Abstract: A catheter system includes a catheter sheath and a flexible working shaft within a working lumen of the sheath. The sheath includes a monorail-type guidewire lumen at its distal end, and a stiffening member is provided adjacent a side port of the monorail guidewire lumen to inhibit prolapse of the catheter as it is introduced past a bend or curve over a guidewire. In a first embodiment, the stiffening member may be secured directly within a working lumen of the catheter body. In a second embodiment, the stiffening member may be attached to a distal end of the working shaft, typically an imaging core.

Abstract: A display panel testing apparatus, for observing large areas of a test panel, including an electro-optical element having optical properties that change to form images when an electric field is impressed thereon. The electro-optical element has a first surface facing a test panel that forms the electric field. The first surface and the test panel having a gap therebetween. The display panel testing apparatus also includes a light receptor for receiving the images from the electro-optical element and in particular a second surface of the electro-optical element. The display panel testing apparatus further includes a movable stage and movable mirrors coupled to the movable stage. The movable mirrors are adjustable to direct desired portions of the images onto the light receptor from desired positions of the electro-optical element. The movable stage also allows the movable mirrors to be positioned over the desired portions of the electro-optical element to receive the images portions therefrom.

Abstract: Immortalized human bronchial epithelial and human mesothelial cell lines have been obtained. Various uses of these cell lines have been described.

Abstract: An improved image acquisition system allows the angular displacement between two detectors to be adjusted between 90.degree. and 180.degree. to reduce the imaging time for both 360.degree. and 180.degree. scans. A patient table is displaced vertically and horizontally from a lateral axis to allow the body of a patient to be positioned next to the detectors and to improve resolution.

Abstract: A programmable logic device is presented comprising a global interconnect array whose lines are fed via programmable multiplexers to two stacks of logic array blocks on its sides. The logic array blocks include CMOS look up table based logic modules that consume zero DC power. The global interconnect array lines are fed to the multiplexers in a specific pattern which maximizes routing flexibility and speed. The combination of low power logic array blocks and high performance global interconnect array allows for increased logic density at lower power consumption compared to prior art programmable logic array devices.

Abstract: A vehicle having a bed which is pivotal from a trash collection position to a trash dumping position. The bed is provided with inner walls for dividing the interior of the bed into three compartments, a central compartment for receiving paper and two side compartments for receiving, respectively, metal materials and glass materials. The central compartment has a push blade which forces paper materials rearwardly toward a rear access door. The blade carries two skimmer plates in respective side compartments for skimming the top piles of waste materials in the two side compartments. The bed is provided with rear side openings covered by doors which, when opened, allow materials to move out of the side compartments when the bed it tilted.

Abstract: A bipolar transistor and a PMOS device achieves improved performance through the use of borosilicate glass (BSG) as the sidewall spacer material. The sidewall spacer material also is used for injection of boron into adjacent substrate material for forming shallow p+ doped junctions. By using diffusion from the BSG to form and/or maintain (during subsequent processing) a bipolar base region, or a PMOS source and/or drain region, rather than ion implantation, a base region is formed which is both shallow and has a low sheet resistance.

Abstract: A circuit for reducing the number of times a character read-only memory (ROM) in a video display must be accessed in order to display outlined characters. For each pixel on a scan line in a character to be displayed the circuit outputs information on the current scan line and the scan lines above and below the current scan line. The pixels above and below the current pixel on the current scan line are summed and output as a single value. Thus, the number of accesses to the character ROM is reduced from three to two.

Abstract: The invention relates to a bipolar radio-frequency surgical instrument with a rigid tube shaft (11) and a working tip (12) which preferably has substantially the same cross-section as the adjoining part of the tube shaft (11) and is preferably centrally provided with at least one working electrode, such as a cutting electrode (13, 13") or a coagulating electrode (13') which can be energized with a radio-frequency voltage, and a neutral electrode (14) which preferably has a significantly larger surface. The working tip (12) is connected with the rigid tube shaft (11) near the distal end of the instrument in a hinged or flexible manner in such a way that the working tip (12) can be pivoted from a position which is axially aligned with the tube shaft (11) to a position which forms an angle relative to the tube shaft (11), and such that means (17, 18, 19) are provided to pivot and return the working tip (12).

Abstract: An apparatus to change and recondition a coolant of a car having a radiator, an engine block and a top hose connecting the radiator and the engine block. The apparatus having a valve to be received in the top hose. There is an inlet and an outlet pipe to be connected to the valve. A pump is connected to the inlet pipe and to the outlet pipe. There are tanks, each having an inlet and an outlet, to receive coolant from the pump and to supply coolant to the pump. These tanks also act to store reconditioned coolant and to receive coolant to be reconditioned. Valves direct coolant flow to one or other of the tanks as required. Using the apparatus coolant can be withdrawn from the radiator, pumped to a first or second tank, reconditioned in that tank, passed to the other of the two tanks and then returned to the engine block.

Abstract: A controller for model trains on a train track is provided. The controller transmits control signals between a rail of the track and earth ground, generating an electromagnetic field which extends for several inches around the track. A receiver in the locomotive can then pick up signals from this electromagnetic field.

Abstract: The orderly packing for a column for mass transfer between a trickling film (14) and a gas is made of alternately arranged layers (10, 20) of undulating foil material. Some of the layers (10) steer the trickling film towards one vertical edge (13) of the layers while the other layers (20) steer the trickling film away from that edge. Pairs of invention the layers are coupled by redirector elements (3) which form a liquid-conducting bridging-over to transfer edge-seeking liquid (15) on the one layer (10) at least partially to the associated neighboring layer (20).

Abstract: An apparatus for the dynamic positioning of an objective lens in an optical disk drive comprises a housing, a lens unit movable in a focusing and a tracking direction, a magnetic circuit mounted to the lens unit for creating a first magnetic field, a pair of current conducting coils mounted to the housing and arranged orthogonal to the first magnetic field, and a flexure for flexibly supporting the lens unit in the housing. An active region comprising at least half of the coil creates the second magnetic field in response to current passing therethrough to interact with the first magnetic field and apply a force to the lens unit. This efficient coil arrangement allows for a small, lightweight dual-purpose magnetic circuit which substantially reduces the weight of the lens positioning apparatus. The housing is a one-piece injection molded ceramic component which maximizes stiffness and minimizes weight to improve the performance of the apparatus.

Abstract: A pipeline control system is distributed over the functional units (15, 17, 20, 25) in a processor (10). Decoder logic (12) issues operations, each with an associated tag, to the functional units, with up to n operations allowed to be outstanding. The units execute the operations and report termination information back to the decoder logic, but do not irrevocably change the state of the machine. Based on the termination information, the decoder logic retires normally terminated operations in order. If an operation terminates abnormally, the decoder logic instructs the units to back out of those operations that include and are later than the operation that terminated abnormally.

Abstract: An insertion device for a series-shed loom having a rotor including combs (2) and shedding members for guiding the warp threads (3) over a predetermined angular region for shedding. The insertion device has a laying bar (10) with recesses (24) to guide the warp thread (3). It is moved to and fro parallel to the rotor by a drive mechanism for inserting the warp threads (3) into the shedding members on the rotor. Each laying bar (10) is associated with a guide bar (25) for deflecting the warp thread (3) for aligning it with the recess (24) in the laying bar (10). As a result the laying bar (10) is advantageously relieved of most of the warp thread tension and only directs the warp just parallel to the rotor. The laying bar (10) may consequently have a low mass.

Abstract: Real time in-process data is collected to determine the contour and position of the interface between dissimilar layers of material. A control system is automatically programmed, based on the determined contour and position of the interface, to autonomously control the trajectory of a cutter through a conventional motion control system to separate the dissimilar layers of material. The motion control system controls the cutter movement through, for example, a conventional linear motion device including a servomotor, lead screw, and slidable carriage that holds the cutter.

Abstract: An apparatus for recording information about the angular motion of a rotatable disk disposed in a first structure is provided. The disk has regions with differing properties with respect to electromagnetic energy. The apparatus includes first means for emitting a first sequence of electromagnetic energy pulses in a first direction toward the disk. The first emitting means are mounted on the first structure adjacent a first side of the disk. The apparatus also includes second means for emitting a second sequence of electromagnetic energy pulses in a second direction toward the disk, the second emitting means also being mounted on the first structure adjacent the first side of the disk. The first and second directions are such that the first and second sequences of electromagnetic energy pulses reflect from the first side of the disk in different areas, the areas being separated in the direction of rotation of the disk.

Abstract: This invention relates to a method for forming, and constructs of, bonded composites of single crystal materials. The method comprises the steps of optically contacting the surfaces of the single crystal materials selected to form an assembly, bonding the surfaces by gradually heating the assembly to a temperature and for a duration sufficient to diffusion bond the surfaces, and cooling the bonded assembly at a rate which avoids thermal shock and allows the removal of stress by annealing. No bonding agents are necessary. Moreover, since the bonding temperature does not have to reach the substances' melting or fusing temperature, minimal distortion and displacement of the surfaces results.

Abstract: A method of cleaning photographic apparatus comprises contacting the apparatus with an aqueous composition containing a peroxo compound chosen from one or more of:(a) an ionic peroxide of the formula M.sub.x O.sub.2, where M is a single charged cation and x is 2, or M is a double charged cation and x is 1, or(b) a peroxo acid of sulfur, phosphorous, carbon or boron, or a salt thereof, or(c) hydrogen peroxide, or a substance that contain hydrogen peroxide.Preferably the composition also contains acid, and/or at least one catalyst or accelerator compound. The peroxo compound may be one or more of: an ionic peroxide chosen from an alkali metal, alkaline earth metal, or ammonium, peroxide, or a peroxo acid chosen from peroxodisulfuric acid, peroxomonosulfuric acid, peroxodicarbonic acid, peroxodiphosphonic acid, per-organic acids, or a salt thereof. A preferred peroxo compound is a persulfate salt. The invention also concerns a formulation for cleaning photographic equipment.

Abstract: A three-axis force measurement stylus includes a housing and a cartridge and an interface between the housing and the cartridge wherein the interface comprises a plurality of pressure sensitive sheets, preferably of variable resistance pressure sensitive Mylar films which sense the force between the cartridge and the housing. The cartridge and the housings are disposed at a skew angle relative to the axis of the stylus to be able to sense forces in three dimensions. In a specific embodiment, the cartridge forms a conical section which mates with a complimentary conical section of the housing. Membranes of the force sensitive material are provided along three fingers from an apex of the conical section. The cartridge is preloaded against the conical section by a spring between the housing and the cartridge. Alternatively to the force sensitive film, a sheet of a piezoelectric pressure-sensitive material may be substituted.