Endpoint devices for use, e.g., in distributed environments such as a healthcare institutions comprise, in various embodiments, (i) a processor, (ii) an operating system, (iii) a computer memory, and (iv) instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor for defining a plurality of user applications, a plurality of sensors for monitoring calls to the operating system, a plurality of actuators for causing the processor to take specified actions for mitigating a threat or anomaly, and an intelligent controller for analyzing time-windowed data from the sensors based on a predictive response model to detect anomalous behavior, and upon detecting such behavior, instructing an actuator to take a specified mitigation action.

The information-technology (IT) infrastructure in a heterogeneous, broadly distributed environment presents numerous points of vulnerability to technologically sophisticated malefactors, who use viruses, worms and other techniques of infiltration to disrupt, steal or hold hostage all or part of the infrastructure. Indeed, the more flexible and feature-rich the infrastructure, the greater will be the vulnerability. The IT infrastructure of a healthcare institution, for example, is a hyperconnected network of monitoring devices, diagnostic equipment, therapeutic treatment devices, information systems, environmental systems, order-entry systems and an increasing number of so-called "Internet of things" (IoT) devices. The need to share patient medical records across organizational boundaries continues to erode the logical and security boundaries used to set access and security policies. Unlike other IT environments (such as financial services) that are homogeneous and strictly managed, the security infrastructure in healthcare is a heterogeneous fabric of operating systems, networking technologies and trust/authentication/audit models that are managed in a decentralized manner by multiple departments rather than a central IT organization. Medical devices, for example, often authenticate against their own server rather than a single central source of trust. In many organizations, clinicians access the IT system from different endpoints as they go from one patient to another. The "desktop" they use is frequently a lightweight shell that presents at the endpoint the set of applications they need (mimicking the look of a desktop) as they roam from location to location. This shell runs as a user application on top of an always-logged-in system account for faster access, but in doing so, it also bypasses the normal system provided privacy, privilege and security controls for the desktop. It also means that the normal system auditing of user activities cannot "see" the specific users logging in to the shell window, further complicating the security model.
The "detect, respond and recover" methodology applies system-control principles to an IT infrastructure, so the overall "system" operates within specified design goals and can remain stable even if the input (e.g., user actions) or components (e.g., operating system or applications) drift from their normal operating range. Control systems leverage sensors to measure the output characteristics of the various components being controlled so that actual output can be compared against expectations. Differences between actual and expected output generate corrective feedback to regulate the operation of the components and damp out variations in the input. Without this critical feedback loop, a system would run in an "open loop" manner that becomes unstable when the input to the system or the operation of individual components goes out of range. There are two levels of feedback corrections commonly in use: the first applies at the overall infrastructure level to account for the aggregate behavior of all the connected components together, and the second applies at the component level (i.e., endpoint devices) to ensure each component operates in a controlled fashion.
Cyber-resilience from a control-theory perspective can be modeled as a lattice of feedback and control paths operative at multiple levels, starting with the endpoints and then working up to the servers that store data, run applications, process transactions or interface with other systems. Measurements at a component level correspond to events generated by the operating system, applications and devices as well as actions initiated by the user, the application, the operating system, attached hardware components, external services and system monitoring or management tools. Each event represents a change in the state of the component being controlled and, depending on the chronology of earlier events, the source of the event and how it is classified, some feedback action may or may not be needed to regulate the operation of the system. An event produced when a known application opens a file, for example, may not trigger any corrective action because it fits into a normal operating mode for the user. A succession of opens for multiple files by an application (or multiple applications), by contrast, should trigger a protective response that begins at least by blocking access to files, suspending execution of the process and performing a more detailed analysis of its mode of operation and intent (why is it opening files in multiple directories?). When the process was installed, whether it is an interactive or headless application, how many times it has been run before, whether this behavior similar to what it did before, and the privilege level escalation requested are all factors that can influence the corrective response (if any) necessary to stabilize the system. The feedback response should be optimized based on the characteristics of the events that caused it to be labeled as an anomaly as well as historical evidence of the effectiveness of actions taken earlier.
The time delay or latency between recognition and analysis of an input and the onset of corrective action determines the stability of the system as well as the nature of the appropriate corrective response. Corrective responses that can take effect immediately (following the detection of a questionable event) are less intrusive because of the reduced potential for downstream damage. Malware that infects one endpoint, for example, has less chance of creating downstream damage if can be detected and immediately suspended or terminated before it can replicate across the network. The impact of a cyber-event increases if there is any delay between its onset (whether it is detected or not) and when corrective actions can be applied. The feedback loop for cyber-events today often involves a human to act on the alerts that are noticed by IT personnel. The time it takes to understand the anomaly, troubleshoot and determine the problem, characterize the risk, find a possible fix and apply it is valuable time lost—time during which time the malware may distribute and bury itself on multiple places and machines. The biggest challenge in resolving an issue (e.g., application machine running slowly) following its recognition may be diagnosing the problem. In addition, there is no easy way to analyze cause and effect from changes or events occurring across multiple endpoints and over time (e.g., changes made to system configuration slowly on multiple machines).
Hence, in a highly networked environment (such as a hospital, with thousands of endpoints running hundreds of applications and a significant number of attached devices that can generate billions of events), traditional IT departments and infrastructure are unable to process information fast enough to discover and diagnose critical cyber-events in a timely enough manner to ensure system recovery. IT needs a force multiplier that allows intelligent control mechanisms on edge devices, endpoints and servers to continuously examine events for anomalies and automatically trigger actionable responses at close to real time.
Threats can also be evaluated at the level of applications running on a particular machine. Software applications exist as binary-coded instructions and data organized into an "image" loadable into a computer's memory, and which then run as a scheduled process with its own instruction and stack pointers. Statically linked libraries represent segments of code and data offering common functionality that can be used by multiple applications but are loaded into memory with each application. Dynamic libraries (either .so or .dll) represent reusable segments of code and data that are bound and loaded into memory either when an application starts or through application-specific calls to explicitly load the library. These libraries contain interface code that applications use to access either physical (e.g., the disk, network or coprocessor) or logical (e.g., a semaphore, shared memory segment, pipe) resources managed by the operating system (OS). These capabilities are selectively exposed in software-development kits (SDKs) that connect to the underlying kernel that controls the run-time environment. Services (either local or remote) provide the calling application with additional means to access logical functionality from internal processes or external servers. Applications access these services (e.g., query a database or post an order to a transaction processor) using SDKs that internally also map to OS calls to connect and access system services. A call to query a remote database, for example, would make OS calls for lock and wait on a semaphore for exclusive access, connect and send requests over a port to a remote server and then wait and read back the results of the query. The dynamically linked libraries (DLLs) containing system functions provide the common mechanism that all applications use to bridge from what is commonly referred to as "user space" containing objects the user has the right to modify to "system space" with more restrictive access rights.
Every program running on a central processing unit (CPU) ultimately uses system resources to access capabilities beyond the boundary of the CPU chip. Even the simplest program that uses only the CPU and its stack with no input/output (I/O) still must rely on a system resource (the CPU) managed by the OS. A more complex program could require services on different servers, control multiple devices attached to the local USB bus, interface with the display and human interface devices and/or access computing services on backend servers. The ability of an application to affect the operating environment of an endpoint device or multiple endpoints depends on the type of system services requested, granted and ultimately used (or abused). A denial-of-service attack initiated by downloaded malware, for example, might start out running as a single process but then needs to launch multiple instances of itself on the local machine and start remote instances on remote machines. Discovering and characterizing the resources an application uses is a critical aspect of building cyber-resilience as applications typically fail when an unexpected issue comes up around resource access or use. An application might be unresponsive or slow due not to sluggish operation of the CPU but instead, for example, because of the response time from a remote database servicing the application. Understanding what resources are used and being able to quantify their availability and latency for delivering service is an important aspect of managing a computational infrastructure. From a cyber-security perspective, the resources an application wants and uses are also critical factors in determining whether a potential piece of software is benign, has the potential to be rogue, or is rogue. Newly downloaded software that attempts to enumerate system files, open multiple files or scan for open ports can be considered suspicious and untrusted.
In an enterprise setting where hundreds of applications are being used (a hospital, for example, might have a portfolio of 300-500 applications), it is very difficult to know when a problem occurs in the system or a particular application, as most user reports are subjective in nature (e.g., the computer "seems slow" or "doesn't respond"). The lack of metrics that can quantify whether the application or system is behaving within acceptable norms makes it particularly difficult for an information technology (IT) department to recreate, diagnose and troubleshoot—especially if the problem is ephemeral. The symptoms might also present differently depending on the endpoint device used, whether a particular user or a group of users experiences the problem, whether the symptoms occur at a specific time or all the time, and whether for a particular application workflow or all workflows. Understanding the relationship among these variables and the behavior of the system or application often requires judgment calls in scanning volumes of application, system and network logs. Compounding this problem is the ever-present possibility of the anomalous behavior being the result of a cyber attack that has invaded the infrastructure and presenting symptoms on random machines. In order to understand how the state of the infrastructure changes over time, it is necessary not only to have a complete inventory of the software modules (e.g., DLLs) that are installed as well as the applications and services that are normally running ("whitelisting"), but more importantly, a detailed description of all system resource used by each application. Only then can it be determined whether anything has changed. Without a detailed statistical description of resources used by each application there is no reliable way to detect or identify anomalous behavior at the application level.

Resilient management of resource utilization


A heat-dissipating structure of a housing is disclosed. The housing defines an opening that is embedded with the heat-dissipating structure. The heat-dissipating structure includes a number of metal slats, a number of connection members, and a supporting frame. The metal slats are spaced and angled to form air channels and fixed to each other via the connection members. The combination of the metal slats and connection members are supported by the supporting frame.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates to heat-dissipation of projection devices and, particularly, to a heat-dissipating structure of a housing and a projection device having the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A projection device typically includes a housing and various heat generating components, such as a light source and high-power electronic elements, which are accommodated within the housing. The housing is commonly made of plastic material to reduce costs. On one hand, in order to provide sufficient mechanical strength for protecting components accommodated therein, the housing is typically formed with certain thickness. On the other hand, the housing may define slots therein, which allow air flow to carry heat generated by the heat generating components away from the housing. The slots defined in the housing of certain thickness also have a large dimension in depth, and therefore have great wind resistance. This may adversely affect the heat dissipation rate of the projection devices.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a heat-dissipating structure of a housing and a projection device having same, which can overcome the above mentioned problem.

Heat-dissipating structure of housing and projection device having same


A first sensor detects whether an object is within a first region that surrounds the first sensor. A second sensor detects whether the object is within a second region that surrounds the second sensor. The first and second sensors are omnidirectional capacitive electrodes. In response to the first sensor detecting that the object is not within the first region, a device determines that the object is not proximate to a particular side of the first and second sensors. In response to the first sensor detecting that the object is within the first region, and the second sensor detecting that the object is within the second region, the device determines that the object is not proximate to the particular side. In response to the first sensor detecting that the object is within the first region, yet the second sensor detecting that the object is not within the second region, the device determines that the object is proximate to the particular side.

The disclosures herein relate in general to automated systems, and in particular to a method and system for determining proximity of an object.
An omnidirectional sensor (e.g., capacitive electrode) detects an object's proximity to the sensor, but without determining a direction of such proximity. If the object is physically restricted to approach the sensor from only a single direction, then the direction of such proximity may be less important for the sensor to detect. Conversely, if the object is unrestricted to approach the sensor from various directions, then the direction of such proximity may be more important for the sensor to detect.
Other solutions may be more expensive to implement and/or less reliable than capacitive electrodes. For example, optical solutions may be sensitive to changes in ambient light, in a manner that potentially exposes those solutions to a higher risk of false detection. Radio frequency solutions can operate at higher frequencies with antenna structures that may be sensitive to polarization.

Method and system for determining proximity of an object


A radiation image detector includes an up-conversion phosphor layer for emitting fluorescence by irradiation with infrared light, a first electrode layer for transmitting the infrared light, the fluorescence and radiation carrying a radiation image, a photoconductive layer for recording, a charge storage portion, a photoconductive layer for readout, and a second electrode layer for transmitting the infrared light and the readout light. Radiation is recorded as latent image charge in the charge storage portion. The electric charge is read out from the charge storage portion by irradiating the photoconductive layer for readout with the readout light from the second electrode layer side. The up-conversion phosphor layer is irradiated with the infrared light from the second electrode layer side and remaining charge in the vicinity of the first electrode layer is erased by fluorescence emitted from the up-conversion phosphor layer by irradiation with the infrared light.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a radiation image detection method and a radiation image detection system for reading out a radiation image recorded in a radiation image detector by irradiating the radiation image detector with readout light. The radiation image recorded in the radiation image detector is an image recorded by storing electric charge, based on the dose of radiation, generated by irradiation with radiation carrying a radiation image.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a radiation image detection system which records radiation images using a radiation image detector, and which reads out the radiation images recorded in the radiation image detector as electric signals has been widely utilized in medical radiography or the like. Further, various kinds of such radiation image detection system have been proposed. In the radiation image detector, a radiation image of a subject is detected by storing electric charge corresponding to the dose of radiation, such as X-rays, transmitted through the subject in a charge storage portion.
As an example of the radiation image detector which is used in the radiation image detection system, as described above, a radiation image detector is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,268,614. In the radiation image detector disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,268,614, a first electrode layer, a photoconductive layer for recording, a charge transport layer (an electric charge transport layer), a photoconductive layer for readout and a second electrode layer are superposed one on another in this order. The first electrode layer is a layer which transmits radiation. The photoconductive layer for recording is a layer which generates electric charge by irradiation with radiation. The charge transport layer is a layer which acts as an insulator against latent image charge, and which acts as a conductor of transport electric charge, of which the polarity is opposite to that of the latent image charge. The photoconductive layer for readout is a layer which generates electric charge by irradiation with readout light. The second electrode layer is a layer, in which linear electrodes are arranged in parallel. In the radiation image detection system using the radiation image detector, as described above, the radiation image detector is irradiated with radiation from the first electrode layer side of the radiation image detector while voltage is applied to the first electrode layer and the second electrode layer. Then, electric charge corresponding to the dose of the radiation, with which the radiation image detector is irradiated, is generated in the photoconductive layer for recording. In the electric charge generated in the photoconductive layer for recording, an electric charge of one of the polarities is combined with an electric charge charged in the first electrode layer. At the same time, in the electric charge generated in the photoconductive layer for recording, an electric charge of the other polarity is stored, as latent image charge, in a charge storage portion formed at the interface between the photoconductive layer for recording and the charge transport layer. Accordingly, a radiation image is recorded. Then, the radiation image detector is irradiated with readout light from the second electrode layer side. The readout light is transmitted through the second electrode layer, and the photoconductive layer for readout is irradiated with the readout light. When the photoconductive layer for readout is irradiated with the readout light, electric charge is generated in the photoconductive layer for readout. In the electric charge generated in the photoconductive layer for readout, an electric charge of one of the polarities is combined with the latent image charge stored in the charge storage portion. At the same time, an electric charge of the other polarity is detected by an electric current detection amplifier connected to the linear electrode. Accordingly, the radiation image is detected as electric signals.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,268,614, a-Se is used as a material for the photoconductive layer for recording. Further, a radiation image detector, in which a crystallization prevention layer is provided between the photoconductive layer for recording and the first electrode layer, has been proposed to prevent crystallization of a-Se (U.S. Pat. No. 6,770,901).
However, in recent years, it was found out that there are some cases in which electric charge remains in a portion of the photoconductive layer for recording which is in the vicinity of the first electrode layer after a radiation image is read out from a radiation image detector.
For example, in the radiation image detector disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,268,614, when a radiation image is recorded, the movement of an electric charge, of which the polarity is opposite to that of the latent image charge, in the electric charge generated in the photoconductive layer for recording is prevented at the interface between the photoconductive layer for recording and the first electrode layer. Therefore, the electric charge remains at a portion of the photoconductive layer for recording which is in the vicinity of the first electrode layer in some cases. For example, if the latent image charge is a negative electric charge, the electric charge, of which the polarity is opposite to that of the latent image charge, is a positive electric charge. Particularly, when a crystallization prevention film is provided between the photoconductive layer for recording and the first electrode layer, there is a tendency that the movement of more electric charge is prevented and more electric charge remains. Such electric charge which remains in the vicinity of the first electrode layer is not substantially read out or erased in ordinary readout operations. Therefore, when a next radiation image is recorded, there is a risk that the image quality of the radiation image deteriorates because the next radiation image is recorded without erasing the electric charge remaining in the vicinity of the first electrode.
It is well known that generally, irradiation with erasing light, particularly, irradiation with erasing light, of which the wavelength is within the bandwidth of wavelengths of blue light, or irradiation with erasing light, of which the wavelength is within the bandwidth of wavelengths of green light, is effective to erase the remaining electric charge. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,268,614, the radiation image detector is irradiated with erasing light, of which the wavelength is within the bandwidth of wavelengths of blue light, or with erasing light, of which the wavelength is within the bandwidth of wavelengths of green light, from the second electrode layer side to erase the remaining electric charge in the vicinity of the charge storage portion. However, the light with a wavelength within such bandwidths is absorbed in the photoconductive layer. Therefore, when the radiation image detector is irradiated with such erasing light from the second electrode layer side, the erasing light does not reach the vicinity of the first electrode layer. Hence, the remaining electric charge in the vicinity of the first electrode layer is not substantially erased by performing conventional erasing operations, in which the radiation image detector is irradiated with the erasing light from the second electrode layer side.
Meanwhile, if the radiation image detector is irradiated with erasing light from the first electrode side, the remaining electric charge is excited and the movement of the electric charge is accelerated. Hence, the remaining electric charge can be erased. However, there is a problem that if a light source unit for erasing light is provided on the first electric side, the thickness of the radiation image detector becomes thick.

Radiation image detection method and system


A substrate processing apparatus is disclosed. The substrate processing apparatus includes: a first process unit including a plurality of first process stations configured to perform a first process in a first atmosphere; a second process unit including a plurality of second process stations configured to perform a second process in a second atmosphere different from the first atmosphere; and a transformation unit between the first process unit and the second process unit. The first process unit, the transformation unit, and the second process unit are arranged in a line. The transformation unit includes a plurality of transformation stations configured to transform an atmosphere between the first atmosphere and the second atmosphere. Thus, the efficiency of processing a substrate can be improved, and the area or length in which the substrate processing apparatus is installed can be reduced.

1. Field
Aspects of embodiments of the present invention relate to a substrate processing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, in the semiconductor and flat display equipment manufacturing fields, several discontinuous and different processes are performed on a substrate until a product is finally completed. In order to maximize the efficiency of these processes, several discontinuous and differently numbered process stations are arranged in a line to constitute a continuous production line. The substrate is carried along the production line via an automatic device so that the different processes can be continuously performed on the substrate. However, when one process station stops due to, for example, trouble or an operating error, the whole production line stops. One way to address this problem is to arrange several production lines in parallel.
FIG. 1 illustrates a cluster tool according to the related art. The cluster tool includes a central chamber T that transfers a substrate to different process chambers and to same process stations that are arranged around the central chamber T in a parallel manner (for example, on both sides of the central chamber T as divided by a line between stations 1 and 2). Thus, the whole production line may operate continuously even when any one process station stops so that productivity may be improved. However, in the cluster tool of FIG. 1, when two different types of processes are performed in different atmospheres, the efficiency of the processes may be lowered. For example, when a first process in chambers A, B, and F is performed in a vacuum atmosphere and a second process in chambers C, D, and E is performed under atmospheric pressure, if a substrate on which the first process has been performed is carried out of one of the chambers A, B, and F, the central chamber T needs to be in a vacuum state. Subsequently, when the substrate is transferred to one of the chambers C, D, and E, the state of the central chamber T should be changed to atmospheric pressure and thus, the overall process efficiency may be lowered.


The present invention relates to cis-1,2-substituted stilbene derivatives, or their pharmaceutically acceptable salts, glucosides or solvates, a pharmaceutical composition comprising the compound, and use of said compound for preparation of a drug for treatment and/or prevention of diabetes or improvement of diabetic complications.

Diabetes is a clinically familiar chronic metabolic disease all over the world. In recent years, the world-wide morbidity rate of diabetes is rising rapidly along with the economic development and changes in dietary structure. According to statistics, the total number of diabetic patients can be 120 millions, among which more than 30 millions are Chinese. Most of the patients are insulin-independent, i.e., type II diabetes. At present, diabetes has become the third severe disease threatening the health of humans following cardiovascular disease and cancer. The duration of illness for diabetes is long and its complications occur usually during inadequate treatment, such as chronic vascular complications (including cerebrovascular disorders, ischemic heart disease), diabetic nephropathy, and so on. The mortality due to diabetes and its complications is also elevating year after year. Therefore, treatment and prevention of diabetes and its complications have become a key research task confronting medical and pharmaceutical workers of the world.
At present, the clinically used oral hypoglycemic agents are mainly Western drugs, which can be classified by their chemical structures as: sulfonylureas, biguanides, phenylalanines, thiazolidyldiketones, and glycolipids. Besides, there are 1,2-stilbene compounds which are now in research and development. According to the reports of U.S. Pat. No. 6,410,596 and CN1398838A, 1,2-stilbene compounds are present in many kinds of plants. Up to now, at least several decades of plants of 31 genues in 21 families are found to contain these compounds. At the meantime, these compounds are found to have extensive physiologic functions, such as anti-oxidation, anti-tumor, anti-blood stasis syndrome, hypoglycemic effect, and so forth. However, the 1,2-stilbenes having the above-mentioned functions are all trans-1,2-substituted stilbene derivatives. Concerning the activity of cis-1,2-substituted stilbene derivatives, only U.S. Pat. No. 5,525,632 reported that combrotastatin and its derivatives possessed anti-tumor function.

Cis-1,2-substituted stilbene derivatives and their use in preparation of drugs for treatment and/or prevention of diabetes

Institute of Radiation Medicine, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, PLA


The present invention provides a reticle inspection technology that enables a relative position between patterns to be evaluated for a pattern that may become a defect at the time of exposure to a sample, such as a wafer, in the double patterning technology on the same layer. An apparatus for inspecting a reticle for inspecting two reticles that are used in order to form patterns in the same layer on a substrate using the double patterning technology has: a coordinate information input unit for inputting coordinate information of a pattern of a measuring object; an image input unit for acquiring images of patterns of the two reticles based on the obtained coordinate information; an image overlay unit for overlaying the images of the two reticles at the same coordinates; a relative position calculation unit for finding the relative position between the patterns on the two reticles; an evaluation unit for assigning an index of the overlaying accuracy based on the relative position and evaluates whether the two reticles need repair; and an evaluation result output unit for outputting an evaluation result.

The present invention relates to a scanning electron microscope apparatus and an evaluation system technology of a pattern, and more specifically, to a reticle inspection technology suited to perform relative position evaluation of patterns on two reticles that are used in order to form patterns on the same layer using the double patterning technology.
For critical dimension evaluation of a reticle pattern, the transmission-type optical microscopes have been used, partly because the reticle is used in a usage of transferring a light transmittance pattern. However, it has become difficult to measure the pattern optically as the pattern becomes finer, and it becomes indispensable to use a scanning electron microscope (SEM) having a higher resolution for patterns (pattern elements) of smaller than 90 nm.
In recent years, in order to attain more minute patterns further, super micro-machining technologies called RET (Resolution Enhancement Techniques), for example, OPC (optical proximity correction) and DPT (double-exposure, double-patterning), are used, and consequently it has become necessary to evaluate accuracy of a pattern using the electron microscope. It is known that a pattern manufactured using these technologies easily becomes a resolving difficult spot (hot spot) that produces a cause of defective transfer, such as a short (a short circuit) and a disconnection. Especially, in the double-patterning, since the patterning is conducted on the same layer by two times of processing in contrast to the conventional pattering, the relative position between the two reticles has become important. However, a current situation is that CD measurement of the reticle pattern using the electron microscope is mainly performed on critical dimensions (CD's) of a single pattern and between plural patterns, and it cannot be said that a technique of evaluating the relative position between the two reticle patterns has been established.
As a method for measuring the relative position between the patterns existing on plural layers, a method for evaluating overlaying accuracy using reticle pattern images acquired by the electron microscope (for example, see JP-A-2007-121607) and a method for measuring patterns on a wafer by irradiation of a high-voltage electron beam (for example, see JP-A-11-44664) have been developed.
JP-A-2007-121607 describes a technique whereby an image is acquired for a reticle having a defective inclusion pattern by the electron microscope, an image of a substrate is obtained by performing a lithography simulation on this, an inclusion distance is calculated by overlaying the two pattern images at the same coordinates, and it is judged whether it satisfies the defined value. The use of this technology makes it possible to estimate, at the time of reticle formation, the relative position between the patterns existing on plural layers that cannot be inspected with a low-voltage electron microscope after pattern completion.
JP-A-11-44664 describes a technology of directly measuring the relative position between the patterns existing on plural layers using an electron microscope with an acceleration voltage of 100 to 500 kV.

Method and apparatus for inspecting reticle


Described is a method and a device for screen calibration for the true-to-original reproduction of surface colors, the spectral reflection distribution of which is known, wherein by setting parameters the screen can be influenced using software and an electronic controller in each partial region of the screen. The disclosure is characterized in that an observer adapts the reproduced color impression of the screen to the color impression of an original in each partial region of the screen, wherein the original is compared to the screen colors immediately thereafter on the screen surface and the screen parameters are varied until the color impressions of the original and of the screen appear identical to the observer on the respectively viewed partial screen, viewed from a predefined observer angle, and the settings performed are stored in a screen profile.

The invention refers to a method and a device for the true-to-original reproduction of colors and colored pictures on a screen in direct comparison to a physical color with a physical color sensor (=Softproof).
Known and customary methods and devices for comparing colors that are either available as physical models and are also reproduced on a screen, use, for example, a tube screen or an LCD screen which is mounted adjacent to an observation box (also called light box) with a surface arranged in an angle under defined illumination. An example of such a model is outlined in FIGS. 1a and 1b. An observation box 1 sits next to a monitor or screen 2. In box 1 a light source consisting of several fluorescent tubes LI-L3 is positioned diagonally across an observation surface 4. These light sources L1-L3 sends illumination or light 3 consisting of directly entering light rays 3.1 and indirect light through reflecting light rays 3.2, 3.3 onto an observation surface 4. An original color sensor 4.1 is located on the observation surface 4 in box 1, its color reproduction 4.2 appears on screen 2. Such color-matching locations are generally known and correspond to products on the market by various suppliers.
An original color sensor 4.1 to be compared will be measured for an electronic reproduction with a colorimeter or is taken with a color scanner for an entire color picture, and its color values will be reproduced on a screen as image in electronic form.
Color values as measure of colors are standardized in technology through the CIE1931 2-degree standard observer or the CIE1964 10-degree observer. The measuring technique to measure color values is described in DIN 5033 or for the graphics industry in Standard ISO 13655. Normal colorimeters supply color values either as standardized CIE1931 XYZ values (integral colorimeter), or they measure the spectral reflectance β(A.) of the color sensor (spectrophotometer). In the latter case, and with their help and with the spectral value curves x(A.), y(X) and z(X) defined by the standard observer, the standard color value X, Y and Z can be calculated:
                              X          =                      k                                                      ∫                                  380                                    n                                                                                m                                                  780                                                                                n                                                                                m                                                                                S                  λ                                                                  β                                                        (                    λ                    )                                                                                x                                                        (                    λ                    )                                                                                ⅆ                  λ                                                                    ,                  Y          =                      k                                                      ∫                                  380                                    n                                                                                m                                                  780                                    n                                                                                m                                                                                S                  λ                                                                  β                                                        (                    λ                    )                                                                                y                                                        (                    λ                    )                                                                                ⅆ                  λ                                                                    ,                                                    Z          =                      k                                                      ∫                                  380                                    n                                                                                m                                                  780                                    n                                                                                m                                                                                S                  λ                                                                  β                                                        (                    λ                    )                                                                                z                                                        (                    λ                    )                                                                                ⅆ                    λ                                    .                                                                                G                                                  l
The color values are always defined as relative variable and k is a standard constant. For a precise calculation of the color values of a color sensor, it is necessary to work with the spectral distributions of the reflection of the sensor and the light. That requires that the spectral distribution S\ of the rays impinging the sensor through illumination 3 in the box is known. Therefore, this must be measured very precisely.
The fractions of the light reflected by the sensor form the so-called color stimulus and are described by the product through spectral distribution of the illumination of the sensor and the reflection of the sensor and are called spectral color stimulus, {acute over (φ)}()=Sβ(). The spectral color stimulus reflected from the sensor will be taken in by the eye of an observer and impinged on the retina of the eye where it triggers the color perception of the observer. To ascertain the standard color values, all spectral fractions are integrated through the wavelength of 380 through 780 nm visible to the human eye. The value k in G1.1 is a standardizing constant which is usually determined through the Y value of a white color sensor under the same lighting as the lightest color directly from the color value Y of the light source:
                              k          =          1                ,                              0            /                                          ∫                                  380                                    n                                                                                m                                                  780                                    n                                                                                m                                                                                S                  λ                                                                                β                                          wei                                                                                β                                                                                (                    λ                    )                                                                                y                                                        (                    λ                    )                                                                                ⅆ                  λ                                                                                oder                                                                                ¿                                              =                                    ∫                              380                                n                                                                                m                                            780                                n                                                                                m                                                                                S                λ                                                          y                                                  (                  λ                  )                                                                          ⅆ                λ                                                                        Gl        .                                          2
The color values are related variables and differ from absolute variables which are described for example in light flow or light intensity and determine the absolute brightness of a color.
For the reproduction of a color on screen 2 the starting point is the color value according to Gl. 1. The screen must be calibrated for a precise color reproduction, so that an entered color value from the technical point of view of measuring can be reproduced with the same color values on the screen. For that purpose the methods known today of the so-called "Color Managements" are being applied. The method for the reproduction of the color value on a screen has been standardized by the "International Color Consortium" (ICC) and can be viewed on the internet.
If the measured and color values reproduced under illumination in the observation box correspond metrologically with the colors that are reproduced on the screen, then a visual conformity of the two colors are expected for an observer.
So far in practice, a look-alike reproduction of an original, that is an original physical color sensor, has been only inadequately achieved. According to the Inventor's experience, there are several reasons that are listed hereinafter.
1.1 Distribution of Spectral Lighting Depending on Location
One of the first reasons for oftentimes not conforming colors is that the colorimeters used to determine the spectral reflection of a color use a specific lighting geometry as also defined in DIN 5033. This may be also a lighting directed under 45 degrees (so-called 45/0 geometry) when an observer looks perpendicular onto the sensor. Also a 0/45 Grad geometry is used, when the sensor is perpendicularly illuminated and the observer looks at the model in a 45 degree angle or a diffuse light measure with an Ulbrichtkugel (integrating sphere). A defined lighting geometry as in a colorimeter cannot be precisely reproduced in the normal light boxes. In most instances, a light source is being realized through several fluorescent tubes in the upper region of a box, in order to illuminate a sensor. To increase the homogeneity of the illumination, boxes are also known that use another fluorescent tube in the lower region of the box.
The light impinging directly from the light source on the sensor should also possess a constant spectral distribution on the observer surface, because taking into consideration a spectral distribution dependent on location when calculating the color would be very expensive. However, as a result of the reflection from the walls of the box, additionally reflected light (3.2, 3.3 in FIG. 1 b) is directed onto the sensor, which is converted through the spectral reflection properties of the walls into another spectral dispersion than the one of the direct ray 3.1. This superimposes with locally different dispersion on the direct light, e.g. near the walls, with stronger influence than in the center of the picture. Moreover, oftentimes also reflectors R1-R3 are mounted behind the fluorescent tubes, in order to guide additional light on the sensor. This measure also leads to locally different spectral fractions through the wavelength-dependent reflections of the reflectors. The illumination 3 of the sensor is thus neither fully spectrally homogenous nor has there been a reproduction of a clearly defined lighting geometry as in a measuring device.
In order to improve the distribution of brightness in the sensor area, scatter plates P are placed in front of the light sources. They are made of plastic with specific corrugation. As a result of the wavelength-dependent light refraction on plastic, an angle-dependent spectral distribution of the light-rays allowed to penetrate can be anticipated.
1.2. Effect of Interior Lighting
When color matching in practice, it is desirable to set up the observation box and the monitor in a dark room. For industrial use, usually an interior lighting is provided that makes it possible to work next to the color matching devices. However, in that instance, interior light falls also into the observation box and illuminates also the monitor surface positioned next to it. This changes in the box the perception of the original colors. In order to keep the external light fraction small, the observation box is oftentimes set up with a very large depth. The disadvantage thereof is that as a result a "cave-like" observation impression is created.
The light reflected additionally through the reflection of the screen surface because of the internal light produces a reduction of the picture contrast. Moreover, it must be noted that the spectral composition of the interior lighting is not taken into account thus far to calculate the reproducing color.
1.3 Lacking Uniformity of Illumination
Because the areas of the supporting surface of the color sensors in the observation box, in particular in perpendicular direction, are located at varying distances from the light source, the illumination strength on the supporting surface changes according to the location. On the other hand, the distribution of the luminance on a screen is not totally constant and changes according to location. Typically, differences in illumination in the observation box can occur in the range from 10% to 20%. Also with respect to screens, the typical differences of luminance from the center of the screen to the screen frame range in this area, however, their distribution differs from the distribution in the observation box. As already mentioned under 1.1., light scatter plates P are installed in the light path to improve the uniformity and moreover, an observation box is offered which uses an additional light source in the floor area to reduce the decline of the luminance in perpendicular direction. Various companies offer procedures for screens, in order to homogenize the luminance across the screen. These method effect a reduction of the difference. However, practice has shown that there are still visible differences in brightness between the colors of the originals in the observation box and the reproduction on the screen, because it can't be accomplished to exactly conform luminance distribution of the screen to the illuminance.
1.4 Environment and Color Appearance
Another problem, why in most instances no identical appearing colors can be accomplished, results from the effects of the color appearance. The visual perception of a color by a human observer depends on the distribution of colors in the direct environment of an observed sensor and on the illumination in the broader environment of a scene. Hence, the perception of brightness of a color changes drastically with the brightness of the environment and the perception of the hue shifts with the color of the environment into the direction of the complementary colors. These effects of the so-called color appearance are expressly described, e.g. in [1,2]. The shifts in the perception of color in the environment can somehow be described with the help of models. One of these models for example had been prepared and described in one working group of the International Commission on Illumination, CIE, in report CIE-159-2004. The so-called ocular adaptation level is important to the appearance of a color. Parameters that control the visual appearance of a color in the brain of a human depend on the brightness and the distribution of the colors in the field of vision and the visual system of the human gets used to it within about 2 minutes and adapts to same.
The effects of the color perception in the color matching arrangement of FIGS. 1a and 1b now effect that the colors in the original model appear differently under the illumination of the observer box in the field of view of an observer than what occurs after a shift of the observer direction on the screen with a different environment. The state of adaptation of the eye changes, if the observer looks into one direction for a longer period of time. Because the totality of all colors and brightness of the illumination in the field of vision of the observer during looking back and forth in comparison normally do not correspond, the colors on the monitor next to the box appear differently than the original colors in the observer box. Usually, when setting up the monitor, at least an environmental brightness is provided which corresponds to about 20% of the brightness of the maximum white level in the reproduction of the picture. However, in the observer box the direct environment of a color model is illuminated with the same brightness as the sensor itself.
In using a color appearance model such as known for example from CIE159-2004, an attempt can be made to compensate these differences through a predistortion of the electronically reproduced colors, however, practical experience shows that the methods available are not sufficient to achieve a precise conformity of all colors through refraction. In addition, the illumination of the environment and of the background locally fluctuates strongly and a measuring technique can only detect same with difficulty and, thus, they cannot be precisely taken into account.
1.5 Precision of Color Comparison
It must be further noted that because of the spatially separated arrangement of original and reproduced colors, a comparison of conformity is only approximately possible, because during a fast change in observation of original and reproduction, the color comparison is only approximately possible through the power of color memory of the observer. In practice, color differences during this type of comparison can only be recognized up to differences of CIE AE2000=2 to 4 (CIE AE2000 is the measure for color differences recommended by CIE). This precision is not sufficient for many applications.
Today the goal it to transmit worldwide color pictures and color sensors electronically and for professional applications and to work on design methods on the monitor. A comparison of the results of such processes is only possible, if it has been assured that on each respective monitor an original color sensor can be precisely defined, that is, up to color differences of less than ΔE2000<1.0. Even color differences of less than ΔE2000=1 are then still clearly visible, if they adjoin, which can occur frequently in practice during joining of color surfaces, e.g. then, when partial products from different product lines shall be joined together.
1.6 Observer Properties
A color comparison of original and reproduced colors oftentimes leads also to different impressions, when the spectral sensitivity curve of the type of the retinal cones of the human observer systemically deviates from those defined by standard observes according to CIE. In practice, the differences between various observers and the defined standard observer are more the rule. Moreover, the spectral color-matching curve effective for the color vision of a human eye changes with increasing age. Because the density of the retinal cone also decreases at different strength from the center [fovea-Translator] of the highest density, the color signals transmitted to the brain change with covered color surface. They are described in technology by the so-called observation angle, under which a color surface is reproduced in the eye. For that purpose 2° and 10° were selected for the standard observer.
For technical color reproduction a decision must be made for one of these two observers. For large-area color sensors the 10°-observer is used, for small-area color surfaces, the 2°-observer is used. This does not allow an exact accounting of all possible observer angles.
In principle, an adaptation for each individual observer is possible, even in dependence on age. However, a reproduction can then only be optimized for that one observer.
Patent application DE 101 21 984.9, "Methods and Devices for visually optimized representation of color pictures on monitors and/or their comparison with originals or printed pictures" is a first step disclosed, to solve the above-mentioned problems. The recommendation is outlined in FIG. 2. This recommendation suggests the use of one single box 1, which combines the observation surface 4 of the original and the monitor 2. It is recommended hereby, to arrange the observation surface 4 for one original color sensor 4.1 together with the surface of a monitor 2.2 and the color reproduction 4.2 reproduced thereon on one level and to make the colored environment for both alike. Thus, on observation level 4, an observation area 2.1 identical with the monitor surface is defined. It is also recommended to arrange a white frame 4.3 around the observation sensors or the monitor and to create around it a neutral grey environment surface. The entire surface will be illuminated as much as possible with one or several rod-shaped light sources L1. The light 3 strikes at almost 45 degrees onto the observation and monitor surface and it is assumed that an observer looks almost perpendicularly at the color mode and the monitor, that is, at an angle of α=45 degrees to the illumination. Thus, two of the above mentioned problem items under 1.1 and 1.4 are solved: The geometry of the illumination is designed as almost 45/0 degree geometry and the original color sensor and the reproduced color on the monitor are arranged in the same environment under same illumination and thus result in the same color appearance.
In patent application DE 101 21 984.9 it is also recommended to adapt the brightness of a white color, a reference white, exactly to the brightness of each original color sensor and the reproduction under joined illumination. The white frame around the observation surface and around the screen serves to stabilize the adaption state of the eye.

Method and device for the true-to-original representation of colors on screens


A method and system for providing user assistance in utilizing a computer program is disclosed that provides the capability for combining an active display of the past, current, and future steps in an ongoing process with a series of associated decision panels and forms to be completed in order to carry out the steps. A navigator bar, which is situated adjacent to and can be scrolled independently of information appearing in a client area of a computer screen display, provides a user of the computer program with a map of the steps already executed, the current step being executed, and the most likely steps to be performed based on the current step being executed. If the user selects a different step to be the current step, the display of most likely future steps to be performed changes, if appropriate.

Computers are becoming more and more an aspect of everyday life. Children as young as two years old are now exposed to computers and software programs in a home environment and they are now commonplace in schools, businesses, factories, and virtually every aspect of life.
User assistance programs are systems developed to provide guidance to the user of a software program. Wizards, coaches, and guides, all of which walk the user through the steps of a particular program, are well known. A drawback of these prior art systems, however, lies in the "snapshot" nature of such systems. Most programs comprise an interrelated series of steps to be performed, with the sequence of steps being variable depending upon the process to be performed. Typically, the user follows a "decision tree" where the user is given information about the present step (the currently-selected step) to be taken and is given instructions to either go to the next step (e.g., by hitting the "next" button in a GUI) or to go back to the previous step (e.g., by pressing a "back" button). While such systems do provide assistance, they provide no information regarding anything other than the immediately preceding or immediately subsequent step, i.e., there is no long-term historical path showing steps already taken, nor is there a "future" path given to show the user the likely steps to follow. Further, in a typical decision tree system, moving from a present frame to a previous frame will delete any information input into the present frame, i.e., the user cannot jump back and forth between positions in the tree structure without losing data input.
Another problem with typical decision tree systems is that the user may be able to move along the tree structure along "branches" which ultimately end up at a location where the particular user is unauthorized to perform any activity, or where the user simply did not wish to go, but could not tell for sure until he or she got there. For example, often a user relying on the user assistance aspects of a program is a novice user who is unfamiliar with the program and its operation. Frequently the user will receive error messages advising that a particular step requires a prior step to be performed, even though the particular user is not authorized to perform the step. This can cause the user to unknowingly take a path that leads to an undesired destination, wasting valuable time and increasing user frustration.
One example of a system involving a complicated set of processes that must be navigated, and which can benefit from a user assistance system, is in the field of software development. To support the explosive growth of computer usage, software development has become a key part of any company engaged in high-technology business. Large companies such as IBM and Microsoft may have many software development groups located at numerous locations throughout the world, with each group employing hundreds or thousands of employees. With large numbers of employees focusing their work on the development of these assets, management becomes a critical task. Typically, software development "teams" within a company, made up of many developers who are sometimes at different locations, are employed to produce a final product.
The use of software development teams allows the work required to develop a final software product to be divided among many individuals. Throughout the development of a product from start to finish (referred to herein as the software "life cycle"), different individuals access the components of the product being developed at all different times. To enable proper management of the product development, systems referred to as software configuration management (SCM) systems have been developed to allow control of the process to be maintained. These systems allow tracking and control of software development, and allow management of software development projects with respect to issues such as multiple developers working on the same code at the same time, targeting multiple platforms, supporting multiple versions, and controlling the status of code (for example, beta tests versus real release). Once such example of an SCM system is the VisualAge TeamConnection Enterprise Server™ developed and sold by IBM.
Utilization of SCM systems greatly increases productivity and simplifies the software development process for the development team members. Among their many benefits, SCM systems can provide user assistance by displaying to the developer the next step in the programming sequence; allowing different actions to be performed at different times, depending on input from a team leader; and allowing different team members to be authorized to perform different actions, while excluding access to others, based on input from a team leader. However, these programs may still be quite complicated and users of the SCM system can still get confused as to how far along in the life cycle they are, what steps in the life cycle are available to them, and what paths in the life cycle are most likely to be coming up, i.e., the problems of the prior art discussed above are not solved through the use of a typical SCM system.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a navigator program or user assistance system which combines an active display of the past, current, and future steps in an ongoing process with a series of associated decision panels and forms to be completed in order to carry omit the steps.

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention relates to a tumor marker for diagnosis of ovarian cancer, which is selected from the group consisting of galectin-1, cathepsin B, MHC class I antigen, heat shock protein (HSP) 27, ubiquitin carboxy-termal esterase L1, plasma retinol-binding protein (PRBP), transthyretin, SH3 binding glutamate-rich protein, tubulin-specific chaperone A, RNA binding protein regulatory subunit, γ-actin, tropomyosin and calcium/calmodulin-stimulated cyclic nucleotide phosphatase. The ovarian cancer is diagnosed effectively and efficiently based on detecting the expression levels of the tumor markers in the invention from the ovarian tissue sample of an individual to be diagnosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tumor marker for diagnosis of cancer, especially for diagnosis of ovarian cancer, which can be applied in early diagnosis of ovarian cancer.
2. The Prior Arts
Human ovarian cancer is one of the common gynecological malignancies. In the developed country, it is one of the leading causes of death of the gynecological cancers, and the five-year survival rate is only about 30%. Overall about one woman in 70 will get ovarian cancer, and estimated one woman in 100 will die from this cancer in USA. This is because the illness is often diagnosed during late stage of the cancer. The cancer has often spread beyond the ovaries at that time, and therefore related to the low survival rate. Though Taiwanese women do not have a high incidence of ovarian cancer, but the incidence has increased over past two decades.
The five-year survival rate will up to 90-95 percent if the ovarian cancer is caught very early according to previous medical reports. The lack of reliable tumor marker has made the early detection of ovarian cancer difficult. Therefore most of the ovarian cancer patients will be diagnosed when the cancer cells have been spread. The survival rate thus cannot be lowered.
CA-125, cancer antigen-125, is a protein that may be released into the bloodstream, and is found at levels in most ovarian cancer cells. It is also a serum marker being studied thoroughly. The known detection method for ovarian cancer is the measurement of CA-125 in serum to assess the risk of having ovarian cancer.
The CA-125 test only returns a true positive result for about 50% of Stage I ovarian cancer patients though it has an 80% chance of returning true positive results from stage II, III, and IV ovarian cancer patients. It yields many false positive results. Therefore it is not recommended as a diagnostic tool or target for ovarian cancer in early stage cancers. Due to the current limitation to early diagnosis of ovarian cancer, it is important to search and identify new potential biomarkers in ovarian cancer.

Tumor markers for ovarian cancer diagnosis


Circuits, methods, and apparatus for including interconnect parasitics without greatly increasing circuit simulation complexity and run times. Interconnect paths are reduced to one of a number of simplified topologies based on path width, length, or other parameters. The input drive waveform is similarly approximated. A grid array is formed in advance, where each point in the grid array corresponds to a set of values relating to a path topology, input waveform, and resulting output waveform. The simplified interconnect path and input waveform are mapped into a set of parameters which corresponds to a location in the predetermined grid array. The output waveform is determined by interpolating output waveforms from gridpoints surrounding the location.

The present invention relates to the simulation of electrical circuits, more particularly the simulation of interconnect lines on integrated circuits.
Integrated circuits such as very large-scale integrated (VLSI) circuits consist of a large number of transistors connected by several layers of metal formed into connecting lines. For example, programmable logic devices include hundreds of thousands or millions of devices connected together by 8 or more levels of interconnect. These programmable logic devices are programmed to provide a specific function by varying the interconnect paths using pass gates and other programmable interconnecting circuits. The result is that a single programmable logic device includes a variety of interconnecting paths.
These paths contribute parasitic or stray capacitances and resistances at the output of drivers on the integrated circuit. For example, each trace forms a capacitor to other traces, particularly those above, below, and to the side of it, to nearby devices, and to the substrate. Each trace also has a series resistance associated with it. Interconnect traces of different widths and lengths have different stray capacitances and resistance associated with them.
Before an integrated circuit is sold to a customer or programmed for use in a system, it is simulated to ensure proper functionality in the end product, particularly given various temperature and supply variations that the device may experience. For many years, circuit designers simply modeled interconnect traces as capacitors, when they were modeled at all. But as integrated circuit technology has progressed, and devices have gotten smaller while the number of metal layers has increased, other parasitics associated with interconnect lines, such as series resistance, and to a lesser extent inductance, have become more important and can no longer be ignored if accurate simulation results are needed.
But including the parasitic resistances and capacitances in a simulation is very complex and time consuming. First, these parasitics need to be accounted for, that is they need to be modeled. Second, they need to be included in the simulation itself, and doing so greatly increases the complexity of the circuit, the number of nodes, and run time of the simulation. Thus, what is needed are methods and apparatus for modeling and including these parasitics in circuit simulations without greatly slowing the simulation process.

Caching technique for electrical simulation of VLSI interconnect


Golf training devices and related method are disclosed that provide to align a golfer's hands with a club face of a golf club. The training device includes a first attachment portion configured to couple the training device to a golf club and a second attachment portion coupled to the first attachment portion. The training device also includes an alignment component coupled to the second attachment portion. The alignment component can be shaped to represent a hitting surface of a different piece of sports equipment. When coupled to a golf club, the training device can be oriented such that the hitting surface of the alignment component is aligned with a club face of the golf club.

Golf is a sport widely played and enjoyed. Although popular and fun for both professionals and amateurs, golf can be a difficult sport to learn and to develop and maintain skills, especially when taken up during adulthood. For many people, swinging a golf club and hitting a golf ball solidly and in a desired direction is hard and discouraging even after spending time and effort practicing. For this reason, there has developed a wide ranging and broad diversity of golf training devices and methods to help pros and amateurs learn to play golf and to play with skill.
One example of an existing golf training device is the SKYPRO device available from SKYGOLF. This device attaches to the shaft of a golf club and uses sensors embedded in the device to track variables of the golf swing including swing plane and speed. This device indicated generally at 10 in FIG. 1 has an attachment mechanism 12 to secure the device to the shaft of a golf club. The device 10 has a housing 14 containing active components such as power, sensing, processing and communication. FIG. 2 shows how the device 10 can be attached to the shaft 16 of a golf club below the lower end of a grip 18. By attaching device 10 to the shaft 16, the device 10 is carried along with the shaft as a golfer swings the golf club. This enables the device 10 to sense and record data relevant to the golfer's swing.
However, even with detailed and complex golf training devices such as the SKYPRO device, the sport of golf remains a difficult and discouraging sport for many people. Devices like SKYPRO and other existing devices and methods still require significant time practicing and training for people to learn and develop skill to repeat the golf swing and successfully hit the golf ball. In part due to this difficulty and time required for practice, golf is presently in a decline with regard to participation and there are a number of efforts underway by the United States Golf Association, Golf Digest magazine, professional golf tours and others to try to grow interest and participation in the game and grow the game of golf. There is a clear need to find ways to encourage people to start playing golf and for them to have success and enjoy it enough to keep playing.

Golf club, training device and method for aligning hands with club face of golf club


The transition between a rectangular waveguide and a microstrip line consists of a ribbed rectangular waveguide realised in a foam bar in synthetic material of which the metallized base under the rib continues in the form of a foam plate constituting a substrate for the microstrip line, the rib having a base extending between the upper plane of the ribbed waveguide and the upper plane of the substrate and the microstrip line being disposed on the upper plane of the substrate in the continuation of the base of the rib.

The European patent no. 0350324 describes a transition between a waveguide structure and a microstrip transmission line according to which a conducting line is supported within the waveguide perpendicular to its axis and the microstrip transmission line extends transversally through the wall of the waveguide in a position producing a coupling of energy between the microstrip transmission line and the conducting line.
The document IEEE—1995—CESLT—page 1502—"An improved approach to implement a microstrip to waveguide transition"—G. Zarba, G. Bertin, L. Accatino, P. Besso—describes a transition between a ribbed waveguide and a microstrip line arranged on a substrate. In the embodiment described, the substrate is slid under the ribbed part of the waveguide to provide it with good mechanical stability and easy assembly.
The document IEEE Proceedings of APMC 2001, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC—page 543—"A broadband Microstrip to Waveguide Transition using Planar Technique"—describes a Ka band (26-40 GHz) transition that is obtained by inserting the microwave substrate, on which a tapered microstrip line is engraved, into a rectangular waveguide partially filled with a dielectric to ensure contact-free transition with the hot conductor of the microstrip line.
The document IEEE MICROWAVE AND WIRELESS COMPONENTS LETTERS, Vol. 11, No. 2, February 2001—page 68—"Integrated Microstrip and Rectangular Waveguide in Planar Form"—Dominique Deslandes and Ke Wu—Cheg-Jung Lee, Hsien-Shun Wu & Ching-Kuang C. Tzuang—presents a planar version of a Ka band transition (25-31 GHz). A guided structure is realised on a microwave substrate. The rectangular waveguide is realized by a double side metallization of the microwave substrate associated with metallized holes to realise the lateral faces of the rectangular waveguide.
These embodiments of a transition between a waveguide structure and a planar structure prove to be relatively complex to realize and require the assembly of several parts that must be all the more accurate as the operating frequencies are high. Moreover, they require microwave substrates of good quality to prevent the dielectric losses but for which the cost is high.

Transition between a rectangular waveguide and a microstrip line comprised of a single metallized bar


A set of performance-related data that represents both normal and abnormal conditions in the network is determined and stored in a mobile station MS. The set or a sub-set of this data is transmitted to a computer for analysis upon a triggering event, and the MS user is informed of the analysis results. The triggering event is receipt by the MS of an encrypted message to transmit the set or sub-set of the data. The MS decrypts the received message using an associated public key stored in the MS and transmits the set or the sub-set of the performance-related data only in response to correctly decrypting the encrypted message. The public key is one of a set of public keys stored in the mobile station, wherein individual members of the set are associated with applications executable by the MS in cooperation with a received encrypted command or encrypted data set.

A persistent problem in the mobile station market has been the occurrence of a so-called No Fault Found (NFF) indication after a user or subscriber returns a purportedly nonfunctioning or malfunctioning mobile station to a dealer or to a network service provider. For example, the subscriber may report that the mobile station exhibits a particular problem or failure mode; however, a technician at a repair depot or center is unable to find any type of malfunction or problem with the returned mobile station, and must issue a NFF report. In a typical case the problem experienced by the subscriber may actually be the result of some temporary problem experienced by the wireless network itself, and not by the mobile station. For example, some network problem may cause the mobile station to repeatedly drop calls, or to be unable to obtain service.
It will be appreciated that this type of problem can be costly for the dealer and/or service provider, as well as for the manufacturer. In addition, the user may develop an unfavorable impression of the manufacturer of the mobile station, even though the problem experienced by the user lies totally outside the control of the manufacturer.
It is thus a first object and advantage of this invention to provide an improved radiotelephone and service provider interaction that overcomes the foregoing and other problems.
It is another object and advantage of this invention to provide a mobile station that stores and maintains a plurality of Product Performance Counters (PPCs) that are indicative of the electrical and operational state of the mobile station.
It is a further object and advantage of this invention to provide a mobile station that stores and maintains a set of PPCs, and that is further able to transmit the complete set or a subset of the PPCs to an external location for analysis.
It is one further object and advantage of this invention to provide a computer at a location external to the mobile station, the computer being capable of analyzing the PPCs, as well as other data inputs, to determine a fault status of the mobile station and/or wireless network.
It is another object and advantage of this invention to provide a mobile station that stores and maintains a set of PPCs and that operates, in response to receiving an encrypted PPC request message, for transmitting the complete set or a subset of the PPCs to an external location.
The foregoing and other problems are overcome and the objects and advantages are realized by methods and apparatus in accordance with embodiments of this invention.

Delivery of mobile station operational and self-performance test results to network in response to encrypted request message


An enhanced, ultra low power passive wake-up radio-based sensor includes a passive wake-up radio-based sensor node having an energy harvester and low power wake-up circuit to improve the wake-up range for passive wake-up radio sensor nodes without the need for local power. The wake-up sensor may additionally include a transmitter for providing a wake-up signal to nodes that are outside the wake-up range of a base.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wireless sensor networks and, more specifically, network wake-up range extension using edge devices that broadcast wake-up signals or provide auxiliary communication channels.
2. Description of the Related Art
A wireless sensor network (WSN) consists of a set of sensor nodes organized into a cooperative network. Each sensor node may contain processing units (e.g., a microprocessor, some DSP processors, or even a CPU), multiple types of memory to store programs, collected data, or even an operating system, multiple sensors to obtain data from the environment (e.g., a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, etc.), a power source (batteries or an energy harvesting component) and a wireless transceiver. There are typically one or more data sinks in the network that must gather the data sensed by the nodes.
Prolonging the network lifetime is one of the key challenges in WSNs. Most sensor nodes are battery powered, and due to the size and/or cost constraints, the battery life of each sensor node is limited. As a WSN is a self-organizing ad-hoc network, the network lifetime is affected by the communication traffic of the network, the communication protocols, and the battery life of each sensor node.
One method to improve the network lifetime is to duty cycle the sensor nodes, such that the nodes are put into a sleep state periodically. However, this approach requires accurate synchronization among the sensor nodes, as one node can only transmit data to another while both sensor nodes are active. In addition, unnecessary idle listening by receivers that are not the target of a transmission wastes energy. Low power listening (LPL), also called preamble sampling, is another solution to improve network lifetime for WSNs. LPL aims to reduce idle listening in asynchronous protocols by shifting the burden of synchronization to the sender. However, idle listening is not eliminated. For both synchronous duty cycling and low power listening approaches, reducing the duty cycle of a node can increase its lifetime at the cost of increasing the delay in data delivery and reducing the packet delivery ratio.
The use of a wake-up radio (WuR) is another approach to increase network lifetime by employing additional wakeup radio hardware. A wake-up transmitter (WuTx) initializes the transmission by sending a wake-up signal. When a wakeup receiver (WuRx) receives this signal, it will trigger the sensor node to awaken it from its sleeping mode to start data communication. This on-demand wake-up can save the energy wasted by idle listening. Moreover, the wake-up radio approach has potential advantages over duty cycling in terms of delay, collision, overhead and protocol complexity.
There are two types of wake-up radios being developed: active wake-up radios and passive wake-up radios. An active wake-up radio sensor node requires a power supply for the wake-up circuit, but usually has a relatively long wake-up range. On the other hand, a passive wake-up radio sensor node only utilizes the energy harvested from the wake-up radio and does not dissipate any energy from the battery. However, as the energy harvested by the wake-up circuit is limited, passive wake-up radio sensor nodes operate over a shorter range of distances compared to active wake-up radio sensor nodes.
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology is one of the feasible approaches to achieve a passive wake-up radio. RFID systems use RF electromagnetic fields to communicate with tags for the purpose of identification. RFID systems are widely used for managing assets and people, as well as for tracking inventory by attaching tags to merchandise. RFID systems are generally composed of RFID tags, which store the ID information, and an RFID reader, which transmits the electromagnetic energy to power the tags as well as to access or modify the tag ID information. There are three types of RFID tags: passive tags, active tags and battery-assisted passive tags. Among these three types of RFID tags, passive RFID tags have the advantage of small size and low cost, and they have close to zero maintenance. Because of these advantages, passive RFID systems have been rapidly deployed in recent years. In particular, passive ultra-high frequency (UHF) RFID readers and tags communicate in the frequency band from 860 MHz to 960 MHz, where the tags communicate by backscattering the radio waves they receive from RFID readers
RFID has a well-defined communication protocol and uses energy harvesting to enable this communication. However, an RFID receiver (i.e., a tag) used in a wake-up radio sensor node can only achieve a relatively short wake-up range compared to the communication range of the sensor node. As a sensor node with a WuRx can start communication only after it is awoken, a longer wakeup range can improve the communication efficacy of a WSN equipped with WuRs. In addition, a longer range enables a wider range of WSN applications to benefit from the use of WuRs. Thus, there is a need for low energy consumption wake-up radio systems that can operate at longer ranges.

Wireless sensor network wake-up range extension via energy harvesting and edge devices


The present invention provides devices and methods for determining the presence or absence of pathogens in a biological sample and for the concurrent determination of the antimicrobial susceptibility of pathogens present. The devices and methods of the present invention are able to make the determinations without pre-selection of target bacteria. Instead, all organisms from the sample are applied to the device. In wells where one or more antimicrobial agents are present only pathogens resistant to the antimicrobial agent grow. This allows the user to determine the presence of target pathogens and concurrently determine the resistance patterns of the organisms without the need to subculture the organisms. The present invention also provides methods of performing a business service of performing the determinations described above, and kits containing the devices and descriptions of the methods.

The following description of the background of the invention is provided simply as an aid in understanding the invention and is not admitted to describe or constitute prior art to the invention.
Bacterial urinary tract infections are common human and veterinary diseases. The enteric Gram negative bacilli normally reside in the intestinal tract and become pathogens when found in the urinary tract; these enteric bacilli are classified in the family of Enterobacteriacae. The primary causative agents of urinary tract infections are Gram negative bacilli. Typically, these include Escherichia coli, Klebsiella spp., Enterobacter spp., and Proteus mirabilis. Infrequently, Gram positive cocci (such as Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecalis) and other Gram negative bacteria (such as, Pseudomonas aeruginosa) can be urinary pathogens. Other Gram positive cocci (Staphylococcus, Streptococcus) and Gram positive bacilli (diphtheroids, Bacillus subtilis) are most frequently encountered as normal urethral contaminants.
Bacteriologic testing is commonly performed on patients experiencing symptoms consistent with urinary tract infections. Microorganisms isolated from patients (human and veterinary) are tested to determine the identity of the pathogens and their susceptibility to antibiotics. Information pertaining to minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) or the categorical interpretations (susceptible, moderate susceptible, intermediate resistant, or resistant) of antimicrobial agents against an identified pathogen is critical for a medical or veterinary practitioner to confirm or select a proper treatment regime for urinary tract infections.
The clinical effectiveness of antimicrobial chemotherapy for bacterial urinary tract infections requires the correct identification of the causing pathogens and the selection of an appropriate antibiotic treatment regime to eradicate the disease-causing bacteria. The suspect pathogens are isolated by inoculating the specimen onto a culture medium, which is then incubated at 35° C. for 24-48 hours to obtain bacterial growth. The suspect pathogens are then subcultured and their bacterial identity and antimicrobial susceptibility determined by a series of subsequent biochemical tests and standard antimicrobial susceptibility tests.
Methods for routine antimicrobial susceptibility determination of the identified pathogens include the broth dilution method and the agar diffusion assay. The broth dilution method involves the inoculation of a standardized microbiological inoculum (e.g., 1-5×105 cfu/ml) of the pure bacterial isolate in question into a growth medium (typically, a cation-adjusted Mueller Hinton broth) containing a series of predetermined concentrations of a given antibiotic whose MIC is sought to be determined. The inoculated medium is incubated for 18-24 hours and observed for visible growth. The lowest antibiotic concentration that completely inhibits visible growth of the isolated organism as detected by the unaided eye is recorded as the MIC.
The agar diffusion method involves the placement of an antibiotic containing disc or an antibiotic gradient strip on the surface of an agar medium (typically Mueller Hinton agar plate) that has been inoculated with the pure isolate of the microorganism in question. The antibiotic substance then diffuses away from the disc such that the effective concentration of antibiotic varies as a function of the radius from the disc or strip. Thus, the diameter of a resulting no growth area around the disc should be proportional to the MIC.
Procedures to obtain these antibiotic susceptibility data are often time-consuming (48-72 hours), cumbersome, and require highly skilled personnel and expensive automatic equipment. Patients with symptoms of a urinary tract infection (in particular, feline and canine patients) are therefore often treated without regard to bacteriologic findings because of time delays and cumbersome assay procedures required by conventional culture methods. This can compromise the quality of patient care and contribute to the emerging antibiotic resistant bacteria due to the improper use of antibiotics.
Thus, there is need for improved microbiologic tests and antibiotic susceptibility tests, related materials, and related assay devices. If the test procedures could be simplified so that no highly skilled personnel were required for performing the test, and test results were obtained in a shorter period of time, it would facilitate the ability of health care practitioners to confirm or select a proper treatment regime for urinary tract infections. Earlier receipt by health care practitioners (medical or veterinary) of accurate antimicrobial susceptibility information would result in better patient care, and prevent the emerging of antibiotic resistant bacteria due to the improper use of antibiotics.
Furthermore, the use of chromogenic or fluorogenic enzyme substrates have been widely used in a varieties of microbial diagnostic applications. Edberg (U.S. Pat. No. 4,925,789) described a medium containing a nutrient indicator which, when metabolized by target bacteria, releases a moiety which imparts a color or other detectable change to the medium. Chen and Gu (U.S. Pat. No. 5,620,865) used a fluorogenic compound, 4-methylumbelliferyl-β-D-glucopyranoside, in a micro-specific medium for detecting enterococci. Townsend and Chen (U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,387,650 and 6,472,167) described the use of fluorogenic enzyme substrates cocktail to detect bacterial contamination in food products. Koumura et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,591,554) describes the use of 4-methylumbelliferyl derivatives fluorogenic analysis to detect and determine the number of microorganisms based on the amount of liberated umbelliferone derivatives. Perry and Miller used an umbelliferyl-conjugated N-acetyl-β-D-galctosaminide for specific identification of a pathogenic yeast, Candida albicans, (J. Clin. Micro. (1987) 25:2424-2425).
The traditional endpoint of antimicrobial susceptibility determination involves the direct visual or instrument recognition of microbial growth in either a biological matrix, e.g., broth or agar. Urban and Jarstrand used a nitroblue tetrazolium dye to determine the susceptibility of bacteria to antibiotics (J. Antimicro. Chem. (1981) 8:363-369). The SENSITITRE.RTM. system uses an instrument capable of automatically reading antimicrobial susceptibility microdilution trays (J. Clin. Microbiol. (1985) 22:187-191). In this procedure, microbial growth and MIC are determined by the measurement of fluorescence produced by bacterial enzyme action on fluorescence substrates. It is disclosed that fluorogenic substrates for this group of bacteria are selected from 7-(N)-(aminoacyl)-7-amido-4-methylcoumarin, 4-methylumbelliferyl noanate, 4-methylumbelliferyl phosphate. Badal et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,457,030) disclosed the use of a mixture of fluorogenic substrates consisting of leucine-7-amido-4-methylcoumarin, phenylalanine-7-amido-4-methylcoumarin, and 4-methylumbelliferyl phosphate and a predetermined amount of an antimicrobial susceptibility of the mixture to determine the antimicrobial susceptibility of the majority of clinically significant Gram positive organisms.
All these approaches involve the use of a clone of a bacterial isolate obtained from clinical specimen prior to identification and antimicrobial susceptibility tests. Colonies, i.e., clones, of bacterial cultures, when prepared from the biological specimen, are harvested after a sufficient period of growth. The harvested colony is suspended in a suitable aqueous liquid for biochemical identification and antimicrobial susceptibility test.
Although 90-95% of all urinary infections are caused by a single type of organism, contaminating normal flora are often present on the patient's skin or in the environment, and these organisms can provide an arbitrary contaminant to a urinary sample. Contaminating microflora in a urine specimen are particularly prevalent in veterinary practices relative to medical practice in humans; this is because the specimen collection in veterinary practices tends to be more difficult to control with animals. In general, feline and canine urine specimens can be obtained through a number of means including cystocentesis, catheterization, manual compression of the urinary bladder and natural micturition. Cystocentesis is least likely to introduce microscopic contaminants (including microbial contamination). If the samples are collected by manual compression of bladder or natural micturition, even with the effort of collecting "mid-stream" sample, microbial contamination in the sample is expected. Although cystocentesis is recommended, other methods are often used in veterinarian practices due to the difficulty in controlling the animals. Problems with the contamination of urine specimens have, in the past, prevented accurate assessments of effective antibacterial therapies for urinary tract infections. Accordingly, devices and related methods are needed which distinguish uropathogens from contaminating organisms.
The device and methods disclosed herein represent a departure from traditional microbial test procedures that involve first initiating non-specific growth of pathogens (i.e. bacteria) from a sample, such as by: 1) obtaining a sample on a loop; 2) streaking the sample from the loop on selective media; and 3) growing all pathogens present. After pathogen growth has occurred, one or more colonies would be selected for further inoculation and growth, followed by susceptibility testing against various reagents (i.e. antibiotics) and concentrations of reagents.
U.S. application Ser. No. 08/942,369, filed Jan. 10, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,984,499, is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, including all charts and drawings. In the event a definition explicitly provided herein contradicts a definition provided in the incorporated application, the definition explicitly provided herein shall govern.

Methods and devices for the detection of pathogenic microorganisms and their antimicrobial susceptibility