Abstract: Methods and devices are provided for intervertebral implant anchorage. An implantable device for insertion into an intradiscal section between adjacent vertebrae is provided. The implantable device includes at least one anchor plate which comprises a plate member sized to be positioned within an intradiscal section between adjacent vertebrae and a plurality of anchoring elements extending from a surface of the plate member, each anchoring element including a distal portion capable of being introduced into the vertebra through the vertebral end plate; and an intradiscal component coupled to the anchor plate.

Abstract: A stylus for use in a transcription system which includes a plurality of signal receivers for positioning adjacent a writing surface and for receiving a position signal transmitted from the stylus when the stylus is positioned adjacent the writing surface, the signal receivers producing timing signals in response to receiving the position signal from the stylus, the transcription system using the timing signals to determine a position of the stylus adjacent the writing surface, the stylus comprising: a stylus housing defining a volume for housing a writing element, an opening on a distal end of the stylus housing through which a portion of the writing element extends for writing on a writing surface, and a door on a side of the stylus housing which may be opened or removed and through which a writing element can be introduced into and removed from the stylus housing; and the position signal transmitter for transmitting the position signal.

Abstract: Methods, devices and systems are provided which produce a synthesized stereoscopic image of a source image by forming at least two images from a source image where at least one image has been modified relative to the source image such that the images have a different spacial appearance than each other. A wide variety of modifications may be made to the source object in order to form modified stereo images. These modifications may involve modifying one or more images relative to the source image. For example, at least one image may be magnified, reduced, or rotated in the X, Y and/or Z plane relative to the source image. Alternatively or in addition, the position of one or more elements of one of the images may also be changed relative to the source image. Alternatively or in addition, at least one of the images may be transformed relative to the source image using a function which alters the position of elements of the image along the X or Y axis relative to the source image.

Abstract: Method for improved configuration of a link between an end station and an intermediate device in a network. The intermediate device communicates through the link using a point-to-point protocol, and a lower layer protocol and is capable of translating between the lower layer protocol used by the link and a lower layer protocol used by a portion of the network. The intermediate device detects the lower layer protocol used by the end station and configures the link to use the point-to-point protocol, the lower layer protocol used by the end station, and an asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) protocol. A method including signaling the end station to use on the link a lower layer protocol having a particular relationship with the lower layer protocol used by the portion of the network.

Abstract: An externally guidable intervertebral disc apparatus manipulates disc tissue present at a selected location of an intervertebral disc, comprising a catheter having a distal end, a proximal end, and a longitudinal axis, the catheter having an intradiscal section at the distal end of the catheter, the intradiscal section being extendible into the disc, having sufficient rigidity to be advanceable through the nucleus pulposus of the disc under a force applied longitudinally to the proximal end, having sufficient flexibility in a direction of the disc plane to be compliant with the inner wall, having insufficient penetration ability to be advanceable through the inner wall of the annulus fibrosus under the applied force; and a functional element located in the intradiscal section for adding or removing energy or a material at the selected location of the disc. Methods of using the apparatus are also disclosed.

Abstract: In a transcription system including a plurality of signal receivers positioned adjacent a writing surface, a method for calibrating the transcription system by determining separation distances between the signal receivers comprising: using times of flight of position signals from at least two calibration marks to the signal receivers to determine separation distances between the at least two calibration marks and the signal receivers; and using the determined separation distances between the calibration marks and the signal receivers and the known separation distances between the calibration marks to determine separation distances between the signal receivers.

Abstract: A synthesized virtual image electronic display is provided that includes a microdisplay for forming a source object, a first magnification optic for magnifying the source object to produce a magnified real image, an image synthesizing optic upon which the magnified real image is projected, and a second magnification optic for providing a magnified virtual image of the magnified real image projected on the synthesizing optic. The image synthesizing optic is a diffractive element which provides the display of the present invention with significant optical and ergonomic advantages over that which can be achieved using prior art simple magnification and compound magnification systems.

Abstract: An automatic insertion connector device, for instance for use in a test environment, particularly for connection to an RJ45 type connector. The connector has a contact portion having the general form of a connector part arranged to match the connector part it is intended to connect to, and is resiliently mounted by way of being carried on resilient material on a carrier means. The resilient mounting permits some deviation from the rest position in relation to the carrier and therefore enables account to be taken of deviation from the expected location of the parts under test.

Abstract: The present invention provides a facility transport system for transporting Ethernet over digital subscnber lines. The system, termed 10BaseS, is capable of transmitting 10 Mbps Ethernet over existing copper infrastructure. The system utilizes carrierless amplitude modulation/phase modulation (CAP), a version of suppressed carrier quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM). The 10BaseS transport facility can deliver symmetrical data at approximately 13 Mbps (net 10 Mbps) over the unscreened, twisted pair telephone wires originally intended for bandwidths between 300 Hz and 3.4 KHz. The system utilizes frequency division multiplexing (FDM) to separate downstream channels from upstream channels. FDM is also used to separate both the downstream and upstream channels from POTS signals. The downstream and upstream data channels are separated in frequency from bands used for POTS and ISDN, enabling service providers to overlay 10BaseS on existing services.

Abstract: A system and method for controlling registration between different printing plates or printing cylinders in a printing press which includes a camera with a lens having at least two zoom settings and a control unit for changing the zoom setting of the camera in accordance with a distance between registration marks printed on a printed substrate found in at least one image acquired by the camera.

Abstract: The present invention allows telephone subscriber loops carrying data traffic between computer systems to be switched to an alternative connection through a data network, thereby unloading data traffic from the telephone network. The invention operates by means of a break switch, which selectively switches a plurality of subscriber loops between a central office switching system and a data network. The break switch is coupled to a concentrator which takes a plurality of inputs from the break switch and connects them to a smaller number of modems in a modem pool. The concentrator allows a subscriber line to connect to different types of modems within the modem pool, depending upon requirements of a particular subscriber line user. The modem pool connects through a network interface to a packet-switched network, such as the Internet. A number of different methods can be used to transmit a command to switch a subscriber loop from the central office switching system to the packet-switched network.

Abstract: An externally guidable intervertebral disc apparatus manipulates tissue at a selected location of an intervertebral disc. The apparatus comprises a catheter having a distal end, a proximal end and a longitudinal axis, the catheter having an intradiscal section at the distal end of the catheter, the intradiscal section being extendible into the disc. The intradiscal section has sufficient rigidity to be advanceable through a nucleus pulposus and around an inner wall of an annulus fibrosus under a force applied longitudinally to the proximal end, sufficient flexibility in a direction of a disc plane to be compliant with the inner wall, but insufficient penetration ability to be advanceable out through the annulus fibrosus under the force. The apparatus also has an electromagnetic energy device located at the intradiscal section. Methods of using the apparatus are also provided.

Abstract: Compositions of matter comprising a substituted cyclodextrin and cytotoxic compound, especially cytotoxic drugs such as antibiotic, anti-fungal and anti-neoplastic, drugs are claimed. The compositions cause significantly less ulceration compared to the same formulation of cytotoxic compound without cyclodextrin compound when extravasated. The compositions may also cause less vascular irritation compared to the same formulation of cytotoxic compound without cyclodextrin when administered intravenously without extravasation. Compositions of matter comprising watersoluble cytotoxic agents, especially anticancer drugs and anti-ulceration effective or anti-irritatioin effective amounts of cyclodextrin compounds are also claimed. Methods for reducing the likelihood of ulceration and or irritation when administering the compositions according to the invention are also disclosed and claimed.

Abstract: A fenestrated stent formed in a body lumen is provided which includes an article shaped to provide support to a section of a body lumen and allow biological material which would otherwise flow through the body lumen to flow through the article, the article being formed with fenestrations bydelivering a fluent pre-stent composition to a mold space defined by a section of a body lumen and a fluent pre-stent composition delivery device having members which define the fenestrations, andtransforming the fluent pre-stent composition to a non-fluent stent composition within the mold space.

Abstract: A device and method are provided for sealing a puncture in a body vessel. The device has an elongated body having a proximal end and a distal end sized to be positioned within a lumen of the body vessel; at least one closure composition precursor lumen within the elongated body having a entrance port adjacent the proximal end of the elongated body through which one or more fluent closure composition precursors can be delivered into the closure composition precursor lumen and an exit port adjacent the distal end of the elongated body through which the one or more fluent closure composition precursors can be delivered outside the vessel adjacent the vessel puncture; and a microwave antenna for delivering microwave energy adjacent the distal end of the elongated body to the fluent closure compound precursor. The microwave antenna according to this embodiment is preferably incorporated onto the elongated body adjacent the body distal end.

Abstract: A hybridization assay is provided which uses an oligonucleotide probe which includes a fluorescent reporter molecule and a quencher molecule capable of quenching the fluorescence of the reporter molecule. The oligonucleotide probe is constructed such that the probe exists in at least one single-stranded conformation when unhybridized where the quencher molecule is near enough to the reporter molecule to quench the fluorescence of the reporter molecule. The oligonucleotide probe also exists in at least one conformation when hybridized to a target polynucleotide where the quencher molecule is not positioned close enough to the reporter molecule to quench the fluorescence of the reporter molecule. By adopting these hybridized and unhybridized conformations, the reporter molecule and quencher molecule on the probe exhibits different fluorescence signal intensities when the probe is hybridized and unhybridized.

Abstract: A configurable weighted round robin arbitration mechanism adapted to receive as input a vector of order N, wherein each bit in the vector represents the eligibility of a queue or other source of data to participate in the arbitration process. A bit set to `1` in the vector indicates that the corresponding queue is eligible to participate in the arbitration process. Conversely, a bit set to `0` in the vector indicates that the corresponding queue is not eligible to participate. The arbitration process of the present invention enables a user to assign each queue (which corresponds to one of the bits in the vector) an individual weight. This results in a modified vector that represents the incoming vector after being handled by the weighting process. By giving each bit in the vector a weight, the user can control the probability of each bit, i.e., queue, being selected in the arbitration process.

Abstract: A keyword recognition system for speaker dependent, dynamic time warping (DTW) recognition systems uses all of the trained word templates in the system, (keyword and vocabulary), to determine if an utterance is a keyword utterance or not. The utterance is selected as the keyword if a keyword score indicates a significant match to the keyword template and if the keyword score indicates a better match than do the entirety of scores to the vocabulary word templates.

Abstract: Disclosed are compositions comprising paclitaxel; and a pharmaceutically-acceptable, water-miscible, non-aqueous solvent, together with kits comprising the composition and methods of using the composition.

Abstract: An oscillator system is provided which produces a single mode output from a multimode seed beam and a multimode optical power source. The seed source employed in the oscillator system produces a multimode seed beam that is used to injection seed a multimode optical power source. The optical power source has a short cavity such that the longitudinal modes of the multimode optical power source are sufficiently spaced apart that a mode of the optical power source can be positioned relative to the multimode seed beam such that the beam does not significantly overlap with neighboring longitudinal modes of the optical power source. By positioning a single longitudinal mode to overlap with the seed beam a high energy single longitudinal mode output is produced. The oscillator system preferably includes an output controller loop which serves to center the longitudinal mode output of the optical power source relative to the center of the seed beam.