Abstract: In a GPS or similar radionavigation signal, a pair of coarse/acquisition signals are located at, near or toward the nulls of the precision/encrypted codes in the L1 band, the L2 band or both. The resulting difference in frequency provides a very wide lane capability. The existing centered coarse/acquisition signal can be retained for legacy purposes. When a receiver receives such signals, it first determines position (speed, time, attitude, etc.) in accordance with the signals having the smallest frequency difference and thus the widest lane and then proceeds to each narrower lane to refine the accuracy of the determination.

Abstract: A saw blade is constituted with a unset tooth, a plurality of left-set teeth and a plurality of right-set teeth. In the construction, the saw blade has the unset tooth, a plurality of left-set teeth and a plurality of right-set teeth as one group. A plurality of set widths of the plurality of set teeth are formed in the saw blade. A relief angle of a tip of the unset tooth is equal to or greater than a relief angle of a tip of the set tooth having the smallest set width. Furthermore, the relief angle of a tip becomes small in accordance that the set width becomes greater.

Abstract: A method of terminating or joining mineral insulated cables with metallic outer tubes does not use brazing to fasten outer sleeves over the outer tubes. Instead, the sleeves are crimped onto the tubes. The space within the termination or joint is filled with an epoxy. A conductive strap can be used to maintain ground continuity between the outer tubes.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an apparatus for self-propagating high temperature synthesis of an inorganic compound from a combustible charge mixture of initial ingredients. The apparatus comprises mechanisms for continuously feeding the combustible charge into a reaction chamber and removing the synthesized compound therefrom. The apparatus also contains sensors to control and contain the combustion inside a combustion zone of the reaction chamber.

Abstract: A placement plan is developed for the placement of radioactive seeds in a prostrate for brachytherapy. The placement plan is made available to an intraoperative tracking interface which also shows a live ultrasound image of the needle or catheter placement in the prostate. The difference in the x-y plane between the planned and actual locations of the needle or catheter is calculated, and from that difference, the error in position of each seed is calculated. The seeds are moved, or the operator changes the number of seeds, and the dose is recalculated. A small column of ultrasound images is taken, and each seed located in the column of images is given a confidence level. If the confidence level exceeds a threshold set by the operator, the dosimetry is recalculated. Periodically throughout the seed placement, fluoroscopic x-rays are taken, and the seed coordinates are matched to the x-ray image.

Abstract: An object routing system includes a sensor, a processor and a guide. The sensor detects a characteristic of an object and generates a signal that indicates that characteristic. The processor receives the signal from the sensor and generates a guide control signal based upon the signal from the sensor. The guide is responsive to the guide control signal to route the object. The processor can be programmed to control the guides to route the objects in any desired manner.

Abstract: A method determines an efficacy of a decontamination procedure. The method includes providing a test object and a control object. The test object is contaminated with a first known amount of inoculum comprising microorganisms. The control object is contaminated with a second known amount of the inoculum. The first known amount of inoculum and the second known amount of inoculum are substantially the same. The decontamination procedure is performed on the contaminated test object but not on the contaminated control object. The microorganisms from the decontaminated test object and the contaminated control object are recovered. A number of microorganisms recovered from the decontaminated test object is compared with a number of microorganisms recovered from the contaminated control object.

Abstract: A microphone mounting structure for mounting a microphone to a respiratory mask and/or bubble suit through a hole therein. The microphone mounting structure is thus able to convert a conventional respiratory mask and/or bubble suit into a sound amplifying mask and/or bubble suit. The microphone mounting structure comprises a tubular plug and a tubular locking mechanism. The tubular plug has a closed end, an open end and a central portion disposed therebetween. The closed end of the tubular plug has a larger outer diameter than an outer diameter of the central portion. The open end has a plurality of resilient fingers defined by slots in the open end, the resilient fingers having finger tips which project radially outwardly with respect to the tubular plug. The microphone is dimensioned so as to fit coaxially inside the is tubular plug, and preferably, a grommet is provided around the microphone.

Abstract: The spatial synoptic classification (SSC) is modified by taking seed days within sliding periods so that seed days are selected from the warmest and coldest periods of the year and two intermediate periods. Artificial seed days are produced to represent typical weather patterns on other days of the year. From the selected seed days and the artificial seed days, a classification technique is developed to categorize a weather type for any day. Once the seed days are selected for a weather station, those seed days can be used to select seed days for nearby weather stations.

Abstract: Sputtering method and apparatus for depositing a coating onto substrate employs variable magnetic field arranged in vicinity of a cathode within a working chamber, filled with ionizable fluid. By controlling a magnetic field topology, i.e. orientation and value of magnetic strength with respect to cathode there is enabled localization and shifting of plasma away from substrate and by thus improvement of adhesion and properties of deposited coatings.

Abstract: Apparatus and methods are disclosed for treating a stenosed region of a blood vessel such as a coronary artery by use of a single catheter for balloon angioplasty followed by delivery of a controlled inherently uniform dosage of radiation to the blood vessel wall to deter restenosis at the angioplasty site. In one embodiment, an angioplasty balloon catheter is adapted to have its balloon emptied after the angioplasty and then re-filled with radioactive fluid to re-engage the blood vessel wall at the angioplasty site. Another embodiment has a conventional angioplasty balloon surrounded by a radiotherapy treatment balloon that is separately inflatable with radioactive fluid. Partly filling the angioplasty balloon during the radiation treatment minimizes the volume of radioactive fluid necessary to achieve the desired dosage. In either embodiment, an outer containment balloon may be used to capture radioactive fluid that would otherwise escape if the treatment balloon were to rupture.

Abstract: A surgical endoscopic instrument for visualizing anatomical tissue and including a tubular barrel carrying an endoscope with a CMOS image sensor and a physical parameter (e.g., temperature) sensor carried on the shaft. CMOS image sensors are fabricated on a single substrate or chip, with all of the required image signal processing circuitry, using the economical CMOS process. The CMOS image sensor is preferably mounted onto the distal end of the endoscope shaft and may include a light source for illuminating the field of visualization. In an alternative embodiment, the endoscope has a fixed objective lens carried on the distal end of a tubular body and a lens train or fiber optic bundle transmits the endoscopic image proximally to a CMOS sensor located in the hand piece.

Abstract: The invention provides compounds of formula (I) in which R1, R2, R3, R4 and R5 are independently selected from hydrogen and chromogenic substituents, and X is selected from the group consisting of hydroxyl; OR6 wherein R6 is selected from the group consisting of C1-C4 alkyl; and O−Me+ wherein Me+ is a cation derived from an organic or inorganic base. A preferred species of formula (I) is 4-Methylumbelliferyl myo-inositol-1-phosphate and salts thereof with an organic or inorganic base. The invention also provides fluorogenic methods for detecting various pathogenic bacteria, e.g., Listeria, Staphylococcus and Clostridium species, using substrates containing at least one formula (I) compound. A kit for detecting a phosphatidyl-inositol-specific phospholipase C enzyme as an indication of bacterial activity is disclosed.

Abstract: Apparatus for separating wax from a feedstock mixture comprising solvent and a wax component is described. The apparatus includes a crystallization column and a plurality of compartments for forming the crystallized wax. Scraping means are employed to resume the crystallized wax for recovery by a filter.

Abstract: A low adhesion semiconductive dielectric shield for use with cross-linked polyethylene, ethylene-propylene rubber or ethylene-propylene-diene rubber (EPDM rubber) insulation. The dielectric shield comprises a base polymer which is a copolymer of ethylene with a mono-unsaturated ester; a conductive filler in an amount sufficient to give an electrical resistivity below 550 ohms-meter and as an adhesion adjusting device an ethylene vinyl acetate, ethylene alkyl acrylate or ethylene alkyl methacrylate copolymer having a molecular weight above 20,000 daltons and a polydispersity greater than 2.5 wherein the adhesion between the insulation and the semiconductive shield is between about 3-26 lbs per ½inch.

Abstract: Equipment used in the processing of plastic, such as molds and extrusion screws, is cleaned of plastic residue by a combination of thermal cycling and agitation without impact cleaning. A chamber can be heated by an electric radiant heater and cooled by the introduction of liquid nitrogen. A fixture in the chamber receives the equipment to be cleaned and is agitated by a drive motor. The chamber is heated and cooled in the following cycle in which the drive motor agitates the fixture: first to 250-300° F., then to −315° F., then cycled between −50° F. and −10° F., then to 150° F., then to −200° F., to 100° F., then to ambient temperature. The chamber is controlled by a computer that prompts the operator for the kind of plastic to be cleaned off of the equipment and then controls the heating and cooling automatically.

Abstract: For military as well as for civil applications there is provided a construction element comprising a disc-shaped central part (1) with at least four legs (2) extending outwards substantially radially with respect to a transversal axis (3) of the central part (1) and having longitudinal axes arranged in a plane perpendicular to the transversal axis (3) of the central part (1). The central part (1) has a face recess (4) extending inwardly from the central part (1) periphery between two adjacent legs (2). The face recess (4) has a width corresponding to the central part thickness and a depth being equal from one to two thirds of the central part width measured along an axis (8) of the face recess (4). The central part (1) is also furnished with a first passage (5) the axis (6) of which is parallel to the transversal axis (3) of the central part (1), and with a second passage (7), opening into the central part (1) face walls and having an axis (9) perpendicular to the axis (8) of the face recess (4).

Abstract: A user accessing a Web site can select the format in which information is presented. The information, instead of being stored in a static HTML document, is dynamically formatted for each user in accordance with that user's personality traits. The information to be displayed is stored in a database server. Client computers running Web browsers do not access that database server directly. Instead, they access it through an application server running server software for dynamic Web pages and also software which implements the business models needed to format the information for each user's personality traits. Those business models and the identity of the browser which each client user is running are used to format the information in from the database server as required. When the user accesses the home page on the application server, the user is presented with a list of links corresponding to personality traits so that the user can view the information as desired.

Abstract: A cDNA fragment clone of 1583 base pairs with 90-95% sequence homology to the mouse EGFR and a truncated rat EGFR is described. The isolated cDNA is termed ERRP (EFG-Receptor Related Protein). In Northern-blot analysis with poly A+ RNA from different rat tissues, ERRP cDNA hybridized strongly to a mRNA transcript of about 1.8 kb. Maximal expression was noted in the small intestine, followed by colon, liver, gastric mucosa and other tissues. Transfection of ERRP cDNA in HCT-116 cells, a colon cancer cell line, markedly inhibits proliferation in monolayer and in soft agar and attenuates EGF-R tyrosine kinase activity. Transfection of ERRP in HCT-116 also delays tumor growth in SCID mice injected with these cells compared to the vector-transfector control cells. On the other hand, proliferation of the vector-transfected control, but not ERRP transfected HCT cells could be stimulated by TGF-&agr; (10−10M and 10−9M).