Abstract: A compression staple system for bone fixation may include a first drill, configured to create a first hole in a bone, and a drill guide. The drill guide may include a handle, a foot portion coupled to the handle, a first guide sleeve slidably received in the foot portion and including a first aperture configured to guide the first drill towards the bone, and a second guide sleeve slidably received in the foot portion and including a second aperture configured to guide the first drill towards the bone. The first guide sleeve and the second guide sleeve may have a first compression spring configured to bias the first guide sleeve away from the foot portion and towards the bone, and a second compression spring configured to bias the second guide sleeve away from the foot portion and towards the bone.

Abstract: Systems and related methods for preparing and treating damage in an ankle joint. The system may include one or more of a reamer, a surgical device, a tibial implant, a placement tool, and a talar implant. The reamer may prepare an intramedullary canal for implantation of an implant. The reamer may include a plurality of nested reamer elements that may be expanded into the intramedullary canal. The surgical device may include a housing containing the reamer and be configured to orient the reamer with the intramedullary canal. The tibial implant may include a plurality of stem components. The placement tool may be configured to combine the plurality of stem components. The talar implant may be configured to be implanted in a talus.

Abstract: Systems and related methods for preparing and treating damage in an ankle joint. The system may include one or more of a reamer, a surgical device, a tibial implant, a placement tool, and a talar implant. The reamer may prepare an intramedullary canal for implantation of an implant. The reamer may include a plurality of nested reamer elements that may be expanded into the intramedullary canal. The surgical device may include a housing containing the reamer and be configured to orient the reamer with the intramedullary canal. The tibial implant may include a plurality of stem components. The placement tool may be configured to combine the plurality of stem components. The talar implant may be configured to be implanted in a talus.

Abstract: An expandable intervertebral implant includes a superior plate having a proximal end, an opposing distal end, and a threaded first hole. An inferior plate has a proximal end, an opposing distal end, and a first bore, the inferior plate at least partially bounding an elongated channel that communicates with the first bore. A first lift screw includes a gear wheel rotatably received within the first bore of the inferior plate and a threaded stem projecting from the gear wheel and being threaded into the first hole of the superior plate. A drive screw is rotatably disposed within the channel of the inferior plate, the drive screw having a worm that engages with the gear wheel such that rotation of the drive screw facilitates rotation of the first lift screw which in turn facilitates movement of the superior plate relative to the inferior plate.

Abstract: A green ceramic composition comprising (i) ceramic particles, (ii) a synthetic polymeric binder, the synthetic polymeric binder having (a) monomeric units deriving from a soft monomer, (b) monomeric units deriving from a hard non-acidic monomer, (c) monomeric units deriving from an acidic monomer, and (d) monomeric units deriving from a hydroxy-functionalized monomer, and (iii) water.

Abstract: An expandable intervertebral implant includes a superior plate having a proximal end, an opposing distal end, and a threaded first hole. An inferior plate has a proximal end, an opposing distal end, and a first bore, the inferior plate at least partially bounding an elongated channel that communicates with the first bore. A first lift screw includes a gear wheel rotatably received within the first bore of the inferior plate and a threaded stem projecting from the gear wheel and being threaded into the first hole of the superior plate. A drive screw is rotatably disposed within the channel of the inferior plate, the drive screw having a worm that engages with the gear wheel such that rotation of the drive screw facilitates rotation of the first lift screw which in turn facilitates movement of the superior plate relative to the inferior plate.

Abstract: Two shot injection molding processes are disclosed for making thermoplastic parts of two different compositions, the second shot composition having a higher thermal conductivity than the first, and the mold cavity surface temperature is greater than 70° C., preferably 70-100° C. In embodiments, the cavity surface temperature is within 20° C. of the Vicat temperature for the composition being injected, the cavity pressure is between 20 and 150 MPa, and the melt temperature of the second shot material is 200-400° C., or 250-340° C. The resulting molded part provides for improved thermal conductivity between the two molded compositions.

Abstract: A thermoforming trim press has one or more connecting arms for driving a movable platen, each arm having a pivotal connection between two adjacent sections of each connecting arm which is normally locked during normal press operation whereby the movable platen is able to move further back from a normal retracted position to increase the available clearance when changing or maintaining tools mounted on the movable platen. The pivoting ability of the connecting arm sections also simplifies adjusting the stroke of the press. A counterweight may be driven by the crank pins to match the press stroke adjustments and to thereby correspond the movement of the counterweight to the movement of the movable platen.

Abstract: A suturer may include a base mechanism. The base mechanism may include a first arm having a first driving member. The base mechanism may include a second arm having a second driving member. The suturer may be configured to selectively pass a needle from an enclosed position within the first arm to an enclosed position within the second arm.

Abstract: A thermoforming trim press has one or more connecting arms for a movable platen which each have a pivotal connection between the adjacent ends of two adjacent sections into which each connecting arm is divided. The pivotal connection is normally locked to keep the sections in end to end alignment during normal press operation, but can be released to allow pivoting between the sections to be able to draw the movable platen further back from the normal retracted position to increase the available clearance when changing or maintaining tools mounted on the movable platen. The pivoting ability of the connecting arm sections also simplifies adjusting the stroke of the press while this is normally done by relocating a crank pin on flywheels driving the connecting arms. The change of position does not affect the movable platen when the arm sections may pivot with respect to each other allowing relocating the crank pins to adjust the stroke without requiring disassembling of the crank pins.

Abstract: A customer satisfaction prediction tool is usable to determine a point value for each of a plurality of leading and lagging service indicators associated with a plurality of service cases. The leading indicators may be based on currently open service cases and the lagging indicators may be based on closed service cases. The tool also is usable to add together the point values to produce a total point value, compute an index score based on the total point value, and display the computed index scores.

Abstract: A suturer may include a base mechanism. The base mechanism may include a first arm and a second arm. The suturer may be configured to selectively pass a needle from an enclosed position within the first arm to an enclosed position within the second arm.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a novel process for the preparation of specific sterically hindered nitroxyl ethers from their corresponding sterically hindered nitroxyl radicals by reacting it with an aldehyde and a hydroperoxide. This nitroxyl ether formation may be carried out from different starting nitroxyl radicals, which are subsequently further reacted to the desired compounds. The compounds prepared by this process are effective as stabilizers for polymers against harmful effects of light, oxygen and/or heat and as flame-retardants for polymers.

Abstract: A drive system for double toggle mechanisms used to move upper and lower platens with an electric servo motor-gear box drive shaft driving a crank arm arranged to drive a respective double toggle mechanism in turn connected to the platen. The drive shaft axis is located below the toggle mechanism link pivots and driven in a direction so that the motor acts to assist the double toggle mechanism in lifting the platen, reducing the servo motor peak load. The various components are arranged for symmetrical loading of the pivots concerning the toggle links to increase the evenness of the platen when being raised or lowered.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a novel process for the preparation of specific sterically hindered nitroxyl ethers from their corresponding sterically hindered nitroxyl radicals by reacting it with an aldehyde and a hydroperoxide. This nitroxyl ether formation may be carried out from different starting nitroxyl radicals, which are subsequently further reacted to the desired compounds. The compounds prepared by this process are effective as stabilizers for polymers against harmful effects of light, oxygen and/or heat and as flame-retardants for polymers.

Abstract: A drive system for double toggle mechanisms used to move upper and lower platens with an electric servo motor-gear box drive shaft driving a crank arm arranged to drive a respective double toggle mechanism in turn connected to the platen. The drive shaft axis is located below the toggle mechanism link pivots and driven in a direction so that the motor acts to assist the double toggle mechanism in lifting the platen, reducing the servo motor peak load. The various components are arranged for symmetrical loading of the pivots concerning the toggle links to increase the evenness of the platen when being raised or lowered.

Abstract: A system and method are provided to allow demand loading and discarding of Java executable image (JXE) files. The virtual machine allocates an address space for a requested JXE program. The read-only portion of the JXE file is memory mapped from its nonvolatile location to the allocated memory space using read-only mapping and the read/write section of the JXE file are loaded into memory. When a page of the JXE program is needed, a page fault occurs if the read-only portion has not been loaded into memory. The operating system's page fault handler retrieves the needed page(s) from the nonvolatile storage location based upon the mapping data that resulted from the previously performed memory mapping. Because the read-only section of the JXE file is memory mapped using read-only mapping, the operating system's paging process is free to discard previously loaded memory pages that contain read-only portions of the JXE file.

Abstract: A wheeled vehicle includes a front steered wheel, a rear driven wheel, and a support member that supports a rider. A main structural tube is disposed substantially horizontally along a longitudinal axis for supporting the front steered wheel at a forward end of the main structural tube, for supporting the rear driven wheel at a rear end of the main structural tube, and for supporting a rider who controls and steers the wheeled vehicle. An improved torsion acting shock absorbing mount is disclosed for the cantilevered shock absorbing support of at least one of the vehicle wheels from the frame. The torsion acting shock absorber includes a square sectioned metal tube, a correspondingly square sectioned metal shaft, and confined compressible resilient compound rods acting there between. The torsion acting shock absorber is attached at right angles to the main structural tube.

Abstract: Provided is a method for managing sets of OSGi bundles in a manner that enables a developer to control the order in which bundles are activated, both within and among OSGi start levels. Also provided is a method for eliminating multiple instances of the OSGi class loaders that are typically generated for each bundle. A bundle consolidator tool is provided that combines multiple bundles in a set of bundles into a master bundle that appears to the OSGi framework to be a single bundle. An activator method enables the developer to specify the order in which individual bundles are initiated and terminated. In addition, a single class loader thread is employed to activate the individual bundles. The bundle consolidator tool also analyzes the target bundles for name space collisions and, in the event a collision is detected, the tool is programmed to modify byte codes to eliminate the collision.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for providing GPS pseudorange correction and carrier phase correction information for navigation or surveying activities over a selected geographic region S of arbitrary size. In a navigation mode, a virtual reference station (VRS), positioned near a selected location L, receives differential GPS (DGPS) correction signals, translates these signals into a selected format, and broadcasts this DGPS information in this format for use by a local user. In a survey mode, the VRS receives corrected GPS information, translates this information into a selected format and broadcasts this translated and corrected GPS information and the VRS location, for use by a mobile station in forming a baseline vector from the GPS mobile station to the VRS location.