Abstract: A three-dimensional tube puzzle is disclosed as a new modification of Rubik's Cube™. It consists of plurality of straight and curved cylindrical elements. The dimensions of each element are so that it fits into cubical cell. Assembled puzzle forms a continuous pipeline that fits into cubical space, wiggling from starting element to ending element. Elements are interconnected so that groups of nine elements, belonging to one of six side surfaces of the puzzle, can be rotated about spatial axes. Each element or layer of the puzzle can be made of the same one color or different colors or gray scale levels to define puzzle difficulty. The subject puzzle requires specific imagination skills to assemble a continuous pipeline based on elements' shapes and orientation. Cylindrical elements can be made hollow with opened ends so that the assembled puzzle forms a continuous tube path for an article of an appropriate size to pass through the puzzle.

Abstract: A three-dimensional tube puzzle is disclosed as a new modification of Rubik's Cube™. It consists of plurality of straight and curved hollow cylindrical elements. The dimensions of each tube element are so that it fits into cubical cell. Assembled puzzle forms a continuous pipeline that fits into cubical space, wiggling from entry point to exit point so that an article of an appropriate size can be put through the tube puzzle from its top layer to its bottom layer. Tube elements are interconnected so that arrays of nine elements, belonging to one of six side surfaces of the puzzle, can be rotated about spatial axes. Each tube element or layer of the puzzle can be made of the same one color or different colors or gray scale levels to define puzzle difficulty. The subject puzzle requires specific imagination skills to assemble a continuous pipeline based on elements' shapes and orientation.

Abstract: A method of automatically determining window-level settings in a digital image of a subject. The method includes the steps of: accessing the digital image; obtaining body part or coil type information; determining a region of interest (ROI) within the digital image; producing and processing a ROI-histogram; defining a W-L value for a linear or non-linear image intensity range re-mapping; and a linear or non-linear re-mapping the image intensity range.

Abstract: A coil spring toy with the ball-trapping tool attached to one or more ends is disclosed. The coil spring toy may be used with a game apparatus having a toy stairway, and a set of lightweight balls of a specific size. A method to play the game includes mechanically starting the spring toy to move downstairs due to gravity and its known properties. If started properly, a spring toy will capture the balls, located on the stairs, with the trapping tool, while it lands on each stair. Captured balls may be kept inside spring toy while it moves and finally stops. The balls may be transparent and may be filled with particles to produce additional visual and sound effects. Collected balls can be manually released out of spring toy by means of its stretching. After balls are released and counted, and are placed back on the stairs, the action may be repeated.

Abstract: A method for detecting and attenuating grid artifacts in a digital radiographic image comprising; providing an input digital radiographic image; processing the input digital radiographic image with a detection algorithm based on 2-D dynamic correlation in both spatial and frequency domains to determine whether the input digital radiographic image has a grid artifacts; and if it does detecting the grid orientation, frequency, and signal-to-noise ratio of the grid artifacts, designing a frequency bandstop (notch) digital 1-D filter as a function of the grid frequency and attenuation level; and suppressing the grid artifacts by further processing said input digital radiographic image with said designed filter to produce an output digital radiographic image of improved image quality.

Abstract: A method of automatically determining window-level settings in a digital image of a subject. The method includes the steps of: accessing the digital image; obtaining body part or coil type information; determining a region of interest (ROI) within the digital image; producing and processing a ROI-histogram; defining a W-L value for a linear or non-linear image intensity range re-mapping; and a linear or non-linear re-mapping the image intensity range.