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Provided are devices, and related methods, for controlling curvature of an array of optical components on, embedded, or partially embedded in, a deformable substrate. The array of optical components, in an aspect, comprises a deformable substrate having a contact surface and an array of mechanically interconnected optical components supported by the contact surface. An actuator is operably connected to the contact surface, wherein the actuator variably controls a curvature of said contact surface. The contact surface may have a curvature that spans concave to convex, which is tunable. In an aspect, the array of optical components is part of on optical device, such as a camera with a continuously adjustable zoom whose focus is maintained by adjusting a photodetector array curvature. In an aspect, the method is adjusting the curvature of a substrate that supports the array of optical components by applying a force to the substrate.

Systems and methods are described that are used to separate cells from a wide variety of tissues. In particular, automated systems and methods are described that separate regenerative cells, e.g., stem and / or progenitor cells, from adipose tissue. The systems and methods described herein provide rapid and reliable methods of separating and concentrating regenerative cells suitable for re-infusion into a subject.

A system and method for determining a coagulation time, e.g., TT, PT, aPTT, and ACT, of a blood test sample deposited in a test cartridge is disclosed. A cartridge housing having upper and lower major sides and a minor sidewall encloses a test chamber having a test chamber pivot element and is provided with a cartridge port for introducing a test sample into the test chamber,. Ferromagnetic agitator vane leaflets extend from an agitator pivot element supported by the test chamber pivot element intermediate the upper and lower major sides for rotational motion. The agitator vane leaflets can be swept, in response to an external magnetic field, through the test sample in the absence of coagulation. A timer is started when the agitator movement is commenced whereupon the agitator moves freely. Resistance to agitator movement due to coagulation is detected, and the coagulation time is measured.

The invention provides a method of tracking, identifying, and / or sorting classes or subpopulations of molecules by the use of oligonucleotide tags. Oligonucleotide tags of the invention each consist of a plurality of subunits 3 to 6 nucleotides in length selected from a minimally cross-hybridizing set. A subunit of a minimally cross-hybridizing set forms a duplex or triplex having two or more mismatches with the complement of any other subunit of the same set. The number of oligonucleotide tags available in a particular embodiment depends on the number of subunits per tag and on the length of the subunit. An important aspect of the invention is the use of the oligonucleotide tags for sorting polynucleotides by specifically hybridizing tags attached to the polynucleotides to their complements on solid phase supports. This embodiment provides a readily automated system for manipulating and sorting polynucleotides, particularly useful in large-scale parallel operations, such as large-scale DNA sequencing, mRNA fingerprinting, and the like, wherein many target polynucleotides or many segments of a single target polynucleotide are sequenced simultaneously.

The present invention relates to a spray device (e.g., an inhaler) comprising an aerosol formulation administered to the respiratory or nasal tract in which the level of formulation remaining in the device can be readily inspected. The device comprises a glass vial (1) coated with a coating of polymeric material having at least one clear or translucent portion (4).

An improved vehicle running board construction and method of making same including a hollow metal support pipe with an elongated mid-section step portion adapted in vehicle-mounted orientation to extend generally parallel to and adjacent a sill of a vehicle door that provides access to a passenger or freight compartment of the vehicle. An elongate mounting opening is formed in an upwardly facing exterior surface area of the pipe mid-section. A support plate has a plurality of transverse trusses arranged in spaced apart relation in a longitudinally extending row and straddling the opening side edges and resting thereon for support. A plurality of spacer webs are individually interposed between and joined to longitudinally adjacent pairs of the trusses and support at each of their longitudinally opposite ends, a resilient spring finger catch oriented to underlie an associated one of the pipe opening side edges. Each finger catch has a free end resiliently engaging an interior surface of the pipe for holding the step plate against upward release from the pipe. A step plate is mounted on and covers the support plate as well as the mounting opening of the pipe. The step plate has a generally flat planar central step tread portion with an undersurface bearing upon the support plate trusses. The step plate also has downwardly extending side flanges respectively extending outwardly of and downwardly past the pipe opening side edges and terminating at free end edges that preferably resiliently engage the exterior surface of the pipe. A plurality of retaining barbs extend downwardly from the step plate undersurface into snap lock tang engagement with associated receiving slot anchor tabs provided in the trusses for holding the step plate on the support plate, and vice versa.

A system and method for determining a coagulation time, e.g., TT, PT, aPTT, and ACT, of a blood test sample deposited in a test cartridge is disclosed. A cartridge housing having upper and lower major sides and a minor sidewall encloses a test chamber having a test chamber pivot element and is provided with a cartridge port for introducing a test sample into the test chamber,. Ferromagnetic agitator vane leaflets extend from an agitator pivot element supported by the test chamber pivot element intermediate the upper and lower major sides for rotational motion. The agitator vane leaflets can be swept, in response to an external magnetic field, through the test sample in the absence of coagulation. A timer is started when the agitator movement is commenced whereupon the agitator moves freely. Resistance to agitator movement due to coagulation is detected, and the coagulation time is measured.

A method for segmenting vertebrae in digitized images includes providing a plurality of digitized whole-body images, detecting (91) and segmenting a spinal cord using 3D polynomial spinal model in each of the plurality of images, finding (92) a height of each vertebrae in each image from intensity projections along the spinal cord, and building (93) a parametric model of a vertebrae from the plurality of images. The method further includes providing a new digitized whole-body image including a spinal cord, fitting (94) an ellipse to each vertebrae of the spinal cord to find the major and minor axes, and applying (95) constraints to the major and minor axes in the new image based on the parametric model to segment the vertebrae.

This disclosure concerns a cleaning and inspection system for fiber optics that is rapid, reliable and useful for various types of fiber optics. In an embodiment, the system includes a wide field of view (FOV) camera to image the ferrule and rapidly locate the fiber ends and a narrow FOV camera to provide detailed inspection of fiber ends. A cleaning module with a cleaning tip and a cleaning media that is drawn through the tip is used to clean the fiber ends. Images captured by the dual cameras are automatically enhanced and analyzed to determine the effectiveness of the cleaning process and to identify the types and quantity of defects present. In another embodiment, a single higher resolution camera is provided with a lens that can image an entire fiber array and yet enable defects to be detected by analysis of sub-images of each fiber in the fiber array.

There is provided a rapid and reliable method of fabricating a three-dimensional organic / inorganic nanostructure of a well-arranged shape wherein tubes or fibers of several nanometer to several micrometer size have horizontal and vertical orientations. The method of the present invention comprises the following steps: A) forming a tube- or fiber-type structure of an organic or inorganic nanometer / micrometer size by an interfacial polymerization method or interfacial reaction method; and B) obtaining the organic / inorganic composite three-dimensional nanostructure.

A method for identifying a fast speed mobile station (MS) in a radio system, said method comprising measuring the frequency error of radio signals received from a mobile station. In order for a fast speed mobile station to be more reliably identified than before, the method comprises calculating the change (df) in BSC the frequency error from a time interval (t) of predetermined length, and identifying the mobile station as a fast speed mobile station if the change (df) in the calculated frequency error exceeds a predetermined limit value.

The present invention is in the field of nucleic acid-based diagnostic assays. More particularly, it relates to methods useful for the "diagnostic sequencing" of regions of sample nucleic acids for which a prototypic or reference sequence is already available (also referred to as "re-sequencing"), or which may be determined using the methods described herein. This diagnostic technology is useful in areas that require such re-sequencing in a rapid and reliable way: (i) the identification of the various allelic sequences of a certain region / gene, (ii) the scoring of disease-associated mutations. (iii) the detection of somatic variations, (iv) studies in the field of molecular evolution, (v) the determination of the nucleic acid sequences of prokaryotic and eukaryotic genomes; (vi) identifying one or more nucleic acids in one or more biological samples; (vii) and determining the expression profile of genes in a biological sample and other areas.

Provided are devices, and related methods, for controlling curvature of an array of optical components on, embedded, or partially embedded in, a deformable substrate. The array of optical components, in an aspect, comprises a deformable substrate having a contact surface and an array of mechanically interconnected optical components supported by the contact surface. An actuator is operably connected to the contact surface, wherein the actuator variably controls a curvature of said contact surface. The contact surface may have a curvature that spans concave to convex, which is tunable. In an aspect, the array of optical components is part of an optical device, such as a camera with a continuously adjustable zoom whose focus is maintained by adjusting a photodetector array curvature. In an aspect, the method is adjusting the curvature of a substrate that supports the array of optical components by applying a force to the substrate.

A multistage inflating-type hybrid inflator in which a malfunction does not occur is provided.When a first gas generating chamber 130 is first burnt, a combustion gas flowed out of first communication holes 136 advances in a direction towards an inner wall of an inflator housing 102 but it does not flow in a direction towards a second gas generating chamber 140. For this reason, the malfunction of the second gas generating chamber 140 cannot occur due to heat energy of the combustion gas.

A crop signaling method and machine-based crop recognition system and methods are disclosed to detect a unique optical crop signal selectively applied to crop plants, allowing automatic differentiation of crop plants from weeds and the automatic creation of a high spatial resolution crop and weed plant map, along with automated plant management tasks.

A method for automatically measuring at least one refractive characteristic of both eyes of a person, includes: a) adjusting at least one position of a person's head, in a reference system connected to an image capture apparatus set up to convert each captured image into a signal representing the image; b) illuminating both eyes with at least one light source, whose position is known within the reference system; c) measuring at least one sight direction parameter connected to the sight direction of the person within a reference system connected to the head thereof; d) capturing at least one retinal reflection image from the light source onto the retina of both eyes; f) determining, from the captured image in Step d), the refractive characteristic of the eyes; and h) storing the sight direction parameter in relation to the predetermined refractive characteristic during the image capture in Step c).

This disclosure concerns a cleaning and inspection system for fiber optics that is rapid, reliable and useful for various types of fiber optics. In an embodiment, the system includes a wide field of view (FOV) camera to image the ferrule and rapidly locate the fiber ends and a narrow FOV camera to provide detailed inspection of fiber ends. A cleaning module with a cleaning tip and a cleaning media that is drawn through the tip is used to clean the fiber ends. Images captured by the dual cameras are automatically enhanced and analyzed to determine the effectiveness of the cleaning process and to identify the types and quantity of defects present. In another embodiment, a single higher resolution camera is provided with a lens that can image an entire fiber array and yet enable defects to be detected by analysis of sub-images of each fiber in the fiber array.

A sealed contact device capable of maintaining a function for drawing a generated arc to disappear rapidly and reliably for a long period. An electromagnetic relay includes a housing, a stationary contact and a moving contact which are disposed opposite to each other in the housing, and a pair of permanent magnets and disposed opposite to the stationary contact and the moving contact. An arc generated between the stationary contact and the moving contact is drawn due to a current conducting between the stationary contact and the moving contact and magnetic forces of the permanent magnets. An arc shield member is disposed in a position in which an arc in the housing is induced.

A method for automatically measuring at least one refractive characteristic of both eyes of a person, includes: a) adjusting at least one position of a person's head, in a reference system connected to an image capture apparatus set up to convert each captured image into a signal representing the image; b) illuminating both eyes with at least one light source, whose position is known within the reference system; c) measuring at least one sight direction parameter connected to the sight direction of the person within a reference system connected to the head thereof; d) capturing at least one retinal reflection image from the light source onto the retina of both eyes; f) determining, from the captured image in Step d), the refractive characteristic of the eyes; and h) storing the sight direction parameter in relation to the predetermined refractive characteristic during the image capture in Step c).

The present invention is in the field of nucleic acid-based diagnostic assays. More particularly, it relates to methods useful for the “diagnostic sequencing” of regions of sample nucleic acids for which a prototypic or reference sequence is already available (also referred to as “re-sequencing”), or which may be determined using the methods described herein. This diagnostic technology is useful in areas that require such re-sequencing in a rapid and reliable way: (i) the identification of the various allelic sequences of a certain region / gene, (ii) the scoring of disease-associated mutations, (iii) the detection of somatic variations, (iv) studies in the field of molecular evolution, (v) the determination of the nucleic acid sequences of prokaryotic and eukaryotic genomes, (vi) identifying one or more nucleic acids in one or more biological samples', (vii) and determining the expression profile of genes in a biological sample and other areas.

A shelving system for use with a load cell has a frame, to which the load cell is mounted, and a rack residing within the frame and having a load cell proximity surface supported on the load cell by a pivotal contact element. The rack is stabilized by an anti-sway system having three lever arms connected between the frame and the rack and spaced apart from the load cell proximity surface. A first and a second lever arm are parallel and spaced apart from each other, and extend parallel to two faces of the rack, while a third lever arm extends substantially normal to the first and the second lever arms. A fourth lever arm can be provided, located in close proximity to the load cell proximity surface and extending parallel to at least one of the other lever arms.

The present invention provides a method for detecting acoustic shock in an audio input signal (s(t)), comprising the steps of monitoring the input signal (s(t)) in the time-domain. Thereby detecting the signal floor (Sn), detecting the peak level of the input signal (L), detecting the attack time of the input signal (t1-t0), detecting the duration of the input signal (T). Based on those detections, determining a shock contrast level (SCL) as difference between the peak level (L) and the signal floor (Sn), determining a shock index (SI) by use of a shock index normalization constant (σ) and comparing the shock contrast level (SCL) and the shock index (SI) with respective thresholds and indicating an acoustic shock if one or both thresholds are exceeded. Thus, the present method provides a quick and reliable shock detector that operates in the time-domain. The shock detection takes place with zero time delay, or even predicts the shock before it fully goes through the signal processing.

The present invention provides a method for detecting acoustic shock in an audio input signal (s(t)), comprising the steps of monitoring the input signal (s(t)) in the time-domain. Thereby detecting the signal floor (Sn), detecting the peak level of the input signal (L), detecting the attack time of the input signal (t1-t0), detecting the duration of the input signal (T). Based on those detections, determining a shock contrast level (SCL) as difference between the peak level (L) and the signal floor (Sn), determining a shock index (SI) by use of a shock index normalization constant (σ) and comparing the shock contrast level (SCL) and the shock index (SI) with respective thresholds and indicating an acoustic shock if one or both thresholds are exceeded. Thus, the present method provides a quick and reliable shock detector that operates in the time-domain. The shock detection takes place with zero time delay, or even predicts the shock before it fully goes through the signal processing.

A peeling machine according to the present invention includes a cutter head and a feed mechanism having upper and lower feed rollers, and the feed mechanism includes a first holder that supports the lower feed roller, a second holder that supports the upper feed roller, a roller opening / closing driving mechanism, a synchronizing mechanism that has a pinion disposed in the same vertical plane as axes of the both feed rollers and first and second racks, and a grasping-force applying cylinder that applies a downward work grasping force to the second holder.

The disclosure relates to an arrangement for detecting connection loss at a circuit part which has a capacitive behaviour and is electrically connected to a useful signal source. The disclosure provides an evaluation circuit which is electrically connected to an input node of the circuit part having a capacitive behaviour and detects the pulsed useful signal (UNUTZ), output by the useful signal source, at the input node of the circuit part having a capacitive behaviour and evaluates the signal characteristics in order to detect connection loss.

In one aspect, the present invention is a web-based system that facilitates rapid and reliable documenting, cataloging, and distributing of proven error proofing techniques. More specifically, and in an exemplary embodiment, a system includes a plurality of clients coupled to a web-based server. Each client includes a plurality of user interface classes and at least one class that provides access to a database. The server includes a plurality of servlets, and at least some of said servlets provide at least one of a database and server access capability to each client. The system further includes a database having a plurality of tables, and at least one of said tables includes at least one error proofing example. The database is accessed by each client via the server.