A tool system features an EDM crack removal head which can be positioned within a nozzle/thermal sleeve and then oscillated in a vertical and horizontal directions to enable precise material removal, leaving the surface free of cracks and in a condition for rewelding if required. If a crack is found in a surface which is covered by a thermal sleeve, then a small specialized EDM cutting head, which can be delivered from the under side of the reactor head and has an ability to pass through the ID of the thermal sleeve, is used. The head enables the sleeve to be cut and allow a portion of the sleeve to be removed. The crack can then be removed using a crack removal type of head.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a crack removal tool. More specifically, this invention relates to a crack removal tool which utilize EDM techniques and which are suitable for removing cracks which appear within conduits, nozzles and the like, such as are found in nuclear reactor related structures.
2. Description of the Related Art
During inspection of certain types of nozzle penetrations in pressurized water nuclear reactor heads, cracks may be discovered in weld areas of one or more nozzles. Access to these defects is severely hindered by the presence of thermal sleeves which are welded in place in nozzles and which prevent access with tooling. Accordingly, it is extremely difficult to effect repairs.


A pulsed high energy arc-tube flashlamp comprises a quartz flashlamp envelope that is about 2000 mm long and has an outside diameter of approximately forty-eight mm. Each end necks down to an outside diameter of about thirty-eight mm to accommodate an anode re-entrant seal assembly at one end and a cathode re-entrant seal assembly at the other end. Each anode and cathode comprises a beaded electrode rod of tungsten with an unusually large 0.25 inch diameter. A reflective metal paint or white oxide paint is added to the end necks to improve the lamp starting characteristics and to protect the cassette mounting o-ring and lamp cable junction box from radiation. A TEFLON shrink sleeve is shrunk over each outside end of the flashlamp envelope and such provides a small amount of cushion for the lamp mounts in the laser cassette. The monocoque body structure does not need separate lamp mounting bases, and thus overall provides a mechanically simpler and superior structure that is far more reliable. The prior art demonstrates that necking down glass envelopes of lamps is common practice, but here such necking down is limited to that diameter which just suits the external mounting base requirements. The re-entrant seal cup area provides a large volume reservoir for filling with RTV, which bonds the lead wire insulation to the quartz and provide cable support and additional electrical insulation to provide zero lamp insulation failure.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to pulsed high energy arc-tube flashlamps and more specifically to monocoque structures and re-entrant seals for pumped neodymium-doped glass laser flashlamps.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Very high power arc-tube flashlamps present several challenges to long life operation and acceptable low impedance levels. The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is due to be constructed by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) beginning in 1997. The NIF will use pulsed high energy arc-tube flashlamps to pump each of 192 laser beams that in turn are all converged on a target hohlraum loaded with a fusion fuel pellet. The solid-state lasers used to drive inertial fusion energy reactors must generate fusion-like, megajoule pulse output. Various conceptual and technological innovations were needed to overcome the limitations of the prior art, and thereby enable NIF design and construction to proceed.
A typical pulsed high energy arc-tube flashlamp for the NIF is a cylindrical quartz tube specified to mount in a laser cassette and have an overall length of about 2000 millimeters (mm), an arc gap length of about 1800 mm, and mounting ends that are about thirty-eight mm in diameter and ninety mm long. A large capacitor bank is used to deliver as much as 20,000 amps at 24,000 volts in a single thirty-two kilojoule pulse to each arc-tube flashlamp. Such currents generate tremendous magnetic fields and plasmas that hammer hard at the seals between the tungsten electrodes and the quartz glass envelope in the lamps. Prior art small diameter rod seal lamps and o-ring seal lamps have proven inadequate for such extreme applications.
Conventional lamps require external lamp mounting bases or structures, and so need extra parts that add to the overall cost. Such designs can be weak at the glass envelope necks of the pulsed high energy arc-tube flashlamp where the bending moments are concentrated. Prior art glass-to-metal seals in pulsed high energy arc-tube flashlamps have been complex and made manufacturing more difficult. Re-entrant seals, o-ring seals, and solder seals have been used in prior art designs, but none seems to have ever used electrode-to-glass seals that exceeded 0.125 inches. These small diameters appear to have been preferred to maintain electrode flexibility outside the tube envelope so that the seals themselves would not be over-stressed, but the seals are weak.
The NIF size and complexity has raised the cost of laser glass and laser down time to proportions that require the flashlamps to have zero explosions and zero insulation failures.
All of the highest energy laser facilities have been based on flashlamp-pumped neodymium-doped glass (Nd:glass) lasers because they are most amenable to large-scale deployment and they provide the flexibility in output characteristics needed for ICF and weapons-related experiments.
A highly reliable and a zero explosion flashlamp with a zero failure insulation system is therefore needed now that can operate in regimes never before possible for such an otherwise mature technology.
The re-entrant seal design provides a large reservoir around the lamp lead wire to inject RTV insulation to increase hi-pot resistance and lead-wire termination support.

Monocoque structure and large electrode beaded rob re-entrant seals for flashlamp-pumped solid-state laser flashlamps


A portable anchor for tethering to on the shelf of a rock quarry includes an elongated lower post adapted into slip charge holes drilled in the quarry shelf, a stop plate connected to the post and rotatably resting on the shelf, and hook receiving means for connection of one end of a tether line that is connected at the other end to a harness or belt worn by the worker. A method for anchoring to said quarry shelf includes providing an anchor adapted to slip into the charge receiving holes formed in the shelf, and having a stop plate for positioning the depth of the anchor in the charge hole.

The present invention relates generally to safety equipment, and more particularly to anchors and methods associated therewith adapted to secure rock quarry workers when working near the edge of a quarry floor or deck.
Rock is removed from a quarry using well-known blasting methods, one of which includes removing rock from the face of a rock shelf to depths in the neighborhood of 50-60 feet. To prepare the edge portion of a rock shelf for blasting, vertically extending charge holes or "boreholes" are drilled into the floor or deck of the shelf, explosive charges are placed into the holes, and the explosives detonated for removal of the face or edge portion of the shelf. For these and other reasons associated with rock blasting, workers are sometimes required to work relatively close to the edge of the shelf.
Various laws, regulations, ordinances and the like, including those of the U.S. Department of Labor-- Mine Safety and Health Administration, require that workers be anchored to a stationary object whenever they may come within a certain distance, e.g., within 5 feet, of the edge of the quarry floor, so as to hold the worker if he falls off the edge of the shelf, thus preventing the worker from falling to the next lower shelf and often to the worker's death. For this reason, such workers are typically equipped with a safety belt or other harness arrangement that fits snugly around the waist area of the worker's body, and a tether line or safety strap, typically 10-15 feet in length, that hooks between the worker's safety belt and the stationary object the worker is anchoring to.
It has been common practice for a worker in this situation to anchor himself to a vehicle or heavy piece of machinery that is located nearby on the quarry shelf. For example, workers will often anchor themselves to a truck or a mobile drilling rig. However, such vehicles or machinery may not be immediately available in the area that the worker desires to go, and the worker must move the vehicle or machinery to the desired area before he can safely proceed into that area. Unfortunately workers do not always take the time to move a vehicle or machinery to a location for tethering to.
Prior techniques for anchoring to the quarry shelf have also included drilling a relatively shallow hole in the rock, e.g., 3-4 feet, and inserting a steel anchoring post into the hole. In this instance, the steel post is sized to rest on the bottom of the hole and extend to a height above the quarry floor, the upper end of the post being provided with a hook arrangement for connecting with the safety strap.
Of recent times, the Federal Mine Safety and Health Administration has discouraged the practice of workers anchoring to vehicles, mobile drilling rigs, and like equipment, because if such equipment falls from the shelf, as it does upon occasion, a tethered worker will be pulled over the edge with the machinery. This has resulted in increased use of the shallow-holes/steel post anchoring arrangement. Unfortunately, such posts are not easily portable as they are relatively heavy, and such an arrangement requires drilling holes in the rock in addition to the charge holes that are already drilled or to be drilled in the rock, resulting in additional time and expense associated with quarry work.
Thus, it is desirable to provide a lightweight, portable anchor that is suitable for use in a quarry, to enable the worker to quickly and easily carry the anchor to a desired location as he does his safety harness, and to easily move the anchor from place to place as the need arises for increased ease of worker mobility on the cliff. It is further desirable to provide such a portable, lightweight anchor that is suitable for use on a quarry shelf without the need to drill additional holes in the rock.

Portable anchor and method for releasably anchoring to a rock


A stepper includes a base frame, a parallel-crank linkage, and a resistance device. The base frame has a pivot portion located at an intermediate section thereof. The parallel-crank linkage includes a pedal assembly, a reciprocating lever and two parallel cranks. The pedal assembly has two horizontal pedals, each of which having an inverted U-shaped bracket secured to a bottom surface thereof. The reciprocating lever has a middle section mounted pivotally on an upper section of the pivot portion of the base frame and two end sections mounted pivotally and respectively on the inverted U-shaped brackets of the pedal assembly. The cranks are disposed under the reciprocating lever. One of the cranks is pivotally connected to the pivot portion of the base frame at one end thereof and to one of the inverted U-shaped brackets of the pedal assembly at the other end. The other one of the cranks is pivotally connected to the pivot portion of the base frame at one end thereof and to the other one of the inverted U-shaped brackets of the pedal assembly at the other end. The resistance device is interposed between the reciprocating lever and the base frame and is adapted to provide a resistance to pivotal movement of the reciprocating lever.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a stepper, more particularly to a stepper which has a parallel-crank linkage that is capable of maintaining the pedals of the stepper in a horizontal state when the stepper is in use so as to enhance the safety features of the stepper.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional stepper includes a support frame 1 having an upwardly extending front section 11, a pair of parallel foot beams 2 having end portions pivotally connected to a lower end portion of the front section 11 of the support frame I, and a pair of hydraulic cylinders 3. Each of the hydraulic cylinders 3 interconnects an intermediate portion of one of the foot beams 2 and an intermediate portion of the front section 11 of the support frame 1. A rope 4 has two ends respectively and fixedly connected to the intermediate portions of the foot beams 2 and extends over a pulley 12. The pulley 12 is mounted on the intermediate portion of the front section 11 of the support frame I above the foot beams 2 The front section 11 of the support frame 1 has a handgrip member 5 mounted securely on an upper end portion thereof. Referring to FIG. 2, the drawback of this stepper is that, when in operation, the user easily topples over because the foot beams 2 are inclined. As a result, stepping on the foot beams 2 may be dangerous.


A method of diagnosis of a living organism by providing at least one functional map of the living organism, the method having the steps of determining at least two physical parameters characterizing the physiological state of the living organism, recording spatial-temporal distributions of the at least two physical parameters, acquiring and processing information about the spatial-temporal distributions of the at least two physical parameters, and utilizing the information about the spatial-temporal distributions of the at least two physical parameters to generate the at least one functional map of the living organism. Further steps include using one of the at least two physical parameters as a reference for selecting another of the physical parameters, substantially simultaneously recording the spatial-temporal distributions of the at least two physical parameters or recording the spatial-temporal distributions of the at least two physical parameters at a preselected time interval apart from one another.

The present invention belongs to the field of physics and medicine or, more precisely, to methods for characterizing and investigating the functional state of living organisms and the functional dynamics of the physiological processes taking place during the living organism's vital activity.
Living organism functional mapping reveals the earliest signs of pathologies on the basis of the integral picture of the organism's functioning. This opens up the possibility of avoiding radical methods of treatment which become necessary when such pathologies are revealed at a later stage of their development. That is why the methods related to the living organism's early functional diagnostics are very promising for the population screening and for development of preventive medicine.
For a long time, functional diagnostics of a living organism's state was performed only with the use of various tests which determined the quality and/or the reaction rates of the organism's physiological systems. Such tests made it possible to only estimate the functional state of the living organism's system when the organism was involved in some purposeful activity. Since the overall picture of the organism functioning was not investigated, such measurements did not give rise to the possibility of performing early diagnosis of pathology.
Only lately, when modern radio physics (electromagnetic theory) methods were applied to biomedical research, the possibility appeared of recording a complex picture of the spatial-temporal dynamics of a living organism's physical fields and radiations, yielding important information on the state of the organism's various regulative systems and organs in the course of natural vital activity.
The human body or organism is a dynamic self-regulative system. Its stability (homeostasis) is provided by the continuous functioning of different physiological systems. Variations in the organism's physiological parameters result in changes of the biological tissue's physical parameters, such as, for example, the temperature, dielectric permeability, magnetic susceptibility, electric impedance and potentials, currents, etc. The organism's functional dynamics are reflected in the above mentioned dynamic distributions of its physical parameters. Information on the functional dynamics are revealed in the real time scale by the dynamics of the organism's physical fields and radiations: infrared (IR), microwave, acoustical, optical radiations, electric and magnetic fields. Under these conditions, external fields and radiations become parmetrically modulated, with those of natural origin such as geomagnetic, electric, light, etc., being first observed.
Different methods of investigating and diagnosing a living organism's state which employ recording the above mentioned physical parameters are known.
For example, to determine the biological tissues' temperature, the tissue's own electromagnetic thermal radiations, which are most intensive at the middle IR-wavelength range, are recorded. Infrared dynamic thermal mapping methods, as described in Guljaev, Yu V., Godik, E. E. et al.,"on the possibilities of the functional diagnostics of the biological subjects via their temporal dynamics of the infrared images," USSR Academy Nauk Proceedings/Biophysics, 1984, vol. 277, pp. 1486-1491, are based on such measurements. This method permits both measuring the tissue temperature with accuracy better than 0.1 degree and investigating the spatial-temporal distribution of blood microcirculation at the near surface tissues of the living organism. To accomplish this, temporal changes in the spatial distribution of IR-thermal radiation intensity of the living organism tissues are recorded, which provides the spatial-temporal microcirculation dynamics in these tissues. This method is used for investigation of both the spontaneous functional dynamics and functional dynamics initiated by the reactions of the physiological systems to different functional tests: reflective and humoral ones. The data thus obtained are represented in the form of the temporal sequences of the thermal images and/or the spatial-temporal cuts. Pain reactions, hyper- and hypo- ventilation and the effects of pharmaceutical treatments are able to be visualized under these conditions. In addition, this method reveals regions with various disturbances in the regulative mechanisms, and differential diagnostics of such disturbances can be performed. This method also permits estimating the state of the internal organs via the study of the spatial-temporal dynamics of the IR-radiation intensity recorded at the areas where the dermatomers reflectively connected with the corresponding organs are located.
However, the main disadvantage of the above described method is that it does not permit investigating the functional interconnection between various physiological processes which occur in a living organism under investigation. IR-thermal radiation provides information only about the dynamics of slow microcirculation, since the depth examined does not exceed 100 um. At the same time, the process of the thermal projection to the skin surface of the deeper layers of the blood flow network takes several seconds. For this reason, the above method does not permit investigating the fast blood flow dynamics connected, for example, with cardio and/or respiratory processes. The application of this method for the description of the living organism's functional state is restricted by information contained in the slow temporal dynamics of the skin surface temperature.
Another well known method of living organism functional diagnostics is a multichannel measurement of physiological parameters. A whole family of the well known methods of multichannel polygraphy is based on such approach, as described in Hasset, J,"Introduction into psycho-physiology," Moscow, Mir, 1981 (translated into Russian), for example. According to this method signals or information derived simultaneously from several channels are measured. The most complete set of information is represented by simultaneous measurements of the electroencephalogram, electrocardiogram, arterial pressure, skin electric resistance and/or skin galvanic reaction, skin temperature, plethysmogram and electromyogram, as described in, for example, Yoshihiro, Ito, "Autogenic training and treating apparatus," U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,472, 4 Mar. 1984. On the basis of the temporal dynamics of the recorded. parameters, the living organism's functional state is judged. Recording of several different physiological signals gives a more accurate description of the organism's state.
At the same time, the multichannel polygraphy method reflects the temporal dynamics of the above parameters only at several discrete points of the organism and neither permits determination of the spatial distribution of the physiological reactions, i.e., the spatial portrait of the living organism's functioning, nor the investigation of the functional dynamics of the whole-organism's connectivity of the physiological systems.
A method of functional diagnostics based on multichannel mapping of the spatial-temporal distributions of the physical field tensions and radiation intensities of the human body (living organism) is also known, and described in Godik, E. E., Guljaev, Yu V. Human and animal physical fields, "V mire nauki" (Russian version of Scientific American), 1990, no. 5, pp. 74-83. This method is based on the following approach to determining the functional state of a living organism.
The human body or living organism, as a self-regulative system, is functionally inhomogenous and non-stationary. For that reason its functioning and its multilevel regulative mechanisms are described by a hierarchy of rate constants from milliseconds to minutes, hours to days, etc. An adequate method of providing radio physical (electromagnetic) monitoring of such a system is called dynamic mapping, i.e., recording the temporal sequences of the instantaneous distributions (maps) of the physical fields tensions and/or radiation intensities over time intervals which are much less than the corresponding time constants of the regulative processes. The temporal map sequences thus obtained are called dynamic maps.
For example, to determine the tissue temperature of a living organism, its electromagnetic thermal radiation is recorded by means of infrared dynamic thermovision. The details of this method were described above.
More specifically, a low intensity microwave thermal radiation comes from the organism's depth. Its brightness reflects non-inertially the functional dynamics of heat production and blood flow rate in the muscles, brain cortex and internal organs. Recording of such radiation is performed at wavelengths of about 3-30 cm, while the depth it comes from is of the order of 2-5 cm.
More detailed information about the spatial distribution of the thermal production functional dynamics inside the living organism is revealed by thermal acoustic radiation at an ultrasound frequency range of hundreds kilohertz to megahertz (corresponding to a wavelength of about 1 mm). Ultrasound waves, produced by thermal acoustic noise of the organism's tissues, come to the organism's surface from a greater depth (5-10 cm) and bring information, in real time scale, about functioning of the internal organs, such as the liver.
The organism's fast reflective regulation and functioning are revealed, in particular, in neural activity and in the muscular excitation processes. Information on these fast processes (the characteristic times are in the millisecond region) is revealed by a dynamic picture of the electrical potentials at the skin surface, and, especially, by the spatial-temporal dynamics of the magnetic fields around the body surface. Electric activity of the living organism's heart and brain are investigated by means of magnetic dynamic mapping.
Without illumination, extra weak radiation (chemoluminescence) of the skin covers connected with lipid peroxidation is observed in the optical yellow-green spectral range. Its intensity is determined by the antioxidizing status of the organism investigated. Under conditions of external illumination, the chemiluminescence intensity increases and, in addition, temporally and spectrally dynamic optical pictures appear at the near 1R-wavelength range. It is the radiation back scattered by the biological tissues that produces this picture; it comes from the depth of up to one centimeter and characterizes the functional redistribution of the physiological pigments, especially various forms of blood hemoglobin.
In addition to the living organism's own physical fields and radiations, the organism's functional status is reflected in the external fields and radiations spatial-temporal dynamics, which are modulated as a result of the living organisms' physiological system's activity. Thus, blood redistribution related to cardiac pulsations is parametrically reflected in the geomagnetic field spatial-temporal dynamics near the torso, and the microcirculation dynamics of the capillary blood content is parametrically reflected by means of changes in the electrical tissue impedance. Electrical tissue impedance is measured by means of spatial-temporal distribution of external electrical fields having frequencies from tens to hundreds of kilohertz.
A considerable disadvantage of this latter method is that the dynamic maps provided by the measured parameters are considered separately. Furthermore, this method does not permit a comparison of variations in the spatial and temporal dynamics in different physical parameters which provide information on the state of different physiological systems and processes. In addition, this disadvantage relates equally to all the above described methods and noticeably limits their potential to reveal pathology.
Let's consider, for example, muscle functioning. Approximately a second before a mechanical contraction of a muscle takes place, a source of an electric excitation appears at the motor brain cortex. This excitation is reflected within the millisecond time interval in the dynamic maps of the electrical potential at the scalp and in those of the magnetic field around the head. Then, the dynamic picture of the electric and magnetic signals at the immediate proximity of the muscle surface develops, reflecting electric motor neuron excitation. Further, the whole muscle is affected by this electric excitation and this latter process is reflected in the delayed dynamics of the skin electric potential and magnetic field above the muscle. All these processes proceed in about one second, and only after their completion does a mechanical muscle contraction develop. In tens of seconds after this, radio thermal and acoustico thermal radiations are increased, characterizing the "energy payment" for the muscle contraction. An increase in the microcirculation, supporting the muscle tissue metabolic resource, is reflected in the multi-spectral dynamic map of the back scattered optical radiation of the near IR-range, and also in the dynamic map of the muscle tissue electric impedance.
Consequently, the most complete information on the functional state of a physiological system and organ could only be obtained via the simultaneous measurements of a set of independent parameters of physical fields and radiations measured at different spectral ranges. None of the existing methods permit the analysis of the spatial-temporal interconnection between the dynamic maps recorded for different ranges. It is the interconnection of the above mentioned parameters that reflects the functional connectivity of any organ within the living organism. Pathology at an early stage is revealed in the disturbances of such connectivity.

Method of living organism multimodal functional mapping


A method and apparatus for use in surgical hip replacement procedures for ensuring that the replacement hip joint components are properly sized so that the resulting length of the patient's leg is correct. In the procedure, when the acetabulum and femur are exposed, one end of a flexible measuring cable is attached to the superior eminence of the acetabulum and the cable is extended inferiorly so that it is aligned with a specific point on the femur, preferably the lesser trochanter. The selected point on the femur is marked and the scaling or marking indicator carried by the flexible cable is positioned in relation thereto. After this reference distance between the fixed points on the acetabulum and the femur is determined, the flexible cable is moved out of the way while its end remains fixed to the acetabulum. Thereafter, the total hip arthroplasty procedure continues in the usual fashion with the installation of an acetabular cup prosthesis and the femur is prepared to receive the femoral implant. After the femur is prepared, trial femoral implants are installed to determine the proper fit with the femoral canal. In accordance with the present invention, the cable may again be extended between the fixed point on the superior eminence of the acetabulum and the marked point of the femur and greater or lesser length femoral neck components may be selected until the correct length is achieved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for facilitating the total hip arthroplasty procedure in which both an acetabular cup prosthesis and a femoral implant prosthesis are installed or in a partial hip arthroplasty where one of the components of an earlier arthroplasty are replaced and particularly, to a method and apparatus for assuring that the resulting leg length of the patient is optimized.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Total and replacement arthroplasty procedures employing artificial acetabular cup prostheses and femoral implants have been done for a great many years. The installation of a replacement hip joint prosthesis involves surgically exposing and dislocating the joint, cutting away the head and neck and a portion of the greater trochanter in a femoral neck resection, and reaming the femoral canal to accept the metallic stem of the femoral implant. Femoral implants are available in a variety of lengths and cross-section to fit the shape of the reamed-out femoral canal and are also provided with an angularly disposed femoral neck and spherical head that extend at an angle to the stem to orient the replacement head in the acetabular cup prosthesis. The acetabular cup prosthesis is itself installed in the patient's reamed-out acetabulum. After both components are installed, the spherical head is inserted into the cup and the muscles and tendons that were separated or severed in the surgical exposure are reattached to hold the leg in place.
Numerous articles have been published describing and illustrating total hip arthroplasty procedures employing a wide variety of total hip joint prostheses. For example, the publication entitled "Total Hip Arthroplasty Using a Universal Joint Device," by Raymond G. Tronzo, M.D., published in 1970 by Richards Manufacturing Company, 1450 Brooks Road, Memphis, Tenn. 38116, describes such a procedure employing the products of the Richards Manufacturing Company. A further brochure entitled "PERFECTA Femoral Prostheses With T MATRIX Acetabular Options Surgical Protocol," published in 1990 by Orthomet, Inc., 6301 Cecilia Circle, Minneapolis, Minn. 55439, describes and illustrates the surgical procedure employed in installing Orthomet products. Other manufacturers publish similar instruction manuals or protocols for their products.
A common problem that arises in completing the total hip arthroplasty procedure involves the selection of the appropriate length neck of the femoral implant so that after the procedure is completed, the patient enjoys a normal or enhanced leg length. If only one of the patient's legs is operated on, it is naturally desirable to ensure that the patient's legs are of approximately the same length after recovery from the surgery. Often, due to deterioration in the hip joint, the leg may initially be shorter than desired and the replacement surgery should include restoration of nearly equal leg length. When both hip joints are placed, it may be desirable to equalize and lengthen both legs. In any case, a common problem that is encountered involves the failure of the prosthesis to restore the desired leg length, causing the patient to limp and contributing to a low back pain and aseptic loosening of the cement used to fix the components of the hip joint, as reported by K. B. Turula, M.D., et. al., in "Leg Length Inequality After Total Hip Arthroplasty," Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, 1986; 202:163 168.
In this regard, published reports in the literature indicate that the precise desired length of the leg is obtained perhaps no more than about one-fourth of the time. Approximately one-half of the time, the leg can vary from a desired length by up to one half inch. The remaining one-fourth of the time, the leg is too short or too long by substantially greater lengths ranging up to an inch or two. Although patients can tolerate length differences of 1/4-inch or thereabouts, differences in length of 1/2 inch or more are immediately detected by patients and often times are intolerable. When this occurs, it is necessary to reoperate and change the length or provide the patients with heel lifts to equalize leg length and restore proper gait.
The differences in leg length arise from the difference in sizes of the femoral implants, the depth of insertion of the acetabular cup, and the length of the reducted femoral neck. To change the length of a leg, the surgeon simply changes the length of the femoral neck that is used. Once the acetabular cup is in place, it is rarely changed.
A variety of methods have been used to estimate the length of the leg upon implanting a new femoral implant and acetabular cup. Most of the time, a surgeon will attempt to duplicate it with the femoral implant, the size not varying greatly from the size of the proximal femoral portion that is removed.
Some methods have involved measuring the distance from the palpable iliac crest near the waist line to the greater trochanter on the outside of the proximal femur, both of these markers are quite distant from the true hip joint and only indirectly attempt to measure length.
Other methods described in the literature measure the distance from an anchor installed percutaneously above the superior acetabulum to a marker on the exposed greater trochanter. See, for example, S. T. Woolson, M.D., et. al., "A Method of Interoperative Limb Length Measurement in Total Hip Arthroplasty," Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, 1985, 194:207-210; W. H. Harris, M.D., "Revision Surgery for Failed Nonseptic Total Hip Arthroplasty," Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, 1975, 106:19-26; and N. M. J. McGee, F.R.C.S., et. al., "A Single Method of Obtaining Equal Leg Length in Total Hip Arthroplasty," Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, 1985, 194:269-270. In an article by W. E. Knight, M.D. ("Accurate Determination of Leg Lengths During Total Hip Replacement," Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, 1977, 123:27-28), a tool is described for measuring the distance between bone screws placed in the exposed ilium about two inches above the margin of the acetabulum and in the greater trochanter of the femur in line with the iliac screw in the coronal plane. The tool is positioned laterally to the pins and the measurement is made parallel to the femur, which is not necessarily parallel to the weight-bearing axis.
These methods are flawed as they measure two dimensions, length (vertical dimension) plus lateralization (horizontal translation of the femur). The hip and leg position must be virtually identical when pre-op and post-op measurements are made to insure predictable results. In practice, the horizontal offset and leg position are difficult to replicate. A better surgical procedure for obtaining exact leg length is much to be desired.

Method and apparatus for simplifying total hip arthroplasty


A novel pourable packing element is provided herein for use, in particular, in mass transfer and/or heat transfer towers through which a gas or a liquid flows. The exchange areas of such packing element are formed by the surfaces of half-wave-shaped or wave-shaped strips. The packing element possesses at least a first group of strips having a first periodic length and at least one adjoining second group of strips having at least one strip with a second periodic length. The first periodic length of a selected first strip in the first group of strips, (such selected first strip adjoining the second group of strips), and the second periodic length of a selected second strip in the second group (such selected second strip adjoining the first group of strips), is matched to each other in such a way that two adjoining strips of the first group of strips and the second group of strips are in contact with one another at at least one point, so that liquid can pass from one strip to the other strip.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a packing element possessing a plurality of exchange surfaces, for use, in particular, in mass transfer and/or heat transfer towers through which a gas or a liquid flows.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Such packing elements are known and are used as column packings in fractionation procedures in order to create the largest possible contact area between the flow of liquid and a counter-current flow of gas passing through the column. For this purpose, it is necessary that the packing elements which are loaded into the mass transfer and/or heat transfer column should possess the largest possible exchange surfaces for these two flows passing through the column, so that both flows are dispersed and distributed uniformly over the cross-section of the column by the exchange surfaces, while assuring the most intensive possible intimate contact with one another. However, large exchange surfaces per volume unit of the packing element usually result in a high flow resistance in the column, and, as a result, there is a disadvantageous drop in pressure in the gas flow.
Furthermore, the packing elements that make up the packing of the columns are randomly arranged and the individual elements do not have a defined orientation. As a result, the packing elements do not possess exactly defined points of impingement for the droplets of liquid impinging thereon from the liquid flowing through the column. This means, however, that, in a large number of applications, the entire available exchange surface of a packing element is not used. Alternatively, special baffles must be used to distribute the liquid over the exchange surfaces of the packing element. However, with the known type of packing elements, the baffles which are needed to achieve uniform distribution of the liquid droplets over the packing element also induce a disadvantageous increase in the pressure loss in the column.

Packing element for use, in particular, in mass transfer and/or heat transfer columns or towers


A computer implemented method includes selecting a portion of a data set in a first visualization. A list of visualizations relevant to the context inferred from the selection of the portion of the data set in the first visualization is generated. A second visualization from the list of visualizations is rendered.

Business Intelligence (BI) generally refers to software tools used to improve business enterprise decision-making. These tools are commonly applied to financial, human resource, marketing, sales, customer and supplier analyses. More specifically, these tools can include: reporting and analysis tools to present information, content delivery infrastructure systems for delivery and management of reports and analytics, data warehousing systems for cleansing and consolidating information from disparate sources, and data management systems, such as relational databases or On Line Analytic Processing (OLAP) systems used to collect, store, and manage raw data.
A subset of business intelligence tools are report generation tools. There are a number of commercially available products to produce reports from stored data. For instance, Business Objects Americas of San Jose, Calif., sells a number of widely used report generation products, including Crystal Reports™, Business Objects OLAP Intelligence™, Business Objects Web Intelligence™, and Business Objects Enterprise™. As used herein, the term report refers to information automatically retrieved (i.e., in response to computer executable instructions) from a data source (e.g., a database, a data warehouse, a plurality of reports, and the like), where the information is structured in accordance with a report schema that specifies the form in which the information should be presented. A non-report is an electronic document that is constructed without the automatic retrieval of information from a data source. Examples of non-report electronic documents include typical business application documents, such as a word processor document, a presentation document, and the like.
A report document specifies how to access data and format it. A report document where the content does not include external data, either saved within the report or accessed live, is a template document for a report rather than a report document. Unlike other non-report documents that may optionally import external data within a document, a report document by design is primarily a medium for accessing and formatting, transforming or presenting external data.
A report is specifically designed to facilitate working with external data sources. In addition to information regarding external data source connection drivers, the report may specify advanced filtering of data, information for combining data from different external data sources, information for updating join structures and relationships in report data, and logic to support a more complex internal data model (that may include additional constraints, relationships, and metadata).
In contrast to a spreadsheet, a report is generally not limited to a table structure but can support a range of structures, such as sections, cross-tables, synchronized tables, sub-reports, hybrid charts, and the like. A report is designed primarily to support imported external data, whereas a spreadsheet equally facilitates manually entered data and imported data. In both cases, a spreadsheet applies a spatial logic that is based on the table cell layout within the spreadsheet in order to interpret data and perform calculations on the data. In contrast, a report is not limited to logic that is based on the display of the data, but rather can interpret the data and perform calculations based on the original (or a redefined) data structure and meaning of the imported data. The report may also interpret the data and perform calculations based on pre-existing relationships between elements of imported data. Spreadsheets generally work within a looping calculation model, whereas a report may support a range of calculation models. Although there may be an overlap in the function of a spreadsheet document and a report document, these documents express different assumptions concerning the existence of an external data source and different logical approaches to interpreting and manipulating imported data.
There are known techniques for graphically portraying quantitative information. The techniques are used in the fields of statistical graphics, data visualization, and the like. Charts, tables, and maps are visualizations of quantitative information. These visualizations can be included in a report document. Visualizations can reveal insights into the relationships between data. In tables, where data is displayed in columns and rows, such insights can be inefficient, difficult, or even impossible, to obtain. While tables are limited in variety, there are many types of charts and maps.
Existing report generation tools have limitations. One limitation is that most users chose to display information in tabular form. This limitation is demonstrated by the frequency of use of tables compared to the other visualizations in representative samples of reports. It is not known exactly why these report authors avoid using the diversity of maps and charts provided by report generation tools It is believed that report authors don't typically think of creating charts and maps because they don't associate individual charts and maps with different questions they may have. Also, studies indicated that when they do endeavor to create a chart from their quantitative data, users find that the mechanics of associating data with axes, defining the relevant parameters, and completing other chart creation tasks is difficult.
In view of the foregoing, it would be highly desirable to provide an improved technique for generating visualizations of data.

Apparatus and method for visualizing data


An air conditioner includes an indoor equipment, a wiring connected to the indoor equipment at one end, and a communication interface connected to another end of the wiring and electrically connected to the indoor equipment via the wiring. The communication interface includes a housing made of resin, an insertion hole formed in the housing and into which a communication module of a cartridge type is inserted, and a control board provided inside the housing. The communication interface includes a first connector provided on a board surface of the control board and electrically connected to the communication module. The communication interface includes a pattern wiring provided on the board surface and discharging static electricity from the communication module before the communication module is electrically connected to the first connector.

A connector for a memory disclosed in Patent Literature 1 includes a connector body that is an interface into which a cartridge memory is inserted, and a slot that is formed in the connector body and into which the memory is inserted. The connector for a memory disclosed in Patent Literature 1 further includes a positioning spring that guides the memory inserted in the slot to a contact plug, and the contact plug that is electrically connected to the memory guided by the positioning spring. The memory is a cartridge module. The connector for a memory disclosed in Patent Literature 1 further includes a ground path connected to the connector body.
The positioning spring is an elastic metal plate. A screw is inserted into the connector body and the positioning spring to be screwed into a printed circuit board, whereby the connector is fixed to the printed circuit board and at the same time the positioning spring is fixed to the connector body. A conductive path is formed by the positioning spring fixed to the connector body and the screw, and the conductive path is grounded via the ground path.
When the cartridge module is inserted into the slot, a contact socket of the module is brought into contact with the positioning spring before connected to the contact plug in the connector body. Thus, static electricity charged in the module or static electricity flowing from a human body through the module is removed via the ground path. As a result, it is possible to prevent damage to a semiconductor element in the module and prevent malfunction and failure of a circuit built in a device to which a module connector is connected.


A method and system that includes an aircraft engine that includes high pressure turbine blades, low pressure turbine blades, and a plurality of bearings, a data logging device associated with the aircraft engine to acquire engine data of the aircraft engine, and an external device that is external to the data logging device. The external device of the system includes processing circuitry to assign a failure coverage cycle to the aircraft engine.

A company's finances may be severely affected when high and unexpected repair costs of items directly related to their business operations arise. This is especially true for airline companies when aircraft engines malfunction or breakdown. Such high repair costs can lead to an airline's operations being suspended or even terminated. This is especially true for mid-size airline companies (for example, less than 30 airplanes) that may not have the necessary funds available to cover such high and unexpected repair costs.

System and method for maintaining an aircraft engine


Eyeglasses for the treatment of low-vision and macular degeneration include a frame for supporting lenses on an occipital dexter side and an occipital sinister side. An occipital dexter lens has a near portion and a distance portion. The near portion has a dioptric power for near vision in a right eye, and the distance portion has a dioptric power for distance vision in the right eye. The optical center of the near portion of the occipital dexter lens is below and on the temporal side of the optical center of the distance portion. An occipital sinister lens similarly has a near portion and a distance portion. The near portion has a dioptric power for near vision in a left eye, and the distance portion has a dioptric power for distance vision in the left eye. The optical center of the near portion of the occipital sinister lens is below and on the temporal side of the optical center of the distance portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to an ophthalmic apparatus, and in particular to bifocal eyeglasses for the treatment of patients with low-vision, and more particularly macular degeneration.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The macula is the small center portion of the light sensitive retina, which is the lining at the back of the eye. Light rays from objects come to a focus in the eye on the retina and are converted to electrical impulses that are interpreted by the brain. The macula is responsible for sharp, straight-ahead vision, which is necessary for functions such as reading, driving, and recognizing faces.
Macular degeneration is a disorder that affects the macula causing decreased visual acuity and possible loss of central vision. The degeneration results from a partial breakdown of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). Breakdown of the RPE interferes with the metabolism of the retina, causing thinning of the retina (the xe2x80x9cdryxe2x80x9d phase of macular degeneration] and may allow these harmful elements from the blood to damage and scar the retina [the xe2x80x9cwetxe2x80x9d phase of macular degeneration].
This disorder results in the loss of central vision. Peripheral fields are always maintained. Although loss of ability to read and drive may occur from macular degeneration, complete blindness rarely occurs from this disease.
The incidence of macular degeneration increases with each decade over age 50 to almost 15% by the age of 75. There is no known effective prevention. Treatments for macular degeneration include laser photocoagulation, photodynamic therapy. Experimental treatments include surgery, and pharmacologic, radiation, and nutrition therapy.
Patients with macular degeneration should consider ways to maximize their remaining vision so that they can master some daily activities. Optical aids and devices can be recommended by low-vision professionals.
An example of one optical aid that uses peripheral vision to compensate for loss of center vision is the invention described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,809 to Portney. Portney uses an intraocular lens, having a converging lens portion and a diverging lens portion, in conjunction with multiple-element spectacles. Thus, to use Portney""s invention, the patient must undergo surgery to implant the intraocular lens, and then wear bulky, heavy glasses.
Glasses are also used in another treatment for macular degeneration disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,958,924 to Parker. The Parker invention uses eyeglasses alone, but each lens in the eyeglasses has two lens assembliesxe2x80x94a positive power lens and a negative power lens separated by a fixed airspace. With two lenses separated by an airspace, these glasses are also heavy and bulky.
Thus, it should be apparent that a need exists for an improved ophthalmic device for aiding patients with low-vision or macular degeneration wherein the aid uses a single lens for each eye without the need for an intraocular lens.
To address the above-discussed deficiencies of the prior art, the present invention provides eyeglasses with a single bifocal lens for each eye, where each lens has a distance vision portion and a near vision portion. In each lens, the optical center of the near vision portion is located below a line passing horizontally through the optical center of the distant vision portion, and is located on the temporal side of a vertical line passing through the optical center of the distance vision portion. The transition between the near portion and the distance portion is preferably smooth.

Eyeglasses and method of making same for the treatment of low-vision


A method and a system for generating intense, ultrashort pulses of XUV and soft X-ray radiation via high-order harmonic generation (HHG), the method comprising selecting a nonlinear solid target and a laser source; separating a beam from the laser source into a first laser beam and a second laser beam; focusing the first laser beam onto the nonlinear solid target, thereby generating a laser ablated plume; and compressing and frequency-doubling the second laser beam and directing a resulting second compressed and frequency-doubled laser beam to the laser ablated plume, thereby yielding high-order harmonic generation of radiation of photon energies in a range between 12 eV and 36 eV. A high-order harmonic source of radiation, comprising a nonlinear solid target; a laser source; a beam splitter separating a beam from the laser source into a first beam line and a second beam line; the first beam line comprising a first focusing unit directing a first, uncompressed, laser beam onto the nonlinear solid target, to generate a laser ablated plume; and the second beam line directing a second, compressed and frequency-doubled laser beam, to the laser ablated plume, yielding high-order harmonic generation of radiation of photon energies in a range between 12 eV and 36 eV.

The invention of the laser may be considered as one of the most important scientific breakthroughs of the 20th century. Lasers have unique characteristics, such as spatial and temporal coherence, directionality, monochromaticity and high intensity. Applications of laser light have resulted in groundbreaking developments in a range of fields, including for example medicine, quantum physics and spectroscopy, communication, laser printing and the entertainment industry in the form of CDs-DVDs for instance. Recent breakthroughs occurred with the development of pulsed lasers with durations as short as a few femtoseconds (fs), resulting in light wave packets containing only a few oscillations of the electromagnetic field [1]. By focusing such laser pulses, these light fields confined to such short temporal duration can create intensities as high as 1015 W cm−2 using pulse energy of only 1 mJ. The intensities are high enough to suppress the Coulomb forces that bind atoms and molecules together and hence enable the study of the physics underlying atomic and molecular ionizations [2]. Ultrashort laser pulse durations also allow temporally resolved studies of the ultrafast dynamics of a range of atomic and molecular phenomenon [3].
Due to several limitations such as reduced stimulated emission cross-section, decreased lifetime of the energy levels of a given laser active medium and increased energy level broadening effects at shorter wavelengths, imposed by the fundamental physics of lasers, most commercially available lasers operate only in the visible or in the longer wavelength region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Population inversion, which is an essential requirement for the laser to operate, decreases rapidly with decreasing laser wavelength A, scaling as λ−4 to λ−6 [4]. This results in drastically inefficient laser systems for shorter wavelengths, which has discouraged efforts to commercialize such systems.
Sources emitting laser-like radiation in the short wavelength regions, especially in the extreme ultraviolet (XUV) and soft X-ray radiation are still being investigated, in view of applications such as XUV pump-probe spectroscopy [5], intense attosecond pulses [6], XUV lithography [7], coherent nanoscale imaging [8], time-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES, PEEM) [9,10,11] and X-ray microscopy [12,13] for example.
High-order harmonic generation (HHG) from noble gases with excellent coherence and spatial profiles has successfully been demonstrated for extreme ultraviolet (XUV) or high-energy ultraviolet radiation in the part of the electromagnetic spectrum spanning photon energies from 10 eV to 200 eV, and therefore having the wavelength from 124 nm down to 6.2 nm respectively, and soft X-ray radiation, i.e. with photon energies from 200 eV to 10 keV, and therefore having the wavelength from 6.2 nm down to 0.12 nm respectively. Free-electron lasers (FELs) are other ultrashort XUV and soft X-ray sources. In a free-electron laser (FEL), a synchrotron radiation is generated by spontaneous emission, as a beam of electrons passes through a magnetic structure referred to as an undulator or wiggler, which is subsequently amplified through self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) [16].
Both high-order harmonic generation (HHG) and free-electron laser (FEL) radiation sources have critical limitations. On the one hand, since high-order harmonic generation (HHG) is a highly nonlinear and non-perturbative process, its conversion efficiency (CE) is extremely low, typically in the range between 10−8 and 10−6 for various noble gases generating only nanojoule (nJ) values of extreme ultraviolet (XUV) pulse energies [17]. Such low-efficiency results in limited applicability of such a source for potential applications. On the other hand, the free-electron laser (FEL) is a large-scale facility of limited widespread accessibility. Moreover, partial coherence property of free-electron laser (FEL) radiation resulting from self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) may be a limitation. Moreover, X-rays from both high-order harmonic generation (HHG) and free-electron laser (FEL) have extremely broad bandwidth, which may be a limitation in applications when monochromaticity is required, such as in photoemission spectroscopy and X-ray microscopy for example. For instance, using a 5 fs, 720 nm, 0.2 TW laser, a continuum of high-order harmonics extending up to 1.3 keV may be achieved [18], but for applications requiring monochromatic X-rays, X-ray pulses from high-order harmonic generation (HHG) and free-electron laser (FEL) are passed through a monochromator, which reduces the intensity and brilliance of the X-ray pulse typically by at least 70%.
The low extreme ultraviolet (XUV) photon flux of the high-order harmonic generation (HHG) process due to its limited conversion efficiency (CE) has been an issue. Attempts have been made to increase the number of atoms/ions in a nonlinear media emitting the XUV and soft X-ray radiation. For example, using a focusing geometry having a very long focal length f, typically in a range between 500 and 1000 cm [19, 20], may be used to increase the focal spot size of the driving ultrafast laser field onto the nonlinear media. The increased focal spot size creates a larger volume of atoms/ions interacting with the laser beam, thereby coherently building up the XUV and soft X-ray radiation inside the nonlinear media. The use of long focal length also reduces the phase mismatch between the driving laser beam and the high-order harmonic by minimizing the geometrical phase-shift, also known as the Gouy phase, experienced by the driving laser beam when passing through the nonlinear media [21]. Other attempts include optimizing the length of the nonlinear media to minimize reabsorption, or using complicated nonlinear media geometry in quasi-phase-matching technique utilizing coherent buildup of XUV and soft X-ray generation from multiple nonlinear high-order harmonic generation (HHG) sources, for example [22,23].
Injection of an external coherent extreme ultraviolet (XUV) or soft X-ray seed beam produced by high-order harmonic generation (HHG) into the free-electron laser (FEL) is used to improve the coherence properties of free-electron laser (FEL) [24]. The synchrotron radiation produced by the wiggling electron beam in a free-electron laser (FEL) interacts with the electron beam through energy exchange along the undulator, which modulates the electron bunch density in the longitudinal direction, with a period close to the wavelength of the spontaneous emission. The partial temporal coherence of the free-electron laser (FEL) radiation occurs due to electron density bunching taking place independently in the different parts of the bunch [16]. Seeding from an external coherent source accelerates the pace of the electron bunching process as compared to self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE), hence improving the coherence properties of free-electron laser (FEL) radiation. Furthermore, external seed allows saturation gain values over shorter lengths of the undulator as compared to self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE), allowing for compact systems and reduced cost of systems building and maintenance. Seeded free-electron laser (FEL) configuration allows improvements in the time jitter of free-electron laser (FEL) pulses, crucial for time-resolved pump-probe experiments [24]. Seeding also allows extending the free electron laser (FEL) spectral gain width, which is inversely proportional to the number of undulator periods, hence further pushing down the temporal duration values of the free-electron laser (FEL) radiation [24].
X-ray monochromators may be used to slice out a narrow spectrum from these ultra-broadband X-ray pulses to improve the monochromaticity of X-ray pulses generated via high-order harmonic generation (HHG) and free-electron laser (FEL). Such X-ray flux monochromators use grazing incidence gratings and Bragg crystals.
Increasing the extreme ultraviolet (XUV) and soft X-ray flux from high-order harmonic generation (HHG) through reducing the geometrical phase-shift mismatching by using long focal length focusing geometry requires very high laser pulse energies to achieve the desired laser intensities in the interaction region of the nonlinear media to generate high-order harmonics. For example, at a fixed pulse duration, driving laser wavelength and laser beam diameter, it would require 20 times higher laser pulse energy to achieve the same laser intensity at the focus with long 700 cm focal length lens as compared to the pulse energy required with shorter 150 cm focal length. Thus, a laser system with multiple amplification stages is required to achieve the desired laser power, resulting into an increased system cost. The use of multiple amplification stages deteriorates the spatial and temporal properties of the laser pulses, which in turn affects the properties of the generated harmonics. Other optimization methods based on specially designed target configurations reducing reabsorption and improving the phase-matching require intricate design procedures, and result in complex, less user-friendly, systems.
Moreover, to operate a free-electron laser (FEL) at shorter wavelength range, especially in the water-window in the range between 2.3 nm and 4.4 nm having high transmission by water but strong absorption by carbon, thereby finding a wide range of applications in the imaging of biological materials in their natural hydrated state [25], shorter seed wavelengths are required as compared to a typical 3rd-5th harmonic of Ti:sapphire 800 nm laser typically used for the seeding [26]. In such a case, the limited photon flux of high-order harmonic generation (HHG), which drastically reduces with increasing orders, may not be sufficient to surpass the initiating SE incoherent radiation.
Also, improving the monochromaticity of X-ray pulses using grazing incidence gratings and Bragg crystals is inefficient since these dispersive X-ray optics have limited efficiency. As such, the brightness of these X-rays is typically reduced by at least 70%.
There is still a need in the art for a method and a system for generating intense, ultrashort pulses of extreme ultraviolet (XUV) and soft X-ray radiation via high-order harmonic generation (HHG).

Method and system for generating intense, ultrashort pulses of XUV and soft x-ray radiation via HHG

INSTITUT NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE


A stepper motor having an internally toothed ring gear acting as a stator which is contacted by one or more pinion gears supported by a carrier. The ring gear stator is made up of several sets of teeth which are separately magnetically polarized to move the pinion gears about the ring gear. Three toroidal coils are preferably provided to charge three different sets of teeth which are arranged in a repeating series of three about the ring gear. Alternatively, a linear actuator can be provided to provide a linear output. The teeth may also include an individual coil wherein sets of teeth can be electromagnetically biased into a north or south polarity or remain neutral.

Stepper motors, or rotary transducers, are used in a wide variety of products where it is important to control the rate of rotation and rotational position of a shaft or other device.
An example of a prior art stepper motor or selectively positionable rotary transducer is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,358,694 to Grundland. The stepper motor disclosed in Grundland discloses a ring gear including at least one permanent magnet and a rotor which is rotationally moveable relative to the ring. An odd number of poles are provided on the rotor for selectively providing magnetic force to cause relative rotation therebetween. The magnet has a precisely machined inner wear surface which is rotated against the outer surface of the fixed stator. Teflon or oil may be used to reduce friction between the magnet and the stator but are not intended to interfere with the existence of an air gap between the stator and the rotor.
Other approaches to manufacturing stepper motors include the use of permanent magnets or rare earth materials. Such materials add cost to stepper motor construction.
Prior art stepper motors tend to be fairly large in size and limited in power output.
Any air gap between the opposite poles in the magnetic circuit results in a reduction of holding torque of the motor. The attractive forces between opposing poles is significantly reduced as a result of the existence of an air gap in the magnetic circuit.
These and other disadvantages encountered by the prior art are addressed by the present invention as summarized below.

Zero air gap orbiting gear stepper motor


Disclosed is a control system for a melting process in an electric arc furnace for melting a metallic material that minimizes desired process properties such as the melting time or the total power consumption of the melting process. The system includes a processing unit adapted for receiving or collecting measured data of at least one process variable, determining the current state of the process, performing an optimization of the melting process, determining a process input based on the result of the optimization, and controlling the melting process with the process input. A method is also presented herein.

Electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking is a highly energy-intensive industrial process. It consumes a large amount of electrical and chemical energy. A modern EAF produces over 300 tapping tons of steel pear heat, and since the production of steel in an EAF requires a huge amount of electrical and chemical energy, the energy cost for one such furnace annually is very high. This is the reason why the latest EAF technology development has been mainly focused on reducing the energy consumption (electricity and oxygen) and thereby increasing the productivity. Also from an environmental point of view there is a desire to reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide and other emissions from the EAF.
A typical electric arc furnace comprises three electrodes, a power supply system operatively connected to the electrodes, a vessel, often water-cooled in larger sizes, covered with a retractable roof through which one or more graphite electrodes enter the furnace. Further an electric arc furnace usually comprises a cooling water station and at least one control unit operatively connected to the power supply system to control the operation of the electrodes. The electrodes form an arc between the metallic material (e.g. scrap), which has been loaded into the EAF, and the electrodes. Thereby, a metallic melt (a charge) is created which is heated both by current passing through the melt and by the radiant energy evolved by the arc. An electrode regulating system maintains approximately constant current and power input during the melting of the charge.
Arc furnaces usually exhibit a pattern of hot and cold-spots around the hearth perimeter, with the cold-spots located between the electrodes. Modern furnaces mount gas burners in the sidewalls and use them to provide chemical energy to the cold-spots, making the heating of the melt more uniform. Additional chemical energy is also provided by means, e.g. lances, for injecting oxygen and carbon into the furnace.
A typical EMS-system comprises at least one electromagnetic stirrer comprising a stirring coil, a power supply system, comprising frequency converter and a transformer, operatively connected to the stirrer, a cooling water station and at least one control unit operatively connected to the power supply system to control the operation of the stirrer. The stirring coil is typically mounted outside a steel shell of the furnace. This coil generates a travelling magnetic field to provide stirring forces in the melt of molten metal. The stirrer operates using a low frequency travelling magnetic field, penetrating the steel shell of the furnace and thereby moving the melt.
US 2004/244530 A1 discloses a method of controlling slag characteristics in an electric arc furnace control. The furnace has inputs including oxygen supply and carbon supply. The method of controlling slag characteristics includes introducing a charge to be melted into the furnace, melting at least a portion of the charge to produce a melt, and introducing oxygen and carbon into the melt to enhance formation of a slag having slag conditions including a slag height and a slag coverage. To better control the slag characteristics, the slag is modeled and the inputs are controlled to maximize the energy transferred from the electrode to the slag.
US 2007/133651 A1 discloses a method for controlling the foaming of slag in an electric arc furnace. The furnace comprises at least one electrode column. Current is applied to the electrode column, causing an arc to form between the tip of the electrode column and the scrap, melting the scrap. Impurities in the molten scrap metal rise to the surface forming slag. A meter determines the total harmonic distortion associated with the system. If the total harmonic distortion is greater than a predetermined set point, and the scrap metal is sufficiently molten, then a foaming agent is added thereto.
The publication "Tenova's intelligent arc furnace iEAF—concept and technical overview" by Clerci et al., published in Steel Times International, DMG World Media, Lewes, G B, vol. 32, no. 4, 1 May 2008, pp. 19-23, discloses an automation system based on continuous, real-time process measurements and online process models, developed for the dynamic control and optimization of the electric arc furnace.


A magnetic disk array device is equipped with ATA magnetic disks, at least one disk array controller for controlling the ATA magnetic disks, and at least one processing offload function module provided between the disk array controller and the ATA magnetic disk. The disk array controller outputs one of a standard processing FC command for performing a standard processing such as a read or write processing, and an offload processing FC command for performing a vendor-unique offload processing. The processing offload function module performs a command mapping for the standard processing FC command and issues to the ATA magnetic disk a corresponding ATA command, and prepares a group of ATA commands for the offload processing FC command for optimum processing in an ATA protocol.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention primarily relates to an external storage device system for computers, and especially to a technology for improving the performance of a magnetic disk array system (hereafter called "magnetic disk array device").
2. Description of the Related Arts
A conventional technology in which a magnetic disk array device (RAID device: Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks device) records data with high reliability and at high-speed by distributing data processing and recording redundant data among a plurality of disks is widely used.
Generally, magnetic disk array devices have numerous disks mounted, and a disk array controller, which is an input/output control device, is mounted to store and process data appropriately distributed in and among the magnetic disks.
In addition to a function for performing a processing to store data in appropriate disks, the disk array controller also has a function to format a plurality of disks for RAID purposes, a function to calculate and write redundant data to prevent data loss even in the unlikely event of disk failure, and a failure preventive function to detect disks with signs of failure before failures occur; the disk array controller performs numerous control processing besides input/output to and from magnetic disks. For this reason, the disk array controller is required to have the performance to process data at high-speed, and improvements have been made to this end.
In the meantime, as another method for achieving high performance in the magnetic disk array device, there is an offload processing (a processing to remove load from the disk controller), wherein, instead of having the disk array controller handle all the processing, sub-controllers that are subordinate to the disk array controller are provided and a part of the processing is handled by the sub-controllers.
As a method for achieving high-speed processing through offload processing, multiple executions of a plurality of formats are performed by dividing a Fibre Channel loop into a plurality of loops and using a sub-controller provided for each loop.
By dividing the Fibre Channel loop through which data travels, data that travels on the loops can be localized and usage efficiency of a data bus of the controller can be improved. Further, it is possible to reduce I/O processing load on the controller by having the sub-controllers perform a part of the processing previously done by the controller. Moreover, processing such as copying between disks and online verification, which is a type of preventive maintenance, for checking the surface of disks online without stopping the device, can be done.

Magnetic disk array device with processing offload function module


A surface defect in a gamma titanium aluminide article is repaired by weld repairing the defect and thereafter sealing the surface-connected cracks in the weldment. The surface-connected cracks are repaired by applying to the region of the weldment a powder of a brazing filler metal that is compatible with the gamma titanium aluminide alloy and with the weldment, and thereafter heating the article to a brazing temperature above the liquidus of the brazing filler metal. The article is preferably hot isostatically pressed after the repair is completed to close internal defects that cannot otherwise be closed due to the surface connected cracks.

This invention relates to the repair of articles made of gamma titanium aluminide alloys, and more particularly, to repair by a combined welding and brazing approach.
Titanium aluminides are a class of alloys whose compositions include at least titanium and aluminum, and typically some additional alloying elements such as chromium, niobium, vanadium, tantalum, manganese, and/or boron. The gamma titanium aluminides are based on the gamma phase found at nearly the equiatomic composition, with roughly 50 atomic percent each of titanium and aluminum, or slightly reduced amounts to permit the use of other alloying elements. The titanium aluminides, and particularly the gamma titanium aluminides, have the advantages of low density, good low and intermediate temperature strength and cyclic deformation resistance, and good environmental resistance.
Gamma titanium aluminides can be used in aircraft engines. They potentially have applications such as low-pressure turbine blades and vanes, bearing supports, compressor casings, high pressure and low pressure hangars, frames, exhaust nozzle flaps, diffusers, and low pressure turbine brush seal supports. They may also have application in other products such as automotive valves and superchargers.
Articles made of gamma titanium aluminide alloys are usually cast from the melt into a mold, with investment casting being the most popular approach, and then further processed. The as-cast articles sometimes have surface defects such as hot tears and surface-connected porosity due to shrinkage defects. These surface defects are deleterious to the properties of the article, either directly or by preventing the closure of interior porosity and shrinkage cavities during subsequent processing.
If the surface defects are not too severe, as is often the case, they may be repaired. However, existing repair techniques are not fully satisfactory in removing the surface defects. The inventors have recognized a need for an improved technique for repairing surface defects in gamma titanium aluminide articles. The present invention fulfills this need, and further provides related advantages.

Repair of gamma titanium aluminide articles


Estimation accuracies of a conversation satisfaction and a speech satisfaction are improved. A learning data storage unit (10) stores learning data including a conversation voice containing a conversation including a plurality of speeches, a correct answer value of a conversation satisfaction for the conversation, and a correct answer value of a speech satisfaction for each speech included in the conversation. A model learning unit (13) learns a satisfaction estimation model using a feature quantity of each speech extracted from the conversation voice, the correct answer value of the speech satisfaction, and the correct answer value of the conversation satisfaction, the satisfaction estimation model configured by connecting a speech satisfaction estimation model part that receives a feature quantity of each speech and estimates the speech satisfaction of each speech with a conversation satisfaction estimation model part that receives at least the speech satisfaction of each speech and estimates the conversation satisfaction.

For example, in an operation of a call center, there is a need for a technique for estimating satisfactions of customers from conversations during a call. The satisfaction of the customer can be indicated using a gradual category indicating whether or not the customer expresses satisfaction or dissatisfaction during a conversation, for example, by three steps such as satisfied/normal/dissatisfied. In the present specification, in a certain call, a satisfaction of a customer in the entire conversation is referred to as a "conversation satisfaction", and a satisfaction of a customer in a speech part of the customer during the conversation is referred to as a "speech satisfaction." If the conversation satisfaction can be estimated for each call at the call center, operator evaluation can be automated, for example, by aggregating rates at which the conversation satisfaction is "satisfied" or "dissatisfied" for each operator. Further, if the speech satisfaction can be estimated for each speech during a call, for example, an application of investigating customer requests is possible by performing speech recognition and text analysis on only intervals in which the speech satisfaction is "satisfied". Further, although the conversation has been described here as a conversation during a call at the call center, the same can be applied to all conversations which are conducted by a plurality of speakers in a face-to-face/non-face-to-face manner.
As a technique similar to the above technique, a technique for estimating a conversation satisfaction of each call using a feature of a speaking style such as a speech speed of the customer or a linguistic feature such as the presence or absence of a competitor product name has been proposed in Non-Patent Literature 1. The speech satisfaction may be estimated in view of a chronological relevance of the speech satisfaction in addition to a feature quantity such as a voice tone, a backchannel frequency, or the like.

Satisfaction estimation model learning apparatus, satisfaction estimating apparatus, satisfaction estimation model learning method, satisfaction estimation method, and program

NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION


A variable-throat exhaust turbocharger has a variable throat mechanism that reduces wear of contact surfaces of connection pin parts formed integral with lever plates or a drive ring and the grooves into which the connection pin parts are engaged. A mechanism also prevents slipping out of the drive ring from a nozzle mount toward the lever plate to prevent a probable occurrence of failure in action of the variable throat mechanism caused by the slipping out of the drive ring. The connection pin parts connecting between the lever plates and drive ring of the variable throat mechanism are formed integral with either the lever plates or the drive ring by extrusion or by precision casting. At least the connection pin parts or grooves into each of which each of the connection pin parts, is engaged, are treated with surface hardening including diffusion coating.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is applied to exhaust turbochargers for internal combustion engines and relates to the construction of a drive ring and lever plates of a variable-throat exhaust turbocharger equipped with a variable throat mechanism for varying the blade angle of a plurality of nozzle vanes and to an assembling method of the variable throat mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been proposed an art relating to the construction of a drive ring and lever plates of a variable-throat turbocharger equipped with a variable throat mechanism for varying the blade angle of a plurality of nozzle vanes in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-285804(hereafter referred to as patent literature 1) applied for by the applicant of the present invention. There is also known Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-332866(hereafter referred to as patent literature 2).
In the art disclosed in patent literature 1, the turbocharger comprises a plurality of nozzle vanes rotatably supported by a nozzle mount fixed to a turbine casing and a variable throat mechanism which comprises an annular drive ring rotatable by means of an actuator, and lever plates. Each of the lever plates has a groove at its one end side to be engaged with connection pins of the drive ring to be connected thereto. The blade angle of the nozzle vanes is varied by rotating the drive ring to swing each of the lever plates, the blade angle being varied by the swing of the lever plates. The connection pin or pins are formed either on the lever plate or on the drive ring by extrusion or by precision casting such that the connection pin or pins are formed in one piece with the parent material, i.e. the lever plate or drive ring.
In the art disclosed in patent literature 2, the turbocharger comprises variable blade angle nozzle vanes for adjusting the flow rate of the exhaust gas exhausted from an engine and introduced into the turbocharger to rotate the turbine rotor. A turbine frame rotatably supports the variable blade angle nozzle vanes arranged at the peripheral part of the exhaust turbine. A variable throat mechanism rotates the nozzle vanes to adjust the flow rate of the exhaust gas. The velocity of exhaust gas is increased by throttling the exhaust flow with the variable blade angle nozzle vanes so that high output can be obtained even at low rotation speed, and constituent members of an exhaust guide assembly of the turbocharger are surface-treated to coat the surfaces with carbide or nitride.
However, in the art of patent literature 1, the connection pin or pins are formed either on the lever plate or on the drive ring by extrusion or by precision casting such that the connection pin or pins are formed in one piece with the parent material, i.e. the lever plate or drive ring. But there is disclosed no countermeasure to deal with wear of the connection pin and groove of the link plate in which the connection pin is engaged.
Further, in the art, the drive ring is disposed adjacent to the nozzle mount in the axial direction between the side face of the lever plate and the side face of the nozzle mount. But there is disclosed no countermeasure to prevent slipping-off of the drive ring from the nozzle mount towards the lever plate side.
In the art disclosed in patent literature 2 is taught surface-treating of the constituent members of the exhaust guide assembly to coat the surfaces with carbide or nitride, but concretively only the coating of the variable blade angle nozzle vanes and the turbine frame is recited. Surface treating of transmission members for transmitting rotational force to the variable blade angle nozzle vanes via movable members is not disclosed.
Further, in the art of patent literature 2, a ring member is provided to sandwich a rotating member between the ring member and a flange of the turbine frame and push the rotating member towards the turbine frame to prevent the rotating member from moving apart from the turbine frame. Therefore, it is necessary to provide the ring member, resulting in an increase in cost and weight, and further resulting in complication during assembly.

Variable-throat exhaust turbocharger and method for manufacturing constituent members of variable throat mechanism


A cargo management system for a vehicle includes a beam assembly that has a first end and a second end. At least one of the ends is biased axially outward and compressible axially inward. Each of the ends has a common interface configured to be supportable by the opposing side walls of the vehicle so that the beam assembly is supported at both of the first and second ends by the walls and extends over a floor of a vehicle, with said at least one of the ends compressed axially inward. The beam assembly can be used as a bed divider, to provide two-tier loading, and as a ladder rack.

Pick-ups and utility vehicles are often provided with a bed or cargo bay for transporting cargo. A variety of items are available for utilizing the cargo space. For example, bed dividers can be purchased as an after-market item. Horizontal dividers can also be installed to enable tiered storage. Ladder racks are also commercially available. While useful, these items are often expensive. Moreover, each of these must be purchased as separate items. When not in use, these items must generally be removed from the vehicle and stored off-board. Storing a bed divider, a tiered storage divider, and a ladder rack requires a significant amount of storage space.

Multi-functional cargo management system for a vehicle


Embodiments herein disclose formats for MCData messages and notifications, and methods for coding (encoding and decoding) MCData messages and notifications in a MCData communication system. The method includes generating, by a first UE, an encoded MCData message or notification comprising of signaling payload and data payload content related to one or more MCData user payloads. Further the method includes deriving, by a second UE, the actual MCData messages or notifications by decoding the received encoded MCData messages or notifications. The formats for MCData messages and MCData notifications optimize control headers and allow maximum user data size that can be carried in a single message over signalling, which aids in sending multiple user payloads in a single message.

Mission critical services, in particular (MCData) communication, provide a set of services and procedures to mission critical users to allow reliable, predictable, secure and flexible data communications. The MCData communication makes frequent use of a set of capabilities and enablers that allows for many end user services to be built on a common foundation. A short data service (SDS) feature of a MCData service could be considered as a basic protocol carrying a limited size, but variable content and a payload message. The payload message could be a text message or could be marked for extensible purposes including short binary messages for an application communication. Messaging in the MCData service could be one-to-one messaging or could be group messaging using groups as specified in a MCCoRe. Below are some key requirements from a MCData message capability which needs to be considered while defining solution.
a) Policy assertion capabilities,
b) Identifying applications,
c) Different notifications—like read receipt, reject and delivery,
d) Delivery history interrogation,
e) Multiple message capability in single payload, and
f) Conversation management.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for transmitting a mission critical data message in a communication system


The invention relates to a snowmobile endless track belt of the type having a body made of an elastomeric material, an outer surface for contact with the ground and an inner surface provided with lugs for engagement with the snowmobile driving system and with at least one endless pathway that contacts a corresponding slide rail of the snowmobile suspension. The elastomeric material, in at least the area which is contacted by the slide rail, is composed of rubber and of a lubricating material so that friction generated between the slide rail and a driven belt is greatly reduced by the presence of such lubricating material in the elastomeric material.

The present invention relates to a belt for a track-driven vehicle, such as a snowmobile.
Track belts provided on motor driven vehicles, such as snowmobiles, usually comprise a body made of elastomeric material. This body has an outer surface which contacts the ground and an inner surface which cooperates with a slide suspension system and a driving system. Generally, the body is driven by one of several driving wheels, such as sprocket wheels, which engage openings or driving lugs provided on the inner surface of the track belt. The slide suspension system is designed for supporting the chassis of the vehicle and usually comprises a pair of parallel slide rails contacting the inner surface of the track belt. Such rails also support the track belt with respect to lateral movements.
Formerly, each slide rail of a slide suspension system was aligned with a corresponding row of openings designed for engagement with teeth of a corresponding sprocket wheel. Such positioning of the slide rails reduces the portion of the inner surface of the track belt that is in contact with the slide rails and thus the amount of friction therebetween. It was found that, eventhough the friction was reduced, failures and rapid wear of the track belt and slide rails were still observed. To overcome this drawback, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,887,243 (Chaumont), the portions of the inner surface contacting the slide rails were provided with metal clips to reduce friction occurring between the inner surface of the body and the slide rails. It is also well known in the prior art that, in order to minimize friction between the inner surface of the track belt and the slide rails and also to facilitate the positioning of the clips, the slide rails were positioned above a corresponding pathway of clips essentially separated from each other by a hole.
It is also known in the art that, to maintain a sufficient sturdiness of the track belt, it is advantageous to have a maximum amount of clips. However, this increases the weight of the track belt. Therefore, there is a strong need for a track belt that does not have the drawback of those of the prior art with respect to friction existing between the inner surface of the track belt and the slide rails while reducing the whole weight of the track belt.
Therefore, the prior art teaches to the man skilled in the art that slide rails must contact a maximum of frictionless clips and a minimum of the inner surface of the track belt.
An object of the invention is to embody a track belt for motor vehicles, such as snowmobiles, having to cooperate with slide rails of a slide suspension system, which shows at once high characteristics of strength, resistance and durability, avoids friction between its inner surface and the slide rails and has a reduced weight with respect to track belts already known in the art.
Another object of the present invention is to enable the formation of a lubricating effect between the slide rails and the inner surface of the track belt in order to achieve this friction reduction.
Another object of the invention concerns a method for making a snowmobile track with a view to minimizing friction between the slide rails and the corresponding inner surface of the track belt.
However, contrary to the teachings of the prior art, the applicant has surprisingly found that it is possible to have a substantial portion of the inner surface in contact with slide rails, while still limiting the friction existing between them. More particularly, the applicant has discovered an improvement in an endless track belt of the type comprising a body made of an elastomeric material, the body having an outer surface for contact with the ground and an inner surface provided with means for engagement with driving means. The inner surface is also provided with at least one endless pathway having a sliding surface contacting a corresponding slide rail of a slide rail suspension. The elastomeric material of the track belt is composed of rubber and a lubrication means so that, at the sliding contact of the inner surface of the track belt, friction is greatly reduced due to the presence of such lubrication.
In one preferred form of the invention, this composition of rubber material and lubricating means is provided only in the endless pathway of the track which contacts the slide rail of the sliding rail suspension.
In another form of the invention, the complete inner surface of the track belt is composed of a layer of rubber and lubricating means.
Other objects and further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. It should be understood, however, that this detailed description, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, is given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art.