A simplified sample preparation on a sample support for ionization with laser desorption (MALDI or LDCI, for example) includes depositing an analyte material onto a deposition site, providing a sample site which is intended as the substrate for a matrix crystal layer at a distance from the deposition site, and establishing a liquid communication between the deposition site and the sample site. A device for the preparation of samples for ionization with matrix-assisted laser desorption, and a sample support for use with the inventive method are also disclosed.

This invention relates to a method and a device for the preparation of samples for ionization with matrix-assisted laser desorption. MALDI time-of-flight mass spectrometry is often used in clinical microbiology for the identification of microorganisms, particularly those that cause human infectious diseases. The principle of matrix-assisted laser desorption and ionization (MALDI) has already been described in detail elsewhere (see for example M. Karas et al. "Principles and applications of matrix-assisted UV-laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry", 1990, Analytica Chimica Acta, 241, 175-185). To explain it very briefly: in a widely used version of MALDI sample preparation, soluble analyte molecules are inserted into a structure of matrix crystals which have a high absorptivity for laser light. If the matrix crystal structure is exposed to pulses of laser radiation, it vaporizes explosively and releases the embedded analyte molecules. Analyte molecules are also ionized during this very energetic ablation process. These molecules are therefore available for a subsequent mass spectrometric analysis. For this analysis, the analyte ions are usually accelerated in electric fields to different velocities depending on their masses m and number z of charges, and after they have passed through a long flight path, which resolves them by their velocities, they are fed to a detector with a secondary electron multiplier. The timespans from the laser desorption of the sample material, or from an acceleration pulse in an orthogonal time-of-flight mass spectrometer, until the different ion current signals arrive at the detector give, via a time-to-mass transformation, the mass-to-charge ratios m/z of the analyte ions.
In clinical microbiology, microorganisms of clinical samples, such as mucosal smears, are cultured specifically in order to provide the minimum number of microorganisms which are required for the detection limit of the particular detection method, and to be able to repeat sample-consuming investigations, where necessary. To this end, the clinical sample is often applied to a nutrient medium such as agar. Under suitable culturing conditions, for example at controlled temperature and humidity, distinguishable colonies of the microorganisms are grown on the culture medium.
The usual method of MALDI sample preparation is to manually take up biological material of a single colony on a nutrient medium with an inoculation swab and transfer it to a sample site of a sample support as the analyte material. The biological material thus applied is subsequently wetted with a matrix solution. The matrix solution contains dissolved molecules of the matrix substance, which, as the drying process proceeds, form the crystals into which the analyte molecules are embedded. The matrix solution also contains a solvent which destroys the biological structure of the microorganism, particularly the cell wall. The decomposition process causes soluble material of the microorganism such as proteins or peptides to be released and brought into solution; these are the analyte molecules of actual interest and they are detected in the mass spectrometric analysis. Apart from these analyte molecules, cell residues also remain after decomposition. They are insoluble and thus impede the crystallization of the matrix material.
Owing to these omnipresent cell residues, the quantity of biological material which is transferred with the inoculation swab onto the sample site must be very small and within very narrow quantity tolerances for a mass spectrometric analysis. An optimum quantity is between around 10,000 and 100,000 cells, which usually occupy around one thousandth of a cubic millimeter. Such a quantity is very difficult to see with the naked eye. The insoluble cell residues which remain after cell decomposition as a type of fibrous pulp can impede the formation of a homogeneous crystal structure of the matrix material, especially one which is free from defects. But the matrix crystal structure must have a certain quality, especially in order to ensure that it has the desired absorption characteristics for laser light of a certain wavelength. Otherwise the ionization yield from the laser desorption is too low for informative time-of-flight mass spectra. In practice, the only solution up to now has been to ensure that a suitable quantity is smeared onto the sample site when depositing the biological material by hand. This demands a great deal of skill of the technician preparing the sample, who has to judge the quantity of biological material by eye in order to ensure that, on the one hand, the prepared sample is sufficiently abundant in terms of analyte molecules yet, on the other hand, is not impeded by too large an amount of unsuitable cell residues after the decomposition. It usually takes a long time for a technician to learn to assess how much biological material is suitable for MALDI sample preparation.
The problem of the remaining insoluble cell components which impede the formation of matrix crystals could be avoided if the decomposed cell material is filtered or centrifuged. Particularly when microorganisms are cultured in a liquid nutrient medium such as a blood or broth culture, filtration or centrifugation is performed several times in order to separate out insoluble cell residues, among other things. In contrast to a flat culture medium with colonies which can be spatially restricted, the growing microorganisms in the liquid nutrient medium are spatially dispersed. As a rule, after the growth phase of the microorganisms, the original components of the liquid nutrient medium, for example red blood cells, are selectively decomposed and then separated from the still largely intact cells of the microorganism with the aid of a first filtration or centrifugation. The microorganisms are subsequently destroyed in an extraction agent or solvent. With a further filtration or centrifugation, the insoluble cell components or cell residues of the microorganisms are then removed so that only the soluble cell components which were released by the destruction remain and are available for the sample preparation. This method of sample preparation is very time-consuming, however.
A further problem arises if the biological material to be analyzed requires a long decomposition time. Yeasts are an example of this. In this case, the extraction agent must act on the microorganism over a long period in order to not only destroy the substructure of the outer, resistant cell membranes but also to release the substructures of the cell interior which are actually of interest. If biological material is deposited onto a sample site of a sample support and then wetted with a matrix solution which is intended to effect the decomposition of the cells contained in the biological material, the time available for the matrix solution to act on the cells is limited by the vaporization of the solvent. When the solvent of the matrix solution has evaporated, the decomposition process ends, possibly before the interior of the cell could be extracted. In principle, the matrix solution with which the biological material is wetted could be dosed in a way which ensures the cells are completely decomposed before drying. However, the amounts of matrix solution required for this are found to be too great to be deposited on sample sites which usually cover an area of a few square millimeters. Increasing the area of the sample site whilst maintaining the current preparation practice would mean that a very small, possibly hardly perceptible, quantity of biological material would have to be smeared onto a disproportionately large area in comparison, which makes the positioning of the biological material more difficult, particularly if deposited manually.
In principle, where the biological material is highly resistant against decomposition, this can be countered with correspondingly more concentrated solvents, e.g. strong acids. However, strong solvents usually also impede the formation of a homogeneous matrix crystal structure, which is required for a high-yield desorption process. In order to avoid this problem, the decomposition can be carried out in two steps. In a first step, a strong extraction agent is added to the sample of biological material on the sample site; this completely decomposes the cell structure and is subsequently removed by evaporation. The soluble analyte molecules can then be dissolved again out of the remaining crust of insoluble and soluble cell components on the sample site by adding the conventional matrix solution, which does not decompose so strongly, and are embedded into the matrix which is forming on the sample site. Such a two-step preparation is a lengthy procedure, however, and again has the disadvantage that the insoluble cell components hinder the formation of a homogeneous layer of matrix crystals on the sample site, where both the decomposition and the matrix crystallization take place.
In view of the above, there is a need for a simplified sample preparation on a sample support for ionization with matrix-assisted laser desorption with which the problems with the matrix crystallization described above can be avoided.

Sample preparation for ionization with matrix-assisted laser desorption


Despite the instabity of perfluoralkyl anions, it is possible to perfluoroalkylate aromatic compounds if appropriately substituted by suitable electronegative substituents (e.g., nitro, trifluoromethylsulfonyl, etc.). Thus a novel Meisenheimer complex is formed by thermally decomposing a salt of a perfluoroalkanoic acid in the presence of an aromatic compound such as 1,3,5-trinitrobenzene. Oxidation with organic hypochlorite yields the corresponding perfluoroalkylated aromatic compound.

Perfluoroalkyl anions are extremely unstable. Early attempts to generate nucleophilic metal trifluoromethide compounds were unsuccessful. See Haszeldine, J. Chem. Soc., 1954, 1273; Pierce et al, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1954, 76, 474; Bergman, J. Org. Chem., 1958, 23, 476; McBee et al, J. Org. Chem., 1963, 28, 1131. Presumably, this is due to the rapid dissociation of CF.sub.3 into CF.sub.2 and F.sup.- (Hine, Physical Organic Chemistry, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1962, p 486). More recently, reports have appeared describing trifluoromethylcopper (CF.sub.3 Cu), which exhibits nucleophilic character--see Wiemers et al, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1986, 108, 832 and references cited therein; and McClinton et al, Chem. Commun., 1988, 638. This reagent will displace halogen atoms from aromatic rings. One method of CF.sub.3 Cu generation is the decomposition of metal trifluoroacetates in the presence of copper (I) iodide (Matsui et al, Chem. Letters, 1981, 1719; Carr et al, J. Chem. Soc., Perkin Trans. 2, 1988, 921).


An endoscope optical system has a first lens group having positive refractive power, an aperture diaphragm, a second lens group having negative refractive power and a third lens group having positive refractive group, the second lens group moving along an optical axis to perform focusing, the first lens group having a first lens having negative refractive power and a second lens having positive refractive power, and the optical system satisfying the following conditional equation:−5.0<H(76)*(1−nd01)/r2<−0.2  (1)0.5<(r1+r2)/(r1−r2)<1.2  (2)                where H(76) is a height at which a principal ray having an incidence angle of view of 76 degrees during normal observation passes through a surface on an image side of the first lens, nd01 is a refractive index of the first lens with respect to a line d, and r1 and r2 are respectively curvature radii of surfaces on the object side and the image side of the first lens.

In recent years, in order to improve usability for operators and to improve accuracy in diagnostics, there have been proposed a variety of optical systems to be applied to medical endoscopes which performs focusing to provide observation in a wide range from high-magnification observation at close range to far distance observation by.
As examples of such endoscope optical systems, PTL 1 to PTL 4 disclose optical systems which are all composed of three groups of positive, negative and positive groups and in which focusing is performed by the second group moving along an optical axis.


A communication apparatus for adjusting a received voice signal in accordance with an ambient noise, the communication apparatus includes: a microphone for receiving an ambient noise and input voice and outputting a voice input signal corresponding to a level of the input voice and the ambient noise; a receiver for receiving the voice signal; a processer for extracting a voice component originated by a sender and an ambient noise component originated by the ambient noise, determining the ratio between the voice component and the ambient noise component, and adjusting the amplitude of the received voice signal in accordance with the ratio; and a speaker for outputting a reception voice corresponding to the adjusted reception voice signal.

A cellular phone and an IP phone are often used in a place where ambient noise is large. Accordingly, it is necessary for the communication terminals to adjust a reception sound in consideration for a usage environment of the user (more to the point, ambient noise). As a technique for adjusting the reception sound, there are a technique for varying the sound amount of the reception sound (AGC: Auto Gain Control) and a technique for emphasizing a formant of the reception sound.
However, listenability of the reception sound depends on auditory property of the user. Consequently, it is not necessary the case that uniform variation of the sound volume of the reception sound in accordance with an ambient noise enables the user to hear well. That is, in a conventional communication terminal, it is impossible to adjust the reception sound only when the user feels that it is hard to hear.
Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 04-328798, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2002-185572, and Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2004-165865 disclose techniques for adjusting the reception sound in the communication apparatus.

Communication apparatus for adjusting a voice signal


A method for detecting a double-parked vehicle includes identifying a parking region in video data received from an image capture device monitoring the parking region. The method includes defining an enforcement region at least partially surrounding the parking region. The method includes detecting a stationary vehicle in the enforcement region. The method includes determining the occurrence of an event relative to the stationary vehicle. In response to the determined occurrence of the event, the method includes classifying the stationary vehicle as being one of double parked and not double parked.

The present disclosure relates to a system and method for determining double parking violations by confirming the occurrence of an event relative to a detected vehicle that is parked in an enforcement area. However, it is appreciated that the present exemplary embodiments are also amendable to other like applications.
Municipalities regulate parking in certain areas for public safety and ease of access reasons. Areas that prohibit vehicles from parking and/or stopping are denoted as exclusion zones. Double parking is defined as parking a vehicle alongside another vehicle that is already parked at the side of the road, and it can be highly disruptive to traffic flow.
Infractions of double parking regulations are among the most commonly occurring parking violation. In larger municipalities, about one-third of infractions can occur in exclusion zones. Substantial fines to the violators can generate significant revenue for municipalities. However, because double parking is typically enforced manually, usually by police officers, the detection of exclusion zone infractions is costly in labor and can result in lost revenues when infractions go undetected. In an effort to reduce costs and improve efficiency, municipalities are exploring the use of new technologies for automating exclusion zone enforcement.
Non-stereoscopic video cameras have been proposed to monitor on-street parking, where one video camera located near a parking region can monitor and track the entire area. Maintenance of video cameras is also less disruptive to street traffic. Co-pending and commonly assigned application U.S. Publication No. 2013/0266185, entitled "Video-Based System and Method for Detecting Exclusion Zone Infractions", filed Apr. 6, 2012, introduced a video-based method operable to analyze frames in a video feed for determining a parking violation. A vehicle is located in a defined exclusion zone using a background subtraction method. Then, the duration that the detected vehicle remained stationary in the exclusion zone is calculated based on a number of frames including the detected vehicle. If the duration meets and/or exceeds a threshold, the stationary vehicle is classified as being double parked.
While the '185 publication addresses exclusion zone monitoring as a special case of automated traffic law enforcement, it does not consider special factors within an exclusion zone setting that can affect accuracy. Particularly, the '185 publication teaches that a detected, stationary vehicle can be classified as violating an exclusion zone without considering whether or not the vehicle is voluntarily stationary.
There is a need for a system and method that uses video data for detecting voluntary double parking infractions. Particularly, a system and method is desired to analyze the occurrence of an additional relevant event relative to a detected vehicle.

Video-based system for automated detection of double parking violations


A universal moon phase display device for a watch including a device that calculates or receives the date, that receives a geolocation signal, that calculates or receives a lunar calendar with the correlation between the date of the moon phase, that converts the day's moon phase into a first angular position of a first display member included in this device and which includes a representation of the normal moon, and that further determines the northern or southern hemisphere in which this device is located and controls the direction of rotation of first drive device included in this device in order to drive the first display member in opposite directions in the northern hemisphere and in the southern hemisphere.

The moon phase display in a watch is a complication which, although old and very popular, often provides a very approximate display, generally designed for European users or users from regions close to the 45th parallel north. Moon phase displays for users from the southern hemisphere, where the appearance of the moon is reversed, are special and consequently more costly, and universal displays for both hemispheres are prohibitively expensive.
The phases of the moon appear differently in the northern and southern hemispheres or close to the equator.
Most moon display watches offer a display suitable for the temperate regions, but this display is not compatible with the appearance of the moon seen from the tropical or equatorial regions.
US Patent Application No. 2014/0247699A1 in the name of Sembritzki discloses a wearable device comprising a display device for displaying the phases of the moon. The image of the one or more moons is provided in the dial, and a rotating element is provided above the dial to provide images of a full, waning, new and waxing moon. The device provides for both bidirectional and unidirectional rotation of the rotating element. The device can simultaneously or selectively display moon phases consistent with views from the northern hemisphere and/or southern hemisphere.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,408,444 in the name of Kita discloses an electronic timepiece having a signal receiving function, the current time at the place where a user is located can be displayed without designating a regional name. The quasi-distance data between the satellites and the signal receiving point is calculated based upon the delay times of the signals transmitted by the satellites. The position data about the signal receiving point is obtained from four quasi-distance data. Subsequently, this position data is compared to the longitude/latitude data previously stored in ROM, to search for a city located nearest this signal receiving point. Furthermore, a judgement is made as to whether or not the current receiving point is coincident with the city located nearest the preceding receiving point. If these cities are coincident with each other, then the current time of the city stored in the time counting register is directly displayed. If no coincidence is established, the time counted by the time counting unit is corrected based upon the time difference data concerning the city located nearest to the current signal receiving point, and the corrected time is associated with the name of this city.
US Patent Application No 2010/0226213A1 in the name of Drugge discloses a timepiece or a wristwatch, which displays celestial 'complications' and meteorological events based upon calculations and conditions relevant to the geographic location of the timepiece. A memory storage device, a microprocessor, mechanical and software controlled graphical display systems and network connectivity facilitate the input of user selected complications, display options, geographic arguments and other variables. The timepiece is not limited to a preprogrammed geographic area or to predefined complications.


Disclosed is a method and network element for providing a safe transport of Ethernet frames over a transport SDH/SONET network. The method is characterized by comprising: at the sending point (AP#0), receiving Ethernet frames to be transported through an Access Point (AP#0); mapping the Ethernet frames into Virtual Containers (VC-X #); assigning (FA) a label to every frame according to a sequence; storing a copy of the sent labeled frames; and at the receiving point (AP#1), receiving the sent labeled frames; re-ordering (FR) the received frames according to the assigned sequence label; updating the value of a pointer according to the label of the last correct frame of the sequence; and outputting the frames through an Access Point (AP#1).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the telecommunication field and in particular to a method and network element for transporting Ethernet frames over a transport SDH/SONET network. Still more in particular, the present invention relates to a method and network element allowing the retransmission of Ethernet frames over a SDH/SONET network.
As it is known, traffic generated by an Ethernet apparatus is characterized by discontinuities, namely there are periods with a more or less constant sending rate of Ethernet packets and periods during which a rather long time is provided between a received Ethernet frame and the next one. Such unstable/inconstant traffic is generally termed "bursty". On the contrary, SDH or SONET traffic is characterized by a constant sending/receiving rate. In other words, any network element of a transport SDH/SONET network sends corresponding frames with a regular and constant rate. Furthermore, Ethernet frames do not have a fixed length/size but only a maximum size (1518 bytes).
It is easy to understand that these discrepancies result in a highly difficult interfacing of two technologies having different natures/characteristics.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An already available solution to the above problem allows the mapping of Ethernet frames into SDH/SONET Virtual Containers as a transparent tributary; all incoming bits are transported to the output interface with the related timing information (frequency for recovering the proper bit rate at the reception side). Within the SDH/SONET payload also the dead times between a received Ethernet frame and the following one are mapped.
The general problem of transporting Ethernet frames over a SONET/SDH transport network is presently solved through SONET/SDH virtual concatenation.
Sometimes, Ethernet frames could become lost in the network for different reasons, for instance because of a fail in the network. At present, the step of Ethernet re-transmission is managed at a higher layer level but, due to such a higher layer management, the re-transmission of Ethernet frames is a rather long procedure and it could not be performed in an efficient manner.
Thus, there still remain the problem of how to perform a low-layer and fast retransmission of Ethernet frames that have been lost along their transport over the SDH/SONET network.

Method and network element for a safety transport of ethernet frames over a transport SDH/SONET network


A help interface capable of receiving user-defined queries in a natural language and selecting the most appropriate answer from a plurality of potential answers, includes facilities for parsing and storing the character string content of the query in a buffer. Lists of punctuation characters as well as single and multiple word character strings are successively compared with the content of the buffer to eliminate punctuation, superfluous words, location reference words, and to identify synonyms to base words meaningful in the selection of an appropriate answer. The identified base words are used as references into a predefined rule set which inherently matches the base word with a potential answer and assigns a value based on the relationship of the potential answer to the base word. The cumulative values of all potential answers are computed and ranked with the highest ranking value presented to the user as a response to the query.

The present invention relates, in general, to data processing systems, and more specifically, to a data processing system having a help interface in which a user can query the system using a natural language.
Numerous software applications, utilities, games, operating systems, etc., are designed to have some type of user assistance or xe2x80x9chelpxe2x80x9d facility designed integrally within the software. Such help facilities, to a limited extent, enable the user to obtain instructional information while using the software and are less disruptive, and, typically less time consuming, than searching through manuals or other documentation accompanying the software.
Current help interfaces mimic one of a few basic designs. A first design, the limited context sensitive help interface utilizes the xe2x80x9ccontextxe2x80x9d or location of the user in the software to determine the nature and format of the help information to be displayed. For example, in a word processing application, if the user is editing a document and selects a command such as xe2x80x9cFILExe2x80x9d from the drop-down menu and further presses a function key such xe2x80x9cF1xe2x80x9d for HELP, a limited context-sensitive facility opens a window explaining the functions offered under the drop-down menu. Unfortunately, users often have questions of a general nature which are unrelated to their current context or location. In such instances a context-sensitive help interface is of little or no value.
A second design, the table of contents/indexing help interface is formatted similarly to the table of contents or index of a document. Although this design does not limit the user to topics which are specific to the current context of the user""s activities, the value of such an interface is dependent on the number and accuracy of entries contained therein. In addition, table of contents/indexing type interfaces are difficult and time consuming to build and rarely include all the topics to which a user is seeking a greater understanding. A further disadvantage of the table of contents/indexing type help interfaces is that users often seek information using words, phrases, and terminology of their own natural language, which although familiar to the user, are often different than those used by the author of the help interface. Both of the above-described help interfaces are not truly user interactive.
Artificial intelligence systems exist which accept natural language queries. However, such systems are usually very large and complex and, therefore, unsuitable for implementation with either an application or an operating system, where size is a primary consideration. Further, such systems have typically been unable to successfully answer a sufficient number of questions to make them useful. In addition, complex artificial intelligence systems are not amenable to xe2x80x9clocalization,xe2x80x9d i.e., the porting or translation of the software to adapt to a different natural language from that for which it was developed.
Accordingly, a need exists for a help interface for use with software which allows users to ask questions and make inquiries about topics unrelated to their current context or location within the software. Further, a need exists for a help interface in which the user may query the help facility using words, phrases and terminology of the user""s natural language. An additional need exists for a help interface capable of effectively answering natural language queries and which is compact enough to be implemented in an application or operating system. A further need exists for a natural language help interface which may be easily localized to other natural languages without significantly redesigning the interface.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved help interface through which users can interact with software.
The above and other objects are achieved with an inventive help interface which is capable of receiving user-defined queries in a natural language. The user-defined query is read into a buffer and parsed to delineate the character string content. Lists of punctuation characters and single and multiple word character strings are successively compared with the contents of the buffer, to eliminate punctuation, superfluous words, and location reference words, as well as to identify key words within the user-defined character string. The identified key words are used as references into a predefined rule set which inherently matches the identified words with potential answers and assigns a value to a potential answer. The cumulative values of the potential answers are computed and ranked. The answer with the highest ranking value is presented to the user in response to the query.
In accordance with one embodiment, the present invention discloses a computer system having a user interface for receiving user-defined queries and a memory for storing a plurality of predefined information segments. The computer system further contains apparatus responsive to the user-defined query for selecting one of the predefined information segments which corresponds to the user query according to a predetermined criteria. The system further contains apparatus for presenting the selected information segment to the user.
In another embodiment, the invention discloses a method of presenting information to the user, including the steps of receiving a user-defined query, selecting which of a plurality of predefined information segments corresponds to the query according to a predetermined criteria, and presenting the selected information segment to the user, in response to the query.
In yet another embodiment, the invention discloses a computer program product for use with a computer system having a user interface. The computer program product includes a computer useable media having program code embodiment in the medium for enabling a user to obtain information from the computer system with user-defined queries. The program code is responsive to the user-defined query and identifies a selected portion of the query. The program code further compares the selected portion of the query with a plurality of predefined information segments, and, selects which of the information segments corresponds to the query in accordance with a predetermined criteria.

International Business Machines Corporation


A method for simultaneously tracking an invasive device disposed within a patient and acquiring an imaging signal of the patient with a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system during a single echo acquisition time period (46) of the MRI system. The method includes applying a radio frequency excitation pulse (26) to a patient to start an echo acquisition time period of an MRI system. The method then includes acquiring a tracking signal (54) from the invasive device during the echo acquisition time period and also acquiring an imaging signal (36) of the patient proximate an end of the same echo acquisition time period.

It is known to use phase contrast angiography MRI techniques to provide magnetic resonance (MR) angiographic projection images indicating a flow of bodily fluids through various body passages for medical diagnostic purposes. Techniques such as phase contrast angiography provide projection images, for example, though an entire anatomical thickness of patient, and allow high quality magnetic resonance (MR) angiograms of arterial and venous structures to be obtained along one or more selected projection axes and with a selected direction of flow sensitivity. Typically, a bipolar gradient pulse is used to encode phase shifts due to velocity of imaged fluid flows
It is also known to track an invasive device fitted with a radio frequency (RF) coil within a patient using MR signals that are excited within the entire patient. The excitations are detected by the coil of the invasive device to provide coil position, and, accordingly, device position information. The position information may be superimposed on an MR image of a region of interest or otherwise made available to an operator of the invasive device. Such MR tracking techniques may include the use of excitation multiplexing schemes, such as Hadamard modulation, to reduce a number of excitations needed to locate the device within the body of the patient. MR tracking may be performed relatively more rapidly than other MRI techniques over an entire three dimensional volume of the patient.

MRI method for simultaneous phase contrast angiography and invasive device tracking


A device may receive an indication to generate a link associated with accessing a message. The message may be intended for a shared device identifier of a receiver device identified by a receiver device identifier, where the shared device identifier is shared by multiple receiver devices. The device may store information associating the message with the receiver device identifier. The device may generate the link using information associated with the message. The device may provide the link to the receiver device after generating the link. The device may receive a request, from a requesting device, to access the message, the request including a device identifier associated with the requesting device. The device may selectively permit or prevent access to the message, by the requesting device, based on the stored information and the device identifier associated with the requesting device.

Devices may exchange digital and/or electronic messages. Transmitting the messages may include using a messaging service associated with a telephone, a network, and/or a mobile communication system. The devices may use communication protocols to enable the exchange of the messages between the devices. Transmitting the messages from a first device to a second device may include transmitting the messages via another device.

Selectively permitting a receiver device to access a message based on authenticating the receiver device


A method of edge protecting bonded semiconductor wafers. A second semiconductor wafer and a first semiconductor wafer are attached by a bonding layer/interface and the second semiconductor wafer undergoes a thinning process. As a part of the thinning process, a first protective layer is applied to the edges of the second and first semiconductor wafers. A third semiconductor wafer is attached to the second semiconductor wafer by a bonding layer/interface and the third semiconductor wafer undergoes a thinning process. As a part of the thinning process, a second protective layer is applied to the edges of the third semiconductor wafer and over the first protective layer. The first, second and third semiconductor wafers form a wafer stack. The wafer stack is diced into a plurality of 3D chips while maintaining the first and second protective layers.

The present invention relates to protecting the edge of bonded semiconductor wafers and, more particularly, relates to protecting the edge of a stack of bonded semiconductor wafers during wafer thinning.
In one possible scheme for wafer-scale bonding three-dimension (3D) integration, the top wafer may be bonded face down to the bottom wafer. In general, wafer-scale bonding may be face-to-face bonding or face-to-back bonding. Subsequently, the top wafer is ground and polished from the back in order to leave a relatively thin portion of the top wafer, so that the through-silicon via definition that will facilitate electrical connection is possible. However, grinding mechanically the top wafer to a very small thickness can be very risky and can yield to several process yield issues, such as chipping or cracking, and uniformity issues regarding the remaining wafer thickness. In one possible approach to circumvent this issue, the final wafer thinning step can be done by use of a wet thinning process and thickness and uniformity of the remaining silicon can be influenced by appropriate material selection. However, the wet thinning process is also known to attack dielectric films and carrier wafer surfaces as well.

Edge protection of bonded wafers during wafer thinning

International Business Machines Corporation


A rotatable member is adapted for dynamic balancing by the addition of balancing weights in the form of high speed projectiles fired at the member during rotation in timed relationship with the rotation of the member so as to impact the member at specific circumaxial locations required for balancing the member. The member has an annular groove for receiving the projectiles and securing the same at the desired locations. The groove has a cross sectional configuration slightly smaller than that of the projectile in at least one direction of measurement so as to engage and capture the projectile in retention in the groove.

Manual dynamic balancing of rotatable members is still a common practice with the member being rotated to determine the points of unbalance, the rotation stopped to attach weights manually, and the member perhaps rotated a second time to check the balance. Obviously, this is a tedious and time-consuming procedure. Attempts at automation have not been widely successful.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,432,659 to Criswell first determines the locations requiring added weight and then sprays "small particles of metal" repeatedly until the member is balanced.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,937,613 discloses firing a "Body" at a groove in a rotating member but does not disclose any means for capturing and retaining the "Body".
U.S. Pat. No. 3,968,769 to Gusarov et al projects glue onto the circumaxial locations requiring balancing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,992,232 to Saitoh ejects a liquid balancing agent, which requires curing.
Provisional Patent Application entitled Method and Apparatus for Balancing Fan and Blower Assemblies, filed of even date herewith, discloses a system similar to the foregoing patents but which fires projectiles of metal or the like at a rotating member for balancing the same. The system is highly efficient but requires a means of capturing the projectiles and positively retaining the same at the desired circumaxial locations.
The foregoing patents as well as the Provisional Application are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
It is the general object of the present invention to provide projectile capturing and retaining means on a rotating member in a simple and efficient manner.

Rotatable member with an annular groove for dynamic balancing during rotation


A ROM embedded DRAM provides ROM cells that can be electrically programmed to a data state using DRAM capacitor memory cells. Numerous techniques for reading the memory cells are provided if a single state memory is desired. For example, bias techniques allow un-programmed ROM cells to be read accurately. In one embodiment, the memory includes program circuitry to short capacitor plates together by breaking down an intermediate dielectric layer using anti-fuse programming techniques.

The present invention relates generally to memory devices and in particular the present invention relates to read only memory (ROM) embedded in a dynamic random access memory (DRAM).
Semiconductor memory systems are comprised of two basic elements: memory storage areas and memory control areas. DRAM, for example, includes a memory cell array, which stores information, and peripheral circuitry, which controls the operation of the memory cell array.
DRAM arrays are manufactured by replicating millions of identical circuit elements, known as DRAM cells, on a single semiconductor wafer. A DRAM cell is an addressable location that can store one bit (binary digit) of data. In its most common form, a DRAM cell consists of two circuit components: a storage capacitor and an access field effect transistor. The capacitor holds the value of each cell, namely a xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d or a xe2x80x9c0,xe2x80x9d as a charge on the capacitor. Because the charge on a capacitor gradually leaks away, DRAM capacitors must be refreshed on a regular basis. A memory device incorporating a DRAM memory includes logic to refresh (recharge) the capacitors of the cells periodically or the information will be lost. Reading the stored data in a cell and then writing the data back into the cell at a predefined voltage level refreshes a cell. The required refreshing operation is what makes DRAM memory dynamic rather than static.
The transistor of a DRAM cell is a switch to let control circuitry for the RAM either read the capacitor value or to change its state. The transistor is controlled by a row line coupled to its gate connection. In a read operation, the transistor is activated and sense amplifiers coupled to bit lines (column) determine the level of charge stored in the memory cell capacitor, and reads the charge out as either a xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d or a xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d depending upon the level of charge in the capacitor. In a write operation, the sense amplifier is over-powered and the memory cell capacitor is charged to an appropriate level.
Frequently, as in the case of microprocessors, microcontrollers, and other application specific integrated circuitry (ASICs), it is desired to incorporate read only memory (ROM) together with or in addition to RAM on a single semiconductor wafer. This typically requires the formation of separate additional peripheral circuitry and interconnects for the ROM. The ROM cells and additional circuitry require additional semiconductor wafer space and fabrication process steps that increase the overall costs of device fabrication.
A read only memory (ROM) consists of an array of semiconductor devices (diodes, bipolar or field-effect transistors), which interconnect to store an array of binary data (ones or zeros). A ROM basically consists of a memory array of programmed data and a decoder to select the data located at a desired address in the memory array.
Three basic types of ROMs are mask-programmable ROMs, erasable programmable ROMs (EPROMs) and field-programmable ROMs (PROMs). The data array is permanently stored in a mask-programmable ROM, at the time of manufacture, by selectively including or omitting the switching elements at the row-column intersections in the memory array. This requires a special mask used during fabrication of the integrated circuit, which is expensive and feasible only when a large quantity of the same data array is required. EPROMs use a special charge-storage mechanism to enable or disable the switching elements in the memory array. In this case, appropriate voltage pulses to store electrical charges at the memory array locations are provided. The data stored in this manner is generally permanent until it is erased using ultraviolet light allowing it to once again be programmed. PROMs are typically manufactured with all switching elements present in the array, with the connection at each row-column intersection being made by means of either a fuse element or an anti-fuse element. In order to store data in the PROM, these elements (either the fuse or the anti-fuse, whichever are used in the design) are selectively programmed using appropriate voltage pulses supplied by a PROM programmer. Once the elements are programmed, the data is permanently stored in the memory array.
Programmable links have been used extensively in programmable read only memory (PROM) devices. Probably the most common form of programmable link is a fusible link. When a user receives a PROM device from a manufacturer, it usually consists of an X-Y matrix or lattice of conductors or semiconductors. At each crossover point of the lattice a conducting link, call a fusible link, connects a transistor or other electronic node to this lattice network. The PROM is programmed by blowing the fusible links to selected nodes and creating an open circuit. The combination of blown and unblown links represents a digital bit pattern of ones and zeros signifying data that the user wishes to store in the PROM. By providing an address the data stored on a node may be retrieved during a read operation.
In recent years, a second type of programmable link, call an anti-fuse link, has been developed for use in integrated circuit applications. Instead of the programming mechanism causing an open circuit as in the case with fusible links, the programming mechanism in an anti-fuse circuit creates a short circuit or relatively low resistance link. Thus the anti-fuse link presents an open circuit prior to programming and a low resistance connection after programming. Anti-fuse links consist of two electrodes comprised of conductive and/or semiconductive materials and having some kind of a dielectric or insulating material between them. During programming, the dielectric in between the conductive materials is broken down by predetermined applied voltages, thereby electrically connecting the conducting and/or semiconducting materials together.
Anti-fuses typically comprise a dielectric layer, such as an oxide or nitride, formed between two conductive plates. The anti-fuse presents a high impedance between the conductive plates before being xe2x80x9cblownxe2x80x9d or programmed, and a relatively low impedance between the conductive plates after being programmed. To program the anti-fuse, a programming voltage of a sufficient magnitude is applied across the conductive plates causing a xe2x80x9cbreakdownxe2x80x9d of the dielectric layer, which results in the dielectric layer having relatively low impedance. Anti-fuses are used in a variety of applications, including selectively enabling or disabling components on a semiconductor integrated circuit. For example, in a dynamic random access memory anti-fuses are used to enable redundant rows of memory cells, which are used to replace defective rows of memory cells and thereby allow an otherwise defective memory to be utilized.
For the reasons stated above, and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for a ROM-embedded-DRAM in which the ROM cells can be electrically programmed.
The above-mentioned problems with ROM-embedded-DRAM and other problems are addressed by the present invention and will be understood by reading and studying the following specification.
In one embodiment, a memory device comprises an array of capacitor memory cells, access transistors coupled between each capacitor memory cell and a digit line, sense amplifier circuitry coupled to the digit line, and program circuitry coupled to selectively program the capacitor memory cells, such that conductive plates of the capacitor memory cells are permanently shorted together.
In another embodiment, a read only memory (ROM) embedded dynamic random access memory (DRAM) comprises a first DRAM memory cell array, a second DRAM memory cell array, and program circuitry coupled to selectively program the second DRAM memory cell array, such that conductive plates of a plurality of memory cells of the second DRAM array are permanently shorted together.
A method of programming a read only memory (ROM) comprises providing a program potential, and selectively electrically shorting first memory cell capacitors using the program potential, such that the first memory cell capacitors form a nonvolatile conductive path.
In another embodiment, a method of providing a read only memory (ROM) embedded dynamic random access memory (DRAM) comprises fabricating a ROM array comprising memory capacitor cells, and applying a program voltage to a first plurality of the memory capacitor cells to break down a dielectric layer to selectively short the first plurality of the memory capacitor cells. The method includes coupling the first plurality of the memory cells to a first voltage, and charging a second plurality of the memory capacitor cells to a second voltage.

ROM embedded DRAM with anti-fuse programming


A battery system includes a battery unit in which battery arms are connected in parallel, and a charge/discharge control device that controls charge/discharge of the battery unit. Each of the battery arms includes: a battery composed of one or more battery cells connected in series; a switch connected in series to the battery; and a battery monitoring device that, in a case of having detected abnormality of the battery, opens the switch to thereby isolate the battery arm including the abnormal battery, and sends a switch opening signal indicating that the switch has been opened to the charge/discharge control device. The charge/discharge control device performs a control to reduce a charge/discharge current or charge/discharge power of the battery unit when the switch opening signal is sent from the battery monitoring device of the battery unit to the charge/discharge control device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a battery unit in which battery arms are connected in parallel, and to a battery system using the battery unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional battery system, a battery charge/discharge switching method has been known, which is capable of achieving reduction in size, weight and cost by omitting or downsizing a cooling device while reducing a conduction loss to a semiconductor switch, and is capable of eliminating an occurrence of mechanical abrasion or operation sounds, which follow frequent on/off operations of a mechanical contact switch (refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2007-110887 as Patent Publication 1).
In this battery charge/discharge switching method, a charge/discharge switching circuit in which the mechanical contact switch, the semiconductor switch and a diode are connected in parallel is connected in series to each of batteries. Then, at a discharging time when a large current is passed and in an operation range of charging the large current, the current is passed by means of the mechanical contact switch, whereby the conduction loss is reduced. Meanwhile, in an operation range of charging a small current, the current is passed by means of the semiconductor switch, whereby the conduction loss is reduced. With such a configuration, the operation sounds caused by on/off operations in a pulse charge and by an off operation at the time when the charge is completed are suppressed.

Battery system using battery unit in which battery arms are connected in parallel


Method for simultaneous disposal of solid and liquid wastes including the steps of gasifying in a fixed bed pressure gasifier a gasification material containing coal and 1 to 70% of a solid waste material containing sulfur, hydrocarbons, PCBs, dioxins and/or heavy metals, to form a pollutant and dust-containing fixed bed pressure gasification crude gas; post-gasifying in a post-gasifier at a temperature greater than 1,000.degree. C. and with a dwell time of more than 2 seconds the crude gas together with an oxygen-containing gas and a liquid waste portion having a heat content of greater than 20,000 kJ/kg and containing hydrocarbons, PCBs and/or heavy metals to form a disposal gas; cooling the disposal gas to less than 200.degree. C. and cleaning it or process waste water to form a mixture of pollutant slurries; gasifying in an additional flow gasifier a mixture of the pollutant slurries, another liquid waste portion having a heat content of greater than 20,000 kJ/kg and containing hydrocarbons, sulfur, PCBs, heavy metals and/or dioxins and 3 to 35% of solid components containing greater than 10% mineral components and sulfur, heavy metals, PCBs, dioxins, furans and/or hydrocarbons, at a temperature more than 50.degree. C. above a melting point of the mineral components.

The present invention relates to gasification methods and, more particularly, to fixed bed pressure gasification methods, oil gasification and flow gasification as well as disposal of waste materials.
The fixed bed pressure gasification operates with various carburizing materials including crude brown coal, brown coal briquettes, hard brown coal and mineral coal. The ash and water content of these materials fluctuates within broad limits. The preparation cost of these gasification materials is low.
The basic principle of fixed bed pressure gasification is described, for example, in W. Peters, "Kohlevergasung", Verlag Gluckauf GmbH, Essen. This principle is used as the basis for many fixed solid bed pressure gasification methods. Various modifications are disclosed, for example, in German Patent Documents DE-PS 2,640,180 and 2,732,544 in which a combination with a fluidized bed is proposed. In German Patent documents DD-PS 38791, 110297, 119814, 121796, 132980, 133818 and DE-PS 2,705,558 methods for efficiency increase, for liquid slag withdrawal, for lowering of the dust content of a crude gas formed in the method and for avoiding slag formation in the gasifier are described.
The main disadvantage of all practical methods is that the crude gas contains dust, high and low boiling hydrocarbons and water soluble organic compounds such as alcohol and aromatic compounds as well as their derivatives. Therefore expensive auxiliary devices are required for recovery and conversion of individual products as well as prevention of environmental damage.
German Patent document DD-PS 259,875 describes a proposed method for eliminating by-products. In this method the fuel height in the fixed bed pressure gasifier is lowered drastically. At temperatures of approximately 1000.degree. C. attained in the gas chamber, tar, oil and dust particles contained in the crude gas are converted in the gas chamber into crude gas. This method is not recommended because of safety considerations, since oxygen breakthrough can occur through the fixed bed in the gasifier which is at a very low height, which can cause a gas explosion in downstream units.
Also German Patent Document DD-PS 43253 describes a proposed method for converting liquid and solid components contained in the gas leaving the gasifier autooxidatively while gasification medium is fed into the gas. This process is not economically practical since a part of the product gas is burned. A reliable definite conversion of the liquid and solid components during this process is not guaranteed. Since this proposed method does not have any reliable post-operational teaching, the probability of gas explosions during processing must be considered.
German Patent Document DD-PS 150,475 describes a method in which higher hydrocarbons are converted by hydrocracking using a hydrogenation catalyst during post-gasification of the fixed bed pressure gasification crude gas. This method has the disadvantage that the entry temperature of the crude gas in the post-gasifier must be adjusted to the operational temperature of the catalyst. When brown coal is used in this gasification method, that can be accomplished only with complicated control and process techniques. An additional disadvantage of this method is the rapid poisoning of the catalyst with coal dust and ash particles entrained in the crude gas stream and therefore high operating costs. Furthermore German Published Patent Applications DE-OS 2,532,197 and 2,532,198 disclose proposed methods in which fixed bed pressure gasification crude gas is supplied with additional oxygen for post-gasification in a post-gasifier which contains a solid bed of inert or catalyst material so that gasification and cracking reactions occur in the post-gasification because of the temperature increase. This process is however disadvantageous because it is not possible to control crude gas composition and crude gas quantity in the post-gasifier. The solid bed height in the post-gasifier can result in efficiency decreases and stoppages of the gasification due to contamination with dust and ash.
Special waste materials are waste materials which originate from industrial and similar enterprises and public installations which are especially hazardous to health or especially damaging to air or water because of their type, properties or amounts. The primary industries producing special wastes are the chemical industry, the metalworking industry, the energy industry and waste industry. Sulfur-containing, hydrocarbon-containing and halogenated wastes are produced in the chemical industry. Oil emulsions, varnish slurries and galvanic wastes are produced by the metalworking industry. In thermal waste processing installations, e.g. for combustion and pyrolysis, partially loaded residues and flue and filter dusts in the areas of heat consumption and gas cleaning cause particular problems during their disposal. Particularly the contamination of these dusts with organic pollutants, such as dioxin and furan, as well as with heavy metals can cause severe environmental damage when these dusts are stored. For these and similar special wastes some proposed methods to process these wastes by bonding with clay-containing materials were disclosed in German Patent Documents 3,918,259, 3,713,482 and 3,919,011; or to process heavy metal containing residues to form solid storable products, such as described in German Patent Document DE-PS 3,502,215. In the case of the latter method, these products can be stored partially underground, but at very high cost.
Alternative methods include methods involving fusion or melting. Such methods are disclosed for example in the German Patent Documents DE-PS 3,939,344 and 3,206,984. The units or plants described in these Patent Documents require however a large amount of energy. They are still in the stage of laboratory and pilot plants and to reduce them to practice requires significant development efforts and time expenditures.
A proposed method known from gasification engineering and described in German Patent Document DD-PS 267,880 includes supplying an ash-containing liquid fuel separately and independently from a burner which is acted on with a dust-like fuel and the required oxygen for autothermal partial oxidation of the ash-containing liquid fuel by a coal dust burner of a gasification reactor, which is also fed steam via an inlet connector pipe. The gasification of the liquid waste occurs according to this method with a high consumption of coal dust which leads to high gas production costs. The amount of input liquid residues is very limited in this process.

Method of simultaneous disposal of solid and liquid wastes

Energiewerke Schwarze Pumpe Aktiengesellschaft


An optical port with directional control. The port includes a transmitter, receiver, and first actuator. The transmitter generates an outgoing light signal that propagates in a transmission direction in response to an outgoing electrical signal. The receiver receives an incoming light signal and generating an incoming electrical signal therefrom, the receiver having a reception direction aligned with the transmission direction. The first actuator alters the transmission direction of the outgoing light signal in response to a first control signal. In one embodiment, the first actuator determines the direction of the outgoing light signal in a first plane, and a second actuator controls the direction of the outgoing light signal by an amount determined by a second control signal. The second actuator controls the direction of the outgoing light signal in a second plane that is orthogonal to the first plane. The actuators can be constructed from beam deflectors that utilize moveable mirrors to alter the transmission direction. In one embodiment, the deflector includes an array of mirrors, each mirror rotating about an axis through the mirror. Actuators that rotate the transmitter and reflector may also be utilized.

The present invention relates to light based communication links, and more particularly, to a self-aligning communication link for connecting computer-based devices.
Infra-red (IR) communication links are now provided on many computers and devices designed to communicate with computers or with each other. An IR communication link utilizes an IR transmitter and receiver on each device for sending and receiving digital light signals, respectively. Each IR module consists of an IR transmitter, typically a light emitting diode, a photodiode, used to receive the light signals, and electronic circuitry for signal processing and control. The three components are small, relatively simple, and produced in high volumes. Hence, the IR module is generally a very inexpensive component. To establish the IR link, the user aligns the two devices such that the IR transmitter in the first device is aligned with the IR receiver in the second device.
In principle, IR communication links provide an attractive alternative to wires for connecting these devices both in terms of cost and convenience. For example, digital cameras typically include an IR communication link for downloading pictures taken by the camera to a computer. IR communication links have also been used for connecting computers together in networking systems and computers to printers.
While IR communication links have great potential, they have not found wide acceptance among users. As noted above, to initiate a communication between two devices via an IR communication link, the IR transmitter and receiver of the first device must be aligned with the corresponding receiver and transmitter of the second device. In practice, the devices must be aligned to within 20 degrees both horizontally and vertically. This often requires more time and effort than most users are willing to invest. Hence, the IR communication links are seldom used.
In addition, if the devices are to communicate over a distance greater than about 1 meter, the alignment tolerance must be even greater. The light emitting diodes (LEDs) used to generate the IR light signals have an intensity distribution that decreases with the angle from the central ray of the light beam. Hence, when the devices are mis-aligned, the light intensity available for sending and receiving signals decreases. The maximum communication distance is determined by the light intensity available to each device. Hence, mis-aligned devices have reduced range. In principle, the intensity of the transmitters in the IR devices can be increased; however, various safety, battery-life, and cost considerations limit the maximum intensity of the light beam. Accordingly, devices that are mis-aligned by 20 degrees are limited to a communication path of less than one meter.
Broadly, it is the object of the present invention to provide an improved IR communication port.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an IR communication port that is self-aligning.
These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the invention and the accompanying drawings.
The present invention is an optical port with directional control. The port includes a transmitter, receiver, and first actuator. The transmitter generates an outgoing light signal that propagates in a transmission direction in response to an outgoing electrical signal. The receiver receives an incoming light signal and generating an incoming electrical signal therefrom, the receiver having a reception direction aligned with the transmission direction. The first actuator alters the transmission direction of the outgoing light signal in response to a first control signal. In one embodiment, the first actuator determines the direction of the outgoing light signal in a first plane, and a second actuator controls the direction of the outgoing light signal by an amount determined by a second control signal. The second actuator controls the direction of the outgoing light signal in a second plane that is orthogonal to the first plane. The actuators can be constructed from beam deflectors that utilize moveable mirrors to alter the transmission direction. In one embodiment, the deflector includes an array of mirrors, each mirror rotating about an axis through the mirror. Actuators that rotate the transmitter and reflector may also be utilized.

Self-aligning infra-red communication link


An information processing apparatus includes: a reception unit receiving whether to print a first-kind data item or a second-kind data item; a storing unit storing a plurality of the first-kind data items in association with a data name; an acquiring unit acquiring the first-kind data item from the storing unit; a transmission control unit transmitting the acquired fist-kind data item if the reception unit receives the print of the first-kind data item; a second-kind data storage control unit storing, in the storing unit, the second-kind data item, which is a converted data item of the transmitted first-kind data item, in association with the data name of the transmitted first-kind data item; and a first display control unit displaying a display image including an image generated from the second-kind data item stored in the storing unit and an image representing the data name corresponding to the second-kind data item.

The present disclosure relates to a computer readable recording medium storing an information processing program, an information processing apparatus, and an information processing method.
There has been known an apparatus which displays a preview screen including a print image of a file selected by a user, a print option button, and a print button, and prints the file of the print image if receiving an input by the print button on the preview screen.

User selection of a file format prior to a print preview


The present invention provides a neutralized glucomannan scaffold capable of promoting cell growth and suitable for three-dimensional tissue culture and engineering. The present invention also provides methods for making and degrading the neutralized glucomannan scaffold. The present invention further provides a method of growing cells on a neutralized glucomannan scaffold.

Engineering biomaterials to repair damaged or diseased tissues such as cardiac, bone, liver, corneal and skin is an active branch of research in regenerative medicine. One approach being investigated is using cells combined with biomaterial constructs, or scaffolds, that facilitate cell growth and differentiation to create functional tissues in vitro that can be implanted. Three-dimensional (3D) tissue culture systems, which emulate key physical and molecular features of the extracellular microenvironment, provide tremendous advantages to tissue engineering.
Biomaterials may be naturally-derived, such as protein- and polysaccharide-based biomaterials, or synthetic, for example, polymer-, peptide- and ceramic-based biomaterials. Rigorous exploration of properties such as immunogenicity, biodegradability, biocompatibility, ease of modification and permeability is required for the design and development of these biomaterials for clinical tissue engineering. High porosity and adequate pore size, in particular, are important for cell seeding and diffusion of cells and nutrients.
The ready availability and biocompatibility of natural biomaterials such has collagen, alginate and chitosan have made these natural biomaterials attractive substrates for 3D tissue culture. However, challenges with inconsistent mechanical properties and behavior of seeded cells limit their clinical application.
For bone engineering, porosity and pore size of scaffolds have been shown to be a critical factor. Prior studies have indicated that larger pores (˜200-300 μm) result in larger surface area that may promote ion/gas exchange, protein adsorption, and bone apatite mineralization (Karageorgiou et al. Biomaterials 2005 26:5474-91; Yuan et al. Biomaterials 1999 20:1799-806). It is also thought that a larger pore size may be necessary to vascularize implants and mimic the cortical surface and cancellous interior of natural bone (Karageorgiou et al. Biomaterials 2005 26:5474-91). As such, there is a need for scaffolds with large pores that can be seeded with bone cells and used for bone regeneration.
Glucomannan is a naturally-derived polysaccharide composed of a 1:1.6 ratio of β-1,4 linked D-glucose to D-mannose with branches approximately every 11 residues (Alonso-Sande et al. Eur J Pharm Biopharm. 2009 72:453-62). Glucomannan has a backbone of approximately 5-10% substituted acetyl groups that participate in hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions that confers solubility. Hydrolysis of the acetyl group in the presence of alkali decreases the solubility of glucomannan and results in aggregation followed by gel formation. Glucomannan is commonly used in foods as an emulsifier or thickener and is being investigated for biopharmaceutical applications due to its gelling and biodegradable properties as well as its malleability to be shaped into films, beads and hydrogels. Glucomannan-based beads, microparticles, and nanoparticles have been developed for DNA and drug delivery (Liu et al. Drug Deliv. 2007 14:397-402; Wang et al. Int J Pharm. 2002 244:117-26; Wen et al. Int J Biol Macromol. 2008 42:256-63) with no significant signs of oral toxicity, skin sensitization, intestinal toxicity, embryotoxicity, or cell-aging observed (Konishi et al. Jpn J Exp Med. 1984 54:139-42).
Glucomannan has recently been investigated as composite scaffolds for chondrocyte culture and injectable scaffolds for cartilage regeneration (Kondo et al. J Tissue Eng Regen Med. 2009 3:361-7). This investigation resulted in the production of a konjac glucomannan/hyaluronic acid hydrogel, wherein cells are cultured and allowed to clump as a suspension in the gel. However, an exploration of developing glucomannan as a porous scaffold for tissue engineering applications has yet to be conducted.
Surprisingly, the present invention provides a glucomannan microporous matrix capable of promoting cell growth and useful as a novel biomaterial scaffold for 3D cell culture and tissue engineering as well as in vivo tissue regeneration, for example, bone regeneration.

Glucomannan scaffolding for three-dimensional tissue culture and engineering

THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA


Techniques are described herein that adaptively suppress harmonic distortion in an amplifier utilizing negative gain. The amplifier includes a first amplifier stage and a second amplifier stage, which are coupled in parallel. The first amplifier stage has a positive gain. The second amplifier stage has a negative gain to suppress total harmonic distortion of a system that includes the amplifier. The amplifier further includes shunt-peaking circuitry coupled to the first amplifier stage and the second amplifier stage to increase a maximum operating frequency at which the amplifier is capable of operating.

1. Technical Field
The subject matter described herein relates to amplifiers.
2. Background
Modern communication systems are increasingly utilizing receivers that include an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). Such receivers are often referred to as ADC-based receivers. An ADC-based receiver typically includes a variable gain amplifier (VGA) at the front end of the receiver to provide a relatively constant input amplitude to the ADC. It is desirable for the amplifier to generate a relatively low amount of distortion in order to improve performance of the receiver. An ideal amplifier provides constant gain independent of an amplitude of an input signal. However, due to variations that occur during processing of the amplifier, the amplifier commonly suffers from gain non-linearity. For instance, the gain of the amplifier typically is reduced as the magnitude of the input signal becomes greater, which results in harmonic distortion in an output signal of the amplifier. Such harmonic distortion often degrades the signal to noise and distortion ratio (SINAD) of the receiver. Furthermore, any of a variety of other non-linearity sources in the receiver can further degrade the SINAD of the receiver.

Adaptive harmonic distortion suppression in an amplifier utilizing negative gain


An example system configured to determine a status of a parking space includes an RFID reader, and at least one RFID tag positioned at the parking space. The RFID reader interrogates the RFID tag. The RFID reader determines that the parking space is unoccupied when the RFID reader receives a response from the RFID tag. The RFID reader determines that the parking space is occupied when the RFID reader fails to receive the response from the RFID tag.

Most modern parking systems are partially or fully automated. For example, parking garages typically have entrance meters that allow a vehicle to obtain a ticket as the vehicle approaches the garage. Once the ticket is taken by the driver, the vehicle can enter the garage. Some systems also allow the driver to automatically pay a parking fee prior to leaving the garage.
As part of these automated systems, it is necessary to account for the total occupancy of the garage. For example, it is necessary to provide indicators when the garage is reaching capacity so that the number of vehicles that are allowed to enter the garage is controlled. Further, it can be important for revenue and accounting purposes to accurately account for the number of vehicles within the garage at given points in time.
While such systems typically attempt to track occupancy rates by monitoring the number of vehicles that enter and exit the garage, such systems can be less than optimal. For example, it is possible for multiple vehicles to enter the garage while being counted as a single vehicle (e.g., if one vehicle tail-gates another vehicle upon entry). In other situations, glitches in the entry and/or exit processes can result in inaccurate vehicle counts. Because of such inaccuracies, most parking systems are left with providing a rough estimate of occupancy rates at any given point in time.

Estimating parking space occupancy using radio-frequency identification


The present invention pertains to processing system use for instruction and simulated training by users controlling images capable of interactive, personal, idiosyncratic, simulated movements. The invention includes the use of individual hand held devices, personal display appliances, personal computers and other processing systems communicating displays of user controllable images to other processing systems over local area and wide area networks and by means of a variety of interfaces, networks, servers and/or intra-processing system means. Instruction and simulated training is accomplished through simulated activities including, without limitation, individual drill, cooperation and opposition.

Technology that has been designed for sports and other activities involving motor skills is generally dedicated to improving strength, swing, motion, balance, speed, and agility. Accordingly, for golf and other sports, swinging motion trajectory is emphasized. For the most part the focus has been on developing aids for the individual athlete to improve a particular physical skill. Relatedly, technology for hazardous or potentially jeopardizing work, such as airplane piloting, is generally directed to practice in a simulated environment. In both areas mentioned above (motor skills and dangerous or jeopardizing work) the emphasis is on the individual taking action, i.e., making movements that imitate real circumstances. The prior art related to sports and physical actions is generally aided by technology directed to biomechanics and locomotion, i.e., to executing motor skills.
There is little technology that is used for instruction or simulation in playing sports such as ice hockey. Commonplace instructional aides include stopwatches, plastic orange cones (used for skating drills), parachutes (pulled to increase leg strength), 2xe2x80x3xc3x974xe2x80x3 boards (used for jumping in agility, speed, and balance drills), and surgical tubing harnesses (to increase strength and force the skater to skate while bent forward at the waist). None of the devices noted above provide the student with instructive and cognitive information concerning principles, tactics, maneuvers, skills and strategies used in physical activities such as playing ice hockey. In addition, these devices do not enable the player to receive quantitative feed-back concerning his/her progress in learning and mastering the cognitive aspects of the sport.
The present invention provides a method and an apparatus for interactive, tutorial, self and assisted instruction and simulated preparation, training and competitive play and entertainment directed toward improving comprehension, exercising cognitive functions and providing amusement. The method and apparatus provide for user interaction with images on the screen of a computer monitor, or other viewing device, containing multimedia, interactive, reconfigurable, audio-visual, tacticle systems.
The present invention provides a user with the opportunity to engage in simulated training or game playing comprised of instructive or ideal images and/or adoptable, controllable images. Such images provide the means by which the user can come to understand what to do using his/her cognitive and visualization skills. The use of such skills typically precedes the use of motor or motion skills.
In one embodiment, as the program executes, an instructive or ideal image displays the preferred style, technique, posture, procedure, skills, drills, positions, maneuvers, tactics, strategies or plays of any activity that calls for using cognitive and motor functions. The user""s cognitive functions are developed and/or improved by viewing the procedural methods used by an instructive or ideal image, shown on a portion of the screen. As the program further executes, the user""s level of comprehension improves by: (1) receiving information and cues from visual, audio, textual and tactile transmissions, (2) visualizing the actions of the instructive or ideal image, (3) making cognitive choices and decisions as to what manipulations should be made, and then (4) manipulating a user controllable, adopted (by the user) image on another portion of the screen so as to cause the adopted image to simulate or approximate the preferred style, technique, posture, procedures, skills, drills, positions, maneuvers, tactics, strategies or play of any activity represented by the instructive or ideal image.
Alternatively, using the method and apparatus of the present invention, the user learns or is entertained by manipulating the controllable, adopted image(s) on a full or partial screen in competition against one or more instructive or ideal images or against other controllable images.
The present invention can use, for either the instructive or ideal image, or for the adopted, controllable image, or for both, images from live video taping, or animated or computer generated images or live, or robots real time images. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the instructive image(s) can teach at any level of expertise from first time beginners to professional experts. Feedback can be provided to all uses.
One embodiment pertains to a method of instruction in ice and roller hockey. More particularly, the embodiment pertains to a tutorial and interactive method for self and directed instruction and simulated training and play in a sport (or other activity) such as ice or roller hockey including, but not limited to, the principles of skating, stickhandling, shooting, checking, offensive and defensive play, positional and situational play, tactical and strategic plays and maneuvers.
The present invention includes observing an instructive (or ideal) way of doing something, receiving information and visual, audio, textual and tactile cues, visualizing what needs to be done and manipulating the adopted image to make sequential, positional changes pursuant to reviewing objectives and options and making choices in a dynamic decision process. This is a cognitive and to some extent a motor process that prepares the individual to engage in an activity coupling cognitive with motor skills. The present invention provides a simulated environment within which to prepare. The present invention combines perceptual experience and cognition with physical sensation and uses cues to facilitate user trial, error and improvement. The present invention facilitates the acquisition of accelerated albeit simulated experience.
By virtue of the facility available to users of the present invention, simulated training can be accomplished as well as simulated drill and maneuvers in taking up proper positions, reacting to situational play and executing tactics and strategies. Further, without a requirement for actual imitative movement of an instructive figure or its movement and without the requirement to use actual tools, implements or equipment, users of the present invention can engage in simulated repetition and/or competition geared to either learning or entertainment and can do so within the economy of space used for a computer monitor and keyboard or other economical, including virtual reality, input devices.
The present invention provides facilities for users to engage in simulated training, repetition and entertainment in activities that couple cognitive and motor skills. Such facilities, using skating as an example, include a range of functions such as simply understanding proper positioning for xe2x80x9cpushing offxe2x80x9d (for example, starting from a stationary standing position while on ice) to sophisticated, preferred, proactive play and preferred reactive play in response to numerous and varied competitive situations. The present invention, by virtue of its capacity to simultaneously present pre-programmed images following a predetermined system of activities and/or images that are controllable adopted by the user also provides for engaging entertainment and amusement.
Using any form of communication of information, including but not limited to floppy disks, CD-ROM disks, a local network, the Internet or wireless communication, users can compete against single opponents, against prior stored images of any individuals (or animations), including themselves or robots and against a full or partial opposing team, group or force. The elements of use of the present invention, including but not limited to viewing preferred or opposing activity, visualizing what the user should do in response to the activity viewed, including identifying options and making choices and decisions and interacting with the present invention through adoptable, controllable images open up a host of imaginative applications and uses for teachers, coaches, trainers, game players and the general public.
An alternative embodiment of the present invention is to have dynamic interaction among all images on the screen so that users may adopt and control all images in a learning, competitive or entertainment oriented environment.
The present invention is particularly well-suited to providing to the user accelerated experience through simulation. The processes of observation, orientation, and judgment are facilitated by the present method and apparatus.
The present invention is not limited to visual sensors but can incorporate others including audio etc. as needed. The use of auditory, visual and other cues decreases distractions and improves comprehension. Using the present invention as a relatively economical training simulator, implementation of visualization in a simulated environment is facilitated. Utilizing pre-programmed, automated and/or user controllable images, the users"" awareness of spatial relationships among and between images, objects and locations is enhanced. Dynamic interaction between the images adopted by users, acting in concert as teammates against opposing images as well as dynamic communication and coordination by and between users, whether athletes or not, and other users is also enhanced.
There are multiple opportunities to change the position of an individual or one""s entire team, i.e. a group of adopted, controllable images in response to opposing positioning or formations. This can be accomplished using touch sensitive screens or other input devices and will lead to sharpened pre-training in individual and/or team technique. The present invention is applicable to activities other than sports and pastimes.

Method and apparatus for tutorial, self and assisted instruction directed to simulated preparation, training and competitive play and entertainment


A glove for securely retaining an object, such as a racket, in the clenched, gloved hand of a user. The glove includes a strap-like member extending from the fingertips of the glove and disposed for partially wrapping around the wrist of the user. The distal end of the strap is temporarily adhered to the back side of the glove to retain the user's hand in clenched position around the object.

In tennis games, as in racquetball and other types of games that are played with a racket, the participant is normally faced with the problem of retaining the racket in his hand without losing the racket or having it twist in the hand due to impact with a ball moving at relatively high velocity. In either event, the grip on the racket, and, consequently, the angle of swing, are constantly changing as a result of impact of the racket with the ball, thus resulting in inconsistent games.
Additionally, gripping problems are frequently a result of a person suffering from injury or a stroke. It is not uncommon for a person suffering from a stroke to lose the use of the gripping ability in his or her hands. In order to restore the use of the arms and hands, therapy, including lifting exercises, is often prescribed. However, to participate in such exercises, it is necessary that the afflicted person be capable of gripping and retaining the exercise device (weight, for example) during the exercise period. Such gripping, of course, is not possible by one who has lost use of his or her hands.
Similarly, persons who have lost use of one or both hands are confronted with gripping problems for such daily activities as eating wherein it is necessary that the individual be capable of gripping the eating utensils in order to feed themselves. Without the gripping capability to hold a utensil, other means must be resorted to.
Furthermore, persons (particularly elderly persons) who have lost some gripping power in their hands may find it difficult to perform small tasks or hobbies such as firmly holding garden tools, etc., in their hands while working in the garden. In such cases, the person must give up the pleasure of gardening or device a means of providing the gripping capability to perform the necessary tasks.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a glove for securely retaining an object in the user's hand.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a glove with gripping means for providing a variable predetermined pressure on the gripped object.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide such a glove with such gripping means for releasably securing the object in the user's hand.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide such a glove which will securely retain a racket in a user's hand while preventing angular displacement of the racket even after tremendous impact of the racket with a ball or the like, such as encountered in tennis and racquetball.


An actuator device includes a support part, a first movable part, and a second movable part. The second movable part includes a pair of first connection portions positioned on both sides of the first movable part on a first axis and connected to a pair of first connecting parts, and a pair of second connection portions positioned on both sides of the first movable part on a second axis and connected to a pair of second connecting parts. Each of the second connection portions includes a portion having a width larger than a width of a portion of the second movable part other than the first and second connection portions. An inner edge of each of the second connection portions, includes a depression recessed in a second axis direction, and an outer edge of each of the pair of second connection portions, includes a protrusion protruding in the second axis direction.

An actuator device is known as a MEMS device. The actuator device includes a support part, a first movable part, a frame-shaped second movable part that surrounds the first movable part, a pair of first connecting parts that connects the first movable part to the second movable part on a first axis, and a pair of second connecting parts that connects the second movable part to the support part on a second axis orthogonal to the first axis. In such an actuator device, the first movable part is made to swing around the first axis and the second movable part is made to swing around the second axis together with the first movable part (see, for example, Patent Literature 1).

Actuator device with first and second movabale parts and connection portions having a depression portion and a protrusion portion


Various embodiments are described herein for a system and a method for monitoring aortic pulse wave velocity and blood pressure. A pulse sensor is located on the exterior of an individual's body at a sensor location that allows acquisition of the pulse signal such that a reflected wave component of the pulse signal is present and allows characterization of reflected wave onset. A pulse signal is received from the pulse sensor and a reflected wave onset point is identified in the pulse signal. A reflected wave ratio is determined at the reflected wave onset point and the aortic pulse wave velocity is determined from the reflected wave ratio. The aortic pulse wave velocity can be displayed to the individual, transmitted to an external device and/or stored.

Pulse signals contain important information about the status of an individual's health. Arterial pulse signals contain three waves that interact to define the shape of the pulse signal. A primary wave is associated with cardiac contraction; a reflected wave is formed as a summation of primary wave reflections; and a dicrotic wave occurs when the Aortic Valve closes at the end of the cardiac contraction phase, or systole.
The primary, reflected and dicrotic waves can be identified in an arterial pulse signal acquired from most individuals. Typically, identification of these waveforms and their characteristics requires the use of time domain or frequency domain signal analysis methods. These waveforms can be used to determine an aortic pulse wave velocity (AoPWV) of the arterial pulse signal.
AoPWV has been correlated with changes in blood pressure over the short term and changes in aortic stiffness over the longer term. Aortic stiffness has been identified as an effective cardiac risk indicator and has also been shown to be a predictor of risk of death from all causes.
Currently, there are several methods for determining an individual's AoPWV. The 'gold standard' method to determine AoPWV involves the use of at least two arterial pulse sensors placed over the carotid and femoral arteries. Another method to determine AoPWV is to acquire the brachial arterial pressure pulse signal using an inflatable cuff applied to an arm. The acquired signals are often used with a calculated effective aortic reflecting distance and pulse signal analysis which are then used to determine AoPWV. Generally, known methods for acquiring pulse signals for AoPWV analysis require the use of sophisticated hardware or are invasive.

System and method for monitoring aortic pulse wave velocity and blood pressure


A portable endoscopic inspection system comprises an endoscope having a proximal end with a flanged eyepiece for observation and a distal end with a lens assembly for insertion into a region of interest. A light port transports incident light to the region of interest along an lighting pathway, and reflected light is transported along an imaging pathway from the lens assembly to the eyepiece. A wireless imaging unit comprises a light source which detachably couples to the light port for generating the incident light, and an imaging sensor for recording images of the reflected light from the eyepiece. The wireless imaging unit comprises a variable coupling system which mechanically couples the imaging sensor to the flanged eyepiece independent of the shape and/or size of the flange of the eyepiece.

Endoscopy in a medical field permits internal features of a body of a patient to be inspected without a use of a traditional, fully-invasive surgery. An endoscope typically comprises a system of lens at a distal end which transmits an image through an optical pathway housed within a flexible tube to an eye piece at a proximal end. A clinician can use the eye piece to inspect the internal features at the distal end or the eye piece can be coupled to an imaging system. The imaging system generally includes a camera coupled to the eye piece that transmits a digital image data to display device over a physical cable. High intensity light is provided at the distal end of the endoscope by an external light source. This light source is coupled to a light port, situated near the proximal end, by the eye piece, and transmitted to the distal end via an optical pathway such as an optical fiber.
Endoscopic systems are typically expensive and complicated due to their specialized equipment and need for sterility in medical applications. The endoscope uses fiber optics for image and light transmission. The image is usually transmitted and processed through an expensive and complex image-processing unit that then displays the image on a separate display, such as a video screen. This collection of images and video processing units and displays are usually bulky and not mobile, and thus not practical in emergent use or in areas of world were such equipment are cost prohibitive. Furthermore, using an external video capture or screening device usually requires bulky monitors, external cabling and external power. Similarly, a typical endoscope light source is remote to the endoscope and must be connected via a fiber-optic type cable from a source to the light port of the endoscope. This configuration limits movement and mobility of the endoscope.
A typical light source unit is comprised of a high intensity light source, such as an incandescent bulb or light emitting diode (LED), a dedicated optical cable, a ballast power supply, a set of control circuitry, and a cooling fan. These systems are expensive, complicated, and inefficient. Also, these systems must compensate for losses along the light conduit, monitor for hazardous conditions for patient caused by infrared heat, while allowing for a mechanical control of a color content of a light, which can adversely affect image quality, especially when a dedicated light cable that connects the light source to the endoscope is cumbersome.
Accordingly, there exists a need for an inexpensive, lightweight, mobile platform that is both accurate and reliable, and does not require an excessive amount of time to assemble or to establish external connections or cables.

System and methods for endoscopic imaging


A security event identification system may enable obtaining, for each of the set of web requests, a screenshot of a corresponding web path resulting from the web request; applying a hash to each obtained screenshot; and determining, based on a comparison of the hashed screenshots, whether a security event exists related to the set of web requests.

The amount of information assets and information available from on the Internet and in an enterprise environment is continually on the rise. Determining security events from web domains services can be incredibly difficult given the sheer size amount of registered web domains (e.g. acme.com) and associated web paths that exist.

Application of computer visual classification to security events