An end effector for a surgical clip applier includes a body having, a clip revolver rotatably coupled within a bore of the body and containing one or more surgical clips, a torsion member constrained between the body and the clip revolver to exert rotational force on the clip revolver, and a clip advancer that is slidingly coupled within an inner bore of the clip revolver. The inner bore of the clip revolver includes a plurality of grooves in which the clip advancer may translate. The clip advancer aligns with a distal-most surgical clip as it travels within a first of the grooves. The torsion member rotates the clip revolver as the clip advancer travels distally from the first groove so that the clip advancer travels into a second groove of the grooves, such that the clip advancer is in alignment with a second distal-most surgical clip.

Minimally invasive surgical (MIS) instruments are often preferred over traditional open surgical devices due to reduced post-operative recovery time and minimal scarring. Endoscopic surgery is one type of MIS procedure in which an elongate flexible shaft is introduced into the body of a patient through a natural orifice. Laparoscopic surgery is another type of MIS procedure in which one or more small incisions are formed in the abdomen of a patient and a trocar is inserted through the incision to form a pathway that provides access to the abdominal cavity. Through the trocar (i.e., a trocar cannula), a variety of instruments and surgical tools can be introduced into the abdominal cavity to engage and/or treat tissue in a number of ways to achieve a diagnostic or therapeutic effect.
One surgical instrument commonly used with a trocar is a surgical clip applier, which can be used to ligate blood vessels, ducts, shunts, or portions of body tissue during surgery. Traditional surgical clip appliers have a handle and an elongate shaft extending from the handle. A pair of movable opposed jaws is positioned at the end of the elongate shaft for holding and forming a surgical clip or "ligation clip" therebetween. In operation, a user (e.g., a surgeon or clinician) positions the jaws around the vessel or duct and squeezes a trigger on the handle to close the jaws and thereby collapse the surgical clip over the vessel.
More recently, however, robotic systems have been developed to assist in MIS procedures. Instead of directly engaging a surgical instrument, users are now able to manipulate and engage surgical instruments via an electronic interface communicatively coupled to a robotic manipulator. With the advances of robotic surgery, a user need not even be in the operating room with the patient during the surgery.
Robotic surgical systems are also now capable of utilizing robotically controlled clip appliers. Such clip appliers include features for robotically feeding and forming surgical clips. Advances and improvements to the methods and devices for applying surgical clips to vessels, ducts, shunts, etc. is continuously in demand to make the process more efficient and safe.

Biased-track revolver loading surgical clip applier


A current limiting circuit (200, 300, 400) for instantaneously limiting the peak current of a fast high side power switch (212) or power FET has a reference switch (213) or FET, a first comparator (218), a current source I.sub.CL, control circuitry (209), and a clamping circuit (238). The reference FET (213) is smaller than the power FET (212). The first comparator compares the voltage drop across the power FET (212) and compares it with the voltage drop across the reference FET (213) and produces a signal COMPOUT which initiates the turn-off of the power FET (212) if the voltage drop across the power FET (212), caused by a load current flowing through it, is greater than or equal to the reference FET voltage drop induced by I.sub.CL. The clamp circuit (238), having diodes (D.sub.1, D.sub.2) and a tracking current source I'.sub.CL, disconnects the FETS (212, 213) from the comparator (218) when they are OFF. The circuit (200, 300, 400) may also have a second comparator (250) which protects the power switch (212) from a short circuit condition in the circuit (200, 300, 400).

In integrated circuits, control circuitry is often integrated with the power circuitry for protecting the switching elements from excessive current, voltage, temperature, etc. Two conventional current limiting circuits are the "Classic" power MOS circuit and the current mirror circuit.
Referring to FIG. 1, the "classic" power MOS circuit 10 having a MOS FET 12, a current-sense resistor (R.sub.S), an amplifier 16 with fixed gain (A.sub.I), a comparator 18, a lowpass filter 20 and a flip flop 22 is shown.
The classic circuit 10 is a "low-side" power switch since the switching circuitry 10 is located beneath a load 24 and between ground 26. R.sub.S carries the entire load current I.sub.L and senses the current. R.sub.S typically has a small sense resistance in order to minimize the power dissipated across the sense resistor, R.sub.S. The voltage is amplified by the amplifier 16 and input into the comparator 18 for comparison with a reference voltage, V.sub.CL. V.sub.CL is the current limit voltage and it is selected, knowing the resistance of R.sub.S, to correspond to the particular current limiting threshold so that when the voltage across R.sub.S is greater than or equal to V.sub.CL, the current limit circuit 10 cuts off further current flow though the FET 12. When the voltage across R.sub.S is greater than or equal to V.sub.CL, the comparator 18 outputs a signal 34 which the flip flop 22 responds to. The flip flop 22, in the example, is a Q flip flop. Thus if the signal out of the comparator 18 is high, Qout is low, and an invertor 36 inverts Qwhich shuts off the FET switch 12.
The signal out of the switch 12 is filtered by the low pass filter 20 prior to amplification in order to filter out any false current spikes which occur when a diode (not illustrated) from the load 24 is reverse biased. The diode does not shut off instantaneously and thus false current spikes are generated as the diode acts like a short circuit initially. If the spikes are not filtered then the comparator 18 may output incorrect comparison results.
While the circuit 10 is simple to construct, it has several disadvantages: a large amount of power is dissipated in R.sub.S ; in a fully internal current limit, the temperature coefficient T.sub.C of R.sub.S needs to be accounted for since the resistance of R.sub.S changes with temperature; and a lowpass filter 20, or a comparable device, is necessary to protect against false limit triggering during the recovery-time of the external catch diode.
In addition, since the reverse recovery time of conventional diodes falls within a range that covers usually more than an order of magnitude (e.g., between 25 nsec and 350 nsec), the attainable minimum pulse-width, during the current-mode operation, is limited to accommodate for poor diode recovery time. The longer the recovery time (diode), the more limited the smallest duration of ON time that can be controlled. Thus, the circuit 10 is slowed since the pulse-width has to be large enough to accommodate for the diode recovery time, and thus, the circuit is not well suited for use in fast circuits.
Referring to FIG. 2, a conventional sense-FET or current mirror circuit 50 having two MOS FETs 52, 53 in parallel is shown. The first MOS FET 52 is called the Power FET (or Power Switch) since it is larger than the second MOS FET 53, called the Sense FET. The FETS 52, 53 have the same characteristics since they are fabricated on the same silicon wafer. The current mirror circuit 50 is a low side power switch since the switch circuitry is below the load 64 and between ground 66. Unlike the classic circuit 10, the current mirror circuit 50 does not measure the current through the power switch 52. Rather, the load current IL is mirrored at a lower level through the sense FET 53. The current I.sub.S in the sense FET 53 is much smaller than the current I.sub.P in the power FET 52. However, since the two FETS 52, 53 have substantially the same characteristics, the devices are proportional to one another. The current I.sub.P in the power FET 52 can be determined if the sense FET current I.sub.S is known, since the two currents I.sub.P, I.sub.S are related to one another.
Using a sense FET 53 reduces the amount of power that is dissipated in R.sub.S because, although the sense FET 53 mimics the power FET current I.sub.P, it does so at a substantially lower magnitude of current than the power FET current IP; (e.g., I.sub.S is 0.05% of I.sub.P). Hence, R.sub.S only carries approximately 1/2000 to 1/10000 of the total power from the load 64. This is because the sense FET 53 is made substantially smaller than the Power FET 52.
The current in the sense FET I.sub.S is sensed and, filtered prior to being amplified by amplifier 56. The amplified signal is compared with a current limit voltage signal V.sub.CL in a comparator 58.
Again when the voltage dropped through R.sub.S is greater then V.sub.CL, the comparator 58 outputs a signal which triggers a flip flop 72; the signal out of the flip flop 72 is inverted by inverter 76 and the Power Switch 52 is switched OFF. The comparator 58 does not switch ON the power FET 52 until after the reverse recovery current moves through the power FET 52.
While, the current mirror circuit 50 alleviates the power dissipation problem in R.sub.S, the current mirror circuit 50 has the same disadvantages as the classic circuit 10. The circuit 50 also has the disadvantage of being nonlinear, which is undesirable in some applications. It is difficult to use this design in high-side switches because the point normally assumed to be ground or an unchanging potential in low-side switches is the point, in high-side switches, which is connected to the load, and thus the voltage continuously changes.
Reference is now made to FIG. 3 wherein the sense-FET current limit circuit 80 is used in a high-side switch. In the high-side switch, the sense FET circuit 80 is similar to the current mirror circuit 50, except that the sensing circuitry 80 is located above the load 94 and ground: the Power FET 82 and sense FET 83 are located between the power supply V.sub.S. Hence, V.sub.CL is referenced to the output of the power switch 82; not to ground as in the low-side switch 50.
In a high-side switch, the common mode input voltage 84, of the current amplifier 86 and the comparator 88 are tied to the output of the power switch 82 and thus, the common mode input voltage 84 is equivalent to the output of the power switch 82.
The disadvantage with this design is that the output of the power switch 82 moves at an extremely high speed of approximately 500-1000 V/.mu.sec between ground and V.sub.S during every on-off cycle.
In A 30A 30V DMOS Motor Controller and Driver, I.E.E.E. International Solid-State Circuits Conference (Feb. 18, 1988), a circuit for a current limiting operational amplifier having a sensing resistor and sense FET used in a FIG. 3-type configuration is believed to be illustrated. The circuit has a power FET and a sense FET and uses the voltage drop across a sensing resistor R.sub.s to sense the source current of the power FET. The circuit also has two comparator circuits, one being used when the power FET is ON and the other being used when the power FET is OFF.

Circuit for internal current limiting in a fast high side power switch


A system and method of facilitating packet transmission comprises a first node, a second node, and an intermediate node. The intermediate node receives a first packet, from the first node, determines a packet size, determines a maximum transmission unit (MTU) size, and determines whether the packet size is greater than the MTU size, sends a second packet to the first node specifying the MTU size to the first node. The first node records a destination mark at the first node, including the MTU size and an identifier of the second node, fragments the first packet into a plurality of fragmented packets, and sends each of the plurality of fragmented packets to the intermediate node. The intermediate node receives each of the plurality of fragmented packets, from the first node, and sends the fragmented packets to the second node.

As technology stands today, data transmission is an integral part of computer processing. Data is transmitted within individual devices to accomplish a variety of tasks for the individual devices. Likewise, data is transmitted between nodes, devices, processors, networks, gateways, and other sources, intermediaries and destinations. Technical limitations in data transmission exist, including protocol limits and physical limits. One such limit is the size of data packets being transmitted to any given node. To implement a successful data transmission, the data must be transmitted in packets that are an appropriate size. Often, this means that the data being transmitted to a receiving node cannot be so large that the receiving node is unable to receive and process the data. This size limitation is called the maximum transmission unit (MTU) size. For example, a particular link layer network protocol (e.g., Ethernet) may define an MTU size of 1500 bytes. If a data packet is too large, the data transmission can be negatively affected. For example, the data transmission may be interrupted, slowed, and/or fail entirely.

Packet size control using maximum transmission units for facilitating packet transmission


A transmission gear is comprised of a fitting portion of an upper toothed wheel being fit with a fitting portion of a lower toothed wheel so that both are axially movable. Accordingly, even in the event that a lid plate which has a disk introducing mechanism and a clamping chassis which has a clamping mechanism ascend or descend, certain power can be transmitted to a large gear (first gear) and a rotating cam (second gear) in a sure manner. Thus, the disk introducing mechanism and the disk discharging mechanism can both be driven with a single simple power transmitting mechanism. Also, the disk introducing operation and the disk discharging operation can be performed in a parallel manner, thereby reducing the amount of time required to exchange disks.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disk apparatus which performs transporting of disks such as CD or DVD disks using dedicated loading means and dedicated discharging means, and particularly to a power transmitting mechanism for a disk apparatus wherein the loading means and discharging means are driven by the same power.
2. Description of the Related Art
With known slot-insertion type disk devices, a transporting roller serving as a disk transporting means is provided near the rear plane of the insertion opening, and loading or discharging of the disk is performed by the feeding force of this transporting roller. Examples of such arrangements include a type wherein the disk is pinched between the aforementioned transporting roller and a slave roller provided parallel with the transporting roller, or an arrangement wherein the disk is pinched between the aforementioned transporting roller and a disk guide member provided on the ceiling plane or some other like position in the disk apparatus.
With known disk devices, the disk which has been inserted from the inserting opening is transported to a disk driving unit provided at the rear portion of the apparatus by means of the feeding force of the transporting roller rotating in the forward direction, whereby the disk is placed on a turntable within the disk driving unit. Then, as the disk transporting means escapes the disk, a clamper descends so that the disk is pinched between the clamper and the turntable. Next, a certain rotation is provided thereby by a spindle motor, following which the disk is played or recorded onto using a pick-up.
Also, when discharging the disk, the rotation of the spindle motor is stopped, the clamper rises so as to release the disk, and the disk is pinched once more by the disk transporting means as described above. Then, providing reverse rotation to the transporting roller discharges the disk from the disk driving unit, and further from the above-described inserting opening.
With such disk apparatuses as described above, a transporting roller is used, and the disk is loaded or discharged by rotating the transporting roller forwards or backwards. However, with known disk apparatuses, in the event of the user exchanging disks, any disk which was being played or recorded onto has to be externally discharged, and the new disk inserted into the disk apparatus, necessitating time for exchanging disks.
As one way for solving this problem, an arrangement may be conceived wherein the disk loading means and disk discharging means are separated, so that the disk loading means performs the action of introducing a new disk into the apparatus, and the disk discharging means performs the action of discharging the disk which is already loaded, thereby reducing the time required for exchanging disks. However, driving the disk loading means and discharging means with individual driving forces is problematic since the disk apparatus itself becomes complicated.

Power transmitting mechanism for disk apparatus


A polymeric tape intended for use underground near service lines with a biocide incorporated into the polymer. The biocide's presence in the tape after burial discourages vegetative, fungal or other biological growth near the tape. Specifically tree root growth destructive to pipes is prevented. The biocide is incorporated into the plastic tape or the plastic coating on the metallic layer of a detectable tape. The biocide is incorporated in an effective amount to have biocidal activity on the surface of the tape or in increased amounts which leach form the tape.

The detection of underground pipes and utility lines is a necessity when any construction work involving digging trenches is necessary. Many types of service lines such as telephone and telegraph cables, gas and sewer lines, electrical lines and water mains are located below the surface. It has become increasingly popular to utilize plastic pipe or plastic wrapped cables in this service. Also, ceramic and other nonmetallic materials such as concrete are used in underground service. The precise location of the nonmetallic lines cannot be determined by the metal detectors above ground used to locate metal pipe.
The problem of detection of non-metallic pipes has been addressed in several patents. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,115,861 a frangible colored body is laid underground over the buried service line. The colored body has a water insoluble color and has the benefit of being visible when contacted with solid during digging operations to warn the operator of the proximity of a service line. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,282,057 the use of a colored plastic tape laid over a service line when it was installed was disclosed. The plastic tape is colored and when it is pulled up by a digger, it provides a warning of the proximity of a buried line.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,504,503 a method was disclosed for locating underground lines of the construction discussed herein which included using a metallic foil with a moisture and soil resistant coating and a coloring to distinguish from the soil. The colored foil frangible body is laid over the service line. The benefit of the foil is that metal detectors can be used to locate the foil and thereby the location of the service line.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,633,533, a method to locate underground service lines is disclosed using a metal film coated with a colored plastic. The plastic is moisture and soil resistant. In an alternative embodiment a metallic wire is under the plastic coating. The plastic coated foil tape is used quite extensively. There are color codes for water, gas, electric, buried telephone and telegraph lines and other services. The tapes are printed with a cautionary message corresponding to the type of service line underlying the tape. U.S. Pat. 4,623,282 further discloses coloring of warning tapes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,699,838, discloses a reinforced polymer tape. The tape is strong and has good handling characteristics.
The use of polymeric or plastic tapes has generally been confined to detection of service lines. The tapes have not been used in the area of prevention of tree root damage and other biological damage to service lines.


A system and method for the extraction of a material, wherein the system is configured for use with a press assembly and the extraction system includes a press ram, a pressure vessel for holding the material to be extracted, a filter, bottom hot plate and a cooling plate. The extraction system a novel system and method for improved marijuana oil and rosin extraction and manufacturing.

Presses are machine tools that are able to change the shape of a workpiece by the application of pressure. Presses can be classified according to their mechanism: hydraulic, mechanical, pneumatic; their function: forging presses, stamping presses, press brakes, punch press, etc.; their structure; or their controllability.
Rosin refers to an extraction process that utilizes a combination of heat and pressure to nearly instantaneously squeeze resinous sap from an initial starting material. The term "rosin" originated as a method of making a product used to lubricate violin bows. Further, rosin is a sticky, stinky resin that comes from pine trees, and was sometimes known as unrefined turpentine. It's used in industrial processes and in some instances, baseball pitchers illegally use pine rosin to change ball dynamics.
Cannabis, also known as marijuana, also produces rosin, and may be extracted from a cured marijuana flower, bud, or hash. To remove the rosin from marijuana, a heat extraction method is typically used. Traditionally two methods have been used for extracting the oil from cannabis leaves. These methods include Butane Hash Oil (BHO) and CO2 extraction. In cannabis, the main compounds that producers are looking to extract are cannabinoids and terpenes—these compounds provide the aroma, flavor and effect of the final product. Fast extractions are possible with butane but little control of all the material, while CO2 can be tunable and therefore is able to collect all of the same material, just through a segmented process.
Butane Hash Oil, commonly referred to as BHO, is a type of cannabis concentrate made using butane as the main solvent. While a number of variables can determine the final consistency of BHO (mostly temperature), people use different names when referring to each of the different consistencies. Under this form of extraction, THC content can be as high as 80-90%. This makes BHO a popular choice for many medical marijuana patients suffering from chronic pain, sleep disorders, and other intractable symptoms. It is essential to make sure that the oil is lab tested for purity, as improperly purged BHO may contain traces of butane, pesticides, or other unhealthy ingredients or contaminants.
The carbon dioxide or CO2 method is dependent on turning CO2 into a supercritical liquid. This method uses carbon dioxide under high pressure and extremely low temperatures to isolate, preserve, and maintain the purity of the medicinal oil. This process is performed until the supercritical liquid form is achieved, at which point the carbon dioxide is able to act as a solvent. This solvent is then forced through an extraction vessel packed with granularly ground cannabis material. Although this process requires expensive equipment and a steep operational learning curve, it results in a product that is safe, potent, and free of chlorophyll.
These common practices of extracting the marijuana oil from the plant have proven to be time consuming, expensive, not always efficient and effective, and debatably most importantly not 100% natural—a characteristic important to the marijuana manufacturing business to produce an unblemished, chemical-free product.

System and method for the extraction of rosin oil


A display panel and a display module, the display panel includes a substrate. The display panel includes a display area and a non-display area; a switch array layer disposed on the substrate, the switch array layer includes a first metal layer and a second metal layer; an anode layer disposed on the switch array layer, the anode layer includes a first sub-portion positioned within the display area and a second sub-portion positioned within the non-display area; viscosity of material of the second sub-portion is greater than viscosity of material of the first sub-portion. The display panel and the display module of the invention can avoid detach of the anode layer, thereby improving electrical conductivity of the anode layer.

In the present display field, flexible organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) display panels are favored by industry for their low power consumption, fast response times, and bendability. The demand for flexible organic light-emitting diode display panels is increasing, and their prospects in the future are optimistic.
At present, OLED panels are encapsulated with an inorganic layer to block water and oxygen, and anode layer is a whole layer structure which extends to non-display area. A material structure of the current anode layer is indium tin oxide/silver/indium tin oxide. The anode layer of the non-display area and the inorganic layer for encapsulation are in direct contact.

WUHAN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS SEMICONDUCTOR DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


An Illumination device (100) for photodynamic therapy is provided, the illumination device comprising at least one electromagnetic radiation emitting unit (10), the at least one electromagnetic radiation emitting unit comprising at least one electromagnetic radiation source (1), the electromagnetic radiation source being configured to generate radiation for the irradiation of a region of an irradiation object in an illumination session, wherein the irradiation object is to be arranged at a predetermined object location (300), wherein the predetermined object location is arranged at a distance relative to a radiation output area (11) of the radiation emitting unit through which the radiation generated by the at least one electromagnetic radiation source exits the radiation emitting unit during operation of the illumination device (100).

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been widely studied and several approaches have been used successfully for treatment. In general, there are three requirements for PDT: a photosensitizer, molecular oxygen and light of a specific wavelength. For dermatological PDT usually a prodrug, for example aminolevulinic acid (ALA), is topically applied to the skin. Subsequently, the prodrug is then converted by the cells, e.g. by neoplastic cells, into the actual photosensitizer. The molecular mechanism of action in PDT is based on cellular ALA uptake, synthesis and accumulation of the photosensitizer, which can be excited by light of specific wavelengths leading to the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), upon the presence of oxygen. The ROS can initiate cell death, e.g. in the form of apoptosis, necrosis and autophagy.
However, one of the major issues that hinder broad acceptance of PDT by patients is the relatively high amount of pain perceived by the patients during the illumination which ranges from mild inconvenience to severe pain to a point where the treatment has to be aborted. In addition, although PDT is a highly effective treatment method, reoccurrence of some diseases like actinic keratosis is common and thus patients often, although having been successfully treated, later develop different lesions at different skin areas and again require medical intervention. Moreover, some patients are not completely cured after a single PDT session and require a second session. If the first PDT they received was very painful the chances of beginning or completing a second PDT are small despite the fact that it offers supreme efficacy compared to other therapy options. As a result, the acceptance of many patients to undergo treatment or re-treatment decreases. This of course has great negative implications for an individual PDT and PDT as a whole.
Nevertheless, PDT efficacy is also limited by any of the involved factors, i.e. photosensitizer, oxygen, and light. Reduced availability of any of these factors may hamper with ROS formation. Optimized pharmaceutical forms, pretreatments and incubation modalities can ensure proper and abundant deposition of the photosensitizer. Still, light has to reach a molecule in sufficient quantities and oxygen needs to be present as an energy acceptor.
In particular the light of the illumination at the appropriate wavelength to activate the respective photosensitizer needs to be made available at a sufficient dose. For topical applications, a frequently used photosensitizer is protoporphyrin IX (PpIX), mostly produced in skin cells by application of a precursor molecule, such as ALA. PpIX can be activated by light of a variety of different wavelengths of which red (approx. 635 nm), blue (approx. 420 nm), yellow (approx. 542 nm) or green (approx. 506 nm) light are most frequently used. Generally, a light dose received by a target, e.g. the treated skin, depends on three main factors. The irradiance provided by the illumination device, the distance between the target area and the illumination device, and the duration of the illumination.
The current practice is to apply the entire light dose within a short interval (for example ranging from 7 to 12 minutes with red light or 15-20 minutes with blue light). Usually, this approach is limited by the occurrence of pain. Moreover, photobleaching of the photosensitizer may occur to a greater extent at higher light intensities and may limit the treatment efficiency. Photobleaching describes the effect that the photosensitizer is inactivated by permanent disruption of its chemical structure, e.g. by cleavage of covalent bonds. This photobleaching effect may coincide with temporal oxygen depletion in the target tissue due to a massive initial reaction. This leads to a rapid decrease in oxygen, which is required for ROS formation. All photobleaching that occurs during the phase where oxygen is limited is likely to be unproductive, as it yields fewer cytotoxic singlet oxygen.
It should be noted that the statements above should not be construed as being admitted prior art. They are only made to illustrate the background of the presently disclosed concepts and may not have been made available to the public yet.

Illumination device for photodynamic therapy, method for treating a skin disease and method for operating an illumination device


An exterior aircraft light includes a housing configured to be mounted to an exterior portion of an aircraft; at least one light source mounted to the housing; a lens cover, cooperating with the housing for forming an inner space of the exterior aircraft light, with light from the at least one light source leaving the exterior aircraft light through the lens cover into an outside environment of the aircraft; and a gasket arranged between the housing and the lens cover, the gasket having at least one flap portion forming at least one check valve for fluid discharge from the inner space of the exterior aircraft light towards the outside environment of the aircraft.

Almost all aircraft are equipped with exterior lighting systems. For example, large commercial aircraft have many different exterior lights. An exemplary group of exterior aircraft lights are lights for passive visibility, such as navigation lights and anti-collision lights. Another exemplary group of exterior aircraft lights are headlights that allow the pilots to view the area in front of them, when they are seated in the cockpit, such as taxi lights, take-off lights, landing lights, and runway turn-off lights. Yet another example of exterior aircraft lights are scan lights that allow the inspection of the aircraft structure in the dark, such as wing scan lights.
Many exterior aircraft lights suffer from water and/or moisture build-up within the inner space of the exterior aircraft light. In particular, after landing of an aircraft and turning off the exterior aircraft lights, humid air might enter an exterior aircraft light, which may be heated due to its previous operation, and condense on the lens cover and/or accumulate as water within the exterior aircraft light, as a response to the exterior aircraft light cooling down. The presence of moisture and/or water within the exterior aircraft light may degrade its light output. In particular, the moisture and/or water may fog or blur the light output of the exterior aircraft light. Previous approaches of dealing with the build-up of moisture and/or water have not been entirely satisfactory.
Accordingly, it would beneficial to provide an exterior aircraft light that effectively deals with moisture and/or water present in the inner space of the exterior aircraft light. Further, it would be beneficial to provide an aircraft equipped with such exterior aircraft light(s).

Exterior aircraft light and aircraft comprising the same


A pedal actuated brake system is provided for retrofitting onto a multi-speed bicycle so that back pedaling applies the brakes. A decoupler disengages the front chain sprocket from the crank when reverse-rotated to prevent application of the brakes when the bike backs up. The system may be used in addition to or in place of the existing hand brakes.

Early bicycles had pedal cranks directly mounted to the front wheel. The mechanical advantage the rider had was established by the ratio of the crank diameter to the wheel diameter, resulting in the production of bicycles with dangerously large wheels to achieve high speeds. However, in the simplest case braking was ever so simple, as the rider could just reverse the direction of pedal force.
The innovation of the chain drive enabled the wheels to be made much smaller and safer by decoupling mechanical advantage from rider altitude. By the early part of this century, mass-produced, chain-driven one-speed bicycles dominated all other styles. Brakes were housed in the rear wheel hub and actuated upon reverse-pedalling.
The next drive train advance was the three-speed bicycle. A thumb-operated shift lever typically shifted the gears in the rear hub-mounted gear box, overcoming the severe speed and climb limits inherent in one-speeders. Braking could still be incorporated into the rear hub and actuated by backpedalling. The "three-speed" represented the last word in production line bicycles for a few years, until the "ten speed", with its multiple-gear-sprocket derailleur, came on the scene.
The so-called "ten speed", with its two front and five rear gear rings, has become generic to multi-gear derailleur-type street bicycles, regardless of the number of "speeds" available. Once the multiple-gear sprocket hurdle had been passed, the number of commonly offered gear ratios proliferated into the 20's.
By the time of the advent of the multi-speed derailleur bicycles, chain drive had become universal. Single-speed bicycles had a chain that was an unvarying, set length, which need not change throughout the operation of the bicycle. This was also true of the three-speed, which used a shift mechanism which did not involve jumping the chain from ring-to-ring. Since both the upper and lower chain runs of the chain loop were always reasonably taut, braking could be accomplished through backpedalling, coupling the backpedalling action to a mechanism internal to the rear wheel hub.
The derailleur system, on the other hand, requires that the chain vary in effective length. This was accommodated by incorporating a spring-loaded idler sprocket in the lower chain run, with the forward-motion tension being applied through the upper run. The idler in a typical multi-speed bicycle can take up to about twelve inches of chain slack.
The old single-speed bicycle brake could be actuated by backpedalling, as minimal slack in the lower chain run made for good braking repose time. With the advent of the derailleur however and the idler pulley with its accompanying twelve inches of chain slack, brakes could no longer be applied by reversing chain direction, practically speaking. By the time the ten to twelve inches of slack had been taken out of the lower chain run, a bicyclist could have plowed into the side of a truck. Hand brakes were thus used and touted as an advance in bicycle brakes, which no doubt they were, since braking force is applied to both wheels instead of just one, and to the periphery of the wheel rather than the hub.
It is inherent in the handbrake system that at least one, and more likely both, of the hands must be maintained in brake-ready position, which is often uncomfortable and awkward. For this reason there are those who think of the reverse-pedal bicycle brake with nostalgia. Of course, the best of both worlds would be to have both hand brakes and foot brakes available, permitting riding in a wider variety of postures, eliminating the necessity of maintaining oneself in the awkward, crouched-over position, while maintaining maximum stopping power. A bi-modal bicycle braking system to accomplish this would be welcomed in the bicycle community.


The disclosure describes a system to permit communication between two dissimilar networks that involves an interface system. More particularly, it is an interface system to permit communication between a MAP network that is utilizing common application service elements (CASE) and a network of non-MAP computer equipment. The interface system that is described establishes a connection between the two networks which involves a process of decoding data from one network into predetermined component parts, and then encoding the component parts into data for transfer to computer equipment in the other network, and then, releasing the connection when the data transfer is completed, in accordance with the State Table of FIG. 3 of the drawings.

The invention, generally, relates to systems for interconnecting computers electronically for the purpose of information exchange and, more particularly, to a new and improved system to permit communication between a Manufacturing Automation Protocol (MAP) network utilizing the Common Application Service Elements (CASE) hereinafter referred to as a MAP CASE network, and a non-MAP connection-oriented network.
Earlier this decade, a major manufacturer of automobiles in the United States found that a significant percentage of the cost of automating its factories was related to developing ways to provide interconnections between equipment made by different vendors. Actually, there are a large number of vendors who make and sell data processing computers specifically for the factory environment, and while these vendors usually also make and sell interconnecting devices for their equipment, such interconnecting devices will typically operate only with the equipment sold by each vendor.
To a large device, this situation has been responsible for the emergence of "islands of automation", which are localized areas of automation on the factory floor that are isolated from other areas of the factory in terms of electronic exchange of information. This lack of electronic exchange of information between various vendor's equipment is a major roadblock to achieving total factory automation.
The Local Area Network, or LAN, technology that is commonly used in offices is not suitable for a factory environment where machines generate spurious electronic signals that interfere with computer operations. Therefore, a network standard was developed, called Manufacturing Automation Procol, or MAP, that is suitable for use with computer equipment of many types and origins in the factory environment.
It is expected that as the Manufacturing Automation Protocol technology matures, it will receive wide acceptance throughout the industry for application in newly designed and installed manufacturing systems. However, because the MAP network specification is still relatively new and still evolving, data processing computer interfaces to the MAP network are still relatively expensive when compared to similar data processing computer network interfaces for many previously defined networks. Further, there are a number of pre-MAP connection-oriented networks already installed and operational. Owners of such networks are reluctant to remove these networks in order to install new MAP networks.
A network which combines the multi-vendor interconnection and factory floor suitability features of the MAP network with the already installed non-MAP connection-oriented network to produce a Virtual MAP network would be highly desirable. Such a Virtual MAP network preserves the integrity and characteristics of the MAP CASE connection from the computer attached to the MAP network to the computer attached to the non-MAP connection oriented network. This is done in such a manner so as to guarantee the end-to-end delivery of data, preserve the MAP CASE connection state information and present it to both ends of the Virtual connection, and reflect the MAP CASE network naming conventions across the Virtual MAP CASE Connection.
The benefits of such a Virtual MAP network include the ability to selectively install the MAP network where needed to interconnect manufacturing equipment from multiple vendors for the purpose of electronic data exchange, while at the same time, utilizing the already installed non-MAP connection-oriented network and associated data processing computers and interfaces to the non-MAP network. In the future, if technical and business reasons dictate, the non-MAP network could be incrementally replaced with the MAP network with a minimum impact on various user programs developed to operate in the Virtual MAP network.
Therefore, to provide this Virtual MAP network, an interface system is needed that will permit any MAP CASE user program running in any data processing computer attached to the MAP CASE network, to establish a MAP CASE connection and exchange data with another MAP CASE user program running in any other data processing computer attached to a non-MAP connection-oriented network.

Map case network virtual connection interface system

International Business Machines Corporation


Provided is a method for accessing medical information. The medical information is distributed across data files. The method includes receiving data files relevant to the medical information, selecting a current layout from a plurality of layouts for making the data files accessible, providing previous layout information, referring to a previous layout in which the data file has been acquired, the previous layout information is usable for automatically adapting the current layout to the previous layout, detecting markers associated with the received data files, the markers referring to a location of interest within one of the received data files, adapting the markers of the previous layout to the current layout to mark the same location of interest, and providing access to the medical information in the selected current layout to make browsable the data files and the markers within the data files.

The information and communication infrastructure in modern medical facilities are almost exclusively electronic-based these days. Medical information in form of electronic data files for example images files or text files are distributed across picture archive and communication systems (PACS) and hospital information services (HIS) connected either hospital-wide in an intranet network or nationally of even internationally in the familiar internet.
Medical personnel, for example radiologists need to retrieve by retrieval means image files from the PCAS or the HIS for their diagnostic work.
A radiological diagnostic process proceeds roughly along the following lines. In order to reach a diagnostic decision the radiologist must visually examine not only one, but a series of image files.
The image files are available in the well known "Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine" (DICOM) standard or format. The image files may be slices or parts of higher dimensional volumetric data sets. The volumetric data sets have been acquired from a patient by medical imaging modalities for example computer tomographs (CT), positron emission tomographs (PET) or X-ray units.
In a time-consuming but crucial step, the radiologist is carefully examining by means of a number of dedicated images viewers or simply "viewers" the series of the image files one-by-one in order to locate suspicious features.
The features define locations of interest in some of the image files. The locations of interest along with the radiologist's interpretation thereof constitute a medical "finding" with respect to the image file representing that location of interest. The totality of all findings is then used by the radiologist to either confirm or reject a diagnosis, that is, to reach a diagnostic decision.
Within the course of examining the images files, the radiologist makes notes concerning, for example, measuring information with respect to the locations of interest such as a diameter of a liver shown in the image files. The measurement information, along with other observations such as textual notes and the image files showing the locations of interest can then be compiled into a medical report.
The medical report is then later on possibly transferred to a referring radiologist who wishes to review the image files together with the notes in the medical report, in order to confirm or reject the diagnosis of the radiologist.
However the radiologist may wish to put the image files, the observations and measurement information on hold, in order to discuss the findings with another diagnostician before the radiologist decides to compile the medical report.
The radiological diagnostic process as outlined above normally proceeds in different phases. In a first phase the radiologist normally takes a quick look at all relevant image files just to get a broad overview of the medical information available.
In a second phase the radiologist looks more carefully for the locations of interest in some of the image files, and puts down notes electronically by means of a marking tool, on paper or by using a dictaphone about the observations and the measurement values in order to more accurately describe the locations of interest.
In a third phase the radiologist is then reviewing the image files having the locations of interest in order to for example discuss his or her diagnostic decision on the basis of the findings form the second phases with another radiologist. Also in the third phase the radiologist may whish to be able to quickly retrieve a number of the image files having a particular region of interest and to discuss the respective findings with the other radiologist. Or the radiologist may wish to make a final selection from among the images files suitable to best represent the regions of interest therein and to finally compile the "top 10" of the image files into the medical report.


Thermally reversible polyurethane hydrogels are formed by adding water to a gel forming hydrophilic polyurethane polymer produced by reacting under anhydrous conditions a non-aromatic organic diisocyanate with a glycol component in an NCO/OH mole weight ratio of from about 0.900/1 to about 0.980/1, the glycol component having a number average molecular weight of from about 1000 to 3500 wherein the percentage by weight of the diisocyanate in the reaction mixture is from about 7% to about 20%. The hydrogels are solids at room temperature but liquify at higher temperatures such as body temperature and therefore are useful as carriers for the protection, delivery and sustained release of a variety of active agents including pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, living cells and organisms.

U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,822,238 and 3,975,350 describe an active agent carrier system comprising an active agent and as a carrier vehicle therefor, a hydrophilic, preferably cross-linked polyurethane polymer. The carrier system is utilized by subjecting it to aqueous conditions whereby the polyurethane carrier undergoes hydration and swelling with concomitant formation of an insoluble hydrogel from which the active agent is leached out by and into the aqueous medium. The rate and duration of release can be controlled by employing a carrier polymer of the requisite water absorptivity. Generally speaking, polyurethane polymers prepared from water soluble active hydrogen resins, as exemplified by polyoxyethylene polyols, will exhibit the highest water absorptivity. Polymers having diminished water absorptivity can be produced from less soluble resins, or by crosslinking.
The carrier system aforesaid is useful as a means for delivering various active agents, such as medicinal or cosmetic agents, to a treatment zone. For instance, shaped articles made of the carrier system can be inserted into the body to provide precision administering of drugs or serums over extended periods of time.
Another class of hydrophilic polyurethanes that form insoluble hydrogels in the hydrated state is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,156,066 and 4,156,067. These polyurethanes are characerized by the presence of lactone groups in the polymer backbone. The lactone may be opened by hydrolytic cleavage to form carboxylic acid groups which render the polymer soluble in alkaline medium. Other specialized hydrophilic polyurethanes are the polyurethane diacrylates of U.S. Pat. No. 4,359,558 and the polyurethane quaternary ammonium salts of U.S. Pat. No. 4,451,635.

Thermally reversible polyurethane hydrogels and cosmetic, biological and medical uses