Abstract: A portal antenna (10) particularly suited for enabling low frequency RFID devices carried by animals to be read when animals are proceeding through a stock race or the like. The portal antenna includes a portal structure (11) through which an animal can pass and about which is wound at least one coil (18/19) of antenna conductor. At least one elongate radiator element (21) preferably projects to at least one side of the portal structure (11). Preferably the radiator(s) (21) is/are of ferrous/magnetically conductive metal. The radiator(s) can form a separate structure or be part of the wall structure of a stock race.

Abstract: Therefore the invention provides a hydrogen-absorbing alloy comprising at least one A5B19 type crystalline phase having the formula R1-yMgyNi3.8±0.1-zMz, in which R represents one or more elements chosen from La, Ce, Nd or Pr; M represents one or more elements chosen from Mn, Fe, Al, Co, Cu, Zr, Sn and M does not contain Cr; 0?y?0.30; z?0.5. The invention extends to an electrode comprising an active ingredient comprising said alloy. It also extends to a nickel metal hydride alkaline storage battery the negative electrode of which comprises said alloy. The invention also relates to the process for the manufacture of said alloy.

Abstract: A system and method for optimal scheduling of image processing jobs is provided. Requests for processing originate either from a DICOM service that receives images sent to the system, and forwards those for batch processing, or from an interactive workstation application, which requests interactive CAD processing. Each request is placed onto a queue which is sorted first by priority, and second by the time that the request is added to the queue. Requests for interactive processing from a workstation application are added to the queue with the highest priority, whereas requests for batch processing are added at a low priority. The algorithm service takes the top-most item from the queue and passes the request to the algorithms which it hosts, and when that processing is completed, it sends a message to one or more output queues.

Abstract: This invention provides a dual-magnify-glass viewing method for a mammography workstation. In particular, the invention includes a method that registers regions of interest on a pair of mammography images and provides a user interface to visualize the paired full resolution or magnified images in a synchronized style. The paired images are two views that can be either left and right bilateral mammogram views; two alternative projection mammogram views, or corresponding current and prior same mammogram views. The paired images can also be two views from different modalities, such as, X-ray and ultrasound images. This invention can be used to aid the radiologist to more effectively view mammography or other breast images.

Abstract: An electrochemical generator comprising at least one negative electrode and at least one positive electrode, said positive electrode comprising a paste comprising an electrochemically active material, a binder and strontium sulphate SrSO4, the proportion by weight of strontium sulphate in said paste being greater than 0.1% and less than or equal to 10%. This generator exhibits a reduced deterioration in performances at a high discharge rate.

Abstract: The subject of the invention is a composition comprising: a) a hydrogen-fixing alloy of formula ABx where: A is an element chosen from the group comprising La, Ce, Nd, Pr and Mg, or a mixture of these; B is an element chosen from the group comprising Ni, Mn, Fe, Al, Co, Cu, Zr, Sn, or a mixture of these; x is from 3 to 6; b) a magnesium compound in such a proportion that its mass is greater than 0.1% and less than or equal to 5% of the mass of the hydrogen-fixing alloy. This composition can be used as an active material of a negative electrode of a nickel-metal hydride accumulator. Such an accumulator displays a reduced self-discharge. The invention also describes the method of producing such an accumulator.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a circuit is formed to couple a battery to a charging voltage at least a portion of a time when the charging voltage is greater than zero volts and is less than a first voltage value. The circuit is also formed to decouple the battery from the charging voltage approximately when the charging voltage is greater than the first voltage and also approximately when the charging voltage is no greater than zero volts.

Abstract: The present invention provides an algorithm to detect and trace the spicules of a mass density in digital mammograms using an adaptive threshold edge algorithm and a flood-fill segmentation algorithm. Elongation criteria are used to remove false edges that do not radiate from a central mass margin. The algorithm works on a central mass border and spicules feature map that contains a subset of the pixels from the source image, so processing time is fast enough for use in a mammography CAD server and for real-time computation within a digital mammography workstation.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method for selecting mass density candidates from mammograms for computer-aided lesion detection, review and diagnosis. The method has two steps: a Gaussian difference filter to enhance the intensity and a Canny detector to find potential mass density contours. For circumscribed masses, an additional Hough circle detector is used. This invention makes use of both intensity and morphology information and only processes each image at a single gray-level, so both sensitivity and processing time are improved. The selection algorithm can be also used to select mass candidates from ultrasound images, from 3D tomosynthesis mammography images and from breast MRI images.

Abstract: Therefore the invention provides a hydrogen-absorbing alloy comprising at least one A5B19 type crystalline phase having the formula R1?yMgyNi3.8±0.1?zMz, in which R represents one or more elements chosen from La, Ce, Nd or Pr; M represents one or more elements chosen from Mn, Fe, Al, Co, Cu, Zr, Sn and M does not contain Cr; 0?y?0.30; z?0.5. The invention extends to an electrode comprising an active ingredient comprising said alloy. It also extends to a nickel metal hydride alkaline storage battery the negative electrode of which comprises said alloy. The invention also relates to the process for the manufacture of said alloy.

Abstract: The invention proposes a composition comprising: a) a hydrogen-fixing alloy of formula R1-tMgtNis-zMz in which: R represents one or more elements chosen from the group comprising La, Ce, Nd and Pr; M represents one or more elements chosen from the group comprising Mn, Fe, Al, Co, Cu, Zr and Sn; 0.1?t?0.4; 3.0?s?4.3; z?0.5; b) a manganese compound in a proportion such that the mass of manganese represents from 1 to 5.5% of the mass of the alloy, c) an yttrium compound in a proportion such that the mass of yttrium represents from 0.1% to 2% of the mass of the alloy. The invention also relates to an anode comprising the composition according to the invention. The invention also relates to an alkaline electrolyte battery comprising said at least one anode.

Abstract: An electrode including a conductive metal support and a paste including an electrochemically-active material and a binder. The binder includes a compound of silane type, and a polymer having at least one acrylic monomer, and representing at least approximately 0.15% of the weight of said paste. The use of this binder improves the calendar or cycle life of the battery at a temperature greater than or equal to 25° C., preferably at a temperature greater than or equal to 40° C.

Abstract: A positive electrode for an alkaline electrolyte battery comprising a conductive support covered with a paste comprising: an electrochemically-active material, a binder and non-conductive fibres with a length comprised between 0.05 and 1 mm, the weight percentage of the fibres representing from 0.6 to 1.5% of the weight of said paste. An alkaline electrolyte battery comprising such an electrode.

Abstract: An active material composition for an alkaline storage battery comprises a) an alloy capable of forming a hydride, of formula R1-yMgyNit-zMz in which R is La, optionally substituted by Nd and/or Pr, M is at least one element chosen from the group comprising Mn, Fe, Al, Co, Cu, Zr and Sn, in which 0.1?y?0.4, 3.2?t?3.5, and z?0.5, and of which the equilibrium hydrogen pressure with the alloy, for a hydrogen insertion into the alloy of 0.5 H/Metal at 40°, is less than 0.7 bar, and b) a yttrium-based compound in a mixture with alloy a).

Abstract: The invention relates to an alkaline electrochemical cell of improved lifetime, including at least one compound based on barium or strontium, said compound being present in the cell with the exception of the cathode. The invention also provides a method of fabricating such a cell.

Abstract: A voltage regulator (10) is formed to generate a compensation current to flow when an output voltage of the voltage regulator (10) exceeds a compensation value. The compensation current is at least equal to the leakage current of the output transistor (24).

Abstract: An multi-stage error amplifier (22) of a power management system (10) is formed to insert a zero to compensate for a high frequency pole that could cause unstable outputs at some output current levels. The error amplifier (22) includes a feed-forward block (40) that isolates the capacitor (36) from other signal paths to facilitate low noise and high efficiency operation.

Abstract: Apparatus (10) for supporting objects on a shelf, comprising an elongate assembly (12) and at least one divider (14) releasably mounted thereon. The elongate assembly (12) comprises a first part (16), a second part (18) and a spring bias (20) disposed therebetween. The first and second parts (16), (18) are movable relative to each other, with compression of spring bias (20) providing a force urging apart the parts (16),(18) along the longitudinal axis AA. In this way, the assembly (12) may be braced between opposed side wall of a shelf in a book case or the like.

Abstract: The subject of the present invention is a non-sintered electrode containing a two-dimensional conductive support covered by a layer containing an electrochemically active material and a binder which is a mixture of a styrene-acrylate copolymer and a cellulose compound chosen from methylcellulose, carboxymethylcellulose, hydroxypropylmethylcellulose, hydroxypropylcellulose and hydroxyethylcellulose.

Abstract: The invention concerns an electrochemically active material for a positive electrode of an alkaline electrolyte secondary cell, constituted by monophase particles of a hydroxide of &agr; type crystallographic structure principally constituted by nickel, characterized in that the bulk density of said hydroxide is 1.75 g/cm3 or more. Preferably, the nickel hydroxide contains at least one co-crystallized element selected from cobalt and manganese. Also preferably, it contains at least one co-crystallized element selected from aluminum, iron, yttrium, manganese, and chromium. The present invention also concerns a positive electrode for an alkaline electrolyte secondary cell containing this electrochemically active material. The present invention also concerns a method of producing said active material.