Abstract:
A laser device comprising a pump source (10) operable to generate a pump beam (11) for a resonant cavity in which a laser medium (74) is arranged. A beam- shaping waveguide element (18) is arranged between the purnp source and the resonant cavity. Shaping of the pump beam is achieved by tailoring the refractive index profile of the waveguide element (18) so that it yields an intensity distribution which spatially overlaps a desired ring-shaped Laguerre - Gaussian mode of the resonant cavity sufficiently well to achieve laser oscillation on said desired Laguerre - Gaussian mode. A ring-shaped or doughnut - shaped laser beam profile can thus be generated. It is further possible to design the refractive index profile (76) so that the pump beam's intensity distribution also spatially overlaps the fundamental mode of the resonant cavity sufficiently well to achieve laser oscillation also on said fundamental mode. The laser will then lase on both the fundamental mode and the selected Laguerre - Gaussian mode. This is useful for producing a variety of beam profiles based on mixing a Gaussian profile with a ring-shaped profile. A top-hat beam profile can be achieved by such mixing.
Abstract:
Disclosed is a three-tier architecture for memory assistance. A small unobtrusive, wireless sensing device is dynamically programmed to automatically sense important information related to the wearer's current context and environment. Using an internal rule engine, the device decides when information pertaining to the user is important, and automatically uploads the information to a mobile handset application. The application in turn, analyses the information using extra information assimilated from its sensors, and uploads the complete information set to an online internet service application for further processing. The processing is done online, using other external data sources as well as its own internal processing engine, and returns information: to the user through a notification engine, and to the device and handset through a set of rule updates. Further memory planning can be achieved through a secondary process of planning and review via a Desktop PC/ Laptop.
Abstract:
The invention provides a method of treating a patient having target cells that express FcyRIIb, the method comprising administering (i) an antibody molecule that specifically binds a surface antigen of the target cell, which antibody molecule has an Fc domain capable of binding FcyRIIb; in combination with (ii) an agent that prevents or reduces binding between the Fc domain of the antibody molecule and FcyRIIb; characterized in that the patient is selected on the basis that their target cells express an elevated level of FcyRIIb.
Abstract:
The present invention relates, in one aspect, to a method for monitoring the dehybridisation of double stranded nucleic acid, comprising the steps of: (a) providing a nucleic acid probe and a target nucleic acid; (b) forming a double stranded nucleic acid of which at least one of the strands of the nucleic acid is in contact with a solid substrate; (c) applying a potential ramp to the solid substrate; and (d) monitoring the dehybridisation of the double stranded nucleic acid across the potential ramp, wherein the nucleic probe is a linear nucleic acid probe and/or the target nucleic acid comprises a label.
Abstract:
A configurable transistor device comprising a primary transistor and at least one secondary transistors, said primary transistor and said secondary transistors having their drain electrodes connected to a common drain electrode and their source electrodes connected to a common source electrode, said primary transistor having its gate electrode connected to a common gate electrode and each of said secondary transistors having their gate electrodes switchably connected to said common gate electrode, the gate widths of said secondary transistors being shorter than the gate width of said primary transistor.
Abstract:
A cochlear implant provides electrical pulses to neurons and is configured to convert the excitation signal into a sparsified signal for electrically stimulating the neurons, thereby reducing the redundancy of the stimuli applied to the neurons. A signal analyser is configured to perform dimension reduction or factorisation of said excitation signal in the time domain or in the frequency domain followed by a sparse transform, the resulting relatively clean output signal providing the input to an inverse transformation step to create the sparsified signal. The dimension reduction or factorisation can be performed by principal component analysis (PCA), and the sparse transform can be performed by independent component analysis (ICA).
Abstract:
Apparatus (2) comprising a cylindrical substrate (4), and an integrated optical circuit which is provided on the cylindrical substrate and which comprises at least one optical waveguide (6). A process for producing the apparatus (2) is also disclosed.
Abstract:
A pulsed plasma thruster and method of operation are provided. The pulsed plasma thruster comprises solid propellant material. A main discharge source provides a pulsed discharge across the propellant material for ablating the propellant material to produce propellant plasma and accelerating the ablated propellant plasma, and an auxiliary discharge source accelerates late ablated propellant plasma without substantially further ablating the propellant material.
Abstract:
The present invention relates to a peptide corresponding to the cytoplasmic C- terminal 17 mer amino acid sequence of the Interleukin -13 receptor, IL-13Rα2, and related agents as therapeutic agents, especially for use in treating asthma and other allergic inflammatory conditions.
Abstract:
An optical system configured to direct radiation onto an object, said system comprising a source of radiation and a lens (3), said lens comprising an arrangement of features (13) configured to allow transmission of radiation from said source, the object being located at a distance from the lens (3) such that at least one caustic (5) due to diffraction of radiation through the features (13) is in focus on said object, said caustic (5) having at least one dimension which is smaller than the wavelength of the radiation from the source.