Abstract: An arrangement for relieving stress on a connection between external electrical conductors and at least one electric element such as a heating wire that is contained in a generally sheet-shaped, bendable carrier in a vehicle seat has a holding piece and a cowering piece. The ends of internal conductors leading to the electric element are preferably soldered to flat-pin contacts, which are on the ends of the electrical conductors, and which are located in recesses in the holding piece. The holding piece has pins that extend through holes in the carrier and into mating openings in the covering piece. The carrier, the ends of the internal electrical conductors, and the ends of the external electrical conductors are clamped securely into place by being sandwiched between the holding and covering pieces. Pins extend from the holding piece, through holes in the carrier, and into mating openings in the covering piece. The ends of the pins are then heat-flattened to lock the pieces together.

Abstract: An interrogation region of a patient's body is scanned with an ultrasonic probe. At least one input data frame is generated representing the scanned interrogation region as a pattern of image elements, each with a corresponding input intensity value, that are stored in a memory. The input data frame is then displayed as a pattern of displayed intensity values, which the processor calculates as combination of a geometry-independent function of an ambient light input array and a geometry-dependent function of the input intensity values, in which the geometry-dependent function includes a coefficient term that multiplies the input intensity array and that itself is a function of the input intensity values. As part of the coefficient term is a filtered input data array, which results from noise-floor filtering, low-pass filtering, and surface normal vector averaging of the input intensity array.

Abstract: Power values of backscattered ultrasonic echoes from an interrogation region of a patient's body are stored in a 2-D envelope table. The region is thereby represented as a 2-D pattern of image elements. In a processing mode, these elements are grouped into processing windows. After row averaging of the power values for each window, a window attenuation coefficient is generated corresponding to a decay parameter of a non-linear decay model of local attenuation of the interrogation region as a non-linear function of the average positional power values for each row in the processing window. The coefficients are then used to scale the power values before scan conversion and display, and thus to compensate for local attenuation. The invention can also test for tissue heterogeneity by first defining convergence and non-convergence criteria. A rationalized gain control processor then iteratively estimates the window attenuation coefficients until either criterion is met.

Abstract: A fishing line brake is mounted as a single unit on a rod and includes a main body and a pair of clamping arms that are rotatable relative to the main body. At least one guide ring is securely attached to at least one of the clamping arms. An actuation arrangement switches the line brake between a free-running configuration, in which the fishing line extends without contact through each guide ring, and a locking configuration, in which the lime is clamped between the clamping arms. At least one spring biases the brake into the free-running configuration. In a twin-ring embodiment two guide rings are attached to a different clamping arm. In a split-ring embodiment, a single guide ring is divided into two halves. Each half is attached to a different one of the clamping arms and forms a respective, separate closed loop. The loops formed by the guide ring halves extend through one another to form a closed ring.

Abstract: The presence of trace materials in a sample is detected using both macroscopic and microscopic properties. A detector includes a light source and an optical resonator. The light source may be located either inside the resonance cavity of the resonator or outside the cavity, in which case it may be a semi-conductor such as a semi-conductor laser or a superluminescent diode. The detector also includes at least one reflective member that has a total internal reflection (TIR) surface and may be a passive device or an active gain element. Light from the light source is preferably focussed onto a single point of reflection on the TIR surface. The test sample is positioned within the evanescent field region of the TIR surface. Optical changes arising within the evanescent field region, such as excitation of fluorescence in the sample, changes in its refractive index and changes in the resonant frequency of the optical resonator, are then detected.

Abstract: A semiconductor laser power build-up system includes a semi-conductor laser. An optical resonance cavity is defined between at least two reflective elements and has an intracavity light beam along an intracavity beam path. A return light beam, which is a portion of the intracavity light beam, is transmitted through one of the reflective elements and is coincident with but oppositely directed relative to the incident beam. The laser is wholly optically locked to the cavity and the intracavity beam passes substantially without loss within the cavity. In a preferred application, a sample is placed in the cavity and a detector is provided to sense chemicals in the sample by, for example, detecting Raman-scattered light. A wavelength-determining element such as a grating or an etalon is preferably in the incident beam path between the laser and the cavity.

Abstract: In a system in which a non-random, noise-free signal is disturbed by random noise, one first determines a way to measure the difference between two signals, and one also selects a measure of complexity for signals. Based on a series of discrete values of the noisy signal, a compression processor generates a series of compressed signals representing the noisy signal, each within a corresponding error or loss tolerance of the discrete values of the noisy signal. An optimization processor applies the various loss tolerance values to the compression processor and then evaluates the relative complexity of the corresponding compressed signals. The optimization processor then determines an optimal knee point loss tolerance, below which the complexity of the compressed signals rises rapidly. For continued filtering of the noisy signal, the compression processor compresses the noisy signal using the optimal knee point loss tolerance.

Abstract: A container for plastic bags has a mainly flat rear mounting portion for attachment to a supporting surface, two opposing, partially curved side walls, and a bottom portion. The top of the container is open. A slit extends vertically between the side walls, which extend toward each other opposite the mounting portion. A user can insert bags into the container through the open top and press them down to the bottom of the container. The user's wrist thereby fits in the slit between the side walls. Bags can be removed from the container by pulling them out through the slit.

Abstract: Pulses of ultrasound are focused in the patient's body to create an interrogation volume where a characteristic of blood flow is to be measured. The bandwidth of the back-scattered Doppler return signal is measured. In order to measure flow velocity independent of direction, the interrogation volume is generated substantially as a sphere in which the range dimension is set equal to the lateral dimensions (azimuth and elevation) of the interrogation signal. The Doppler bandwidth is then scaled to provide a direction-independent measurement of flow velocity. In order to determine the direction of flow, the interrogation volume is generated substantially as an ellipsoid. The long axis of the ellipsoidal interrogation volume is then rotated until the measured Doppler bandwidth is at a minimum, which is reached when the long axis is aligned with the flow direction.

Abstract: Pulses of ultrasound are focused in the patient's body to create an interrogation volume where either the magnitude of velocity or the direction of blood flow is to be measured. The strength of the back-scattered signal is measured for each pulse and the mean squared rate of change of the envelope of the range-gated signal is estimated. In order to measure flow velocity independent of direction, the interrogation volume is generated substantially as a sphere by creating an ultrasonic wave envelope in which the components of the mean square spatial gradient are equal in all directions. The estimated mean square rate of change of the envelope of the back-scattered signal is then scaled to provide a direction-independent measurement of flow velocity. In order to determine the direction of flow, the interrogation volume is generated substantially as an ellipsoid.

Abstract: A system for measuring fluid flow within a conduit, such as blood flow from the heart, includes a heating element that is driven so as to apply heat to the fluid at an upstream position as a series of periodic heat signals. A temperature sensor located downstream measures a local temperature of the fluid and generates an electrical fluid temperature signal corresponding to the local temperature. This signal is then applied to a dispersive filter, which outputs a pulse-like signal in the presence of each periodic heat signal. Fluid flow is then calculated by a processor as a function of the area under an estimated impulse response curve for the channel in which the fluid flows. Each periodic heat signal is preferably sinusoidal and has an instantaneous frequency that varies substantially continuously between a first frequency and a second frequency over a pre-determined active input signal period.

Abstract: A device and method for noninvasive depth-selective detection and characterization of surface phenomena in organic and biological material such as tissues by surface measurement of the electrical impedance of the material. The device includes a probe with a plurality of measuring electrodes separated by a control electrode. Measuring equipment measures impedance in a desired frequency range. An adjustable amplifier maintains a chosen control signal derived from the potential of one of the measuring electrodes at the control electrode without loading the measuring electrode. Depth selectivity is achieved by controlling the extension of the electric field in the vicinity of the measuring electrodes by the control electrode actively driven with the same frequency as the measuring electrodes.

Abstract: A medicine inhaler has a main body, to which a source of pressurized gas and a source of medicine are attached. By depressing a valve, compressed air enters an ejector through a main channel and atomizes medicine that is drawn into an atomization region by the compressed air. When a piston is in a lower position, into which it is biased by a spring, medicine is free to run into a dosage chamber but is sealed off from an ejection channel and the environment. When the piston is forced upward by compressed air tapped from the main channel, the dosage chamber is sealed off from the medicine source before the dosage chamber is raised to a position in which it communicates with the ejection chamber. When the piston returns to the lower position it generates a secondary puff of air, which enters the main channel to atomize and force residual medicine to the patient. A return channel is also provided to return post-atomized and condensed or improperly atomized medicine to the dosage chamber.

Abstract: A spaghetti tool has a shaft that has a grippable portion and a base portion, which is located at a first end the shaft and from which protruding elements extend. In one embodiment, the shaft forms a substantially semi-cylindrical channel into which uncooked spaghetti can be laid. Markings on the inner wall of the shaft, corresponding to the height to which the uncooked spaghetti reaches in the channel, indicate the amount of spaghetti so that the correct amount of uncooked spaghetti can be measured out to yield a desired amount of cooked spaghetti. The markings can be letters or numbers to indicate either the number of portions or a numerical quantity corresponding, for example, to spaghetti weight. In another embodiment, the protruding elements are of substantially constant length and are arranged in parallel rows and/or columns with predetermined row/column separations.