Abstract: Disclosed are aspartic acid salts of 1-cyclopropyl-6-fluoro-7-(8-methoxyimino-2,6-diaza-spiro[3.4]oct-6-yl)-4-oxo-1,4-dihydro-[1,8]naphthyridine-3-carboxylic acid, methods for preparing the same, and antimicrobial pharmaceutical compositions comprising the same.

Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a method for locating the iris in an image of an eye, comprising steps of locating the pupil in the image, of detecting positions of intensity steps of pixels located on a line passing through the pupil and transition zones between the iris and the cornea, on either side of the pupil, and of determining the center and the radius of a circle passing through the detected positions of the transitions.

Abstract: A processing system, such as typically a CPU, is used for converting a digital signal organized in pixels, such as a video signal, between a first format and a second multiple-description format. The system comprises at least one input register and at least one output register, and is configured via instructions, that can be constituted at least in part by instructions of a SIMD type, so as to: order the pixels of the signal to be converted in a set of input registers; and take selectively the pixels from the aforesaid set of input registers and place them in an orderly way in at least one output register.

Abstract: A micro scale includes one substrate forming a first zone constituting a first terminal, one conducting vibrating beam which has two opposite ends affixed on two supporting areas on the substrate, the conductive beam forming a second terminal; wherein the conductive beam is made of polymer gel having metallic microparticles in low quantity so as to avoid any contamination of a biological material to measure, the density of the metallic microparticles being high enough to achieve electrical conduction of the second terminal. A manufacturing process of such a micro scale circuit is also provided.

Abstract: A method manufactures an electronic device comprising a MEMS device overmolded in a protective casing. The MEMS device includes an active surface wherein a portion of the MEMS device is integrated, and is sensitive, through a membrane, to chemical/physical variations of a fluid. Prior to the molding step, at least one resin layer is formed on at least one region overlying the active surface in correspondence with the membrane. After, at least one portion of at least one resin layer is removed from at least one region, so that in the region an opening is formed, through which the MEMS device is activated from the outside of the protective casing.

Abstract: Nucleic acid sequencing methods and related products are disclosed. Methods for sequencing a target nucleic acid comprise providing a daughter strand produced by a template-directed synthesis, the daughter strand comprising a plurality of subunits coupled in a sequence corresponding to a contiguous nucleotide sequence of all or a portion of the target nucleic acid, wherein the individual subunits comprise a tether, at least one probe or nucleobase residue, and at least one selectively cleavable bond. The selectively cleavable bond(s) is/are cleaved to yield an Xpandomer of a length longer than the plurality of the subunits of the daughter strand, the Xpandomer comprising the tethers and reporter elements for parsing genetic information in a sequence corresponding to the contiguous nucleotide sequence of all or a portion of the target nucleic acid. Reporter elements of the Xpandomer are then detected.

Abstract: There is provided an antenna element capable of implementing miniaturization, acquisition of a high gain, and broadening of a band and coping with multiple bands.

Abstract: A method of estimating a global motion vector representative of the motion of a first digital image with respect to a second digital image, the first and the second image forming part of a sequence of images and being made up of, respectively, a first and a second pixel matrix. The method estimates the global motion vector on the basis of the estimate of at least one motion vector of at least one region of the first image representative of the motion of the at least one region from the first image to the second image and comprising phases of: subdividing the at least one region of the first image into a plurality of pixel blocks, assigning to each block of the plurality a respective weighting coefficient calculated on the basis of a respective inhomogeneity measure, and estimating the at least one motion vector of said at least one region on the basis of the weighting coefficients assigned to each block of the at least one region.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a new amine compound or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein the definitions of X, R1, R2 and n are given in the description, to a pharmaceutical composition containing the compound as active ingredient, and to use of the amine compound or its pharmaceutically acceptable salt for the manufacture of an anti-depressent drug.

Abstract: A push update system for a security system having a plurality of network nodes connected in a hierarchy to a root node, including: (i) an upstream agent of an upstream node for sending updates for respective downstream nodes; (ii) a schedule agent for scheduling processing by the upstream agent; (iii) a downstream agent of a downstream node for receiving and storing updates; and (iv) an update agent for processing received updates to queue updates for a downstream node. The root node includes the upstream agent and the schedule agent. Leaf nodes include the downstream agent, and intermediate nodes include all four agents. The updates include Internet threat signatures for Internet protection appliances of the leaf nodes.

Abstract: Techniques are described for managing distributed execution of programs. In some situations, the techniques include dynamically monitoring the ongoing distributed execution of a program on a cluster of multiple computing nodes, and may include automatically determining the status of execution of the program on each of the multiple computing nodes and/or automatically determining the aggregate usage of one or more types of computing resources across the cluster of multiple computing nodes by the distributed program execution. The information obtained from the dynamic monitoring may be used in various manners, including to facilitate dynamically modifying the ongoing distributed program execution in various manners, such as to temporarily throttle usage of computing resources by the distributed program execution (e.g., to remove or reduce one or more bottlenecks).

Abstract: Microfluidic cartridges for agglutination reactions are provided. The cartridges include a microfluidic reaction channel with at least two intake channels, one for an antigen-containing fluid and the other for an antibody-containing fluid, conjoined to a reaction channel modified by incorporation of a downstream flow control channel. At low Reynolds Number, the two input streams layer one on top of the other in the reaction channel and form a flowing, unmixed horizontally-stratified laminar fluid diffusion (HLFD) interface for an extended duration of reaction. Surprisingly, the design, surface properties, and flow regime of microfluidic circuits of the present invention potentiate detection of antibody mediated agglutination at the stratified interface. Antigen:antibody reactions involving agglutination potentiated by these devices are useful in blood typing, in crossmatching for blood transfusion, and in immunodiagnostic agglutination assays, for example.

Abstract: Conformationally constrained compounds that mimic the secondary structure of reverse-turn regions of biologically active peptides and proteins are disclosed. Such reverse-turn mimetic structures have utility over a wide range of fields, including use as diagnostic and therapeutic agents. Libraries containing the reverse-turn mimetic structures of this invention are also disclosed as well as methods for screening the same to identify biologically active members. The invention also relates to the use of such compounds for inhibiting or treating disorders modulated by Wnt-signaling pathway, such as cancer, especially colorectal cancer, restenosis associated with angioplasty, polycystic kidney disease, aberrant angiogenesis disease, rheumatoid arthritis disease, tuberous sclerosis complex, Alzheimer's disease, excess hair growth or loss, or ulcerative colitis.

Abstract: A multi-processing system-on-chip including a cluster of processors having respective CPUs is operated by: defining a master CPU within the respective CPUs to coordinate operation of said multi-processing system, running on the CPU a cluster manager agent. The cluster manager agent is adapted to dynamically migrate software processes between the CPUs of said plurality and change power settings therein.

Abstract: The present invention relates to microfluidic devices and methods for manipulating and analyzing fluid samples. The disclosed microfluidic devices utilize a plurality of microfluidic channels, inlets, valves, filter, pumps, liquid barriers and other elements arranged in various configurations to manipulate the flow of a fluid sample in order to prepare such sample for analysis.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method for determining the amount of conjugated taxane, in particular paclitaxel, in a PGA-taxane conjugate said method comprising: a) reacting the PGA-taxane conjugate with a compound formula (I): R1R2N—NH2 (I), wherein R1 and R2 are as defined in the description; to give a unbound taxane and a PGA hydrazide and b) determining the amount of unbound taxane.

Abstract: A recording medium has a real data area built from a plurality of clusters and a fat (File Allocation Table) built from a plurality of entries showing usage conditions of the corresponding clusters. A control unit previously divides the fat into a plurality of blocks and creates, in RAM, a search table, at each block, showing presence or absence of an entry (unassigned entry) corresponding to an unassigned cluster. When data are written into the recording medium, the position of a block including an unassigned entry is located on the basis of the search table. Subsequently, the block is read in RAM, thereby locating the position of the unassigned cluster. Data are written in the thus-located cluster.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method for deactivating a semi-persistent resource allocation of a user equipment in an LTE-based mobile communication system. Furthermore, the invention also related to a user equipment and a eNode B implementing this method. To provide a mechanism for deactivating a semi-persistent resource allocation in a LTE system which is not requiring any changes to the Physical layer-to-MAC layer interface and/or preferably no changes to the PDCCH formats agreed by the 3GPP a combination of NDI value and MCS index is defined that is commanding the release of SPS resources. Alternatively, another solution proposed to define a special transport block size that when signaled in a PDCCH is commanding the release of SPS resources.

Abstract: A method and antisense compound for inhibiting the growth of pathogenic bacterial cells are disclosed. The compound contains no more than 12 nucleotide bases and has a targeting nucleic acid sequence of no fewer than 10 bases in length that is complementary to a target sequence containing or within 10 bases, in a downstream direction, of the translational start codon of a bacterial mRNA that encodes a bacterial protein essential for bacterial replication. The compound binds to a target mRNA with a Tm of between 50° to 60° C. The relatively short antisense compounds are substantially more active than conventional antisense compounds having a targeting base sequence of 15 or more bases.