A golf-leveler device, process for making a golf-leveler device, and a method of using a golf-leveling device comprising a 360-degree dome leveler housed within and at one end of a standard golf ball and having a base at the opposite end. Both the dome leveler and the base are inserted into a cylindrical hole drilled through the origin of the spherical golf ball, and secured thereto by glue or adhesive means. The base includes a bottom portion that is a flat plane having a diameter less than the diameter of the golf ball, and being orthogonal to the centerline axis of the hole drilled through the golf ball. A bubble is positioned within a transparent oily liquid within the dome leveler such that when the golfer places the device on a location on a green on a golf course, the bubble indicates the direction that that particular location on the green slants upward.

Reading the green is an integral part of putting while playing a game of golf. Changes in the elevation of different portions of the green, that is, sloping of the green, can sometimes be deceiving to the naked eye due to the surrounding environment. Optical illusions caused by angles of environmental features--such as mountains, valleys, gulleys, deserts and so forth--can often makes subtle slants downward in one direction appear to be upward slants. If the golfer mistakingly compensates for sloping in the opposite direction, the accuracy of the putt faces obvious peril.
There have been several attempts to provide leveler devices for golfers to aid them in reading the slope of the green. Some of these devices employ 2-dimensional or linear levelers, often housed within golf clubs, handles, putter blades and so forth. Others include two perpendicularly float levels to show the relative sloping in two directions. Still others employ plumb bobs, pendulums, steel balls and other mechanisms for determining various attributes and parameters of the sloping of a particular green.
These various prior-art leveler devices are either cumbersome, time-consuming and complicated to use, bulky to store, or an affront to golf etiquette. The linear levelers, no matter how housed, fail to clearly indicate the direction of the slope of the green without continually repositioning the device in different rotational positions. The devices having two linear float levelers positioned perpendicularly require mental gymnastics to determine the actual slope.
The process for making these various prior-art devices is typically time-consuming, using costly materials, and employing expensive and complex machinery and processing steps.
It would thus be desireable to have a small, lightweight leveler that may be readily carried in one's pocket or golf-ball compartment in a golf bag and that readily and unambiguously indicates the direction of the slope of the green at any particular location that the device is positioned. It would also be desireable to package such a golf-leveler device in a housing that presents an appropriate image for golfers and is not an affront to golfing etiquette. If would further be desireable to provide a cost-effective device that may be made by a simple process using inexpensive materials.


An article with an abradable dry powder coating thereon comprises an abradably coated article with a substrate surface and having at least one coating of a liquid primer on the substrate surface and then coating with at least one abradable dry powder coating on the surface of the liquid primer. The sequence of layers may also be reversed, or additional layers may be useful. The abradable dry powder coating is formed of a dry powder coating composition including a thermoset resin having a cure temperature combined with at least one filler material, wherein the filler is formed of a material which does not melt substantially at or below the cure temperature of the resin, whereby an abradable coating results employing a filler to make the coating. A method of making a composition for coating an article with a coating curable into an abradable coating is also disclosed, comprising melt-mixing an evaporative carrier-free mixture of a dry powder thermoset resin having a cure temperature, to form a mass composite, wherein the filler is formed of a material which does not substantially melt at or below the cure temperature of the resin, cooling the mass composite, and breaking the cooled mass composite into powder particles, thereby forming the composite powder composition.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to abradable coatings, and methods for providing improved adhesion of those coatings, abradable dry film lubricant, with the method for applying and articles made therefrom.
II. Description of the Related Art
The efficiencies of pumps, pistons or compressors rely on the relative movement of internal components against one another to pump liquids or compress gases. For the highest operating efficiency of such devices, it is necessary to minimize leakage between the movable components without having contact between the components. In some devices it is also advantageous to provide a lubricant film to minimize friction between the movable components and/or between the components and the fluid being transferred.
Abradable coatings on the working surfaces of the pumps grind themselves into nearly perfect fitting surfaces when the pump is first operated. Conventional abradable coatings are made of liquid materials which are sprayed or painted onto the working surfaces. Alternatively, the working surfaces can be dipped into the liquid abradable coating composition. The liquid coating may even be electrostatically painted on.
However, these prior art liquid compositions have inherent problems, including adhesion issues, cost for excessive material, environmental concerns arising from the use of the solvents, and the inability to recycle and re-use any overspray, which is surely generated during any spraying or electrostatic applications. Dipping and roller painting may not generate much overspray, but they certainly generate a lot of toxic solvent fumes.
Prior methods are not without their problems, including undesirably high manufacturing costs. For instance, when solvent-based formulations are used, removal, containment, and special handling of the solvent is required. Removal of the solvent (or volatile organic compound) from the coatings—which is completed before the curing process—requires additional heat, time, and handling equipment. The volatile organic compound requires additional care in handling for the safety and health of the operators and the environment. In addition, there is typically significant shutdown time necessary for cleaning and maintenance of solvent-processing equipment. Aside from the problems with processing with solvents, solvent-based materials also create unique problems and additional cost when transporting the materials. There is an additional issue with the thickness of the coating is that they are limited because a thicker coating will sag and run.
Although any water-based system may be more environmentally favorable, there remains additional cost and time of evaporating and handling the water from the coatings and the shutdown time for cleaning and maintenance of the equipment. Furthermore, not all resins can be formulated into water-based systems, so the types of resins available to use with water-based systems are limited.
Another disadvantage of spray coating liquid-based formulations is that it is not practical to recycle any overspray. Reclaimed overspray would require an inordinate amount of re-formulation to adjust its viscosity in order to achieve consistent coating results.
Therefore, there is a need for improved abradable coatings, methods of making and adhering the coatings, methods of coating articles with abradable coatings, and the coated articles themselves. It would be advantageous if the improved coatings were easy to apply, cost effective, energy-wise, used relatively inexpensive and simple equipment, and were environmentally favorable. It would also be advantageous if the composition for forming the abradable coatings was recyclable, to reduce loss during the coating process. Still a further advantage would be realized if the lubricity of the coating could be controlled to best meet different applications.

Abradable dry film lubricant and the method for applying same and article made therefrom


A lockable hinge for use in orthopedic braces is provided. When used in a knee brace, the present hinge provides a knee-immobilizing brace that assists persons with standing and/or walking. The hinge is easily converted from a locked mode to a free range of motion mode and vice versa. When the hinge is in the locked mode, patients are better able to stand and walk. With the push of a button, the patient can bend his or her knee to sit or lie down more comfortably. When the hinge is in the free range of motion mode, patients are better able to participate in physical therapy activities without the hinge locking.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hinges for orthopedic braces. In particular, when used in combination with a knee brace, the present lockable hinge provides a locking mode to immobilize the knee joint, and a free range of motion mode for flexing the knee.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many people suffer from various instabilities that compromise their ability to ambulate and/or stand. These instabilities could include musculo-skeletal disorders such as quadriceps deficiencies, or neurological diseases such as muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis and polio. These instabilities interfere with the ability of the brain to properly control the muscle groups that are essential for ambulation and/or standing. As another example, people who have suffered strokes or spinal cord injuries also have difficulty controlling these muscle groups. For people who suffer from disorders such as these, walking and standing can be challenging or impossible. Bracing the person's leg so that he or she cannot bend his or her knee helps the person to stand and walk. A variety of leg braces that prevent knee flexion are available.
When sitting or lying down, generally a person is more comfortable if he or she can bend his or her knee. When wearing a knee-immobilizing brace, however, knee flexion is impossible. Thus, a person wearing such a brace must remove the brace whenever he or she sits or lies down. The process of removing the brace is difficult and time consuming. Furthermore, when the person wishes to stand up again, he or she needs to replace the brace on his or her leg. This process is also difficult and time consuming.
A hinge manufactured by Townsend Design and marketed under the name Trigger Lock enables a person to switch between a locked mode and an unlocked mode. In the locked mode, the hinge is freely rotatable between a first flexion angle and a second, maximum, flexion angle. When the hinge reaches a flexion angle less than the first flexion angle, the hinge automatically locks, such that the hinge cannot reach a flexion angle greater than the first flexion angle. By rotating a lever, the person can unlock the hinge so that the hinge can reach a flexion angle greater than the first flexion angle. By rotating a second lever, the person can place the hinge in the unlocked mode. In the unlocked mode the hinge is freely rotatable and does not lock when it reaches a flexion angle less than the first flexion angle.
A hinge manufactured by dj Orthopedics of Vista, Calif., and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,292,303 and 5,409,449 also enables a person to switch between a locked mode and an unlocked mode. The hinge includes a lever that protrudes in a substantially radial direction. A spring biases the lever toward a locked position in which the lever interferes with rotation of the hinge arms. When the lever is in the locked position, the hinge is locked at full extension. The lever is movable to an unlocked position in which the lever does not interfere with rotation of the hinge arms. When the lever is in the unlocked position, the hinge is freely rotatable between full extension and approximately 120° of flexion. A latch secured to an edge of the hinge plates is selectively engageable with the lever to hold the lever in the unlocked position. When the hinge is oriented at any angle short of full extension, and the latch is disengaged from the lever, the lever is biased toward the locked position. However, one of the hinge arms obstructs the lever, preventing the lever from reaching the locked position. When the hinge reaches full extension, the hinge arm no longer obstructs the lever, and the lever snaps into the locked position.
The hinge further includes a flexion-limiting pin and an extension-limiting pin. The pins are selectively engageable with a plurality of apertures on the hinge plates to set ranges of flexion and extension for the hinge. Thus, using the pins a wearer may lock the hinge at full extension by appropriately positioning the pins to prevent flexion.
Another hinge manufactured by dj Orthopedics also enables a person to switch between a locked mode and an unlocked mode. However, the hinge does not lock automatically upon reaching a pre-determined flexion angle. Rather, the hinge includes a two-position switch that is slidable in the anterior/posterior direction. When the switch is in the posterior position, the hinge is freely rotatable between full extension and approximately 120° of flexion. When the hinge is at full extension, the wearer may slide the switch to the anterior position, where the switch locks the hinge at full extension.
Another hinge manufactured by dj Orthopedics, and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,921,946 also enables a person to switch between a locked mode and an unlocked mode. This hinge also does not lock automatically upon reaching a pre-determined flexion angle. One of the hinge plates includes a locking switch that is slidable toward and away from the other hinge plate. When the switch is slid toward the opposite hinge plate, it engages one of a plurality of slots on the opposite hinge plate, preventing rotation of the hinge. The slots are positioned such that the hinge may be locked at a plurality of different angles of flexion, including full extension. When the switch is slid away from the opposite hinge plate, it disengages the slot and the hinge becomes freely rotatable. The hinge further includes an extension-limiting stop and a flexion-limiting stop. Each stop is slidable between a plurality of positions to set a maximum extension/flexion range for the hinge. In each position, each stop engages a different land on one of the hinge plates to define the extension/flexion limit.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An improved efficiency external combustion engine which utilizes separation on the thermodynamic processes that occur in an external combustion engine into components designed to maximum each operation. The external combustion engine varies flow volume of air to the combustor in response to power demands and delivers fuel to the combustor at a constant air-to-fuel ratio. The system further comprises separate compressors, combustors and expanders wherein the compressor utilizes isothermal compression, the combustor utilizes constant pressure or constant volume combustion or a combination of the two and may provide final compression, and the expander may utilize subatmospheric expansion. Exhaust heat may be regenerated and used in the primary cycle. The engine also comprises a positive lubrication system for the cylinders and pistons that allows a constant flow of a lubricant around the piston. A wide variance valve control mechanism is introduced which offers varied valve timings.

Combustion engines have been used for years in various transportation applications. These engines offer high power output in a relatively small space and give good response to power changes. However, existing engine efficiency varies with the output level of the engine. The engines exhibit poor efficiency at low power but the efficiency improves as load increases until a maximum is reached at the design output point of the engine. Large amounts of heat generated by the burning fuel are lost in the exhaust system and in the cooling process required to maintain safe working temperatures of the metal parts. Thus, there is a need to recapture and use this wasted heat energy and improve efficiency over the entire load range of the engine.
A number of inefficiencies exist in present combustion engines because of their basic structure and operation. Due to a limited amount of time between cycles, fuel is added quickly to compressed air before ignition. There is a need for the fuel to be injected earlier or over a longer period of time so a proper stoichiometric mixture of air and fuel may be had. Also, the expansion rate is affected by the rigid connection of the piston to the output of the engine. This combination of events can cause unwanted high pressure and transient temperature spikes that can result in excessive pollution emissions and noise.
Many attempts at increasing efficiency at the design rating of combustion engines have been made. However, the design horsepower of an engine powering a vehicle such as an automobile is seldom used. The normal driving cycle of an automobile generally requires minimum engine horsepower, a point where poor efficiency will exist even in the advanced engine development concepts presently underway. Under-powering the vehicle has been a ready, although undesirable, alternative way to increase efficiency.
It is expected that the adiabatic engine will provide the most thermally efficient cycle with the majority of the heat of fuel being transferred into mechanical work and exhaust gas. Isolating each step of the combustion process is considered to be the best method to create an adiabatic engine. One such attempt is the engine of the "Brayton" type, i.e., one employing separate compressors and combustion chambers. The separate air compressor is used for receiving and compressing a flow of air to a given pressure to provide compressed air to a separate point where combustion takes place. Many United States patents teach compression external to the combustion area; see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 713,366; 724,239; 1,038,970; 1,111,841; 1,156,534; 3,811,271; 4,040,400; 4,230,075; 4,300,486; 4,333,424; 4,369,623; and 4,592,309. In order to maximize efficiency, some of these applications attempt to extract heat during compression of the air in order to provide a denser air charge in the combustion cylinder. The engines shown in these patents use a multi-stage compressor which is not the most adequate solution to achieving maximum efficiency, because it does not remove heat immediately as pressure is increased.
The majority of existing combustion engines compress the air and burn the fuel in the sat-ne cylinder. This operation causes the fuel to burn while the piston is moving, which results in less expansion for all of the burning fuel and therefore reduces efficiency. A thermodynamic advantage that has been employed to avoid this problem is positioning the combustion chamber external to the expansion or positive displacement chamber. This permits a greater independence of the fuel and combustion temperature used and allows greater flexibility in ignition timing. In order to maximize efficiency, expansion must continue to as low a temperature as possible. Present combustion engines typically do not provide expansion to a temperature as low as possible. In addition to allowing maximum expansion, there is a need to use separate combustion and expansion chambers to avoid high heat conduction from the chambers to other parts of the engine. As the fuel burns in the combustion chamber, the highest temperatures in the cycle are presented to the metal parts. The total surface area of the combustion chamber exposed to these temperatures as the fuel is burning has a direct bearing on the amount of heat transferred to the metal parts, which in turn affects the efficiency of the engine. Present engines that burn the fuel in the same chamber as expansion occurs present a large metal area to the hot burning fuel.
Another attempt towards operating an optimally functioning combustion engine is to maintain constant or near constant pressure in the combustion chamber throughout all operating ranges. Most attempts to achieve this constant pressure are by use of a variable volume combustion chamber, which causes the compression ratio to vary. An effort at providing these variable volume combustion chambers is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,890,585. The volumes of combustion chambers are adjusted by mechanical controls and/or suitable electro-mechanical controls. However, the present systems do not limit pressure/temperature spikes or allow for control of the air per cycle; therefore, the air-to-fuel ratio must be varied to vary the power. There is a need to control the volume of air per cycle to increase the expansion ratio to a maximum and lower the peak temperatures of the engine to reduce emissions. There is also a need to extend the expansion ratio so that the hot gases may be expanded to an optimum temperature level. Such expansion would reduce operating temperature of the engine because the energy removed from the hot gas will equal that of an engine with a lower expansion ratio operating at a higher operating temperature.
There is a need for an engine capable of operating at a nearly constant air-to-fuel ratio which would allow use of maximum fuel and minimum air at low power to maximize efficiency. The reduced efficiency at low power operation in an combustion engine is due to the manner in which it operates. When an engine with a fixed volume at top dead center is operated at a fractional load, the compression ratio is reduced and/or the air to fuel ratio is increased to limit the power output. This is done mainly by throttling the air to limit its flow during the intake process or by lowering the amount of fuel used. In the first instance, the compression ratio is reduced which also reduces the expansion ratio and the efficiency of the engine; in the second instance the amount of air flowing through the engine at minimum power is almost the same as if the maximum fuel was being used. This causes low combustion temperatures resulting in incomplete burning of the fuel. Therefore, the friction and air compression losses remain nearly constant from minimum to maximum power. These losses use a significant percentage of the power produced by the burning fuel at low power output. Thus, there is a need for either the compression ratio or the air to fuel ratio to stay constant and a need to reduce friction losses of sliding parts so that a larger percentage of the power produced by the burning fuel will be converted to useful work.
Present engines exhibit excessive pollution during cold startup. This is due to the fact that catalytic convertors in the exhaust system require high temperatures to work properly; thus, the engine must run for some time before the exhaust gas heats the elements of the catalytic convertor to operating temperature. The convertors also must be of sufficient size to handle the volume of low pressure exhaust gas. Due to this large size requirement, more of the rare elements used in the convertors are needed to cover the area over which the exhaust gases must pass. This increases the cost of the convertor. Thus, there is a need for the catalytic convertor to be located in the engine system at a point where gases are at a higher temperature and lesser volume to reduce cost, improve operation, and limit the quantity of rare earth elements used.
Existing two stroke combustion engines utilize the outward stroke of the piston to pressurize an air storage space at a pressure slightly above ambient. This compressed air is used to blow out the exhaust from the previous power stroke and fill the cylinder with fresh air. The two stroke engine is affected by friction losses to a lesser degree than a four stroke engine because the friction of the rings moving against the cylinder wall is present whether the piston is moving in or out of the cylinder. In the two stroke engine the affect of this compression on the downward stroke is minimal because the air is only slightly compressed. Thus, the two stroke engine design maximizes the use of the piston moving back and forth in the cylinder to increase efficiency of operation. There is a need to better utilize this design in the modem day combustion engines.
In the operation of present day combustion engines, there is a conflict between the need to lower peak- temperatures of the system to reduce emissions and the need to raise peak temperatures to increase efficiency. The peak temperatures in the combustion engine contribute to the amount of pollution emissions emitted in the engines exhaust, especially NOx. The higher the peak temperature the higher the emission levels. Although lowering the peak temperature may reduce emissions, it also reduces efficiency of the present day engine. In order to provide maximum efficiency, present combustion engines must run at high compression ratios. These high compression ratios cause the compressed air to reach extremely elevated temperatures, and when the fuel burns, the temperature of the burned gas is elevated even further. Thus, there is a need to lower the compression temperature and peak temperature to reduce emissions while at the same time provide maximum efficiency of operation.
Another need in present combustion engines is a wider range of valve control. Present engines operate over a wide range of speeds and the valve operation is typically controlled by cain lobes. It is known that the valve operation is optimized at a certain speed. One attempt to vary the optimum speed point is by using a two step method. However, this is not the optimal method for controlling valves. All increase in the range of control of the valves would improve operation of the engine over a wider speed range.
Current engines operate with a splash type of lubrication system for piston rings. The oil is either sprayed or splashed onto the sides of the cylinder and connecting rod bearing to provide lubrication and removal of heat. Special oil rings are used to help to distribute an oil film on the cylinder walls. During start-up, damage can be done to the cylinder walls because the oil tends to drain off the walls while the engine is not in use. This can cause dry spots which can shorten the life of the engine. Also, this operation limits the effective use that can be made by the bottom movement of the piston. Thus, there is a need to develop a lubrication system that eliminates the dry spot defects inherent in present piston ring lubrication and also increase the effective use of the bottom movement of the piston.
It is known that the sliding friction of piston rings on cylinder walls of present combustion engines is one of the major friction loss generators in the engine. Also, present liquid lubricants can only operate at low to moderate temperature levels and are known to burn in extremely hot combustion cylinders which causes pollution emission problems. It is also known that if the engine parts could operate at elevated temperatures, better efficiency can be expected. Thus, there is a need to use a lubricant with a much higher temperature of degradation that also provides a minimum amount of faction.
Many other concepts have been used in the prior art to improve efficiency of combustion engines. Among these are the use of regenerative braking. Regenerative braking is the slowing of the engine by employing it as a compressor to compress air. Another method of improving efficiency is the use of the heat of exhaust to beat the cooler temperature compressed air before combustion. Add-on bottoming cycles are sometimes used to recapture some of the exhaust heat to improve efficiency; however, these devices increase the cost of the engine and are difficult to match to the primary power source. There is a need to perform this function within an combustion engine. Efficiency has also been increased by use of an external flow of air to cool the engine block. Although each of these concepts helps to increase the efficiency of an combustion engine, there is a need in the art for an engine that combines and improves these elements and other components in an effort to isolate each thermodynamic step of the combustion process to maximize efficiency.


A versatile exercise apparatus and system is provided. A cylindrical apparatus having first and second surfaces of either planar or arcuate configuration is configured with plural polygonal openings useable for manipulation of the apparatus or as openings into which various modules may be set to increase the activity versatility of the apparatus. The provided exercise apparatus provides flexibility while economizing on occupied space.

Maintaining a regular exercise regimen can be difficult. Even though away-from-home gyms typically have a large variety of exercise equipment, they are often inconvenient and can be overcrowded at the most desirable times. Exercising at home is typically more convenient but limited by equipment selection as well as cost. Further, many types of exercise equipment are single-purpose yet occupy considerable space. Consequently, what is needed is a versatile, convenient and compact exercise apparatus and system.


This invention relates to formulations for the prevention of infection and/or abnormal conditions of mucosae and/or skin caused by any pathogen and/or any disease, and more particularly for the prevention of sexually transmitted infections specially HIV and HSV. This invention also relates to formulations for the treatment of infection and/or abnormal conditions of skin and/or mucosae and more particularly for the treatment of herpetic lesions. The formulations could be used as a prophylactic agent to prevent accidental infection of health care workers. The formulations could be used for the healing and/or treatment of burn wounds and prevention of further infection. This invention also relates to the development of a unique vaginal/ano-rectal applicator for the uniform delivery of any topical formulations to treat and/or prevent any infection and/or abnormal conditions of mucosa cavity caused by any pathogen and/or disease.

This invention relates to formulations comprising film-forming components and any active ingredient, particularly to topical formulations. More particularly, this invention relates to topical formulations to prevent or to treat diseases associated with or transmitted through mucosae or skin, caused by any causative agent, particularly a pathogen. This invention also relates to an applicator for the uniform delivery of topical formulations to prevent or to treat any disease associated with or transmitted through mucosal cavity, or to prevent invasion by an external agent such as sperm or microbe.
The spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) caused by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), herpes and other pathogens is going at a bewildering rhythm. The global incidence, morbidity, and mortality of STDs are very significant. Worldwide, it is estimated that over 900 million individuals are infected with sexually transmitted pathogens. Each year more than 12 million people in the United States are newly infected with a pathogen responsible for STDs. Herpes simplex virus type-1 (HSV-1) and type-2 (HSV-2), are the most common causes of genital ulceration in developed countries. Genital herpes infection is lifelong and may result in painful and recurrent genital lesions, systemic complications, psychosocial morbidity and also serious neonatal disease following intrapartum transmission of HSV. The genital transmission of this pathogen is usually due to asymptomatic viral shedding by people who are unaware that they are infected. HSV-2 is now detectable in 1 out of 5 americans 12 years of age or older. In addition, it is estimated that over one-third of the world""s population has recurrent HSV infections and has therefore the capability to transmit the virus during episodes of productive infection. Neisseria gonorrheae and Chlamydia trachomatis are recognized as two of the most prevalent sexually transmitted bacterial infections. Worldwide, there is an estimated annual incidence of 25 million cases of gonorrhea and 50 million cases of chlamydia. On the other hand, recent epidemiologic data indicate that the number of individuals infected with HIV is growing dramatically throughout the world. According to United Nations officials, epidemiologic data estimates suggest that as many as 16,000 individuals become infected with HIV every day during 1997. Recent statistics (as of end 1997) from the World Health Organization (WHO) indicated that there are about 31 million people infected with HIV worldwide and this number is projected to reach 40 millions by year 2000.
Globally, heterosexual transmissions may account for 85-90% of HIV infection. As there is no vaccine against HIV, preventive measures are the only tools that can presently reduce the transmission of this retrovirus. The consistent and careful use of condoms represents an effective barrier against the sexual transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted pathogens, but they should be used in all risky sexual intercourses to significantly reduce the probability of acquiring infection. In Africa, the most intensive prevention programs were only able to increase condom use to approximately 70% of all sexual intercourses in female prostitutes. Consequently, doubts arise about the possibilities of condom promotion in controlling the AIDS epidemic in high risk groups. In situations where heterosexual transmission of HIV is important, preventive measures where women could prevent their risk of contracting STDs could be an additional tool to restrain the epidemic. Such a protective tool may also be used in male homosexual relations as it could provide additional protection under the control of the receptive partner. Therefore, it is important to develop barrier method that could be used as an alternative to condoms where the person could protect themselves against infection without having to ask their sexual partners. Preventive measures aimed at blocking the initial transmission of pathogens that are the causative agents of AIDS, herpes and other STDs will lead, of course, to enormous benefits.
The development of safe topical microbicides is actually a very high priority for the World Health Organization (WHO) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the field of HIV prevention. A topical microbicide is often composed of an active ingredient and a vehicle. Active ingredients may act via a variety of mechanisms including: i) disrupting the organism cell membrane, envelope or capside lipid or protein constituents (e.g. detergent-type spermicides/microbicides such as nonoxynol-9), ii) blocking the receptor-ligand interactions essential for infectivity (e.g. microbial adhesion inhibitors such as sulfated compounds), iii) inhibiting the intracellular or extracellular replication of the pathogen (e.g. antimicrobial drugs), iv) altering the vaginal environment and reducing susceptibility to infection (e.g. buffering agents and products that maintain normal vaginal flora and environment) or v) enhancing local immune responses (e.g. immune response modifiers). The overall efficacy of a topical microbicide against the sexual transmission of pathogens causing STDs depends on the efficacy of the active ingredient to be delivered and its ability to cover the entire vaginal/cervix area for maximal efficacy against pathogens. The capacity of these active agents to cover the entire vaginal cavity greatly depends of the type of vehicle used. Typical formulations of vehicles include gels, creams, foams, suppositories, sponges and films.
Most currently available vaginal formulations use the spermicide nonoxynol-9, a nonionic surfactant, as a microbicide. In vitro, nonoxynol-9 inactivates enveloped viruses, such as HSV, HIV and other microorganisms including Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae. However, the potential efficacy of nonoxynol-9 against HIV is not yet clearly established and results of clinical trials are controversial. A recent controlled trial conducted among 1292 HIV-negative female sex-workers in Cameroon showed that the use of a vaginal film containing 70 mg nonoxynol-9 did not reduce the rate of new HIV, gonorrhea or chlamydia infection (Roddy et al., 1998, N. Engl. J. Med., 339:504-510). The failure of nonoxynol-9 film in reducing the transmission of infectious agents could be attributed to the incomplete coverage of the entire vagina/cervix area with the drug delivery system for nonoxynol-9 or to the occurrence of mucosal toxicity favoring infection of microorganisms. Because of the dramatic increase in the number of individuals throughout the world who are infected with HIV, herpes, or other sexually transmitted pathogens, there is an urgent need to develop active products and/or appropriate delivery systems that can reduce the sexual transmission of these pathogens with minimal mucosal irritation and minimal effects on the vaginal flora and pH.
Sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) is a sulfated surfactant that denatures membrane proteins of pathogens. It thus has a dual action as a detergent and as a chaotropic agent. With this notion, we have performed experiments to evaluate the potential microbicidal effect of SLS on HSV and HIV. Our preliminary studies clearly demonstrated that SLS modifies in vitro the infectivities of both viruses. More recently, Howett et al. have confirmed our findings that SLS is also a potent inactivator of HSV-2, HIV-1 (Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 43(2): 314-321, 1999). In addition, they have shown that SLS is effective against rabbit, bovine and human papillomaviruses (non-enveloped viruses) after brief treatment with low concentrations of this product. However, this reference does not teach the use of a vehicle to deliver this potential microbicide. The choice of vehicle is very important because it affects the concentration of available drugs, the duration of drug availability and the degree of mucosal coverage by the formulation which are key factors for offering protection against invading pathogens. Another interesting category of candidate microbicides is microbial adhesion inhibitors, such as sulfated compounds, which block the interaction between host cell receptor and microbe. A known example of microbial adhesion inhibitors is dextran sulfate (DS), a polysulfated carbohydrate, which has been shown to inhibit in vitro the infectivities of HIV and herpesviruses.
We have recently developed a gel formulation that could be applied to the vaginal, cervical or ano-rectal mucosae and which could be effective to prevent sexually transmitted pathogens. One paramount characteristic of this gel formulation is its thermoreversible property. The transition from the liquid state at room temperature to the gel state at body temperature is of prime importance because when applied on rough biological surfaces such as the vaginal or ano-rectal epithelia, the gel should penetrate into the smallest irregularities forming a good physical barrier against infectious agents. The gel formulation has the following key characteristics that both FDA and NIH consider important: i) it is colorless, odorless and non-staining, ii) it should cover the whole vagina/cervix because it is applied in liquid state, iii) it is compatible with male latex condom, iv) it resists to elution by aqueous flow, v) it has a pH similar to that of a healthy vagina (pH 4.0-4.5), vi) it maintains the desired Theological properties under extreme heat and cold conditions and vii) it does not affect, in vitro, the normal vaginal flora, especially Lactobacillus spp.
Our international publication (WO 97/42962) discloses the use of formulations comprising film-forming components capable of forming per se a physical barrier to pathogens. Thermoreversible gels such as poloxamers arc particularly preferred for that use. The film-forming formulations may further comprise microbicides, spermicides or any other drug, which choice is guided by the pathogen, organism or the disease to be inactivated or treated. The formulations are therefore efficient as a physical, and optionally, as a chemical or pharmacological barrier as well as usable as a sustained drug-release system at the locus of administration. These formulations are intended for use in the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, as well as in the treatment of infections, cancer, inflammation or any disease or state which requires a pharmacological treatment. In addition, this publication teaches that the formulation decreases the toxicity of potent spermicides/microbicides such as nonoxynol-9. However, this publication does not specifically teach the use of SLS as a chemical candidate of choice incorporated into the topical formulations.
HSV-1 and HSV-2 are neurotropic viruses which infect principally the neuroectodermal tissues including the skin, the peripheral nerves and the central nervous system. Mucosal or skin surfaces are the usual sites of primary infection. Recurrent labialis herpes and genital herpes represent the most common clinical manifestations associated with HSV-1 and HSV-2 infections, respectively. Recurrences are spontaneous but are associated with physical or emotional stress, fever, exposure to ultraviolet light, tissue damage and immune suppression. Although it is a mild disease in immunocompetent individuals, HSV infections are troublesome, especially for patients with frequent episodes. Patients compromised by either immune therapy or underlying disease have increased risk to develop HSV infections. Renal and cardiac transplant recipients demonstrated an increased severity of infection. In addition, the outbreak of AIDS has reinforced the severity of HSV clinical disease in immunocompromised hosts.
The current available topical antiviral treatments have only a limited efficacy particularly against symptomatic recurrent herpes. The limited efficacy of these topical formulations on the development of herpetic mucocutaneous lesions may be due to the poor ability of the drugs to penetrate into the skin. The stratum corneum or horny layer constitutes the barrier for the penetration of most substances into the skin. This layer consists of corneocytes embedded in a double-layered lipid matrix composed of cholesterol, free fatty acids and ceramides. Consequently, the use of skin penetration enhancers could represent a convenient strategy to increase the penetration of topical drug formulations into the skin.
SLS is a surfactant which possesses skin penetration enhancer property by increasing the fluidity of epidermal lipids. The skin penetration enhancer property of SLS combined with its ability to modify viral infectivity via its detergent and chaotropic properties could further increase the efficacy of topical drug formulations. Furthermore, because of its chaotropic properties, SLS may have a broader spectrum of activity against sperm, bacteria, fungi and viruses than another simple detergent.
Poloxamers are widely used in numerous pharmaceutical applications and their nontoxic properties make them suitable for sustained drug delivery systems. Poloxamers represent suitable matrices for dermatological applications. Indeed, when applied in liquid form, poloxamers allow a better surface coverage by penetrating into the smallest irregularities of the mucosa and/or skin. In addition, the reticular array formed by these poloxamers may act as a sustained drug release system prolonging drug action.
In accordance with the present invention, it is a first object to provide formulations which comprise a film-forming component which is applied to the surface of mucosae or skin, preferably in the form of gel, cream or ointment. The gel formulations are to be used for coating different types of mucosae such as vaginal, cervical, ano-rectal, eye, mouth, nose, or skin to prevent infection and/or abnormal conditions of mucosae and/or skin. Furthermore, the gel formulations can be applied topically to the eye for the treatment and/or prevention of infection of ophthalmic conditions. Preferably, a thermoreversible gel is used, which is applied in a liquid form, spreads on the surface and forms a semi-solid coating after it reaches the temperature of this body surface. More preferably, the thermoreversible gel is composed of poloxamer 407. Similar polymers such as poloxamines can also be used. The above formulations also comprise an agent capable of interfering with the organism cell membrane, envelope or capside lipid or protein constituents in a target cell, tissue or microbe. The above combination of the film-forming component and the above agent may provide for formulations with improved efficacy and reduced toxicity.
In a specific embodiment, the agent is capable of interfering with the binding of a microbial outer protein to a host receptor. In a more specific embodiment, the agent is a microbial adhesion inhibitor, or is a detergent or a chaotropic agent capable of disrupting the integrity of said microbial outer protein. In an even a more specific embodiment, the microbial adhesion inhibitor is dextran sulfate; the detergent is selected from the group consisting of sodium lauryl sulfate, benzalkonium chloride, lauroyl sarcosine, polyoxyethylene fatty acyl derivatives and polyoxyethylene sorbitan fatty acyl ester derivatives; and the chaotropic agent is sodium lauryl sulfate or guanidine. In the most specific embodiment, the agent is SLS, the latter being a chemical candidate of choice because of its numerous properties as a detergent and a chaotropic agent and a putative microbial adhesion inhibitor. SLS alone is efficient against microbes. SLS efficacy is further improved when incorporated into the present formulations. Therefore, it is contemplated that SLS or any equivalent product can be used alone or in combination with the above film-forming component to prevent microbial infection. SLS may be used alone or in combination with the above formulations at any suitable concentration, preferably at a concentration of about 0.1-25% (w/v), and more preferably at a concentration of about 1-15% (w/v). Poloxamer 407 concentration may be used at any suitable concentration, preferably at a concentration of about 5-50% (w/v) and more preferably at a concentration of about 15-35% (w/v) The physical properties of the final formulations largely depends on the drug to be incorporated in them, on the pH and solutes used in the making of the formulations and on the viscosity sought for a given purpose. The above formulations could further comprise a drug which is effective to prevent infection and/or abnormal conditions of the mucosae or skin. Vaginal formulations constitute a physical and a chemical barrier due to its film-forming and microbial disrupting components. It goes along that, with an activity against infective agents, these formulations may also be effective for preventing pregnancy. SLS will advantageously replace nonoxynol-9 in the formulations. SLS having a broader spectrum of activity against, inter alia, sperm, enveloped and non-enveloped viruses, it is a candidate of choice in the present formulation. The gel could contain a drug which is effective to prevent infection and/or abnormal conditions of mucosae and/or skin. For the purpose of the invention, the term xe2x80x9cdrugxe2x80x9d is intended to cover any antimicrobial, bactericidal, virucidal, chemotherapeutic, antiinflammatory, antineoplastic, immunomodulator or any other agent or combination of them which is effective for the prevention of infection of mucosae and/or skin. The term xe2x80x9cdrugxe2x80x9d also refers to cytokines or antigens that could stimulate an immune response that would protect against infection. The drugs could be incorporated within drug carriers such as gels, liposomes, nanoparticles or cyclodextrins, whose encapsulation result in an improved prevention of infection.
It is further an object of the present invention to provide a unique applicator that can be used vaginally and/or ano-rectally to deliver topical formulations for treatment and/or prevention of infection and/or abnormal conditions of mucosae. The applicator can be designed in different ways to give the same required characteristics specified under detailed description of the invention. Examples of some different concepts are also discussed under the detailed description which are intended to describe some of the general design possibilities of the applicator, but are in no way intended to limit the scope thereof. It is important to mention that the final shape and appearance of the applicator can differ from the examples given herein.
In other preferred embodiments, the present formulations are used to treat viral diseases and they further comprise as a drug an antiviral agent such as acyclovir or foscarnet, or any other antimicrobial agents, used alone or in combination, at any suitable concentration. In a most preferred embodiment, the formulation is composed of poloxamer 407 and contains foscarnet at a concentration ranging from 0.5 to 5% (w/v). In another most preferred embodiment, the formulation is composed of poloxamer 407 and contains acyclovir at a concentration ranging from 0.5 to 5% (w/v). In still another most preferred embodiment, the formulation is composed of poloxamer 407 and contains SLS at a concentration ranging from 1 to 10% and foscarnet or acyclovir at the above concentrations.
It is an object of the present invention to develop new topical formulations to prevent infection of mucosae and/or skin, more particularly those sexually transmitted infections and even more particularly those caused by HIV and herpes. The microbicides or any other drug can be entrapped into the gel formulations either as free or encapsulated into drug carriers such as liposomes, nanoparticles or cyclodextrins. Such microbicidal gels could prolong the local microbicidal activity, eliminate local irritation and reduce systemic side effects of incorporated active agents.
It is also an objective of the invention to develop, for vaginal applications, a unique applicator which allows uniform distribution of the content to the entire vagina (delivery to sides) and cervix (delivery to front) for maximal protection against the sexual transmission of pathogens. Therefore, we have designed a unique applicator which allows about 360xc2x0 distribution of its content into the vagina and far to the cervix which is a great improvement over existing conventional vaginal applicators which deliver contents only to front (cervix area only).
It is another object of the present invention to develop topical formulations of drugs which could improve the efficacy of chemically or pharmacologically active agents against mucocutaneous infections and more particularly those caused by HSV infections. The improved efficacy of drugs upon incorporation within suitable matrices and/or drug carriers could reduce the dosing interval and consequently improve the quality of life of patients. It is also an objective of the present invention to develop topical formulations for the treatment and/or healing of burn wounds as well as to prevent their potential infection.

Formulations for the prevention or the treatment of diseases affecting mucosae or skin, or for pregnancy prevention, and an applicator for the delivery of topical formulations into mucosal cavities


According to one embodiment, an image processing device includes a shift estimator, and a de-mosaic module. The shift estimator is configured to estimate a shift amount between a first pixel in a first image and a corresponding second pixel in a second image. The first image is taken by a first image pickup apparatus, and the second image is taken by a second image pickup apparatus. A focus position of the first image pickup apparatus is different from a focus position of the second image pickup apparatus. The de-mosaic module is configured to generate a first de-mosaic image by performing de-mosaic processing on each pixel in the first pixel using a pixel value of the corresponding second pixel, when the first pixel is determined to be in a state of in-focus based on the shift amount.

In recent years, a camera is mounted in many mobile devices such as mobile phones and it is desired that the camera has high resolution. However, a camera having high resolution is generally large. Therefore, under the present circumstances, there is no other choice but to select either to realize a large mobile device having a high resolution camera or a small mobile device having a low resolution camera.

Image processing device and image processing system where de-mosaic image is generated based on shift amount estimation of pixels of captured images


A circuit for skew reduction, includes: first signal lines configured to transmit first signals delayed by first paths respectively; second signal lines configured to transmit second signals delayed by second paths respectively; and a first swap circuit, wherein the first swap circuit is configured to swap and connect the at least one of the first signal lines to the at least one of the second signal lines, when a mutual delay time difference of the second signals in a state where the at least one of the first signal lines is swapped and connected to the at least one of the second signal lines is smaller than a mutual delay time difference of the second signal lines in a state where the first signal lines is connected to the second signal lines without being swapped.

There is known a delay adjustment circuit in which an upper pass gate is able to output an output signal delaying from an input signal by a basic delay time and a lower pass gate is able to output delaying by a delay time made by adding a fraction of the basic delay time to the basic delay time (for example, see Patent Document 1). A selector selects either one of the upper and lower pass gates based on a digital control signal.
Further, there is known a clock signal control circuit which makes polyphase clock signals that have phase errors influence each other to average phase error components of the respective clock signals while maintaining phases of the respective clock signals (for example, see Patent Document 2).    [Patent Document 1] Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 4-291510    [Patent Document 2] Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2001-7686

Circuit for skew reduction has swap circuit swapping and connecting first signal lines to second signal lines


A microfluidic device for controlled generation and/or culture and/or maturation of three-dimensional cells and/or tissue constructs that includes a culture chamber may include: a confinement apparatus configured to define at least one compartment configured to contain a cellular matrix and at least one compartment configured to contain a culture medium, the confinement apparatus being hydrophobic and pervious to the culture medium; and/or at least one counter element. The confinement apparatus and at least one counter element may be reciprocally mobile between resting and compression positions of the cellular matrix. A method for controlled generation and/or culture and/or maturation of three-dimensional cells and/or tissue constructs at a microscale may include: controlled compression of a cellular matrix for a predetermined period of time. The cellular matrix may be delimited by a confinement apparatus that is pervious to a culture medium.

It is known that in the pharmaceutical field, the development and subsequent marketing of a drug implies a complex, slow and extremely costly process which comprises various testing phases of the drug.
In particular, a pre-clinical testing phase and four clinical testing phases can be distinguished: a clinical pharmacological phase: phase I; an effectiveness study phase: phase II; a multicentre study phase: phase III; and finally phase IV for studies carried out after the marketing of the drug. The pre-clinical phase and clinical phases represent 63% and 32% respectively of the costs of the development of a drug.
In the pre-clinical phase, the active ingredient of the drug is tested on an experimental model of the disease which comprises in vitro models (for example cell cultures) and in vivo models (i.e. on animals). In the subsequent clinical testing phases from I to IV, the tests are carried out on human beings.
Both of the above models of the pre-clinical phase, however, are subject to criticism: the in vitro models on cell cultures, often of an animal origin, do not always allow to predict the behaviour of the drug in vivo, i.e. in a situation in which the tissue is in interaction with the whole living system.
One of the reasons for this limited prediction capacity can be attributed to the fact that the traditional in vitro models mainly consist of cell monolayers cultivated on flat rigid substrates. It is recognized in the field, however, that more reliable responses can be obtained with the use of engineered models, i.e. which are capable of exhibiting characterizing features of the native tissues, such as, for example, the three-dimensional nature of the cell adhesion environment and the reproduction of mechanical properties more similar to the natural ones.
Furthermore, it is known that also due to inter-species differences, in terms of, for example, ionic channels, metabolic pathways and pharmacokinetic properties, in vitro animal models are not sufficiently reliable in the study of a drug intended for human beings.
Depending on the type of testing to be performed, the availability of the necessary cells, especially if human, can also represent an obstacle, in particular in the case of tissues having a limited regenerative capacity, such as, for example, cardiac and nervous tissues. This gives rise to a problem of the availability of cells, especially human cells, and consequently of the reliability of the testing owing to the limits of the resources available.
In vitro testing therefore suffers from the drawback of often representing a first screening which is too approximate, far from inexpensive, and that does not always prove to be sufficiently predictive of the behaviour of the same active ingredient in vivo in human beings.
In vivo testing on animals, on the other hand, also draws criticism, in particular based on the incompatibility of the animal model with respect to the human physiology, the intrinsic variability of the model itself and the considerable expenses associated with the management of the many animals involved, including their maintenance and care, in addition to the costs of the samples themselves of the drug or active ingredient to be tested, which are not negligible.
In addition, there are also ethical considerations relating to the treatment and fate of the animals themselves, which impose a series of restrictions for safeguarding their well-being. Furthermore, in the last few decades, a progressive public awareness has emerged, on both a national and international scale with respect to the above ethical issue, to which the scientific community itself is increasingly conforming to, when possible, in finding valid alternatives to the massive in vivo testing on animals. Analogously, in the field of medical sciences and biomedical and tissue engineering, in particular in the field of research, it is known to use tissue constructs originating from animal and human cells as three-dimensional models for the study and treatment of human diseases.
The models currently available, however, suffer from the same limitations discussed above with respect to in vitro models.
Huang et al. (2009) describe a microfluidic device for the cultivation of three-dimensional cultures capable of mimicking the in vivo microenvironment. The device comprises a microfluidic channel made of a polymeric matrix containing the cell culture whose perimeter is defined by two rows of pillars interposed between two culture medium reservoirs. The internal structure of the device occupies the whole internal height of the same device. This device, however, does not envisage any expedient for the mechanical stimulation of the cells. It is known, in fact, that the mechanical stimulation supplied to cell constructs is capable of enhancing the mechanical properties of the constructs themselves.
Agarwal et al. (2013) describe a "heart on a chip" device for the pharmacological study of cardiac tissue. It is based on the seeding of cardiomyocytes on thin cantilevers made of a soft material. This device, however, does not allow the generation of cardiac constructs that are representative of the native tissue, but instead the culture of cells in monolayers, as it is based on two-dimensional cultures.
Mathur et al. (2015) describe a microscale cardiac microphysiological system that uses the three-dimensional confinement for seeding high-density pluripotent cardiac cells inside a microfluidic channel, facilitating its arrangement in a three-dimensional beating construct. This device, however, does not allow the formation of an actual tissue construct as the cells are not distributed on a scaffold but cultivated in a culture medium in a housing, without any supporting matrix. Furthermore, this system does not envisage any mechanical stimulation methods.
The necessity is therefore felt in the above fields for providing an effective and reliable cell tissue model for in vitro testing, which overcomes the drawbacks of the known art.
More specifically, there is the need to provide a method and a device for drug screening and development at a pre-clinical level which is effective and economical and which at the same time allow to overcome the drawbacks of the known art.
The technical problem at the basis of the present invention is therefore to provide a device and a method that allow cell and/or tissue constructs to be obtained, that overcome the drawbacks of the known art.
In particular, an object of the present invention is to provide such a device (and such a method) that is effective, reliable, simple and economical to use, and simple and economical to produce.
A further technical problem at the basis of the present invention is to provide such a device and such a method that allow mature tissue constructs to be obtained, and that overcome the drawbacks of the known art.

Microfluidic devices and related methods for generation and/or culture and/or maturation of three-dimensional cells and/or tissue constructs


A method facilitates assembling a rotor assembly for gas turbine engine. The method comprises providing a first rotor blade that includes an airfoil, a platform, a shank and a dovetail, coupling the first rotor blade to a rotor shaft using the dovetail, and coupling a second rotor blade to the rotor shaft such that a shank cavity is defined between the first and second blades. The method also comprises inserting a seal pin into the horizontal platform seal pin slot such that a gap defined between the first and second rotor blade platforms are substantially sealed wherein the seal pin includes a first end, a second end and a substantially cylindrical body extending therebetween and sized to frictionally engage the slot, wherein at least one of the first and second ends has a cross-sectional area that is smaller than a cross-sectional area of the body.

This application relates generally to gas turbine engines and, more particularly, to methods and apparatus for assembling gas turbine engine rotor assemblies.
At least some known rotor assemblies include at least one row of circumferentially-spaced rotor blades, which are known as buckets in some applications. Each rotor blade includes an airfoil that includes a pressure side and a suction side connected together at leading and trailing edges. Each airfoil extends radially outward from a rotor blade platform. Each rotor blade also includes a dovetail that extends radially inward from a shank extending between the platform and the dovetail, and is used to mount the rotor blade within the rotor assembly to a rotor disk or spool. At least some known blades are hollow and include an internal cooling cavity that is defined at least partially by the airfoil, platform, shank, and dovetail.
During operation, a clearance between circumferentially-adjacent blades with a row of blades, may cause a platform seal pin positioned between each blade to bind during initial engine operations and/or during transient operations. Such binding may cause the platform seal pin to deform, may induce cracking within the platform, and/or may cause the seal between the shank area of the blade and the hot gas path to become ineffective. An increase in the sealing effectiveness may increase the life of the blade by facilitating minimizing thermal stresses. Accordingly, within at least some known gas turbine engines, cylindrical pins, machined to mate with a corresponding notch formed in the end cover plates of the blade have been used to facilitate reducing binding of the pins. However, such pins have also been shown to bind in operation.

Methods and apparatus for assembling gas turbine engine rotor assemblies


Strategies are described for validating content transferred over a communication channel using a more effective approach than heretofore provided in the art. A content registration authority is provided which registers the content disseminated by one or more content providers to one or more client devices. A client device which receives content that has been registered can securely consume the content, based on an assumption that a content provider which furnishes the content is entrusted by the content registration authority to provide the content, and without prompting a user of the client device to expressly approve the content provider. In a first solution, the content registration authority registers the content by issuing a certification stamp; in a second solution, the content registration authority registers the content by storing registration information in a central repository. The content may contain instructions which perform operations in the context of an instant messenger application.

An instant messenger (IM) application enables real time communication among online participants. By way of background, an IM application typically includes functionality for allowing an IM user to define a group of participants with whom the user frequently communicates. After defining such a group, the IM application typically notifies the IM user when any member of the group happens to be online. The IM user then has the option of starting a communication session with one or more members of the group. Or the IM user might be contacted by another member who happens to be online. These events prompt the IM application to open a user interface (UI) pane that presents an evolving sequence of textual messages transmitted among IM conversation participants.
FIG. 1 shows an overview of a representative IM system 100. The system 100 includes a collection of client devices (102, 104, . . . 106) connected together via a coupling mechanism 108 (e.g., the Internet). A user Alice (A) operates client device A 102, a user Bob (B) operates client device B 104, and a user Carol (C) operates client device C 106. FIG. 1 shows that client device A 102 provides a conventional user interface pane 110. The user interface pane 110 identifies Alice's friends in a contact list 112, and also identifies whether these buddies happen to be currently online. Assume that Bob and Carol are two members of Alice's contact list 112 who happen to be currently online.
In recent years, providers of IM applications have attempted to provide a more engaging user experience by adding supplemental features to the above-described basic IM functionality. For instance, Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash. has developed an MSN Messenger application that includes various features that exhibit dynamic behavior (such as Messenger's "Winks" feature, etc.). These features may provide an animated vignette for presentation in an IM pane, or other kind of non-static presentation. To achieve this dynamic behavior, such content may contain executable instructions that command the client device to perform operations during runtime. Such content can be implemented in various ways, such as by Flash functionality developed by Macromedia, Inc. of San Francisco, Calif. Flash movies contain vector-based animation graphics, and may contain script-type instructions (ActionScript) embedded therein. (More specifically, Flash Player is the ActiveX control provided by Macromedia that that can be used to provide playback of Flash movies (e.g., .swf files) in an IM application.)
However, the incorporation of executable content into an IM application also introduces significant challenges. Namely, there is a risk that a user (or some other entity) may intentionally or unintentionally introduce malicious content into an IM system. For example, instead of merely controlling the presentation of an IM feature, the dynamic component of malicious content may improperly access files, install unwanted code, destroy system resources, activate undesired user interface presentations, activate webcam functionality, and so forth. Such malicious content may therefore cause great disruption and damage within an IM system, detracting from the otherwise engaging and desirable nature of dynamic content.
Indeed, while the threat of computer viruses poses a pernicious problem in any computer environment, the consequences of such viruses in an IM system may be particularly severe. This is principally due to the automatic manner in which IM applications propagate information among participants. For example, the propagation of a virus via an Email application often depends on a user taking the express step of activating executable content that accompanies the Email as an attachment. In IM applications, however, it is often desirable to automatically execute such content without the user's approval. A network of interrelated IM groups might therefore constitute a very susceptible conduit for the rapid spread of malicious content.
Consider, for example, the case in which Alice uses her client device A 102 to retrieve content 114 that happens to have a virus. For example, assume that Alice visits a website that provides a library of animated icons supplied by a content provider. Assume that Alice selects one of these animated icons and downloads it to her local client device A 102 for use in communicating with her buddies. For instance, Alice can adopt the downloaded animated icon as an integral part of the set of information that she provides to her buddies when communicating with them, e.g., such that, for instance, Bob will see Alice's animated icon when conducting an IM session with Alice. However, transfer of the animated icon will also transfer the virus along with it. Bob himself may then further automatically propagate the virus to all of the members on his contact list, and so on, possibly without these users being aware that they are conduits in the spread of the virus. The reader can readily appreciate that an IM application can therefore rapidly spread a virus through a very large pool of IM users. To provide a more specific idea of the magnitude of this problem, there are roughly 200 million MSN IM users today; it is conceivable that an executable content-borne virus could spread through such a group in a matter of hours.
The industry has provided numerous tools to reduce the risk of computer viruses. But these tools do not provide suitable safeguards in an IM application due to the above-identified characteristics of this kind of environment. That is, traditional anti-virus tools typically aim at generality, attempting to provide the most effective techniques for stopping the spread of viruses, regardless of the source of the content or the end-use application of the content. Traditional approaches typically go about this task by developing a very inclusive database of known malicious content. These approaches then compare a particular content item under review with this database, to determine whether the content item contains any viral content that matches information in this database. McAfee, Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif. is one well-known provider of virus protection services that maintains a large database of known malicious content. However, this body of malicious content constantly changes in response to the development and introduction of new forms of viruses. Thus, a consumer may encounter a virus before a traditional virus protection system has properly identified the virus and added it to its database of known malicious content. Since the consumer lacks safeguards against this new virus, the consumer may consume the virus, opening the consumer's computer resources up to whatever damage that the virus may inflict. Traditional systems cope with this problem by acting as quickly as possible to stem the further spread of such a virus. This approach—which implicitly accepts a limited amount of damage—may work sufficiently well in the context of traditional communication routes (such as Email). But, as explained above, an IM application is unique in its potential ability to very quickly propagate malicious content among users (without even requiring the active participation of the users). Hence, the "acceptable limited damage" paradigm might not provide satisfactory results for an IM environment, because, in fact, the damage may be neither acceptable nor limited.
A number of other solutions have been developed to mitigate the spread of viral content, but again, these solutions are not well suited for an IM application. Consider, for example, the system 200 of FIG. 2, which shows one well-known approach to protecting computers against attacks from malicious content. In this well-known scheme, a content publisher 202 constitutes any entity that is set up to download content 204 to a client device 206. In this example, the content publisher 202 can comprise a company (the fictitious "XYZ Corp.") that produces code for dissemination to a client device 206. For instance, the content publisher 202 may maintain a website that allows the user to download code upon the request of the user who wishes to purchase such code.
The content publisher 202 will wish to assure the user of the client device 206 that the code that the user is downloading is safe (e.g., that the code contains no viruses). It performs this task with the assistance of a certificate authority (CA) 208. VeriSign, Inc. of Mountain View, Calif. serves as one commonly used certificate authority. By way of overview, the purpose of a certificate authority 208 is to vouch for the identity of a publisher of content, much like a passport, issued by a government, vouches for the identity of a traveler. Namely, the content publisher 202 will typically furnish information to the certificate authority 208 that verifies its identity, and, in response, the certificate authority 208 issues a certificate that the content publisher 202 can offer to its customers as proof of its identity. In other words, the recipients are asked to trust the content due to the fact that it is "vouched for" by the certificate authority 208. FIG. 2 indicates that the XYZ Corp. content publisher 202 interacts with a fictitious Trusty Co. Inc. certificate authority 208. The online community has not mandated the use of a single (exclusive) certificate authority, so an online environment will typically provide several well-known authorities that can be used (e.g., as denoted in FIG. 2 by certificate authority 210, certificate authority 212, and so forth).
In a typical security procedure, the content publisher 202 will sign the content 204 with its private key. A signing operation comprises encrypting the content (or a digest of the content) with a private key. The signing entity then sends the signed content along with the certificate to a client device. The public key (which is the counterpart of the private key used to sign the content) is used by the client device to decrypt the encrypted content.
Upon receipt of the decrypted content, the client device 206 can examine the certificate to determine whether it originates from a trusted source. More specifically, a certificate may be linked to other certificates in a hierarchical chain of trusted relationships, reflecting a corresponding chain of entities that have vouched for the integrity of the content provider which disseminates the content. (Parts of the chain may be pre-installed on a client device as part of its core operating system functionality.) The client device 206 determines whether the received content can be trusted by "following" this chain up the hierarchy to determine whether it terminates in a certification authority that is trusted, such as, in this case, Trusty Co. Inc.
One well-known technology for facilitating the above-described process is Authenticode™ provided by Microsoft Corporation. Among other functions, Authenticode presents information, which, in conjunction with other enabling applications (such as Microsoft Corporation's Internet Explorer), can be used to provide a user interface (UI) presentation 214 that alerts the user to the fact that they are attempting to install a particular content item having certain characteristics. The UI presentation 214 may specifically identify the name of the program (i.e., the fictitious ABC program), the name of the content publisher 202 (i.e., XYZ Corporation), and the name of the certification authority 208 (i.e., Trusty Co. Inc.) that is ultimately vouching for the integrity of the content that has been received. The UI presentation 214 typically includes command buttons that prompt the user to decide whether they wish to install the content ("YES"), whether they wish to forego the installment ("NO"), or whether they require more information to make a decision ("More Info").
The above-described security paradigm is not ideal for the IM environment described in connection with FIG. 1. First, assume that an Authenticode-type UI presentation was presented to Bob to alert Bob to the animated icon that his friend, Alice, wants to invoke on his machine. Even if Bob was made aware of the content publisher who created the animated icon, it is quite possible that Bob would not have any insight into the trustworthiness of that entity. The UI presentation may also identify the certification authority which vouches for this company, but Bob may not have heard of that company either, or, if Bob knows of that company, this may be insufficient to allay his concerns regarding the trustworthiness of an otherwise unknown content publisher. In typical practice, a user may simply press "YES" in response to prompts of an Authenticode-type UI presentation because of a false sense of security associated with the fact that a trusted friend is sending him the content. This, of course, can lead to disastrous results for the receiving user and the IM system as a whole. Second, the type of intrusive UI presentation 214 shown in FIG. 2 may be distracting or cumbersome, and may be particularly inappropriate in an IM environment which attempts to create a casual, simple, and enjoyable user experience.
Finally, existing security provisions do not allow content providers and certificate authorities to effectively apply their services to achieve beneficial marketing objectives.
For at least the above-identified reasons, there is an exemplary need for more satisfactory strategies for validating content transferred over a communication channel, such as, but not limited to, a network that implements an IM application.

Provisions for validating content using a content registration authority


The air vent has a body with a central axis, a top end, a bottom end, a flat surface on the top end and a flat surface on the bottom end. A gripping surface extends from the top flat surface to a stop surface that is transverse to the axis. The small diameter end of an upper conical surface joins the stop surface. A large diameter end of a lower conical surface joins the large diameter end of the upper conical surface. A cutting edge formed by the flat bottom surface and the lower conical surface pierces a container when the air vent is forced into the container. The lower conical surface expands the opening made by the cutting edge. The stop surface limits penetration and the upper conical surface urges the container wall toward the stop surface. An air vent passage through the top flat surface and the bottom flat surface lets air into the container. A cap closes the air vent passage. The air vent is removed from an empty container for use in another container.

Plastic buckets that hold up to ten gallons are used as containers for a large variety of products. Some products such as plaster for covering joints in sheet rock are removed from buckets by removing the entire bucket lid. Other products such as lubricating oils and paint are poured from a small pour spout that is provided in the bucket lid. Generally only one small pour spout is provided in the bucket to reduce the chances of contamination entering the bucket.
Some contents of buckets are removed by a pump. When a pump is used, a suction pipe is inserted into the bucket through the opening for a small pour spout or the bucket lid is removed and replaced by a substitute lid that is part of the pump assembly. Air is allowed to enter the bucket through the small pour spout or through a substitute lid as the contents are removed.
Other contents are removed from buckets by tilting the bucket and pouring the contents out. Frequently the contents, that are being poured from the bucket, create a vacuum inside the bucket. When the vacuum is sufficiently strong, contents will stop pouring from the small pour spout, air will be sucked into the bucket and then the contents resume pouring from the small pour spout. Upon resumption of pouring, the contents initially exit at an increased rate. When pouring something like a lubricating or hydraulic oil into a gear case or sump, the repeated secession and resumption of flow increases the time required to dispense oil. The abrupt changes in flow rate also increase the likelihood of spills. Spills are serious problems if the contents being poured from the bucket are expensive, toxic, corrosive or flammable.

220
FSC 215
FSC 229
FSC 239
FSC 222
FSC 30
FSC 83
FSC 81
FSC 137
FSC 411
FSC 285


A suspension system includes a long-travel suspension configuration for the seat of a bicycle. For instance, this long-travel arrangement could take the form of either a spring-loaded telescoping seat tube mechanism or a single-leaf spring extending horizontally from the seat to a forward attachment point fairly near the steering head. In order to prevent the constant bobbing up and down that this type of suspension usually causes when the rider is pedaling, the suspension also includes a second suspension mechanism which allows the pedal-and-crank assembly to move substantially in unison with the seat. However, this coordinated suspension movement occurs only over bumps and obstacles of relatively moderate size because the total suspension travel of the pedal-and-crank assembly, on a sort of reversed swingarm arrangement, is only about half the overall travel of the seat. A simple cable connection between the two otherwise separate suspension mechanisms transfers upward spring force to the pedal-and-crank assembly and, most importantly, permits the seat to continue its jounce suspension travel well after the pedal-and-crank assembly has bottomed out. In this way, the seat has a long, comfortable suspension travel with neither an excessively high seating position for the rider nor pedal clearance problems at full suspension jounce.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to suspension systems for bicycle and moped type vehicles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Most of the different arrangements now used for bicycle suspension systems are adaptations of motorcycle suspension. Because of the differences between bicycles and motorcycles, however, this approach yields rather limited success. As one illustration of this fact, the need for the rider to pedal a bicycle, and to nearly straighten his or her legs at the bottom of each pedal stroke, makes ground clearance much more of a problem for bicycles than for motorcycles. As a result, maintaining adequate ground clearance with conventional configurations of long-travel suspension would necessitate an excessively high seating position for the rider of a bicycle. Instead, bicycle suspension systems have reduced travel in comparison to the motorcycle type suspension from which they are most often derived.
Since a bicycle rider by himself accounts for the great majority of the overall weight of the bicycle and rider together, the tradeoff between suspension travel and height of the overall center of mass is further compromised. In other words, bicycles already have a very high center of mass when the rider is aboard, and moving the rider's seating position upward a given amount, to thereby provide sufficient ground clearance at full suspension jounce (compression), will elevate the center of mass by an almost equal amount. The same is not true of moving the rider of a motorcycle to a higher seating position because the weight of the machine alone is usually significantly greater than the weight of the rider.
At the same time, the fact that the bicycle itself accounts for only a small portion of its overall operational weight offers an opportunity that motorcycle type of suspension fails to exploit. More specifically, suspending a bicycle frame as well as the rider little changes the overall percentage of weight that remains unsprung, but it causes the geometry of the bicycle frame to change as the suspension system functions. Suspending just the seat of a bicycle does take advantage of the low eight of the bicycle in comparison to the rider, but it also causes the rider to bob up and down with each pedal stroke.


A maintenance notification for a UAV may be sent to a service provider. The service provider may identify the UAV, such as to access a profile associated with the UAV that includes at least hardware and software configurations for the UAV. The service provider may generate a customized maintenance decision tree to organize tasks to be performed for the specific UAV to determine a maintenance action to remedy a fault or problem associated with the maintenance notification. The decision tree may be formed using history of the UAV and information about other UAVs to construct the decision tree tailored to the specific UAV under analysis. At least some operations included in the decision tree may be automated. Traversal of the decision tree may lead to updates of the UAV of hardware, software, or both.

Like all vehicles, aircraft need occasional repair and maintenance to perform as intended by an operator. In some instances, an aircraft may experience a fault during operation. For example, a sensor may determine that a parameter is out of a standard operating range, and in response, may trigger a notification to a controller of the aircraft. The controller may then take action, based on the notification, such as to expedite landing, or to take other action. In some instances, the aircraft may require maintenance before initiating another flight. Any downtime the aircraft has due to maintenance being performed on the aircraft can be expensive and disruptive to an entity that deploys the aircraft.
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), unlike some conventional aircraft, may include many variations of software that operate the UAVs. For example, some UAVs may include the same hardware, but may operate different software for various reasons, such as to cause the UAVs to perform different tasks, operate in different environments or geographical locations, and/or for other reasons. In addition, hardware may vary widely across similar UAVs based on availability of hardware components and/or specific operating needs of the UAVs. For example, some UAVs may be equipped with different transceivers than others to enable different types of communications and/or operate in different environments. These variations in software and hardware present specific challenges in isolating maintenance problems and finding solutions to those problems.

Unmanned aerial vehicle maintenance troubleshooting decision tree