the morphofunctional restoration of peripheral nerves in painful, sensory-motor neuropathy, as well as in ischemic neuritis.

Provided is an optical disk drive including a carrying roller for carrying an optical disk in a first direction. The carrying roller includes a first roller portion and a second roller portion which are aligned in a second direction along the optical disk and orthogonal to the first direction and which are so disposed as to make contact with a surface on one side of the optical disk. An axis of the first roller portion is so inclined that a distance between the axis of the first roller portion and the one-side surface of the optical disk gradually increases toward a central portion of the carrying roller. An axis of the second roller portion is so inclined that a distance between the axis of the second roller portion and the one-side surface of the optical disk gradually increases toward the central portion.

A production method of an active material, and the active material are provided to realize an active material containing metal-containing particles and being capable of achieving satisfactory cycle performance and rate performance. The active material is produced by a method of polymerizing a mixture of a metal ion, a hydroxy acid, and a polyol to obtain a polymer, and a step of carbonizing the polymer. The active material used is one having a carbonaceous porous material, and metal particles and/or metal oxide particles supported in pores of the carbonaceous porous material, and particle diameter of the metal-containing particles are in the range of 10 to 300 nm.

A power storage device cell is configured to include a capacitor positive electrode, a lithium positive electrode, and a common negative electrode in which electrode layers are formed on a collector foil in which penetration holes are formed, and such that the capacitor positive electrode and the lithium positive electrode are directly connected; each of the electrode layers of the common negative electrode is formed of a carbon-based material in which graphite particles and hard carbon particles are mixed, and the proportion of the hard carbon particles in the carbon-based material is from 5% by weight to 70% by weight.

A battery pack dehumidifier system for controlling the relative humidity within a battery pack enclosure is provided, the dehumidifier system including a desiccant that absorbs/adsorbs water vapor from the battery pack enclosure. The system heats and reactivates the desiccant at predetermined time intervals or when the humidity within the system reaches a preset level, thereby allowing the desiccant to regain its potential for absorbing/adsorbing water vapor.

An electrode is provided with a metal terminal extending from a battery module main body, a bolt which has an expanded section configuring a retaining section at a rear end portion and penetrates the metal terminal upward, and an insulating body which insulates the metal terminal and the battery module case one from the other. The insulating body is provided with a drop preventing section which abuts at least a lower surface of the expanded section of the bolt and prevents the bolt from dropping from the metal terminal.

Positive electrode active material particles for lithium ion secondary batteries include: a core particle including a first olivine-structured, lithium-containing phosphate compound which includes Fe and/or Mn and Li; and a shell layer attached to the surface of the core particle. The shell layer includes a second olivine-structured, lithium-containing phosphate compound which includes Fe and/or Mn and Li. At least the core particle includes a phosphorous compound represented by the formula (1): MemPnOp, where Me is Fe and/or Mn, 0

There is provided a flexible circuit board capable of preventing corrosion and elution of a conductor layer constituting a current collector even under high-temperature and high-voltage working conditions while achieving sufficient electric connection with an MEA. A flexible circuit board having a current collector of a fuel cell provided thereon includes an insulating flexible base material 1, a plurality of openings 5 that supply fuel or air, the openings 5 being provided in a specified region so as to penetrate through the flexible base material 1 in a thickness direction, a plating film 6 that constitutes the current collector, the plating film 6 being formed on front and back surfaces of the flexible base material 1 in the specified region and on inner walls of the openings 5, a surface treatment film 9 formed on the plating film 6 and having corrosion resistance higher than that of the plating film.

A negative electrode active material for an electric device, including an alloy having a composition formula SixZnyAlz, where x++y=100 , 26≦x≦47, 18≦y≦44, and 22≦z≦46 are satisfied.

The invention concerns a form for non impact printers, characterized in that it consists of four sections including an upper section and a lower section, and in that each section is separated from the next section by parallel fold lines or perforations. The upper section has the same surface area as the total surfaces of the two subsequent sections, over which the upper section is folded before printing, in such a manner that after printing the upper section can be folded further over the lower section and that an image can be transferred to the lower section by means of mechanical or chemical self-copying techniques by exerting a pressure on the upper section.

A server-based video game system maintains a number of video game characters having computer-simulated genetic (“digenetic”) structures that prescribe a number of physical and cognitive performance traits and characteristics for the video game characters. The system allows end users to establish remote online access to the game characters (via, e.g., the Internet). The results of competitions and training activities are based upon the game characters' digenetics, the conditions of the game environment, and the game characters' current levels of physical and cognitive development. The game characters' performance capabilities and cognition are updated continuously in response to the results of competitions and training activities. Competition and training results can be processed by the game servers and transmitted to the end user presentation devices for graphics rendering. In this manner, the video game system need not be burdened by network latency and other delays. The game system also supports game character breeding; game character evolution based upon the digenetics; and game character buying, trading, selling, and collecting.

An apparatus and method are disclosed for controlling fluid flow to a variator which responsive to separate high and low pressure fluids to control an output torque thereof. A first trim valve may be responsive to a first control signal to supply a first fluid at a fluid outlet thereof. A second trim valve may be responsive to a second control signal to supply a second fluid at a fluid outlet thereof. A variator switching sub-system may controllably supply the high pressure fluid and the low pressure fluid to the variator. A multiplex valve may be fluidly coupled to the outlets of the first and second trim valves, and may supply the first fluid as the high pressure fluid to the variator switching sub-system during at least one predefined operating condition and may otherwise supply the second fluid as the high pressure fluid to the variator switching sub-system.

A toroidal variable speed traction drive includes a driving disc and a driven disc. The discs have a common axis. A plurality of pairs of contacting rollers are interposed between the discs. The discs are urged together against the roller pairs (A) by a clamping force. Each of the rollers has a first rolling surface, by which it rolls on the other roller of the pair, and a second rolling surface by which it rolls on the toroidal surface of a corresponding disc. Each roller is mounted on a supporting axle about which it can rotate. The rotational axes of the rollers in a pair are supported in a plane that contains the two points where the rollers of the pair contact the discs. At least one of the rollers in each pair is adapted to be moved to adopt a stable position within the plane by the reactionary force exerted on it by the other roller of the pair.

An apparatus for controlling a variator having at least one roller between two toroidal disks may include at least one actuator responsive to fluid pressure at separate high side and low side fluid inlets thereof to control torque applied by the at least one roller to the disks. First and second variator switching valves may each receive a first fluid at a first pressure and a second fluid at a second lesser pressure. The first and second variator switching valves supply the first fluid to the high side fluid inlet and the second fluid to the low side fluid inlet during two of four different operational states together defined by the variator switching valves, and supply the second fluid to the high side fluid inlet and the first fluid to the low side fluid inlet during each of the remaining two of the four different operational states.

A fast valve actuation system for an automatic vehicle transmission includes a pair of spring-biased shift valves. Solenoids control the application of pressurized hydraulic fluid to the head of each of the shift valves. Each shift valve has at least one port that is coupled to a fluid chamber of a torque transferring mechanism of an automatic transmission. The position of each of the shift valves determines whether its ports are connected with fluid pressure. Fluid passages connect the head of each shift valve to the spring pocket of the other shift valve.

A toroidal traction drive has an axial loading system with a primary loading component and a non-linear cam roller loading component.

Systems and methods are disclosed for isolated bands of fractional tracks in data storage devices, particularly devices employing shingled magnetic recording. In one embodiment, a device may comprise a data storage medium including a first data storage area including tracks overlapped in a shingled manner and having a first circumferential portion of a track to store data, a second data storage area, and a guard area disposed between the first data storage area and the second data storage area, the guard area including a second circumferential portion of the track as a partial guard track. In some embodiments, the guard area may include at least one sector in the first circumferential portion of the track, such that at least one sector of the guard area is interposed between data storage sectors of the first data storage area.

A head transducer, configured to interact with a magnetic recording medium, includes a first sensor having a temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) and configured to produce a first sensor signal, and a second sensor having a TCR and configured to produce a second sensor signal. One of the first and second sensors is situated at or near a close point of the head transducer in relation to the magnetic recording medium, and the other of the first and second sensors spaced away from the close point. Circuitry is configured to combine the first and second sensor signals and produce a combined sensor signal indicative of one or both of a change in head-medium spacing and head-medium contact. Each of the sensors may have a TCR with the same sign (positive or negative) or each sensor may have a TCR with a different sign.

Various embodiments concern a DSA suspension of a disk drive. The DSA suspension comprises a support configured to attach to the disk drive, the support comprising a proximal portion, a distal portion, and a linkage portion therebetween. The DSA head suspension system further comprises at least one motor mounted on the support, each motor positioned between the proximal portion and the distal portion. The DSA suspension further comprises a damper attached to some or all of the proximal portion, the motor(s), the distal portion, and the linkage portion. The damper can be a single layer or multilayered. The damper can comprise viscoelastic material. The damper can be adhesive. The damper may only be attached to the support and the motors and not to other components of the DSA suspension.

The present disclosure generally relates to a HAMR head and a method for fabrication thereof. The HAMR head has a write head with a waveguide extending therethrough. A laser diode is coupled to a submount that is bonded to the write head using an adhesion layer, a solder structure, and a self-propagating multilayer alloying stack.

A head transducer, configured to interact with a magnetic recording medium, includes a first sensor having a temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) and configured to produce a first sensor signal, and a second sensor having a TCR and configured to produce a second sensor signal. One of the first and second sensors is situated at or near a close point of the head transducer in relation to the magnetic recording medium, and the other of the first and second sensors spaced away from the close point. Circuitry is configured to combine the first and second sensor signals and produce a combined sensor signal indicative of one or both of a change in head-medium spacing and head-medium contact. Each of the sensors may have a TCR with the same sign (positive or negative) or each sensor may have a TCR with a different sign.