Abstract: A method for manufacturing an investment cast article is disclosed. The method comprises positioning an insert relative to a sacrificial form, the insert comprising a first portion and a second portion, the first portion being disposed inside the sacrificial form and the second portion being disposed outside the sacrificial form. The sacrificial form and the second portion of the insert are coated with a material, forming a shell surrounding the sacrificial form and the second portion of the insert. The sacrificial form is evacuated from the shell, followed by introducing molten metal into the evacuated shell, thereby providing a metal form, and resulting in the first portion of the insert being disposed and bonded inside the metal form. The shell is removed from the metal form and the second portion of the insert, thereby resulting in the metal form with the first portion of the insert disposed and bonded therein.

Abstract: A tissue retractor for retracting tissue opened by an incision, said tissue retractor including a base support unit having a topside and an underside. The topside comprises at least one securing mechanism and the underside is adapted to be conformable and to be removably attachable to a surface proximate to the incision. The tissue retractor also includes at least one tissue hook having a tissue engagement portion and a mounting portion, wherein the tissue engagement portion is capable of engaging at least the periphery of the incision. The tissue retractor also includes at least one retractable member substantially inelastic in its central longitudinal axis and bendable in any axes deviating from said central longitudinal axis.

Abstract: Systems and methods for transanal inversion and removal of the gall bladder, appendix, and hemorrhoids.

Abstract: A hydraulic stop for use in drilling or countersinking operations comprises a rotatable body for rotating a tool about its axis. A cage adapted to contact the surface of a workpiece when the tool has penetrated into the workpiece by a predetermined distance actuates a trip mechanism comprising a plunger-operated hydraulic valve as the tool penetrates the workpiece more than the predetermined distance. The plunger is of adjustable length. When actuated the trip mechanism allows the body to shrink in length suddenly. The cage is axially adjustable in relation to the body to set the predetermined depth at which the trip mechanism actuates. A plurality of holes spaced around the circumference of the body to which the cage is mounted allow drainage of coolant whatever the axial position of the cage.

Abstract: The present invention provides an echo reduction apparatus, system, and method that advantageously reduces echo when communicating over packet-switched networks. An echo reduction apparatus, including echo reduction circuit, operably couples a headset or handset device to an audio source that is capable of transmitting a sound signal. The echo reduction circuit receives the sound signal from the audio source and a transmit signal from the headset or handset device and provides an adjusted sound signal to the audio source. Advantageously, a variety of headsets and handsets may be used in accordance with the present invention with reduced caller echo and without the need to purchase new headsets or handsets.

Abstract: A process for oxidizing a substrate which is an acyclic or cyclic terpene, or a cycloalkene; or a substituted derivative thereof, which process comprises oxidizing said compound with a mutant haem-containing enzyme, the mutant comprising the substitution of an amino acid in the active site by an amino acid with a less polar side-chain. The enzyme is typically P450cam or P450BM-3. Cells and libraries of cells in which the process can be carried out or which can be used to select advantageous mutant enzymes are also provided.

Abstract: A system (200; 300) and method for messaging subscription management by subscribing a subscriber (210; 310) to a publisher (215; 315), providing a broker (220; 320) brokering message flow between the publisher and the subscriber whereby the publisher publishes information to the broker which then forwards the information to the subscriber, and filtering messages whereby any messages not originating from the publisher are filtered out. The filtering may comprise modifying (227) at the publisher a filter supplied by the subscriber and sending the modified filter to the broker, or may comprise modifying (312) at the subscriber a filter and sending the modified filter to the broker. This gives the behaviour of a direct subscription model, while making use of the efficiencies provided by the brokered model. It allows publishers to offload responsibility for subscription management and message distribution to a broker service, and it can reduce the number of logical connections from n*m to become n+m instead.

Abstract: The system of subterranean wells includes a subsurface flow line 20 having at least a portion within or underlining one or more subterranean formations 12. One or more drainage wells 26, 28, 30, 32, and 34 each extend from the surface and intercept at least one of the subterranean formations at a respective interception location. A lower portion of each drainage well is in fluid communication with the subsurface flow line. A recovery well 42 extends from the surface and is also in fluid communication with the subsurface flow line, so that fluids entering the drainage well flow into the subsurface flow line and then into the recovery well.

Abstract: The present invention provides an echo reduction apparatus, system, and method that advantageously reduces echo when communicating over packet-switched networks. An echo reduction apparatus, including echo reduction circuit, operably couples a headset or handset device to an audio source that is capable of transmitting a sound signal. The echo reduction circuit receives the sound signal from the audio source and a transmit signal from the headset or handset device and provides an adjusted sound signal to the audio source. Advantageously, a variety of headsets and handsets may be used in accordance with the present invention with reduced caller echo and without the need to purchase new headsets or handsets.

Abstract: Castable and weldable nickel-base alloys that exhibit a desirable balance of strength and resistance to corrosion and oxidation suitable for gas turbine engine applications. The alloy contains, by weight, about 1 0% to about 25% cobalt, about 20% to about 28% chromium, about 1% to about 3% tungsten, about 1.6% to about 3.8% aluminum, about 0.4% to about 1.5% titanium, where the sum of aluminum and titanium is about 1.8% to about 5.0%, about 0.5% to about 1.5% columbium, 0.5% to about 1.5% tantalum, about 0.001% to about 0.025% boron, about 0.05% maximum zirconium, about 0.02% to about 0.15% carbon, with the balance essentially nickel and incidental impurities. The alloy may more preferably contain about 2.8% to about 3.8% aluminum where the sum of aluminum and titanium is about 3.0% to about 5.0%, or about 1.6% to about 2.8% aluminum, where the sum of aluminum and titanium is about 1.8% to about 4.3%.

Abstract: A homophonic neologisms generator can include a dictionary table (10) having one or more entries including an orthography and an associated pronunciation including one or more phonemes; and a weightings table (14) having one or more entries specifying a cluster including one or more letters, a cluster pronunciation including one or more phonemes, and a weighting for the pronunciation of the cluster. A user interface can receive a word for which neologisms can be generated. A clustering mechanism can divide the pronunciation into a plurality of phonemes having one or more orthographic representations. Each orthographic representation can include one or more graphemes. Orthographic representations of the pronunciation can be ordered according to the associated weightings of the cluster graphemes in the weightings table and the dictionary can be searched to check that a generated well-formed orthography does not exist.

Abstract: A family of castable and weldable nickel-base alloys that exhibit a desirable balance of strength and resistance to corrosion and oxidation suitable for gas turbine engine applications. A first alloy consists essentially of, by weight, 1 8% to 20% cobalt, 22.2% to 22.8% chromium, 1.8% to 2.2% tungsten, greater than 1.5% to 2.3% aluminum, 1.6% to 2.4% titanium, where the sum of aluminum and titanium is 2.8% to 4.4%, 0.7% to 0.9% columbium, 0.9% to 1.9% tantalum, 0.003% to 0.009% boron, 0.002% to 0.02% zirconium, 0.05% to 0.10% carbon, with the balance essentially nickel and incidental impurities. A second alloy consists essentially of, by weight, 5% to 8% cobalt, 22.2% to 22.8% chromium, 1.8% to 2.2% tungsten, 1.2% to 2.3% aluminum, 1.6% to 2.4% titanium, where the sum of aluminum and titanium is 2.8% to 4.4%, 0.7% to 0.9% columbium, 0.9% to 1.9% tantalum, 0.003% to 0.009% boron, 0.002% to 0.02% zirconium, 0.05% to 0.10% carbon, with the balance essentially nickel and incidental impurities.

Abstract: For the cell trace based testing of biological cells, wherein the cells (16) are applied to an at least partially structured and/or surface modified substrate (11) and move adhesively over surface track regions (13, 15) of the substrate while producing cell traces (14a, 14b) consisting of material residues separated from the cells, cell tests are performed on the cell traces. A process for cell cultivation on biocompatible modified substrates whose surfaces are covered by cell traces is also described.

Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed to dynamically generate and distribute a synchronized media presentation. The present invention provides for the automated retrieval, assembly and formatting of an enhanced media presentation and the synchronous delivery of that presentation. The enhancing content is synchronized so that its delivery coincides with a broadcast signal or other media program that it is designed to enhance without requiring that the enhancing content be physically bound to the media program. Another aspect of the invention is that the assembly and synchronization of the enhancing content is independent of the distribution channel and platform used to execute or display the enhanced content. As a result, the enhancing content can be formatted for a set-top box, a personal computer, a personal video recorder, an audio system or any other platform used to deliver a media program to a user.

Abstract: A voice processing system, method and computer program product therefor, allows telephone callers without computers to access World Wide Web pages from the Internet. Usual graphical-based Hyper-Text Mark-Up language (HTML) commands are interspersed with special HTML tags including the commands and data for forming a voice application, which, when run on the voice processing system, provides a voice browser for allowing telephone callers to access Web pages. The voice application tags are provided together with the remainder of the HTML document, thus facilitating editing of the combined data. This helps to keep the graphical browser and voice browser versions of the same data set synchronized.

Abstract: An “event registration service” that enables unrelated and “uncoordinated” systems (i.e. systems that have not planned advance to work together by using the same prerequisite software) to be linked together to facilitate event notification is disclosed. The event registration service links these unrelated systems (e.g., those that have declared events with those that have registered an interest in those events) to facilitate event notification between the unrelated systems. The event registration system functions by combining the functionality of the Web Services Inspection Language (WSIL) and XML style sheets (XSLT). In accordance with the present invention, WSIL hierarchies are built to represent event declarations ane event registrations. XSLT is used as an adapter, converting from one API (represented, for example, as a SOAP message) to another (e.g., another SOAP message representing a different data structure, such as that derived from a COBOL copybook).

Abstract: An electrode configuration for field cages, especially in microsystems, comprises a large number of electrodes in which an electrical potential can be applied to each end region through a feed region. The end region is arranged to form the field cage and inhomogeneous shielding fields outside the field cage. To reduce thermal convection, the feed region has a strip form whose width is substantially smaller than characteristic dimensions of the end region.

Abstract: A method of discharging a fluid flow with suspended microparticles from a fluidic microsystem (10) is described, whereby the fluid flow converges with at least one output flow to form a discharge flow at the end of a discharge channel (14) of the microsystem, and the discharge flow is delivered through a conduction element (19). A microsystem with a flow output device for implementation of this method is also described.

Abstract: A homophonic neologisms generator can include a dictionary table (10) having one or more entries including an orthography and an associated pronunciation including one or more phonemes; and a weightings table (14) having one or more entries specifying a cluster including one or more letters, a cluster pronunciation including one or more phonemes, and a weighting for the pronunciation of the cluster. A user interface can receive a word for which neologisms can be generated. A clustering mechanism can divide the pronunciation into a plurality of phonemes having one or more orthographic representations. Each orthographic representation can include one or more graphemes. Orthographic representations of the pronunciation can be ordered according to the associated weightings of the cluster graphemes in the weightings table and the dictionary can be searched to check that a generated well-formed orthography does not exist.

Abstract: An electroporation and/or fusion treatment of microscopic objects occurs in a medium between at least two electrodes, with the electrodes being miniaturized electrodes in a microsystem with a channel structure which is set up for the flow-through of the medium with the objects.