The invention identifies the B7 antigen as a ligand that is reactive with the CD28 receptor on T cells. Fragments and derivatives of the B7 antigen and CD28 receptor, including fusion proteins having amino acid sequences corresponding to the extracellular domains of B7 or CD28 joined to amino acid sequences encoding portions of human immunoglobulin C.gamma.1, are described. Methods are provided for using B7 antigen, its fragments and derivatives, and the CD28 receptor, its fragments and derivati...

A nuclear fusion reactor has a toroidal, electrically conductive shell and an air-core current transformer coil with a single turn disposed on the outer peripheral side of the shell, a plurality of port holes provided in the shell to be radially aligned with those in the coil respectively, the shell and the coil being coated with electrically insulating layers of the FBC type except for each of the port holes and its adjacent portion which are electrically insulated by one pair of electrically i...

A laser target comprising a thermonuclear fuel capsule composed of a centrally located quantity of fuel surrounded by at least one or more layers or shells of material for forming an atmosphere around the capsule by a low energy laser prepulse. The fuel may be formed as a solid core or hollow shell, and, under certain applications, a pusher-layer or shell is located intermediate the fuel and the atmosphere forming material. The fuel is ignited by symmetrical implosion via energy produced by a la...

The nuclear fusion reactor of the present invention presents a new vacuum vessel for enclosing plasma particles where a reactor wall exposed to the above plasma particles has a piled structure. A plurality of heat-resisting ceramic tiles are metallurgically bonded to a metal-base body having a cooling means through a brazing material. The ceramic tiles are preferably composed of sintered silicon carbide of high density and containing a little beryllium oxide between the boundaries of crystal gra...

The present invention is a nuclear fusion reactor serving to contain a totally organized tritium-deuterium plasma by guiding the self-bombarding particles in a resonating path of a particular wavelength and frequency, similar to a radio wave. Under these conditions the electrons tend to remain cooler, which reduces plasma radiation energy losses. Energy may be added to the plasma by axially distributed oscillators of the proper frequency, raising the plasma to ignition temperature and densities....

A spinal implant is disclosed which when placed within the spinal disc space stabilizes that spinal segment and materially participates in, and is incorporated in, the ensuing fusion.

A fusion pad is produced by forming a spiral groove 22 in the pad upper surface. A wire 16 is fed from a reel 18 through a hole in the pad and secured to a terminal on the pad under surface. The pad is rotated causing the wire 16 progressively to enter the groove 22. The groove side walls have a height greater than the diameter of the wire 16 to ensure that the groove walls project above the wire 16 in the groove 22. An electrical heating tool 26 is applied to each part of the groove 22 as soon ...

Fusion proteins are obtained in high yields if a mixed oligonucleotide is constructed which codes for the ballast constituent of the fusion protein. The oligonucleotide mixture is introduced in a vector in such a manner that it is functionally linked to a regulatory region and to the structural gene for the desired protein. Appropriate host cells are transformed with the plasmid population obtained in this manner and the clones producing a high yield of coded fusion protein are selected.

A data fusion workstation provides an apparatus and method for realizing the full potential of geophysical and remote sensing by mathematically integrating sensors with each other. Sensor data from each of a plurality of sensor types are related mathematically to each other through a common site model to produce a fused picture with quantified accuracy. Using the concept of pseudo-data, information in sensor data is made equivalent to data in a statistical correlation model, allowing fusion of m...

A fusion detecting system for relays is provided for detecting a fusion of relay contacts. Two fully-interlocked or semi-interlocked relays are connected in such a manner that they operate under identical conditions, and a fused state is detected based on the states of signals sent from series-connected make contacts and series-connected break contacts of the two relays. In the case of semi-interlocked relays (R1, R2), if a make contact (r12) is fused during a current supply to a coil, the other...