Abstract: A framework is disclosed for robust click-point linking, defined as estimating a single point-wise correspondence between a pair of data domains given a user-specified point in one domain. It can also be interpreted as robust and efficient interactive localized registration of a monomodal data pair. To link visually dissimilar local regions, the concept of Geometric Configuration Context (GCC) is introduced. GCC represents the spatial likelihood of the point corresponding to the click-point in the other domain. A set of scale-invariant saliency features are pre-computed for both data, and GCC is modeled by a Gaussian mixture whose component mean and width are determined as a function of the neighboring saliency features and their correspondences. This allows correspondence of dissimilar parts using only geometrical relations without comparing the local appearances. GCC models are derived for three transformation classes: 1) pure translation, 2) scaling and translation, and 3) similarity transformation.

Abstract: A method for classifying pulmonary structures in digitized images includes providing approximate target structure locations of one or more target structures in a digitized 3-dimensional (3D) image, fitting an anisotropic Gaussian model about said approximate target locations to generate more precise 3D target models and center locations of said one or more target structures, warping each said 3D target model into a 3D sphere, constructing a bounding manifold about each said warped 3D sphere, and identifying clusters on said bounding manifold wherein said one or more target structures are classified.

Abstract: The use of an oil cooler in an internal combustion engine for a personal watercraft is controlled, whereby excessive cooling of the engine during warmup with cold water operation is avoided, and dilution of oil is substantially prevented. The internal combustion engine includes a bypass oil path connecting respective oil paths upstream and downstream of the oil cooler. The bypass oil path permits oil to be selectively detoured around the oil cooler. An oil thermostat is provided in the upstream oil path for selectively opening either a path to the oil cooler or the bypass oil path, and the oil thermostat is operable to switch the flow of oil therebetween. The oil thermostat opens the bypass oil path when the temperature of the oil is below a predetermined temperature, and directs oil to the oil cooler when the temperature of the oil is equal to or exceeds a predetermined temperature.

Abstract: A method for computer aided detection of anatomical abnormalities in medical images includes providing a plurality of abnormality candidates and features of said abnormality candidates, and classifying said abnormality candidates as true positives or false positives using a hierarchical cascade of linear classifiers of the form sign(wTx+b), wherein x is a feature vector, w is a weighting vector and b is a model parameter, wherein different weights are used to penalize false negatives and false positives, and wherein more complex features are used for each successive stage of said cascade of classifiers.

Abstract: A new measure to compare histogram-based descriptors, a diffusion distance, is disclosed. The difference between two histograms is defined to be a temperature field. The relationship between histogram similarity and diffusion process is discussed and it is shown how the diffusion handles deformation as well as quantization effects. As a result, the diffusion distance is derived as the sum of dissimilarities over scales. Being a cross-bin histogram distance, the diffusion distance is robust to deformation, lighting change and noise in histogram-based local descriptors. In addition, it enjoys linear computational complexity which significantly improves previously proposed cross-bin distances with quadratic complexity or higher The proposed approach is tested on both shape recognition and interest point matching tasks using several multi-dimensional histogram-based descriptors including shape context, SIFT and spin images.

Abstract: An engine control unit has a data memory for storing freeze frame data that is data indicating the operating status of vehicle equipment at the time when an abnormality of the vehicle equipment is detected. The engine control unit saves the freeze frame data stored in the data memory in a storage unit of a management station outside the vehicle through radio communication. The engine control unit determines the properness of the communication and performs a memory operation for erasing the relevant freeze frame data from the data memory based on a determination that the communication has been properly performed.

Abstract: An electronic control unit continuously stores data indicating the monitoring frequency of the diagnosis items determined by the RateBase monitoring method and is increased one by one with the maximum amount of change in the single operating period to an EEPROM. When any data is incremented by one, this data is entered to the EEPROM and the write completion flag for this data is turned on. Thereafter, in this operating period, this data is never entered to the EEPROM. Therefore, reduction and increase in the number of times of data entry to the programmable non-volatile memory and reliable storage of this data can be realized effectively.

Abstract: A contact probe is fabricated by forming a resin mold with a cavity on a substrate having conductivity, and filling the cavity with metal through electroforming. The metal includes a cobalt-tungsten alloy. Alternatively, a cobalt-molybdenum alloy may be used instead of the cobalt-tungsten alloy. Alternatively, a contact probe can be made from nickel, cobalt or copper, and have a coat film of cobalt-tungsten alloy or cobalt-molybdenum alloy formed thereon to increase the abrasion resistance. A nickel-molybdenum alloy can be used instead of the cobalt-tungsten alloy or cobalt-molybdenum alloy.

Abstract: A vehicle-mounted data rewriting control system includes a master control system. In rewriting data in electronic control systems, the master control unit first obtains through radio communication rewrite data from an external management center which holds and manages VIN codes of vehicles and version information of control programs. The supplied data are temporarily stored in a memory unit of the master control system, and the stored rewrite data are determined for their properness. By using the stored rewrite data, the data in the electronic control systems are rewritten on condition that the rewrite data stored in the memory unit are proper.

Abstract: It is an object of the present invention to provide a beam splitter providing a high-contrast image and preventing light from scattering, and a laser scanning microscope provided with the above, in which there is provided a high-quality probe coming in contact with an electrode pad of a semiconductor device, in which a foreign substance is not likely to attach, a configuration is not likely changed and a preferable electrical contact can be maintained for a long time. According to the present invention, a probe coming into contact with an electrode pad of a measurement object comprises a connection terminal part integrally formed and connected to a substrate, a contact part having a tapered configuration, and a supporting part which supports the contact part. The contact part extending from an end of the supporting part has a sectional configuration which shares at least one side face with the supporting part.

Abstract: A method of manufacturing a contact probe includes an electroforming step of, using a resist film (522) arranged on a substrate (521) as a pattern frame having a shape corresponding to a contact probe, performing electroforming to fill a gap in the resist film (522) to form a metal layer (526), a tip end shaping step of obliquely removing and sharpening that part of the metal layer (526) which serves as a tip end portion of the contact probe, and a take-out step of taking out only the metal layer (526) from the pattern frame.

Abstract: By testing for nodule segmentation errors based on the scan data, juxtapleural cases are identified. Once identified, the scan data or subsequent estimation may be altered to account for adjacent rib, tissue, vessel or other structure effecting segmentation. One alteration is to shape a filter as a function of the scan data. For example, an originally estimated ellipsoid for the nodule segmentation defines the filter. The filter is used to identify the undesired information, and masking removes the undesired information for subsequent estimation of the nodule segmentation. Another possible alteration biases the subsequent estimation away from the incorrect information, such as the rib, tissue or vessel information influencing the original estimation. For example, a negative prior or probability is assigned to data corresponding to the originally estimated segmentation for the subsequent estimation.

Abstract: A method of manufacturing a contact probe includes an electroforming step of, using a resist film (522) arranged on a substrate (521) as a pattern frame having a shape corresponding to a contact probe, performing electroforming to fill a gap in the resist film (522) to form a metal layer (526), a tip end shaping step of obliquely removing and sharpening that part of the metal layer (526) which serves as a tip end portion of the contact probe, and a take-out step of taking out only the metal layer (526) from the pattern frame.

Abstract: A system and method are provided for prior-constrained mean shift analysis of a data array, the system including a processor, an input adapter in signal communication with the processor for receiving at least one data array, and a prior constraints unit in signal communication with the processor for performing a prior-constrained mean shift analysis on the at least one data array; and the method including receiving initialization data, selecting an initial point relative to the initialization data, Gaussian fitting with a prior-constrained mean shift responsive to the initial point to parse a structure, and setting the parsed structure as a prior constraint.

Abstract: A method for estimating a diameter of an object of interest, includes extracting a sub-volume of voxels around a marker identifying a location of the object of interest, and determining a segmentation result identifying an edge of the object of interest by a reactive-diffusion method. The method further includes performing a boundary check on the segmentation result to determine whether the object of interest is solitary, estimating a diameter of the object of interest from the segmentation result upon determining the object of interest to be solitary, and extracting the object of interest by performing ellipsoid fit on the sub-volume and estimating a diameter of the object of interest upon determining the object of interest to be non-solitary.

Abstract: A network system is formed with a parent station and programmable controllers and a programmable display devices serving as child stations connected to a single general-purpose serial communication circuit. Whichever child station received the token from the parent station outputs a command. Data are exchanged between the programmable display device and any of the programmable controllers by command-response communication. Data are exchanged among the programmable controllers by data link operations.

Abstract: A programmable controller has a multi-purpose processor such as an MPU and an application specific control device such as an ASIC (application specific integrated circuit). When the MPU requests the ASIC to execute a user program and the ASIC is activated, the MPU executes an event process while the ASIC executes the requested user program. When the MPU requests the ASIC to execute a DMA transfer process in an input/output refresh process and the ASIC is activated, the MPU executes an event process while the ASIC executes the requested DMA transfer process.

Abstract: A metal structure according to the present invention is unlikely to become brittle and has excellent hardness and creep resistance, characterized in that annealing has been applied at a temperature not more than the temperature at which crystals of the metal material start to become larger. This metal structure includes at least two kinds of metal material, and annealing can be applied at a temperature not more than the temperature at which crystals of the metal material start to become larger. For example, the present invention is advantageous in the manner of a microstructure for a contact probe. A fabricating method according to the present invention is a method of fabricating a metal structure unlikely to become brittle and having excellent hardness and creep resistance, characterized in that the step of applying annealing at at a temperature not more than the temperature at which crystals of the metal material start to become larger is included.

Abstract: A programmable controller has a multi-purpose processor such as an MPU and an application specific control device such as an ASIC (application specific integrated circuit). When the MPU requests the ASIC to execute a user program and the ASIC is activated, the MPU executes an event process while the ASIC executes the requested user program. When the MPU requests the ASIC to execute a DMA transfer process in an input/output refresh process and the ASIC is activated, the MPU executes an event process while the ASIC executes the requested DMA transfer process.

Abstract: The use of an oil cooler in an internal combustion engine for a personal watercraft is controlled, whereby excessive cooling of the engine during warmup with cold water operation is avoided, and dilution of oil is substantially prevented. The internal combustion engine includes a bypass oil path connecting respective oil paths upstream and downstream of the oil cooler. The bypass oil path permits oil to be selectively detoured around the oil cooler. An oil thermostat is provided in the upstream oil path for selectively opening either a path to the oil cooler or the bypass oil path, and the oil thermostat is operable to switch the flow of oil therebetween. The oil thermostat opens the bypass oil path when the temperature of the oil is below a predetermined temperature, and directs oil to the oil cooler when the temperature of the oil is equal to or exceeds a predetermined temperature.