Abstract: The present invention relates to application of gossypol and its optical isomers to preparation of an anti-Coronavirus drug. Specifically disclosed is application of pharmaceutically acceptable salts, solvates, isotopes, stereoisomers, stereoisomer mixtures, and tautomers of the gossypol and its optical isomers to preparation of a drug for preventing and/or treating a disease caused by a Coronavirus. The Coronavirus is MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV, or SARS-CoV-2. It is found in the present invention for the first time that the gossypol and its optical isomers can inhibit the activity of Coronavirus 3CL proteases to achieve an anti-Coronavirus effect. The half maximal inhibitory concentrations of gossypol and (?)-gossypol to SARS-CoV proteases and SARS-CoV-2 3CL proteases are all lower than 10 ?M. The anti-Coronavirus 3CL protease effect is good. Therefore, the gossypol and its optical isomers have the potential for use in the preparation of a drug for preventing and/or treating novel Coronavirus infections.

Abstract: A method of reading information out of a two-dimensional code made up of a matrix of cells having a given optical pattern is provided. The two-dimensional code has location symbols used to locate the two-dimensional code and alignment symbols used to locate the cells. The method first calculates a central position of each of the alignment symbols in an image of the two-dimensional code using a predetermined positional relation to the location symbols and selects one of reference patterns which matches up with an optical pattern formed with a pixel lying at the calculated central position of the alignment symbol and surrounding pixels. The method specifies an actual central position of each of the alignment symbols in the image of the two-dimensional code using the matched reference pattern.

Abstract: A two-dimensional code reading apparatus uses the image of a reference pattern of a known shape in the two-dimensional code to compute areas, shapes and positions of cells in the image of the two-dimensional code and corrects these computed values using correction values obtained by identifying cells isolated from cells of the same type in at least one direction whenever they appear and extracting their actual boundary coordinates directly from the image data. As a result, even if there is distortion in the image of the two-dimensional a reading scope for each cell to be read is set to a suitable area and the reading position of each cell is determined accurately in correspondence with the distortion and the content of the two-dimensional code is thereby read correctly.

Abstract: A micro computer, constituting a signature recognition apparatus, comprises an automatic signature creating section, a data extracting section, a recognition network section, a retrieval section, and a memory section. The data extracting section creates personal data representing a plurality of personal characteristics or features based on an input signature. The recognition network section selects the data to be used for evaluation from the personal data representing personal characteristics or features, and executes an evaluation of thus chosen data. The retrieval section, using the genetic algorithm, finds out a combination pattern having preferable evaluation result. Accordingly, in recognizing signatures, it becomes possible to know beforehand what kind of personal characteristics or features data should be utilized for the recognition of the given signatures, thereby increasing the accuracy in the recognition.