An optical system includes a lens assembly and a light source. The lens assembly includes an optical lens positioned to transmit and refract light provided by the light source, and a lens holder coupled to the optical lens and maintaining a position of the optical lens relative to the light source. The optical lens is coupled to the lens holder with a bonding agent arranged in an interrupted configuration at positions proximate to a circumference of the optical lens. The light source provides light to the optical lens of the lens assembly that has an optical footprint that includes a plurality of high-intensity regions separated from one another by low-intensity regions and the bonding agent is positioned in a circumferential orientation relative to the light source such that the bonding agent is spaced apart from the high-intensity regions of the optical footprint of the light.

Lens systems are used in a variety of end-user applications, including in lithography and semiconductor inspection equipment. In these applications, light from a light source is introduced to the lens elements to perform the manufacturing operation. However, in some applications, the light introduced to the lens elements may tend to degrade a bonding agent that is positioned to couple the lens element to a lens holder. Degradation of the bonding agent may lead to contamination of the equipment and/or misalignment of the lens element relative to the light source.
Accordingly, alternative lens assemblies may be desired.

Optical systems exhibiting improved lifetime using beam shaping techniques


Certain imidazole compounds are CCK1 modulators useful in the treatment of CCK1 mediated diseases.

Cholecystokinin (CCK) is a brain-gut peptide hormone located both in the gastrointestinal system and in the central nervous system. The actions of CCK are mediated by two G-protein coupled receptors: CCK-1 (formerly CCK-A) and CCK-2 (formerly CCK-B/gastrin). These CCK receptors are expressed throughout the gastrointestinal system and in different parts of the central nervous system including the cortex, the striatum, the hypothalamus, the hippocampus, the olfactory bulb, the vagal afferent neurones, in different enteric nerves, and in the genital tract.
CCK has a number of biological actions. CCK is the primary hormonal regulator of gall bladder contraction in response to a meal. CCK stimulates pancreatic and biliary secretions and regulates GI motility and specifically gut and colonic motility. CCK promotes protein synthesis and cell growth, especially in the GI system and in the pancreas. CCK is involved in mediating satiety after a meal. CCK is an important neuromodulator and neurotransmitter involved in anxiety and panic disorder. CCK modulates the release of dopamine. CCK is also known to antagonize morphine and beta-endorphine induced analgesia and the action on nociception. A review of CCK receptors, ligands and the activities thereof may be found in P. de Tullio et al., Exp. Opin. Invest. Drugs 2000, 9(1):129-146.
A number of CCK-1 receptor antagonists are presently in clinical trials including, tarazepide, devazepide and lintitript. Phase III equivalent trials are in progress by Rotta Research Group and Forest Laboratories on dexioxiglumide, a CCK-1 antagonist for the treatment of constipation, irritable bowel syndrome and non-ulcer dyspepsia.

Also, Kaken Pharmaceuticals and Mitsubishi-Tokyo Pharmaceuticals are awaiting registration in Japan on loxiglumide, a CCK-1 receptor antagonist for the treatment of GI cancers and pancreatitis. Loxiglumide is the racemate of dexloxiglumide.
A number of CCK-1 receptor agonists are under preclinical investigation. Glaxo Smith Kline, Inc. is investigating GW 5823, GW 7854, GW 7178 and GW 8573, 1,5-benzodiaepines for the treatment of gallstones, gastrointestinal disease and obesity.

Also, Pfizer is investigating the CCK-1 receptor agonist, PD 170292, for obesity.
In Patent application WO 01/85723 there are disclosed certain imidazoles for the inhibition of gastrin and cholecystokinin receptor ligands of the general formula:

In Patent application WO 01/66539 there are disclosed certain imidazoles for the inhibition of raf kinases for the treatment of cancers of the general formula:
These compounds are not taught as inhibitors of CCK receptors.
Applicants have now discovered that certain imidazoles as described below are useful CCK-1 receptor modulators, agonists and antagonists, and most particularly antagonists. As such, these compounds are useful to treat a number of disease states mediated by CCK.


A stereoscopic display including a display panel and a barrier panel is provided. The barrier panel is at one side of the display panel. The barrier panel includes first and second substrates, first and second patterned electrode layers, and a liquid crystal layer between the first and second patterned electrode layers. The first patterned electrode layer is on the first substrate, and includes first electrodes having a first line-width. A gap between the adjacent first electrodes is a first spacing, and a first pitch is a sum of the first spacing and pitch. The second patterned electrode layer is on the second substrate, includes second electrodes having the first line-width. The gap between the adjacent second electrodes is the first spacing, the first and second electrodes are staggered to each other, and a shift in a horizontal direction between the first and second electrodes is half of the first pitch.

In recent years, continuous advancement of display technology results in increasing demands on display quality of displays (e.g. image resolution, color saturation) from users. However, in addition to high image resolution and high color saturation, displays capable of displaying stereoscopic images are also developed to satisfy the users' need of viewing real images.
The stereoscopic display technology that is developed more rapidly and completely is the spatial-multiplexed technology. In the spatial-multiplexed technology, a parallax barrier or a columnar lens is frequently used to form different viewing zones in the space for the viewer to receive different image information for his/her left eye and right eye, so as to achieve the stereoscopic effect. The technology of manufacturing barriers is more well-developed than the technology of manufacturing lenses, so the former is broadly applied in products.
Specifically, the parallax barrier is a periodic structure in which a transparent area and a non-transparent area alternately appear. The parallax barrier has an appropriate pitch and is laminated to an image cell in an appropriate distance. It is necessary for the image cell to simultaneously display images for the left and right eyes of the viewer which are alternately arranged. Thereby, after the image cell is laminated with the parallax barrier, the left eye of the viewer only sees the pixel displaying the left eye image, whereas the right eye of the viewer only sees the pixel displaying the right eye image. This indicates that due to a shading effect of the non-transparent area of the parallax barrier, the left eye is not able to see the pixel displaying right eye image. The same applies to the right eye. Therefore, when the image cell displays an image, the viewer is allowed to view a stereoscopic image at an appropriate location.
Taking a 2-view stereoscopic display for example, since the parallax barrier and pixel are both periodic structures, left and right image areas projected by the barrier periodically appear in the space. Namely, alternate left and right image areas are projected. Therefore, the left and right eyes of the viewer have to correspond to the left and right image areas to see a preferable stereoscopic image, or the left eye may see the right eye image, while the right eye may see the left eye image. This phenomenon is described as crosstalk. For example, when the viewer is located at a location corresponding to center of the display (i.e. center location), since the left eye falls in the center of the left eye image area and the right eye falls in the center of the right eye image area, the viewer is allowed to see a preferable stereoscopic image. Therefore, this viewing location is the appropriate viewing location that has minimal or hardly any crosstalk. However, when the viewer moves leftward or rightward from the center location, rendering the left eye falling in the center of the right eye image area and the right eye falling in the center of left eye image area, the viewer feels uncomfortable because of viewing an incorrect stereoscopic image. The phenomenon is described as pseudoscopy, and the area that leads the viewer to have a pseudoscopic vision is called dead zone. Crosstalk in the dead zone is much higher than the center area and causes discomfort of the viewer.
Since the stereoscopic display is limited by the so-called appropriate viewing location, making the viewer prone to feel fatigue when viewing, the willingness of the viewer to use the stereoscopic display is decreased. Therefore, reducing crosstalk to develop the stereoscopic display technology free of limitation on viewing location is one of the issues that the related industry has to work on.

Stereoscopic display and stereoscopic display device


A method for integrating liquid metal magnetohydrodynamic power generation with fusion blanket technology to produce electrical power from a thermonuclear fusion reactor located within a confining magnetic field and within a toroidal structure. A hot liquid metal flows from a liquid metal blanket region into a pump duct of an electromagnetic pump which moves the liquid metal to a mixer where a gas of predetermined pressure is mixed with the pressurized liquid metal to form a Froth mixture. Electrical power is generated by flowing the Froth mixture between electrodes in a generator duct. When the Froth mixture exits the generator the gas is separated from the liquid metal and both are recycled.

This invention relates to thermonuclear fusion electrical power generation and specifically, to a method and system for producing electrical current directly from the lithium blanket region of a magnetically confined, deuterium-tritium (DT) fueled, thermonuclear fusion reactor.
At the present time magnetically confined thermonuclear fusion reactors have not yet been fully developed for practical application in energy production. Although experimental magnetically confined thermonuclear fusion reactors have been constructed and fusion energy released, no reactor has achieved the necessary goal of self-sustained thermonuclear ignition and bum of a plasma, nor reached the easier and more preliminary "break-even" experimental milestone in which the released fusion energy equals the necessary investment of energy in plasma heating and confinement. Nevertheless, these goals are being pursued by ongoing experimental research and have been approached when using geometric arrangements for magnetic confinement of the plasma producing a set of toroid shaped, closed "magnetic surfaces" nested inside each other and filling the plasma volume. There are several slightly different competing versions of these toroidal magnetic geometry arrangements, e.g., the tokamak, the symmetrical torus (ST), the reversed-field pinch (RFP), the stellarator, and the torsatron, among others. At the present time, significant fusion energy release has only been achieved in the tokamak magnetic geometry using a plasma consisting of a mixture of deuterium and tritium (DT) fuels.
FIG. 1 illustrates the general three dimensional geometric arrangement of magnet components typically used in such toroidal magnetic confinement thermonuclear fusion reactors, emphasizing the approximate rotational symmetry of the arrangement. It shows the outer toroidal "magnetic surface" of the confined plasma, which in the tokamak version is nearly axisymmetric about a geometric center line A--A. It also shows a set of toroidal field (TF) electromagnet coils which link the plasma, and various axisymmetric poloidal field (PF) electromagnet coils which do not link the plasma. In a tokamak, multiple identical TF electromagnet coils are used and distributed uniformly in a rotationally symmetrical manner about the center line A--A, thus forming a quasiaxisymmetric set. An external electrical power control system causes electrical current to flow in each of these TF electromagnet coils. The total overall spatial distribution of electrical currents in the TF electromagnetic coils, and the plasma, naturally produces the confining magnetic field in the plasma's toroidal region, according to the fundamental physical laws of electromagnetism.
Many variations of the device geometry shown in FIG. 1 are possible, including the mechanical construction of the TF electromagnets as shown but consisting of demountable subassemblies; simple noncircular deformations of the electromagnet coil shapes; and even complicated nonplanar helical hybrid combinations of the PF and TF electromagnets.
Components not shown in FIG. 1 include a (nonmagnetic) vacuum vessel which is needed to keep air away from the plasma. The vacuum vessel typically has a toroidal shape in order to enclose the plasma, and is located between the plasma and the TF electromagnet coils.
Additionally, the fusion blanket or alternatively the liquid metal blanket, which is believed to be necessary for practical energy production from fusion, is not depicted. At the present time, fusion blankets have been proposed, but no fusion blanket has yet been successfully tested for an experimental, operational thermonuclear fusion reactor. Because most of the released thermonuclear fusion energy will exit the plasma in various forms of radiation, e.g., neutrons, x-rays, gamma rays, etc., the fusion blanket must consist of a material of suitable type and thickness to completely absorb such radiation, thus converting the radiation directly to heat in the blanket material or liquid metal. Since the radiation will exit the plasma in all directions, this fusion blanket must completely enclose the toroidal plasma. To avoid losing radiation energy in useless and counterproductive heating of the electromagnets and vacuum vessel, the fusion blanket must necessarily be located adjacent to the plasma, i.e., inside the TF electromagnet coils and vacuum vessel and be capable of absorbing the radiation.
For a self-sufficient DT reactor, the fusion blanket must also produce the tritium component of the plasma fuel, and the reactor system must breed at least as much tritium as it consumes. This requirement, in turn, dictates that any DT fusion blanket must be largely or completely composed of lithium, the only element which can efficiently produce tritium when it absorbs the neutron radiation resulting from DT fusion in the plasma.
Technical provisions are necessary to continuously transfer and harvest heat from the fusion blanket for electrical power production. Perhaps the simplest imaginable method becomes possible if the blanket material is mostly composed of liquid lithium itself or alternatively some lithium-bearing liquid. Then the liquid blanket material can be pumped around a loop, cycling between the blanket region where it is automatically heated by radiation from the plasma, and a different (and possibly remote) region where the heat is extracted from the liquid and electrical power is produced.
Conventional methods for producing electric power from a heat source employ "balance-of-plant" equipment consisting of a rotating electrical generator mechanically driven by an engine, such as a turbine or a reciprocating piston system, in turn mechanically driven by a thermodynamic working fluid such as steam. For many conventional methods, including methods used with nuclear fission heat sources, heat exchange components provide thermal coupling between the heat source and the working fluid, and additional heat exchangers reject waste heat from the working fluid to the external environment.
Liquid metal magnetohydrodynamic (LMMHD) electrical power generation from an unspecified generic heat source has previously been proposed as a simple and robust method for efficiently producing electrical power. Such proposals have examined various possible 2-phase LMMHD working fluids, including the combined 2-phase lithium/helium working fluid of the present invention. While coupling LMMHD power generation to a thermonuclear fusion reactor heat source has likewise been proposed, the hybrid features of the present method, which are peculiar to a magnetically confined deuterium-tritium (DT) fueled thermonuclear fusion reactor, have not been previously published or claimed.
Accordingly, a first object of the present invention is to provide an improved method and system for producing electric power from a thermonuclear fusion reactor that is not as complex as prior art systems.
Another object is to provide an improved method and system for producing electric power from a thermonuclear fusion reactor that is both safer and more reliable when compared to prior art systems.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description and accompanying drawing.

Method and system to directly produce electrical power within the lithium blanket region of a magnetically confined, deuterium-tritium (DT) fueled, thermonuclear fusion reactor


A grilling implement and method of use thereof, the grilling implement comprising at least one hook having a tip, a shaft and a heel. The shaft and heel lie coplanar, and the tip curves upward out of the plane of the shaft and heel such that the hook can be passed under the tines of a grill grate, and the tip thereof maneuvered over the grill tines to securely hold the grate. The grilling implement further comprises at least one bar lying coplanar with the heel and shaft of the hook, wherein the bar supports the grill grate when rotated under the tines of the grate. The grilling implement can also be utilized to maneuver charcoal briquettes or break apart natural charcoal logs.

There are a multitude of grilling implements available for manipulation of foodstuffs on a cooking grill. However, it is often necessary during grilling operations to perform functions other than manipulation of foodstuffs. Such other functions may include opening of the grill, removal of the grill grate, and/or maneuvering coals.
For instance, grills often have lids or covers that must be removed while quite hot to gain access to foodstuffs lying upon the grill grate. Furthermore, upon removal of the lid, there are occasions when it is necessary to remove the grill grate for access to, and/or manipulation of, the heat source below (i.e. charcoal, volcanic rock, wood chips and the like). However, if food has been placed upon the grill grate, it is imperative that the grill grate be removed carefully, so as to avoid spillage of the food therefrom. While various hook devices may be utilized to remove a grill grate, such devices, do not inadequately maintain the grill grate in a level position so as to facilitate maintenance of food stuffs thereon.
For instance, pokers with curved ends have been utilized for lifting of hot lids from stoves. However, such devices lack a means for support of a grill grate in a level position and further lack a curvature to the hook end to securely retain the grill grate.
Following removal of a grill grate, it is often necessary and/or desirable to maneuver charcoal briquettes, volcanic rocks or natural charcoal pieces located within the grill in order to provide uniform heat, and enhance airflow therethrough, so that cooking operations can be carried out with predictability. In order to correctly position charcoal briquettes, it is necessary to have a device that can properly grasp, handle and manipulate the briquettes so as to obtain the desired location and position of same.
Some grilling operations utilize natural charcoal logs in place of charcoal briquettes. For such operations, it is often desirable to separate or break apart the natural charcoal log into smaller pieces.
Therefore, it is readily apparent that there is a need for a grilling implement and method of use thereof, wherein the grilling implement is suited for removal of a hot grill lid and/or a hot grill grate without causing injury, while maintaining the grill grate level, and/or to permit access below the grill grate to maneuver charcoal briquettes or volcanic rock pieces and/or break apart natural charcoal into smaller pieces.

Grilling implement and method of use thereof


A miniaturized sensor element comprises a capillary having first and second ends with a channel therebetween. One of the ends is closed while the other is open. Near the closed end, the capillary material which softens when heated, is heated and gas is supplied to the open end. This expands a chamber near the closed end which can be shaped and sized by moving the point of heating and varying the gas supply into the channel. The initially closed end is then opened and the channel inverted. The initially open end is then closed and again the capillary is heated and gas is supplied to form and shape a second chamber in the channel. After this, the closed end of the channel is again opened and both now open ends are smoothed to complete the capillary for use as part of a miniaturized sensor element.

This invention relates to the preparation of miniaturized sensors which use fluids, and the arrangement of a measuring system using the sensors. The described arrangement is especially useful for creating liquid drops or gas bubbles and meniscus effects thereof, as part of a sensor arrangement.
One of the best representatives of liquid electrodes used as sensors, is the mercury drop electrode. The introduction of the laboratory static mercury drop electrode or SMDE, several years ago, represents one of the essential contributions to modern polarographic and voltammetric techniques and instrumentation. This type of electrode incorporates in some respects the properties of the dropping mercury electrode (DME) used by J. Heyrovsky at the beginning of polarography and the hanging mercury drop electrode or HMDE used mainly in voltammetric stripping analysis. See, W. M. Peterson, Amer. Lab. 1/2, Vol. 51, 1296 A (1979); L. Novotny, PhD Thesis, J. Heyrovsky Institute, Prague (1980); Czech. Pat. A.O. 202 316, Prague, (1978-1989); Samec, et al., J. Electroanal. Chem., 100/841, (1979); A. W. Adamson, Physical Chemistry of Surfaces, J. Willey Inc. (1972); and J. Koryta, et al. J. Electroanal. Chem., 75/211 (1977).
Commercially produced SMDE systems represent a standard type of device used in chemical laboratories. However, this type of instrument does not meet present requirements, or meets them only to a very limited extent. It does not enable, for example:
the generation of drops of various sizes, e.g. of volumes between 0.0005 .mu.l to 1 .mu.l;
a choice or change in parameters for different modes in a very broad range such as drop-time between 0.1 and 200-300 seconds for a DME, or time of drop growth for an HMDE between 20 milliseconds and 20 seconds;
drop size reproducibility for an HMDE down to .+-.0.1-0.2% and reproducibility of a DME, at constant potential, down to .+-.0.001%;
a very good mechanical stability of the drop in HMDE, etc., even under considerable mechanical or ultrasonic vibrations at very negative potentials, upon sudden changes of potentials, at very high concentrations of surface active substances, etc.
working in organic solvents, even at extremely negative potentials, e.g. -2.5 V to -3.1 V (using saturated LiCl in C.sub.3 H OH);
reasonable reproducibility, e.g., .+-.1 to .+-.3% and better mini-, semimicro- and microelectrodes, in DMuE, HMDuE, SMDuE modes, as well as meniscus mercury microelectrodes (DMuE refers to dropping mercury microelectrodes, HMDuE to hanging mercury drop microelectrodes and SMDuE to static mercury drop microelectrodes);
a stepwise growing of Hg drop mini- and microelectrodes, e.g., the stepwise growing of an HMDE or HMDuE, the number of steps representing one of the electrode parameters;
applicability in all mentioned modes independently of any analyzer or in combination with external analyzers, microcomputers, etc.;
the applicability of the sensor in vertical as well as in nearly horizontal positions, depending partly on the mode used; or
the design of a miniaturized portable system, relatively simple to handle, including special "pen-type" electrodes.
Thus, while some versions of electrodes which are based on a liquid/liquid interface have been used, they cannot perform or do not have the foregoing characteristics which would be useful.

Method of preparation miniaturized sensors on basis of fluids and arrangement of the measuring system


The present invention provides a series of derivatives of stilbenoid which are useful as new inhibitory agents against head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and hepatoma.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to stilbenoid compounds as inhibitors for squamous carcinoma and hepatoma and the uses thereof. More specifically, the present invention is related to compounds capable of inhibiting the cell viability and proliferation of squamous cell carcinoma and hepatocellular carcinoma, the pharmaceutical compositions of said compounds, the method for treating cancer using said compounds, and the method of manufacture of said compounds.
2. The Prior Arts
Head and neck cancer is the sixth most common cancer worldwide and accounts for 6% of all cancer cases. However, it ranks the fourth most commonly occurred cancer in Taiwan. Head and neck cancer is a broad term of epithelial malignancies that occurred in the paranasal sinuses, nasal cavity, oral cavity, pharynx and larynx. Approximately 95% of histological type is squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), while others are salivary gland tumors, lymphomas and sarcomas. Nowadays, several risk factors related to HNSCC onset were identified. The most important risk factors in HNSCC are from tobacco and alcohol consumption. Other risk factors include inhalant industrial exposures, human papilloma virus (HPV) infection and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection. Despite improvement in the therapy of HNSCC, patients still suffer from a very poor prognosis following progression after standard therapy regimens. Due to high recurrence and metastasis property, the survival rate of most of the patients is very low.
Currently, there are three main treatments for management of HNSCC, which are radiation therapy, surgery and chemotherapy. The primary treatments are radiation and surgery or both in combination of adjuvant treatment of chemotherapy. The optimal combination of treatments is dependent on the cancer sites and disease stages. Moreover, the most common drugs used in combination with radiation therapy, so called chemoradiation, are cisplatin (Market available brands: Platinol, Platinol-AQ), fluorouracil (Market available brands: Adrucil, Efudex, Fluoroplex) and cetuximab (Market available brand: Erbitux). Other chemotherapy drugs used include carboplatin (Market available brand: Paraplatin), docetaxel (Market available brand: Taxotere) and gemcitabine, paclitaxel (Market available brand: Taxol), methotrexate (Market available brands: Abitrexate, Folex, Folex PFS, Mexate, Mexate-AQ) and bleomycin (Market available brands Blenoxane).
In spite of their antitumor activities, a lot of side effects come with chemotherapy. The difficulties of side effects include high infection risk, bruising, anemia, nausea, vomiting, sore mouth, hearing loss, fatigue and hair loss, which bother HNSCC patients. Clinical observations have found that cisplatin can cause renal failure and cytotoxicity. Both cisplatin and taxanes can result in toxicities, including haematological toxicity, neurotoxicity, nephrotoxicity and ototoxicity. Fluorouracil, methotrexate and taxanes may induce mucosal cytoxicity that worsens the outcome after radiation therapy. So far, cisplatin-based chemotherapy is the most widely used treatment in HNSCC because of its superior survival benefits. However, there are limitations for the chemotherapy of cisplatin such as the high occurrence of drug resistance and the severe toxicity due to high dosage. An ideal HNSCC chemotherapy drug, which can be effective in antitumor activity while avoiding the recurrence and metastasis of HNSCC, should have low cytotoxicity and low side effects.
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common malignancy in the world and the second most common cause for cancer-related death. It was more prevalent in Asia and Africa; however, it is now showing a rising incidence among Western countries. HCC, which is an aggressive tumor, frequently occurs in the setting of chronic liver diseases and cirrhosis. The major risk factors related to HCC include infections with hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV), alcoholic liver diseases, and non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases. In western countries, type II diabetes and obesity are the two emerging causes of HCC. Clinically, HCC is often diagnosed late and shows extremely poor prognosis after standard therapy regimens as well as very low survival rate.
Currently, several treatment modalities are available for HCC, including surgical intervention (tumor resection and liver transplantation), percutaneous interventions (ethanol or acetic acid injection, radiofrequency thermal ablation, microwave ablation and cryoablation), transarterial interventions (embolization, chemoperfusion, or chemoembolization), systematic chemotherapy and molecularly target therapies. Drugs used in systemic chemotherapy can be categorized into cytotoxic drugs and molecular target drugs. Cytotoxic drugs includes Xeloda (capecitabine), Etoposide, Irinotecan, 5-Fu, Doxorubicin, Mitoxantrone, and Thymitaq (Nolatrexed), which exhibit powerful side effects and high occurrence of drug resistance. Molecular target drugs include Nexavar (sorafenib), Sutent (sunitinib), and Avastin (bevacizumab), etc, which also show high occurrence of drug resistance. Side effects by chemotherapy not only affect the quality of living of patients of HCC but also lower the survival rates.
The development of new drugs that are effective against HCC with low toxicity is one important task in the medical and pharmaceutical field. To conquer the side effects and reduce the morbidity and mortality of HCC at the same time, the development of novel systemic chemotherapy for advanced HCC treatment is of principal importance. The ideal chemotherapeutic drugs must possess antitumor properties with high efficacy and a very low cytotoxicity for patients.
Resveratrol (3,5,4′-trihydroxy-trans-stilbene) is a stilbenoid, a type of natural phenol, and a phytoalexin. In 1939, Michio Takaoka first reported resveratrol isolated from the poisonous but medicinal Veratrum album, a variety of grandiflorum, in a Japanese article. Resveratrol is found in the skin of red grapes and in other fruits as well as in the roots of Japanese knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum). The pharmacological effects of resveratrol include life extension, cardioprotective effects, antidiabetes, and anti-inflammatory effects. Besides, resveratrol shows anti-cancer effects in animal models. However, this pharmaceutical anti-cancer effect is restricted due to low bioavailability.
No marked toxicity of resveratrol were observed in the group of rat received 0.3 g/kg/day for 4 weeks. Previous studies had discussed the adverse effects of resveratrol which 104 patients (including placebo) had been tested. The highest doses were 5 g/70 kg for a single intake and 0.9 g/day for iterative administration. No serious adverse event was detected in any of these studies. Adverse events were mild and only lasted for a few days.
Pterostilbene is a natural phenolic stilbenoid which is a phytoalexin. Pterostilbene could be found in grapes, a variety of berries and medicinal plants. The pharmacological effects of pterostilbene are antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, hypolipidemic, antidiabetic activities, and memory improvement. The side effects and toxicity of pterostilbene are very low. The results of 28 days subchronic toxicity study indicated that at dose up to 3.0 g/kg/day, no significant adverse biochemical parameters and toxic effects were noted.

Stilbenoid compound as inhibitor for squamous carcinoma and hepatoma and uses thereof


Systems and methods for providing customization in asymmetric communication are disclosed. An excess of information is broadcast from a transmitter to multiple receivers in what is optionally a one-way transmission. The excess of information includes metadata used to select which subset of the excess of information is presented to a user and which subset of the excess of information is discarded. The metadata includes criteria that are compared with various, possibly different, customization factors stored on each of the multiple receivers. This comparison is used to determine which subsets of the excess information are presented and which are discarded. Because the customization factors can be different on different receivers, customization of the presented information is achieved. The customization factors optionally include geographic information resulting in customization based on a receiver location. The excess information optionally includes radio or television signals. In some embodiments, a nationally broadcast signal results in the presentation of advertisements, where the presentation is customized to a specific location.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is in the field of broadcasting and more specifically in the field of broadcast content customization.
2. Related Art
Prior art communications can be categorized by the degree to which the communication is symmetric. A symmetric communication model allows each party to the communication to transmit and receive with approximately equal ability. For example, a connection between two cell phones is symmetric because each party technically has an equal ability to send and receive. An asymmetric communication is one in which one party does most of the transmitting and the other party does most of the receiving. For example, prior art television broadcasts are asymmetric because one party does most of the broadcasting and (many) other parties do most of the receiving. Some communication models are neither purely symmetric nor asymmetric. For example, pay per view television involves a party making a request over a telephone line. This request is a symmetric communication. If the request is successful, then the requestor may receive keys to decrypt an asymmetric broadcast of a television program.
Typically, a high degree of symmetry is required in communication where parties transmit data specifically intended for each other, or where users can actively request individually customized content. Examples of highly symmetric communication include user initiated web content serving, person-to-person telephony (whether digital or analog), and conference calls (whether physically transmitted on the Internet, the PSTN, or some combination of transport technologies). In such highly symmetric communication models, feedback amongst parties to a given communication is typically rapid, and allows for frequent and/or more specific customization of content transmitted between (and/or among) the parties.
In contrast, a highly asymmetric communication, such as satellite, cable, or internet broadcasting systems, allows little feedback between parties to the communication and customization of content is more difficult because these communications are often unidirectional. Where given content is consumable by a large number of parties, such as in satellite television or XM radio, asymmetric communication is usually preferred. Asymmetric communications make more effective use of bandwidth and mean that a transmitter does not also have to have substantial receiving capability. However, the prior art lacks an efficient method for providing customization in highly asymmetric communications involving many receivers.

Content customization in asymmetric communication systems


The invention concerns a coil winding machine and, more precisely, a coil winder to wind up coils for use in the electric and/or electronic field, of the type comprising a plurality of rotary spindles supporting the coil cores and a corresponding plurality of flyers feeding the wire to be wound up to the spindles. This coil winder also comprises mechanism to produce relative movements between each spindle and the respective flyer along the three cartesian axes (X, Y and Z), in order to carry out the winding of the coil and/or the twisting of the wire ends on the coil terminals. According to the invention, the spindles supporting the coil cores are mounted, rotating about their own axis (X), onto a support head which is in turn movable in a horizontal plane (axes X and Y), while the flyers are movable only along the third axis (Z).

1. Field of the Invention
There is known at present a wide variety of coil winding machines, with even considerably different characteristics as far as working and productive capacity.
These include first of all coil winders with a revolving turret, an example of which is described in DE-PS-2.322.064 filed by the same Applicant. In a machine of this type, the coils are mounted on spindles radially projecting from a revolving turret and this latter has a rotary stepped motion, so that the single coils are moved forward through successive working stations, for example at least one loading station, a winding station and an unloading station, as well as one or more supplementary working or finishing stations. When the coils are unloaded, they are substantially finished and ready for use.
It is important to note, in order to fully understand the present invention, that in machines of this type the coil core is held stationary and the winding is carried out by a winding unit with rotary flyer, which is not only adapted to rotate about the coil core, performing at the same time an axial movement (X axis) to distribute the wire around said core, but also to perform transversal (Y axis) and vertical (Z axis) movements in order to carry out supplementary operations, as for example the twisting of a wire end around a coil terminal.
To perform the above movements, the rotary flyer is first of all mounted on a spindle revolving about the axis X and rotated by a motor of its own, the flyer unit being moreover mounted on slides adapted to perform said movements along the three axes X, Y, Z. Such movements are generally produced by numerically controlled D.C. motors, according to an increasingly developing technology.
Another type of coil winding machine is the so-called "on-line machine", wherein the coils are supported by a plurality of spindles with parallel axes, mounted on a bed and performing a simple high-speed rotary motion. With each spindle there cooperate corresponding flyers, adapted to perform the main wire distributing motion during coil winding, as well as a more complex motion for twisting for example the wire ends on the coil terminals, just before winding starts and after it has ended.
It is to be understood that, in this case, the rotary motion about the axis X is performed by the spindle carrying the actual coil core, while the flyer merely performs the movements along axes X, Y and Z, as specified heretofore.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Machines of this type are widely known, for example, from DE-A-2632671 and DE-A-3049406, as well as from IT-B-1.196.312 filed on Oct. 26, 1984, by the same Applicant. These machines are planned to wind up coils in a relatively simple way and with a high number of turns, at high production speeds.
A still further type of coil winding machine is the "bench machine", which can be for example of the type described in EP-A-182.177 filed by the same Applicant: in this machine, the coils are mounted on rotary spindles, while the wire is fed by flyers adapted to perform movements along the three axes X, Y and Z--similarly to what happens in the previously mentioned on-line machines--so that the operator merely has to carry out the loading and unloading of the coils.
A problem which is particularly felt in the aforecited machines--for example of IT-A-1.196.312 or of EP-A-182.177--actually concerns the automatic loading and unloading of the coils on the winding spindles. The known devices allowing to perform these operations are quite complicated, oversized and costly: they must in fact generally comprise gripper means moving at least along two axes, that is, at least along the X axis, so as to draw close to and away from the spindle supporting the coil, and at least along another axis--for example the Z or the Y axis, or a turnover axis perpendicular to the X axis--so as to replace a filled and finished coil by an empty coil core.
These known automatic loading and unloading devices, as well as being complicated and costly, are also difficult to mount--due to their large dimensions--onto a coil winder being used as a working station of a plurality of stations forming part of an automatic production line.

Coil winder with spindlehead movable in a horizontal plane


An approach is provided for providing user control of historical mobility data accessed by a service related to a quality of the service to be delivered to the user. The approach involves receiving a request from the user to receive the service from a service provider. The quality of service is dependent on historical mobility data associated with the user. The approach also involves determining a first part of the historical mobility data that is to be provided to the service provider to receive the service. The approach further involves determining a second part of the historical mobility data that is predicted to increase the quality of service of the service. The approach further involves providing a user interface for the user to select between the first part, the second part, another part, or a combination thereof of the historical mobility data to provide to the service provider.

Service providers typically have relied on access to potentially privacy-sensitive user data to provide services or applications to consumers. For example, delivery services may need to access to at least a user's address to determine where to make a delivery. If the service provider has access to even more user information such as the user's mobility data (e.g., data indicating a history of user movements or locations), the service provider may be able to provide an even higher level of service (e.g., by automatically selecting the time and/or location at which the user may be available to receive a delivery). However, providing access to privacy-sensitive user data historically has been an all or nothing option with the user either allowing or not allowing access his or her data by the service provider without consideration of effects on the quality of service that the user is to receive. Accordingly, service providers face significant technical challenges to enable users to more easily balance user privacy against the quality of service that the user is provided.

Method and apparatus for providing selected access to user mobility data based on a quality of service


A process for performing image frame fusion on a pixel-by-pixel basis by estimating velocities and occlusions between at least two image frames of a sequence of frames. For each pixel, the possible matchings are those that minimize changes in a selected parameter of the image (generally the grey-level). The process uses a region-growing procedure to reduce the number of possible matchings for each pixel. The output is a decomposition of the images into regions in which pixels move with the same model of velocity or are all occluded. The process includes a multi-scale description of velocities between two images, a multi-scale segmentation of the images into regions having different motion, a correcting term for sampling errors, sub-pixel motion errors and an occlusion estimation step. A preferred embodiment employs pyramidal calculations.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to image processing and enhancement by fusion of plural image frames. The invention performs frame fusion on a pixel-by-pixel basis by estimating velocities and occlusions between two frames. For each pixel, the possible matchings are those that minimize changes in a selected parameter of the image (generally the grey-level).
2. Background Art
Finding velocities in a sequence of images requires following points along their motion in the image. That is, when not occluded, the pixels of the current image are associated with the pixels of the next image. This association is based on the relative constancy of a given quantity estimated from the images at each pixel. In general, this quantity is the grey level value of the pixel, since it does not present large variation during motion. But, it might be defined on other measurements such as the curvature, the gradient and so forth. Given a velocity, one can define a measure that can say whether or not this velocity is accurate. We call this measure the "error". The error is based on the variation of the quantity along the motion defined by the velocity. Possible velocities will have small errors attached. Estimating the velocities in this case consists of finding velocities that have small errors. Unfortunately, this property is not enough to define a unique velocity field. Indeed, there might exist in the next frame many points having the same grey level (or other selected quantity) as those of a given point of the current frame. This is the well-known aperture problem, which must be solved in order to find the velocities. The probability of matching plural points in the image with the same velocities decreases by the number of points. Many techniques try to exploit this observation. For example, the well-known correlation technique tries to match by neighborhood (generally defined by a square). But, this arbitrary neighborhood might be too large and therefore mix points having different velocities, or conversely too small to solve the aperture problem. The neighborhood around each point should be composed of only the points that move with same velocity, which set of points shall be referred to in this specification as a "region". The problem is then that such "regions" are usually defined by velocities while being relied upon to provide an estimate of these same velocities.
A scene or image can include moving objects. Recovering the velocities requires performing a partitioning of the scene into objects (regions) and attributing to each region a model of velocity. The following sub-problems are easy to solve: (a) Given the velocities find the regions; and (b) Given the regions find the velocities. Unfortunately, in order to solve the entire problem exactly, one has to find regions and velocities simultaneously. Conventional approaches are based on the sequential use of techniques which solve one of the sub-problems stated above. The dominant motion approach involves processing a sequential estimation of the dominant motion, and the extraction of the attached region. Therefore this approach uses techniques that solve the first sub-problem on velocities that are obtained based upon the assumption of a dominant motion. A technique disclosed in Bouthemy et al., "Motion segmentation and qualitative dynamic scene analysis from an image sequence", The International Journal of Computer Vision Vol. 10, No. 2, pages 157-182, April 1993, employs sequential use of techniques which solve, alternately, the first and then the second sub-problem. This sequence of processes is not proved to converge, and requires a good initialization of both region and velocity estimates. A technique disclosed in Schweitzer, "Occam algorithms for computing visual motion", IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence Vol. 17, No. 11, pages 1033-1042 (1995) employs a similar sequential process, but uses a splitting algorithm where regions are rectangles. This latter technique is sure to converge, but suffers from the over-simplification of the description of a region as a rectangle. Another disadvantage is that the initialization as one region for the entire picture might lead to a fixed point far from the solution. The aim of this latter technique is not necessarily to find the "good" velocities, but to find the best mapping in terms of compression. The problems of these techniques is that when solving the first sub-problem, they try to find velocities from unknown regions (and therefore possibly erroneous), and when solving the second sub-problem they try to find regions from unknown velocities.
Many techniques dealing with the problem of finding a unique global motion of a scene have been developed successfully. Even if all of these techniques can not be applied in general to recover multiple motions, some attempts have been proposed in some particular cases. The most significant example is the technique of publication of Bouthemy et al. referred to above. The hypothesis of a dominant image motion proposed in Cloutier et al., "Segmentation and estimation of image motion by a robust method", Proc. IEEE pages 805-809 (1995), assumes that the observed scene is made from moving objects having very different sizes (for example a little object and a large background.) A least median of squares estimators based on optical flow constraints is performed on the entire image to extract the model of the dominant motion. Then, the first subproblem is solved according to the knowledge of the dominant velocity: the region corresponding to the dominant motion is found. Once this dominant object has been detected, it is removed from the region of analysis, and the same process is repeated on the remaining part of the image. Two limitations on the use of this technique are: first, the underlying hypothesis is in general too restrictive for a real sequence, and, secondly, the link between dominant motion and dominant object must be investigated. Indeed, once the dominant motion has been computed, one has to decide for each point whether or not it moves according to the dominant motion and therefore whether or not it belongs to the dominant object. This decision is made by local estimates around each pixel, and by an a priori thresholding, and therefore is very sensitive to noise.
Bouthemy et al.'s Motion Segmentation
Bouthemy et al. assume in their publication cited above that they initially have a segmentation of the velocities (for example obtained by dominant motion approach), and they propose a technique to improve its quality. They start their algorithm with the segmentation R.sub.i, V.sub.i, where V.sub.i is the velocity model associated to the region R.sub.i. Then, they make the boundary of the region move in order to decrease an energy which balances the matching error with the length of the boundaries. They recompute the velocity within the region when a significant change of shape of the region occurs. The initial velocity is used for initialization of the new estimation. Their algorithm suffers many problems. First, the initial segmentation has to be near the solution. Therefore their algorithm has to be seen as a way to improve the quality of velocity estimate rather than an algorithm that calculates the velocity. Secondly, the algorithm is not proved to converge. Moreover, it is very sensitive to local extreme. Thirdly, it attributes one (and only one) velocity to each region, and the segmentation of the region is based on these velocities. It is in a sense a segmentation from velocities estimation, whereas it should be velocity estimate from a segmentation. Finally, the occlusions are not taken into account.
Schweitzer's Algorithm.
The publication by Schweitzer cited above formulates the problem of motion estimation as a search for a function that can accurately predict frames. It balances the velocity field based upon determinations of (a) how good the prediction is and (b) how simple it is. The first requirement is measured as usual by the error terms. The simplicity of the vector field is set by Schweitzer in terms of encoding length. His algorithm is based on a segmentation procedure by splitting rectangles. Each rectangle is split horizontally or vertically into two other rectangles if the splitting increases the quality of the prediction more than a cost based on the increase of the complexity (appearance of a new rectangular region). Unfortunately, given a rectangle, the location of the split or boundary is problematic. In the algorithm of Schweitzer, one needs estimates of the velocities for each point in the rectangles. And, the segmentation depends on the pre-calculated velocities. Finally, the rectangle-based segmentation might not be sufficient to take into account non-rectangular objects.
Morel et al.'s Grey-Scale Segmentation of Images
A gray-scale segmentation technique disclosed in Morel et al., "Variational methods in image segmentation", in H. Brezis, editor, Progress in Nonlinear Differential Equations and Their Applications, Birkhauser, 1995 which produces a piece-wise constant image that approximates the original image. The approximation is scaled: the larger the scale, the bigger the regions (the pieces of the segmentation). They propose to balance the quality of the approximation (which is measured by the grey-level difference between the original image and its approximation) by the complexity of the approximation (measured by the total length of the boundaries). They initialize the process by considering each pixel as a region. Then they merge regions if the merging decreases the following energy: EQU E=.intg.(u(x)-u.sub.o (x)).sup.2 +.lambda.Length(B.sub.u)
where u.sub.o denotes the original image, u its piece-wise constant approximation, B.sub.u the boundaries of the regions of u, and .lambda. a scale parameter. The algorithm ends when merging is no longer possible. Of course Morel et al.'s algorithm for segmenting grey-scale images does not give any information about velocities.

Image frame fusion by velocity estimation using region merging


A first computing device in an industrial automation system may include an image sensor that captures a visual representation of a portion of a facility including a first industrial automation equipment as image data and a communication component that communicatively couples the first computing device to a second computing device via a communication network, in which the first computing device receives relevant information related to the first industrial automation equipment from the second computing device. The first computing may include a display component that displays a plurality of real objects that visually represent physical features in the portion of the facility based at least in part on the image data, in which the plurality of real objects include a first real object that visual represents physical features of the first industrial automation equipment; and that displays a first virtual object superimposed on at least a portion of the plurality of real objects based at least in part on the relevant information.

The present disclosure relates generally to industrial automation systems and communication of information within industrial automation systems. To facilitate performing various processes in a facility (e.g., a factory or plant), the industrial automation system may include automation equipment and may utilize a communication architecture that facilitates communication of information between automation equipment and/or with a user.

Systems and methods for presenting an augmented reality


An exemplary implantable stimulation device includes an anode, a cathode, a circuit to generate an electrical potential between the anode and the cathode, and a resistance selected to divide current between a first current path to the anode and a second current path to the anode upon generation of the electrical potential between the anode and the cathode. Other exemplary methods, devices, systems, etc., are also disclosed.

Implantable cardiac stimulation devices generally include pacing devices, implantable cardiac defibrillation devices and devices that can delivery pacing and defibrillation therapy as appropriate. In general, activation of cardiac tissue occurs in response to current passing through myocardial tissue which causes the tissue to depolarize and contract. Conventional stimulation devices rely on electrode placement and/or selection of an electrode configuration to direct one or more current paths. Choice of electrode configuration is, of course, intimately tied to features of a stimulation device. For example, some conventional stimulation devices include a right ventricular lead only while others include a right ventricular lead and a left ventricular lead yet others may include only a general cardiac lead, a left ventricular lead, etc. While bi-ventricular pacing may be achieved using a variety of devices depending on device specifics, conventional bi-ventricular pacing is usually associated with stimulation devices that include at least one right ventricular lead and at least one left ventricular lead.
Conventional bi-ventricular devices typically achieve right ventricular activation without parasitic or inadvertent stimulation of the left ventricle; however, activation of the left ventricle without parasitic or inadvertent stimulation of the right ventricle has proven more problematic. Further, some individuals experience pain or "pocket stimulation" when too high of a current flows through the case of an implanted device. Of course, such pain or pocket stimulation may be avoided where a selected electrode configuration does not include using the case of the stimulation device as an electrode. Conventional approaches to these issues typically rely on judicious selection of electrode configuration. While selection of a particular electrode configuration may act to minimize or avoid parasitic stimulation, pocket stimulation, etc., such a selection may introduce limits that prevent delivery of an optimum therapy.
Various exemplary mechanisms are disclosed herein which aim to overcome at least some limitations associated with conventional cardiac stimulation devices. In particular, various exemplary mechanisms aim to minimize and/or avoid parasitic stimulation and/or patient pain.


The present invention relates to microfibrous fuel cell sub-bundle structures, fuel cell bundles and fuel cell assemblies formed by such fuel cell sub-bundles and bundles. Specifically, a fuel cell sub-bundle is provided, which comprises multiple microfibrous fuel cells. Each microfibrous fuel cell comprises: (a) a hollow microfibrous membrane separator comprising an electrolyte medium, (b) an inner electrocatalyst layer in contact with an inner surface of such membrane separator, (c) an outer electrocatalyst layer in contact with an outer surface of such membrane separator, and (d) an individual current collector in electrical contact with the inner surface of such membrane separator. Each of such multiple microfibrous fuel cells is in electrical contact with a common current collector at the outer surface of its membrane separator.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention in general relates to fuel cell structures and assemblies, and more specifically to fuel cell structures and assemblies that comprise multiple microfibrous fuel cell elements arranged and constructed for efficient thermal and/or humidity management.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, fuel cell or fuel cell assembly has become more and more available as a power source for use in handheld or mobile electrical devices, electrically powered vehicles, as well as in distributed power generation applications.
Fuel cells offer especially attractive prospects as energy conversion devices, by exhibiting high energy efficiency and low levels of gaseous/solid emissions, in comparison with traditional combustion-based energy sources.
In addition to generation of electrical energy, fuel cells convert a portion of the chemical energy stored in the fuel into heat during the electrochemical reaction, which, if efficiently collected and utilized, will significantly increase the overall energy (electrical+thermal) efficiency of the fuel cell systems. Therefore, there is an on-going interest in developing fuel cell systems as cogeneration systems for both electrical and thermal energy, to increase efficiency of such systems. The thermal energy produced by such cogeneration systems can be used for both heating and cooling (by using absorption or adsorption chiller or desiccant cooling), to support adjacent industrial facilities and domestic residences.
The thermal energy managing devices or structures used in conventional fuel cell cogeneration systems are usually very bulky in size, which include various heat exchanging panels, pipes, fluid pumps, and tubings, for which significant space is required, in additional to that of the fuel cell itself. There is therefore a need to provide a compact fuel cell system with thermal energy collecting/transferring components that are space-saving in character.
Further, in proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells wherein continuous flow of feed (such as hydrogen or methanol) and oxidant (such as air or oxygen) is required for the electrochemical reactions therein, the feed or the oxidant stream needs to be sufficiently humidified to prevent drying of the membrane separators in the fuel cells. Humidifying devices or structures, such as water tanks, pumps, tubings and control devices, are therefore necessary for supplying water or water vapor to the fuel cell systems, in order to maintain the electrochemical reaction rate and the energy output density. Such humidifying devices or structures further increase the size of the fuel cell system. It will therefore be advantageous to provide a compact fuel cell system with reliable humidifying components having space-saving characteristics.
A recent innovation in the fuel cell industry is the development of microfibrous fuel cells, as described in details in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,916,514; 5,928,808; 5,989,300; 6,004,691; 6,338,913; 6,399,232; 6,403,248; 6,403,517; 6,444,339; 6,495,281; all to Ray R. Eshraghi. Such microfibrous fuel cells are shaped as elongated fibers with very small cross-sectional diameters (ranging from a few hundred microns to a few millimeters), and can be serially and/or parallelly arranged, interconnected, and packed into compact fuel cell assemblies of very high voltage and power densities.
For thermal management in such microfibrous fuel cell assemblies, Eshraghi patents disclose use of hollow, fibrous heat exchanging tubes, which are packed side by side with the microfibrous fuel cells, and through which a coolant medium is passed for removing heat out of such fuel cell assemblies.
Eshraghi patents further disclose that such hollow, fibrous heat exchange tubes may comprise a water-permeable porous membrane wall, so that water deriving from an aqueous coolant medium permeates from the bores of such heat exchange tubes through the membrane wall into the feed stream, thereby humidifying the electrochemical reaction environment.
Therefore, the Eshraghi patents provide a compact fuel cell assembly with an integrated thermal and humidity management structure.
The present invention improves the thermal and/or humidity management efficiency in the Eshraghi fuel cell assembly, and advances the Microcell™ technology in the aspect of electrical and thermal energy cogeneration.
Other objects of the present invention will be more fully apparent from the ensuing disclosure and appended claims.


A lighting device includes a light-guiding rod and a light-emitting unit. The light-guiding rod includes a transparent hollow housing, the housing has two open ends and two insulating plugs for closing corresponding said two open ends. The light-emitting unit includes a transparent light-guiding plate, at least one light-emitting diode, a mounting substrate, and a plurality of conductive bumps. The transparent light-guiding plate is disposed in said housing. At least one light-emitting diode has a light-emitting surface; the surface is attached to a lower surface of said light-guiding plate. The mounting substrate has a wiring surface and a plurality of electric traces. A plurality of conductive bumps for connecting electrically said electric contacts of said at least one light-emitting diode to corresponding said electric traces in such a manner that said at least one light-emitting diode is mounted on said wiring surface of said mounting substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lighting device, and more particularly, to a lighting device with low power consumption, high brightness and long life span.
2. Description of Related Art
Presently, incandescent lamp and fluorescent lamp are popularly used as lighting device, especially used in indoor. In consideration of price, life span and power consuming, fluorescent lamp is more preferred. However, light emitting diodes are recently under vigorous research and development as potential replacements for the aforementioned lamps.


The application relates to a signal processing method in a dental radiology apparatus comprising an intraoral sensor that delivers at least one analog image output signal in response to an exposure of said sensor to x-rays, characterized in that it includes the following steps: conversion of said at least one analog image output signal into one digital image output signal, processing of the digital image output signal to obtain a report indicating the x-ray exposure level that has been used to deliver said analog output signal, the report indicating the exposure level corresponding to an exposure level classified as under-exposure, correct exposure or over-exposure, supply of the report indicating the exposure level used.

Dental radiology equipment as described in French patent No. 547,495 and European patent No. 0,129,451 is known.
Such equipment comprises an x-ray source that emits radiation directed to a tooth located in a patient's mouth and behind which is an intraoral sensor that receives the x-rays that have passed through the tooth.
This sensor comprises:                a scintillator on entry to convert the x-rays that have passed through the tooth into visible radiation,        a fiber optic plate to transmit the converted visible light to a charge-coupled device (CCD) type detector, which reconverts the converted visible light into an analog electrical signal, while absorbing the residual x-rays that have not been converted into visible light.
The electrical signal is amplified and transmitted in analog form through a long cable, to a remote processing and display workstation where the signal is digitized and processed to produce an mage that is then viewed on a display screen.
Also known, according to U.S. Pat. No. 5,912,942, is a type of x-ray detector wherein an active pixel sensor (APS) uses CMOS manufacturing technology.
In the above-mentioned patent, the radiology equipment described therein comprises:                a source of x-rays passing through an object,        a scintillator that converts the x-rays that have passed through the object into visible light,        possibly, a fiber optic plate transmitting the converted visible light to an active pixels array (detector) that converts it into an analog electrical signal.
In this patent, it is explained that the signal can be converted into a digital signal in the sensor itself or in an interface case separate from the sensor and remote from the image signal processing and display unit.
In the dental radiological equipment that has just been described, it is not known whether the x-ray dose used to pass through a patient's tooth is sufficient to produce a good quality image on the display screen (correct exposure level), whether the dose is insufficient (under-exposure) or even excessive (over-exposure).
In some cases, a particularly experienced user can, by examining the screen image of the tooth, assess whether the patient has been exposed to too high a dose of x-rays and thus adjust the equipment for future image taking.
However, this is not something most users can do, as they do not always know how to analyze the tooth image reliably.

Signal processing method in a dental radiology apparatus


Described herein are methods and systems that may help to provide selectable viewing options for a television program. An exemplary method involves: (i) receiving a television video transport stream comprising video content associated with a particular television program, wherein the television video transport stream comprises focal-point metadata regarding at least one focus point, wherein the at least one focus point corresponds to a sub-frame within at least one frame of the video content, (ii) receiving focal-point input data indicating a zoom request, (iii) processing video content in response to the focal-point input data, and (iv) generating a television video output signal comprising video content that is zoomed to the sub-frame, wherein the television video output signal is configured to be displayable on a graphic display.

Generally, a television broadcast system provides video, audio, and/or other data transport streams for each television program. A consumer system, such as a tuner, a receiver, or a set-top box, receives and processes the transport streams to provide appropriate video/audio/data outputs for a selected television program to a display device (e.g., a television, projector, laptop, tablet, smartphone, etc.).
The transport streams may be encoded. For instance, some broadcast systems utilize the MPEG-2 format that includes packets of information, which are transmitted one after another for a particular television program and together with packets for other television programs. Metadata related to particular television programs can be included within a packet header section of an MPEG-2 packet. Metadata can also be included in separate packets of an MPEG-2 transmission (e.g., in MPEG-2 private section packets, and and/or in an advanced program guide transmitted to the receiver). This metadata can be used by the consumer system to identify, process, and provide outputs of the appropriate video packets for each selectable viewing option.

Systems and methods for immersive viewing experience


The invention relates to an electrical connector with a housing (1) of insulating material and a metal contact element (2) fittable in the housing (1). The contact element has a crimp contact region (4) to contact a first cable end (11) and a cutting clamp contact region (3) to contact a second cable (12). Such an arrangement is not suitable for contacting cables of different diameters via the cutting clamp contact region. According to the invention, the cutting clamp contact region (3) has two tension-relieving regions (5, 6), with the cutting clamp blades, which are fitted opposite one another in pairs (7, 8, 9, 10), arranged between them. Two pairs of cutting clamp blades (7, 10) are provided for small-diameter cables and two pairs (8, 9) are provided for large-diameter cables. The pairs of cutting clamp blades (8, 9) for small-diameter cables are arranged between those for large-diameter cables.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an electrical connector having a housing made of insulation material and a metallic contact element, which can be arranged in the housing and has an insulation-piercing contact region and a crimp contact region which, in the direction of the longitudinal axis of a cable that can be introduced, adjoins the insulation-piercing contact region and is conductively connected to it.
2. Summary of the Prior Art
There are many applications for which it is desirable to be able to use the insulation-piercing technique. However, one disadvantage of the insulation-piercing technique is that the contacts are very sensitive with respect to the diameter of the insulated conductors with which contact is to be made. However, since in the normal case it is to be assumed that it is not known from the beginning what cable size is intended to be connected using an insulation-piercing contact, this technique often cannot be used. The reason why insulation-piercing structures are so sensitive with respect to diameter fluctuations is that the cutter, which is intended to cut through the insulation, must reach the inner conductor.
DE 43 24 841 A1, which is representative of the prior art, has specified a method and a device for the power supply to optional, electrically-driven, special equipment devices, for example in a motor vehicle. For this purpose, a cable of a basic production cable set is connected by means of an electrical connector to a cable leading to the special equipment device. The electrical connector has a housing made of insulation material. Arranged in the housing is a contact element shaped from sheet metal and having an insulation-piercing contact region for the electrical cable and unitary with at least one further electrical connection region for making contact with at least one further electrical cable. The housing is divided into two chambers, one of which accommodates the insulation-piercing contact region and the other the further connection region. The two chambers are connected to each other via a passage, through which there passes a connecting web between the insulation-piercing contact region and the additional connection region. This citation does not reveal how an insulation-piercing structure can be used for cables with different diameters.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,472,596 likewise discloses the use of insulation-piercing structures. In this case, cables or cable ends are first fixed in a strain-relief region and contact is then made with them by means of an insulation-piercing structure. In each case, one pair of insulation-piercing structures is connected to each other and is surrounded on the outside by a pair of strain-relief regions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,834,670 likewise discloses an electrical connector having an insulation-piercing contact region. This printed document discloses the construction of the insulation-piercing contact element in a U shape, two opposite insulation-piercing blades being arranged in each case on the limbs of the U.


Disclosed are a method for manufacturing a support frame structure and a support frame structure. The method includes steps of: providing a metal plate including a support region and an opening region; forming an upper dielectric hole and a lower dielectric hole respectively at an upper surface and a lower surface of the support region by photolithography, with a metal spacer connected between the upper dielectric hole and the lower dielectric hole; forming an upper metal pillar on an upper surface of the metal plate, and laminating an upper dielectric layer which covers the upper metal pillar and the upper dielectric hole; etching the metal spacer, forming a lower metal pillar on the lower surface of the metal plate, and laminating a lower dielectric layer which covers the lower metal pillar and the lower dielectric hole.

With the rapid development of the electronics industry, the electronic products are becoming increasingly lighter and thinner, and the degree of integration is increasing. The packaging method for implementing embedded chips by support frames has been greatly developed. The overall requirements on the support frame structure include reliability and appropriate electrical performance, thinness, rigidity, flatness, good heat dissipation and competitive unit price.
Currently, for most of commercially available frames used for embedded packaging, a dielectric material is used as the main body of the support frame, and a large number of metal through hole pillar arrays are formed in the dielectric material. The matching of the frame and the embedded chips in height is realized by adjusting the height of the metal through hole pillars. After the support frame is packaged, the heat dissipation is mainly realized through the dielectric material and the window formed on the back side of the chips. However, the dielectric material has a low heat dissipation rate, and the embedded packaging requirements of high-power devices cannot be met.

Support frame structure and manufacturing method thereof


A sample holder is offered which is used when a sample is inspected by irradiating the sample with a primary beam consisting of a charged-particle beam (such as an electron beam) via a film. Furthermore, method and apparatus for preventing destruction of the film due to a pressure difference by detecting damage to the film during inspection are offered.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of inspecting a sample by irradiating it with a primary beam, such as a charged-particle beam, via a film and detecting a secondary signal emanating from the sample in response to the irradiation. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a sample inspection apparatus adapted for use in this method. The present invention also relates to a sample holder adapted to be used in this method.
2. Description of Related Art
In a sample inspection apparatus incorporating the facilities of a scanning electron microscope (SEM), a sample to be investigated is normally placed within a sample chamber whose inside has been evacuated by means of pumping. The sample placed in the sample chamber that is in the reduced pressure ambient is irradiated with a primary beam, such as a charged-particle beam (e.g., an electron beam). As a result, various secondary signals, such as backscattered electrons, secondary electrons, fluorescence, and X-rays, are produced from the sample. Any kind of the secondary signals is detected, and an image of the sample is created based on the detected signal. Thus, the sample is inspected.
Accordingly, when the sample under inspection contains moisture, it is necessary to prevent evaporation of the moisture from the sample. Consequently, it is necessary to prevent the sample from being exposed to the reduced pressure ambient within the sample chamber.
One conceivable method of inspecting a sample by SEM without exposing the sample to such a reduced pressure ambient consists of preparing a sample holder having an aperture that has been closed off by a film, placing the sample in the holder, and placing the holder within the SEM sample chamber that is in a reduced pressure ambient.
The inside of the sample holder in which a sample is placed is not evacuated. The film that covers the opening formed in the sample holder can withstand the pressure difference between the reduced pressure ambient in the SEM sample chamber and the non-evacuated ambient (e.g., atmospheric-pressure ambient) inside the sample holder. Also, the film permits transmission of an electron beam (see, for example, JP-T-2004-515049).
When a sample is inspected, an electron beam is directed from outside the sample holder at the sample placed in the holder via the film on the sample holder disposed in the SEM sample chamber that is in a reduced-pressure ambient. Backscattered electrons are emitted from the irradiated sample. The electrons penetrate through the film on the sample holder and are detected by a detector mounted in the SEM sample chamber. As a result, an SEM image of the sample is obtained.
Another example in which a sample is irradiated with an electron beam via a film withstanding the pressure difference between vacuum and atmospheric pressure and an SEM image is derived by detecting backscattered electrons emitted from the sample is described in Atmospheric scanning electron microscopy, Green, Evan Drake Harriman, Ph. D., Stanford University, 1993 (especially, Chapter 1: Introduction).
It is also possible to form a pair of opposite films from the above-described film. A sample is placed between the films, and a TEM (transmission electron microscope) image can be obtained. This technique is described in JP-A-47-24961 and JP-A-6-318445. Especially, in JP-A-47-24961, a case where an SEM image of the sample placed between such a pair of films is obtained is described.
In the above-described specimen inspection procedure, a primary beam, such as an electron beam, is directed at the sample via a film. A secondary signal, such as backscattered electrons, emitted from the sample in response to the irradiation is detected, and the sample is inspected.
In this inspection procedure, it is necessary to prepare a different sample holder for each kind of sample. Therefore, the sample holders used in this sample inspection are preferably inexpensive.

Sample inspection method, sample inspection apparatus, and sample holder


Methods and systems are provided for enabling a service provider to manage a service node that is separated from the service provider by a firewall. A dual-mode mobile device establishes separate secure connections with the service provider and the service node. The mobile device can then serve as a bridge between the service provider and the service node so that a secure management session can be initiated between the service provider and the service node. A method of managing a service node includes: establishing a first secure connection between a dual-mode mobile device and the service node; establishing a second secure connection between the dual-mode mobile device and a remote system; and initiating a secure management session between the service node and the remote system via the first secure connection and the second secure connection.

The success of cellular telephones and wireless local area networks (WLANs) has facilitated the development of dual-mode mobile devices that make use of both technologies. A dual-mode mobile device, sometimes referred to as a dual-mode mobile station, allows a user to take advantage of residential gateways and access points to check e-mail, surf the Internet, access enterprise networks, and place telephone calls. Thus, WLANs permit dual-mode mobile device users to bypass the traditional cellular network by using the Internet to route telephone calls instead. These dual-mode mobile devices are configured to operate over the WLAN when the phone is within the service area of the wireless access point, and to operate over the cellular network when out of range, such as when the mobile device has been carried out of the building housing the WLAN.
In many typical implementations, the wired broadband access utilized by the WLAN is provided by a broadband service provider, while the wireless cellular access is provided by a wireless service provider unrelated to the broadband service provider. Various service nodes may be located behind a firewall of the local-area network (LAN) for the WLAN location. For security purposes, this firewall may be configured to reject unsolicited connections initiated over a wide-area network (WAN) to the service node within the LAN.
In some situations, the wireless service provider located outside the LAN may wish to access the service node behind the firewall. This may be desired in order to configure the service node for improved communication with the dual-mode mobile device, for example. However, the firewall may prevent the wireless service provider from connecting to the service node to initiate the desired management session.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a system for enabling management of the service node without compromising the security provided by the LAN firewall.

Management of LAN devices behind firewalls via dual mode mobile device


A novel loosening prevention threaded fastener in which a clearance side protrusion portion protruding radially outwardly toward a clearance flank surface of a female screw thread is formed on a clearance flank surface of a male screw thread, and the clearance side protrusion portion is constructed such that a tip end portion thereof interferes with the clearance flank surface of the female screw thread, in a state where a pressure flank surface of the male screw thread is in contact with a clearance flank surface of the female screw thread. At the time of screw fastening, the crest end portion of the clearance side protrusion portion is pushed to the pressure flank surface of the female screw thread so that it is deformed in a deflective manner to apply a predetermined contact pressure to a contact surface due to its elastic restoring force, thus providing resistance against a loosening direction.

Under the current circumstances, as loosening prevention threaded fasteners to be used for parts in which loosening may occur due to the influence of vibrations or external forces, there have been known one with an adhesive agent coated on a male or external screw thread (refer to a first patent document), and another one which is constructed such that a male screw thread is deformed to generate torque resistance against loosening (refer to a second patent document).
Among these, in the first-mentioned one in which an adhesive agent is coated on a male screw threaded portion, a step for coating the adhesive agent to the screw thread is separately added in a screw thread production process or in a fastening process, and hence, a product cost and a work cost (in the case of coating being carried out before fastening) together with the cost of the adhesive agent itself will rise.
In addition, the adhesive agent includes a resin as a main component, and so, there arises a problem that the fixing or adhesive force is reduced due to the softening of the resin at the time of high temperature, and a certain amount of time is required from the time of fastening to the time at which the adhesive agent solidifies, thereby resulting in a long working time.
Besides, the adhesive agent is coated on a threaded fitting portion, so the coefficient of friction of the threaded portion at the time of fastening changes to a large extent, and it is necessary to adjust the tightening or bolting condition at the time of fastening, and hence, there is a need to carry out special handling which is not required in common threaded fasteners.
Further, at the time of tightening operation, exfoliated or peeled powder of the adhesive agent becomes coarse particulates, powder dust, etc., which fall into surroundings of a working area, thus making it necessary to deal with these particulates or powder dust.
On the other hand, the threaded fastener of the second patent document is constructed such that a slit is formed from a crest of the male screw thread, and a pressure side screw thread half portion is forced into pressure contact with a pressure flank surface of the female screw thread, and at the same time a clearance side screw thread half portion is forced into pressure contact with a clearance flank surface of the female screw thread.
The shaping of such a male screw thread is carried out as follows. First, a thread groove for slitting (hereinafter slit forming thread groove), which is to be made into a slit, and a thread groove for a product (product-use thread groove), which is to be made into a product groove, are formed, and subsequently, plastic deformation is carried out is such a manner that the product-use thread groove is expanded and the slit forming thread groove is narrowed so as to mound an area between adjacent groove portions of the product-use thread groove thereby to form a male screw thread, while leaving a slit in a screw thread crest.
However, the screw thread half portion of the male screw thread has high rigidity, and will deform the pressure flank surface and the clearance flank surface of the female screw thread to a large extent, so that the strength of the threaded fitting portion becomes unable to endure with respect to a tightening force at the time of fastening, and destruction of the fitted screw thread will occur at a low level of axial force or tension. For that reason, there is a problem that it is difficult to obtain high axial tension at the time of tightening, and a slide occurs in a fastening portion between the male screw thread and the female screw thread, at a location to which an external force is applied after tightening.
In addition, the fastening is carried out by causing the pressure flank surface of the screw thread, which becomes a tightening surface, to [[ ]] be deformed to a large extent, and hence, the axial tension generated by the same torque becomes unstable.
Moreover, the female screw thread is plastically deformed at the time of fastening, and hence, when it is repeatedly used, an initial torque resistance against a loosening direction will not be able to be expected, and the male screw will be rotated in a returning direction with a slight torque.
Further, for production, there are required two form rolling dies, i.e., a form rolling die for forming a slit forming thread groove and a product-use thread groove, and another form rolling die for forming a final male screw thread. Even if they are combined or integrated into one or single form rolling die, die portions for respective processes will be required for the single form rolling die, and so, special or exclusive equipment is required, separately from production equipment for ordinary screw threads, thus leading to a cost rise.
On the other hand, in recent years, technological innovation with respect to parts weight saving progresses, and the form of female screws and their construction methods are also changing, and so nuts are not used, but parts to which female screw processing is directly applied to members are increasing in number. For this reason, in many cases, due to the dimensional restrictions of a member in which a female screw is formed, the threads per inch of a female screw cannot be ensured enough, and the threads per inch thereof fitted with a male screw are decreasing in comparison with a nut. In contrast to this, in the conventional parts or fasteners as mentioned above, if the fitting length thereof at the same level of a nut is not secured, it is difficult for parts to exhibit a locking effect, and the fitted threads per inch cannot be ensured enough, so there is a limitation in applying them to female screws.
Further, many of these female screws also have been fabricated by means of rolling processing or component rolling, and a member hole diameter before component rolling will affect a female screw thread inside diameter after the rolling, so that a thread form of an inside diameter portion will be a mountain shape with a depression in its central portion.
In addition, according to the shape of a hole peripheral part before the rolling, variation may occur in the inside diameter, and in such a case, the fitting state of the male screw and the female screw will become still more unstable. With a male screw part or fastener in which an axial force or tension is not stable, as referred to above, a situation will occur where a locking effect cannot be exhibited.


The present disclosure relates to a pre-5th-generation (5G) or 5G communication system to be provided for supporting higher data rates beyond 4th-generation (4G) communication system such as a long term evolution (LTE). The present disclosure relates to a method of an evolved node B (eNB), comprising: transmitting at least one of first information as information on at least one first type-discovery resource pool including first type-discovery resources and second information as information on at least one second type-discovery resource pool including second type-discovery resources, or transmitting discovery resource information on at least one discovery resource which corresponds to a discovery resource type requested from a user equipment (UE).

To meet the demand for wireless data traffic, which has increased since deployment of 4th-generation (4G) communication systems, efforts have been made to develop an improved 5th-generation (5G) or pre-5G communication system. Therefore, the 5G or pre-5G communication system is also called a 'beyond 4G network' or a 'post long-term evolution (LTE) system'.
It is considered that the 5G communication system will be implemented in millimeter wave (mmWave) bands, e.g., 60 GHz bands, so as to accomplish higher data rates. To reduce propagation loss of radio waves and increase a transmission distance, a beam forming technique, a massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technique, a full dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO) technique, an array antenna technique, an analog beam forming technique, and a large scale antenna technique are discussed in 5G communication systems.
In addition, in 5G communication systems, development for system network improvement is under way based on advanced small cells, cloud radio access networks (RANs), ultra-dense networks, a device-to-device (D2D) communication, a wireless backhaul, a moving network, a cooperative communication, coordinated multi-points (CoMP), reception-end interference cancellation, and the like.
In the 5G system, a hybrid frequency shift keying (FSK) and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) modulation (FQAM) and a sliding window superposition coding (SWSC) as an advanced coding modulation (ACM) scheme, and a filter bank multi carrier (FBMC) scheme, a non-orthogonal multiple Access (NOMA) scheme, and a sparse code multiple access (SCMA) scheme as an advanced access technology have been developed.
D2D communication is being studied in communication standard groups to enable a D2D discovery service and a D2D data communication service between user equipments (UEs).
A D2D discovery process is a process for determining whether that a D2D-enabled UE is in proximity of another D2D-enabled UE. A discovering D2D-enabled UE determines whether another D2D-enabled UE is interested in the discovering D2D-enabled UE based on the D2D discovery process. The another D2D-enabled UE is interested in the discovering D2D-enabled UE if proximity of the another D2D-enabled UE needs to be known by one or more authorized applications for the discovering D2D-enabled UE. For example, a social networking application can be enabled to use D2D discovery feature. The D2D discovery process enables a D2D-enabled UE of a given user of the social networking application to discovery D2D-enabled UEs of friends of the given user of the social networking application and/or be discovered by the D2D-enabled UEs of the friends of the given user of the social networking application. In another example, the D2D discovery process may enable a D2D-enabled UE of a given user of a search application to discover stores, restaurants, and/or the like which are interested in proximity of the D2D-enabled UE. For example, the D2D-enabled UE discovers other D2D-enabled UEs in proximity of the D2D-enabled UE using direct UE-to-UE signaling.
In a D2D scheme, a D2D UE transmits a D2D discovery message using a time resource and a frequency resource, e.g., a discovery resource, which are configured by an evolved node B (eNB) which manages a serving cell or a non-serving cell of the D2D UE in order to perform a discovery operation. Here, a D2D UE denotes a UE which supports a D2D scheme.
Recently, a study for a scheme of using a discovery process for a public safety (PS), e.g., for discovering group members.
A difference between an existing discovery process and a discovery process for a PS service will be described below. For convenience, a discovery process for a PS service will be referred to as "PS discovery process".
Firstly, the existing discovery process is performed within a network coverage, but the PS discovery process needs to be performed within the network coverage, out of the network coverage, and in a partial network coverage. In a case of the partial network coverage scenario, transmission power within a network coverage is controlled based on path loss between a UE and an eNB, but transmission power out of the network coverage is not controlled based on the path loss between the UE and the eNB, so transmission power of a UE which is within the network coverage is different from transmission power of a UE which is out of the network coverage. This transmission power difference causes interference between transmission of a D2D discovery message within a network coverage and transmission of a D2D discovery message out of the network coverage.
Additionally, a D2D discovery message for a PS discovery process and a D2D discovery message for a non-PS discovery process may be transmitted on the same carrier. Here, a non-PS discovery process denotes a discovery process which is not a PS discovery process. So, a PS UE interested in PS discovery message transmission transmits in the same discovery resources as a non-PS UE interested in non-PS discovery message transmission leading to collision.
Also, a PS UE interested in PS discovery message reception needs to monitor all discovery resources and a non-PS UE interested in non-PS discovery message reception needs to monitor all discovery resources. This causes unnecessary power consumption in a UE. Here, a PS UE denotes a UE which performs a PS discovery process and a non-PS UE denotes a UE which performs a non-PS discovery process.
Information included in a D2D discovery message used for a PS discovery process may be different from information included in a D2D discovery message used for a non-PS discovery process. So, a PS UE and a non-PS UE need to be able to identify a PS discovery message and a non-PS discovery message. Here, a PS discovery message denotes a D2D discovery message used for a PS discovery process and a non-PS discovery message denotes a D2D discovery message used for a non-PS discovery process.
Further, it is possible that a PS discovery process and a non-PS discovery process are supported in different carriers. So, a UE needs to be able to identify a carrier on which the UE needs to perform a discovery process. So, there is a need for a scheme for identifying a carrier on which a UE needs to perform a discovery process.
So, there is a need for a method for efficiently transmitting and receiving a D2D discovery message which considers the above issues.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.

Apparatus and method for transmitting and receiving device to device discovery message in wireless communication system supporting device to device scheme