Abstract: A method of forming a composite titanium body for use in forming spinal implant interbodies includes selecting a metal alloy body, carving out a top portion and a bottom portion from the metal alloy body, and bonding a porous material to the carved-out top and bottom portions. Multiple pieces may be cut from the composite titanium body, each having a front face formed of the metal alloy, top and bottom portions formed of the porous material, and with a medial portion of the metal alloy extending from the front face to the back. Methods and devices for spinal interbodies having locking mechanisms to prevent bone screw back-out are also described.

Abstract: A silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor with a wide-bandgap III-V compound semiconductor drain and a method for fabricating the same are disclosed. The method fabricates a hundred nanometer-scale hole in a (100) silicon substrate to expose the (111) facet of the silicon substrate, which favors to use selective area growth to form lattice matched III-V materials with high quality.

Abstract: The present application provides expandable chemical diverting agents, such as flexible polyurethanes and swellable hydrogels, or chemical precursors thereof. Methods of using these expandable diverting agents for treating a subterranean formation are also provided. An example of subterranean formation treatment process described in the present application is wellbore stimulation, such as hydraulic fracturing or matrix acid treatment.

Abstract: Described herein is a cost-effective and time-efficient method for producing photochromic contact lenses, in particular, preferably photochromic silicone hydrogel contact lenses, from a polymerizable composition comprising an unique selection and combination of main polymerizable components, a photochromic compound and a visible-light photoinitiator, based on the Lightstream Technology™. This invention also provides photochromic contact lenses or more preferably photochromic silicone hydrogel contact lenses made according to a method of the invention. A photochromic contact lens of the invention is capable of undergoing a reversible color change upon exposure to UV-irradiation or high-energy-violet light (HEVL) (with wavelengths from 380 nm to 440 nm).

Abstract: A low-cost single-layer mobile touch-screen is disclosed, including a highly sensitive capacitive sensing circuit, and a corresponding finger 3D position estimation and gesture recognition algorithms compatible with mobile device platforms and that can be readily programmed into the mobile device's application processor.

Abstract: A system and method of wellbore operations that forms notches into a subterranean formation that circumscribes a wellbore prior to fracturing the formation. The notches extend past the hoop stress regime that surrounds the wellbore so that fractures formed by fracturing are oriented in a designated plane. In one example, a fluid jet is used to form the notches, and which is discharged from a nozzle that rotates about a downhole tool. The nozzle is set in a sleeve that is rotatable about the downhole tool, and pressurized fluid is delivered to a plenum disposed on an inner surface of the sleeve. The nozzle is oriented oblique to a radius of the sleeve, so that the fluid being discharged from the nozzle generates a force that rotates the sleeve.

Abstract: Dissolving iron sulfide on the carbon steel tubing to yield chelated iron is achieved by treating the carbon steel tubing with a composition including an iron chelant and an additive. The additive includes at least one of an oxidizing agent and a base. A weight ratio of the iron chelant to the additive is in a weight range of 50:1 to 5:1.

Abstract: A matrix stimulation tool includes a cylindrical tube; at least one piston disposed within the cylindrical tube and longitudinally moveable within the cylindrical tube; and at least one hollow tube coupled to the piston, the hollow tube including a distal end disposed within a hole disposed within a wall of the cylindrical tube. Movement of the piston within the cylindrical tube causes movement of the distal end of the at least one hollow tube through the hole.

Abstract: Described herein is a cast-molding process for producing contact lenses in a relatively-short curing time from a lens-forming composition, which comprises (a) at least one thiol-containing compound or component, (b) at least one metal scavenger, and (c) at least one free radical scavenger and which has a pH of from about 2.5 to about 5. The addition of a chain-transfer agent into a lens-forming composition can reduce not only the curing time of the lens-forming composition but also reduce the elastic modulus of resultant crosslinked materials (e.g., contact lenses) from the lens-forming composition. The lower pH and the addition of metal scavenger and the free radical scavenger into the lens-forming composition can ensure that the lens-forming composition to have a shelf life of at least three days.

Abstract: A matrix stimulation tool includes a cylindrical tube; at least one piston disposed within the cylindrical tube and longitudinally moveable within the cylindrical tube; and at least one hollow tube coupled to the piston, the hollow tube including a distal end disposed within a hole disposed within a wall of the cylindrical tube. Movement of the piston within the cylindrical tube causes movement of the distal end of the at least one hollow tube through the hole.

Abstract: The invention is generally related to a soft contact lens which comprises a hydrogel lens body and a coating thereon and to a method for producing the same. The hydrogel lens body is composed of a crosslinked polymeric material comprising repeating units of at least one arylborono-containing vinylic monomer having a boronic acid group, and the coating comprises a layer of a phosphorylcholine-containing polymer which comprises (a) repeating units of vinyl alcohol, and (b) repeating units of 6-membered acetal ring substituted with a phosphorylcholine-containing group. The coating is covalently-attached to the hydrogel lens body through cyclic boronic ester linkages each formed between one of the boronic acid groups of the crosslinked polymeric material and one of the 1,2-diol and 1,3-diol moieties of the phosphorylcholine-containing polymer.

Abstract: An intervertebral cage with an outer frame, an open inner core region and a porosity gradient within the outer frame is provided. The outer frame includes a posterior wall, an anterior wall, a pair of side walls extending between the posterior wall and the anterior wall and the porosity gradient may comprise at least one of: a decreasing average pore diameter in a direction from an outer surface to an inner surface of at least one of the pair of side walls; an increasing average pore diameter in a direction from an outer surface to an inner surface of at least one of the pair of side walls; a decreasing average pore diameter in a direction from an upper surface to a lower surface of at least one of the side walls; and an increasing average pore diameter in a direction from an upper surface to a lower surface of at least one of the side walls.

Abstract: We have demonstrated that the bandwidth millimeter wavelengths offer can be leveraged to deeply spread a low-data rate signal below the thermal floor of the environment (sub-thermal) by lowered transmit power combined with free space losses, while still being successfully received through a novel dispreading structure which does not rely on pre-detection to extract timing information. The demonstrated data link ensures that it cannot be detected beyond a designed range from the transmitter, while still providing reliable communication. A demonstration chipset of this sub-thermal concept was implemented in a 28 nm CMOS technology and when combined with an InP receiver was shown to decode signals up to 30 dB below the thermal noise floor by spreading a 9600 bps signal over 1 GHz of RF bandwidth from 93 to 94 GHz using a 64 bit spreading code. The transmitter for this chipset consumed 62 mW while the receiver consumed 281 mw.

Abstract: A hydraulic fracturing fluid for use in oilfield applications, where hydraulic fracturing fluid includes a spherical bead-forming liquid composition, the spherical bead-forming liquid composition comprising a micellar forming surfactant, a bead-forming compound, a non-solids bearing liquid solvent, a pH control agent, and a curing agent.

Abstract: A method for monitoring pitting corrosion of a production tubing in a hydrocarbon well under downhole conditions during a production process using a coupon segment, the method comprising the steps of placing the coupon segment in the hydrocarbon well at a placement depth, the coupon segment is exposed to produced fluids and comprises an outer layer, an inner layer, and a hollow middle layer comprises a tracer fluid operable to leak into the produced fluids when pitting corrosion penetrates the outer layer, operating the production process in the hydrocarbon well such that produced fluids flow through the production tubing to a surface of the hydrocarbon well and wherein the produced fluids contact the coupon segment such that pitting corrosion occurs on the coupon segment; obtaining a sample of the produced fluids at the surface of the hydrocarbon well; and measuring an amount of the tracer fluid in the sample.

Abstract: A silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor with a wide-bandgap III-V compound semiconductor drain and a method for fabricating the same are disclosed. The method fabricates a hundred nanometer-scale hole in a (100) silicon substrate to expose the (111) facet of the silicon substrate, which favors to use selective area growth to form lattice matched III-V materials with high quality.

Abstract: The invention is related to a method for producing silicone medical devices, in particular, silicone contact lenses, having consistent mechanical properties in a cost-effective manner. The invention is also related to a silicone medical device, especially a soft silicone contact lens.

Abstract: The invention is related to a class of hydrophilic poly(meth)acrylamide-based copolymers each comprising dangling (i.e., pendant) reactive chains each terminated with a carboxyl group groups and at least 50% by mole of (meth)acrylamide repeating units relative to all repeating units of the hydrophilic poly(meth)acrylamide-based copolymer. The hydrophilic copolymers have a relatively high affinity to a base coating of a polyanionic polymer on a medical device or contact lens and are highly reactive towards azetidinium groups of an azetidinium-containing polymer upon heating. They can find particular use in producing water-soluble highly-branched hydrophilic polymeric material and in producing water gradient contact lenses.

Abstract: The invention is generally related to a soft contact lens which comprises a hydrogel lens body and a coating of a hydrophilic copolymer thereon and to a method for producing the same. The hydrogel lens body comprises or is made of a polymeric material having 1,2- and/or 1,3-diol moieties, and the hydrophilic copolymer comprises arylborono-containing repeating units each having a boronic acid group. The coating is covalently-attached to the hydrogel lens body through cyclic boronic ester linkages each formed between one boronic acid group and one 1,2-diol or 1,3-diol group. The soft contact lens has a surface lubricity higher than the surface lubricity of the lens body.

Abstract: An intervertebral cage with an outer frame, an open inner core region and a porosity gradient within the outer frame is provided. The outer frame includes a posterior wall, an anterior wall, a pair of side walls extending between the posterior wall and the anterior wall and the porosity gradient may comprise at least one of: a decreasing average pore diameter in a direction from an outer surface to an inner surface of at least one of the pair of side walls; an increasing average pore diameter in a direction from an outer surface to an inner surface of at least one of the pair of side walls; a decreasing average pore diameter in a direction from an upper surface to a lower surface of at least one of the side walls; and an increasing average pore diameter in a direction from an upper surface to a lower surface of at least one of the side walls.