Abstract:
A vacuum cleaning system which has particular application to the oil-field industry. The system includes a vacuum unit for suctioning material from a surface to recycle, reclaim or cleanup said material. The system also includes a collection and discharge unit operable to automatically discharge, into an open atmosphere, an amount of the suctioned material collected while suctioning continues by the vacuum unit. The automatic discharging cycle of the collection and discharge unit allows drilling fluid to be rapidly vacuumed up and discharged to minimize settlement of debris in the collected material.
Abstract:
According to an aspect of the present invention, urological medical devices are provided, which contain one or more urologically beneficial agents selected from alpha-adrenergic blockers, calcium channel blockers, and combinations thereof, among others. The urological devices are adapted for implantation or insertion into a subject's urinary tract, whereupon at least a portion of the urologically beneficial agent is released. Such agents are urologically beneficial, for example, in that they may relieve pain and/or discomfort associated with the medical device and/or act as stone expulsion agents (i.e., they facilitate stone passage), among other benefits. According to an aspect of the present invention, a method of treating kidney stones is provided which comprises: (a) diagnosing the presence of kidney stones within a subject and (b) implanting or inserting a urological medical device into the subject which contains at least one urologically beneficial agent. The medical device is adapted to release the at least one urologically beneficial agent in vivo in an amount effective to promote kidney stone expulsion.
Abstract:
A bipolar electrosurgical instrument comprises a handle (5), a body (1) joined to the handle, and a jaw assembly (12) joined to the body and arranged such that manipulation of the handle allows the opposed jaws of the jaw assembly to be opened and closed with respect to one another. A first of said opposed jaws (14) has at least a first coagulating electrode, and the other of said opposed jaws (13) has at least a second coagulating electrode and a cutting electrode (16) separated from the second coagulating electrode by an insulating member (17). The instrument is manipulated at the surgical site such that the jaws of the jaw assembly (12) are open with respect to one another, with the cutting electrode (16) and at least one of the first and second coagulating electrodes contacting tissue at the surgical site. A radio frequency electrosurgical signal is supplied between the cutting electrode and the at least one coagulating electrode, and the electrosurgical instrument is moved while maintaining the jaws (13, 14) in their open position so as to cut tissue at the surgical site.
Abstract:
Override client version properties are used to selectively replace default client version properties of a web browser to obtain versions of web resources that are operational on the web browser. A client operating the web browser issues a request for content through a proxy server. Using an index, the proxy server determines whether the content is to be requested using an override client version property set. If so, the override client version property set is used to request the content form the web server and causes the web server to respond with content that has been designed or optimized for a web server other than the one operating on the client. Accordingly, the client can obtain fully functional and operational versions of the web resources using client version properties that are selected based on the capabilities of the web browser and the functionality available in different versions of individual web resources.
Abstract:
A system and methods perform an automatic TV signal/tuner setup in a tuner device (e.g., a PC, a personal video recorder, a set-top box, etc.) that has one or more tuners. The setup identifies the number of tuners in the device, whether the tuners are analog or digital, and what broadcast standard each tuner supports. The geographic region in which the device will be receiving TV signals is identified, and tuners supporting that region are identified. Digital tuners are reported as being digital, while analog tuners are scanned to locate valid TV signals, and to determine the source of any valid TV signals (e.g., an antenna, a cable provider, a set-top box).