A catheter having expandable electrodes for applying energy to a hollow anatomical structure such as a vein. When used on a vein, the catheter is useful for a minimally invasive treatment of venous insufficiency. The catheter includes conductive end rings to which the electrodes are attached, for mechanically connecting and electrically tying electrodes together to provide for single wire electric...

A succession of superposed digitized sections of an object are produced from a three-dimensional representation of the object. A powder or a mixture of powders is spread in the form of a fine layer and heated to a temperature close to solid phase sintering temperature of the powder or the mixture of powders. The layer is brought to the sintering temperature by scanning with a laser beam the layer ...

A method and apparatus for introducing an oxidant mixed with a carrier gas into pre-heating zone of a continuous furnace for effectively removing lubricant from powder metal compacts prior to sintering at high temperatures. Mixing a controlled amount of a gaseous oxidizing agent such as moisture, carbon dioxide, air or mixtures thereof with a carrier gas and introducing the mixture into the prehea...

A method of producing a corrosion resistant ferrous product is disclosed. The product is produced by rolling a heated billet which comprises a mass of mild steel swarf in a stainless steel jacket. Two reducing agents are present in the jacket when the billet is heated. The first reducing agent is in the form of powdered aluminum, titanium turnings or other metal having a greater affinity for oxyge...

Beschrieben wird ein Strangpressverfahren zur kontinuierlichen Herstellung von vollzylindrischen Sinterrohlingen (24) mit zumindest einem innenliegenden, wendelförmig verlaufenden Kanal (3) vorbestimmten Querschnitts, bei dem die den Rohling (24) bildende, plastische Masse (12) aus einem Düsenmund (DM) einer Strangpressdüse (10) in Form eines auslassseitig im Wesentlichen kreiszylindrischen, vorzu...

A method for producing rare earth sintered magnets includes the steps of pressing and compacting an alloy powder for the rare earth sintered magnets, thereby preparing a plurality of green compacts, arranging the green compacts on a receiving plane in a direction in which a projection area of each of the green compacts onto the receiving plane is not maximized, and heating the green compacts, ther...

The invention relates to a sinter metal part with a homogeneous distribution of non-homogeneously melting components, essentially comprising non-homogeneously melting non ferrous metal powder mixtures, produced in the following manner: continuous isostatic pressure sintering of the starting material to obtain densities which substantially correspond to the density of a high-temperature isostatical...

A method and system for pacing a vehicle along a path of travel is described. The method includes determining a geographical location of the vehicle, displaying a vehicle position icon representative of the geographical location, determining an optimal position for the vehicle, displaying a pace icon representative of the optimal position for the vehicle, and operating the vehicle to maintain a ve...

A system for detecting electrode-tissue contact comprises a catheter having a location sensor and a distal tip electrode. The catheter preferably further comprises a reference electrode that is preferably protected from making contact with tissue. The system further comprises a signal generator to transmit test signals to the distal tip and reference electrodes. Tissue contact is detected by compa...

An integrated property database and search engine (10) for matching properties with buyers (12) has a computer (18) that includes a master database(20) and a search engine. The master database (20) includes a property for sale database (22) and a buyer's database (36). The property for sale database (22) includes a property location (30), a sales price (28), and a type of property (34). The buyers...

A transponder-reader payment system (Figure 1A) includes a RFID reader (104) for interrogating a transponder, and a fob including a transponder which is associated with fob data file funded by one or more funding sources (102). In exemplary operation, the fob identifying information may be presented to the RFID reader for completion of a transaction request (100A). The transaction request may be p...

A system and method for distribution of product price and/or sales data in a retail establishment (101). Product price and/or sales data is stored locally, either in a central computer (112) or master electronic cash register (ECR) (119) or remotely at a master computer (106). The product price data is stored in the form of a price look-up (PLU) table (124, 126). The price data can be pushed or pu...

Providing a corrected delivery address comprises receiving a plurality of first data elements, each of the plurality of first data elements comprising a first portion and a second portion. Next providing a corrected delivery address comprises providing a second data element, the second data element corresponding to one of the plurality of first data elements and comprising a corrected version of t...

Moisture and gas permeable ionomeric films are described. The films described herein are obtained from blends of ionomers with an organic acid salt in the amount of at least about 5 wt%, and have MVTR greater than films obtained from conventional ionomers. Particularly preferred are the potassium salts of stearic, oleic, isostearic, and isooleic acids. Films comprising a liquid-absorbent ionomer f...

A points-based rewards system and method are provided.; La présente invention concerne un système et un procédé de récompenses à base de points.

An account holder initiates a transaction by providing a vendor (114) both account information as well as a specific Transaction Authorization Token (TAT) that was previously stored in a Token Log (110). The vendor passes the account information and TAT with the transaction information to an institution (122) responsible for authorizing one or more transactions involving the financial account. Tha...

Methods and systems for evaluation of business performance are provided. All actionable activities (2) of a business are divided into a plurality of business aspects (4, 5, 6). A plurality of aggregate measures (10, 11, 12) is then established for each business aspect. Each of the aggregate measures comprises a set of related actionable activities for a respective business aspect. A plurality of p...

The invention relates to a device (1) for treating human skin by means of radiation. The device has a housing (5) with a radiation exit opening (13), a radiation source (9) which is accommodated in the housing, and a radiation path (15) between the radiation source and the radiation exit opening. A radiation filter (17) is provided in the radiation path. According to the invention the radiation fi...

Disclosed is an elastomeric article, such as an elastomeric glove, for example, and a method for making the disclosed elastomeric article. The elastomeric article includes a fluorocarbon graft on the donning surface of the article. In addition, a hydrophilic lubricant including a modified siloxane displaying polar functionality may be applied to the surface of the article. In one embodiment, the m...