Abstract:
A closure for dispensing one or more active agents into a container comprises a sealed or sealable chamber having a breakable wall and a hollow piston slidably mounted in a piston guide. Said hollow piston comprises an outer wall having an end in the chamber and at least one ventilation aperture. Said end has a cutting formation. Said hollow piston is slidable in the piston guide between a ventilation position in which the at least one ventilation aperture allows ventilation of the chamber and a sealed position in which the at least one ventilation aperture is sealed to prevent ventilation of the chamber and a deployed position in which the cutting formation has broken through at least a portion of the breakable wall. The outer wall has a retaining formation which engages with the piston guide to releasably resist sliding of the hollow piston between the ventilation position and the sealed position and the deployed position. The hollow piston may have an outer wall, and said outer wall has an end within the chamber, facing the breakable wall, wherein the cutting end has a first edge having a cutting formation and a gap in said cutting formation.
Abstract:
In a mobile positioning system, mobile user devices carry out data validation on locally stored positioning data, regulating the positioning data provided to a positioning module and selectively requesting updated positioning data from a central database. A controller receives requests for updated positioning data and selectively responds with updates. The mobile user devices store observations data concerning measurements of signals from electromagnetic signal sources and transmit data about the locally stored observations data to the controller. The controller then selectively requests transmission of the locally stored observations data and the mobile user device determines when and whether to transmit that data. The amount of positioning data which must be transmitted to and from the mobile user device and the overall power consumption of the mobile user device is reduced. The decision as to what observations data to transmit to the controller is distributed between the mobile user device and the controller.
Abstract:
Methods of predicting rapid decline in renal function in diabetes employing panels of biomarkers. The methods are useful for predicting risk of decline of renal function in individual subject and also for selecting subjects for clinical trials.
Abstract:
A board for water sports is provided that allows a user to more effectively propel the board through the water. The board comprises a first (2) and second (4) foot rest, a first (6) and second (8) arm support, wherein the first foot rest is coupled to the first arm support and the second foot rest is coupled to the second arm support such that movement of each foot rest produces a corresponding movement of the coupled arm support.
Abstract:
It is intended to provide a vehicle comprising a fluid working machine which can reduce wear of parts and be produced at low cost. The fluid working machine (11, 12) is provided with an eccentric cam (17), a piston 18A to 18F, a cylinder 19A to 19F, a drive rod 20A-20F having an engaging part (24) engaging with the piston and a contact part (25) contacting the eccentric cam (17), a holding member 34A to 34F surrounding the drive rod, a pressing member 40A to 40F for pressing up the holding member in a radially outward direction, and at least one holding ring (41) for holding the holding member from the outside.
Abstract:
A method of determining the vascular endothelial function of a subject using GAPDH as a biomarker is presented, whereby the level of GAPDH mRNA and/or GAPDH protein in a sample obtained from a subject is measured and compared to a reference. A difference in the level of GAPDH mRNA and/or GAPDH protein between that measured for the sample and a reference may be indicative of impaired vascular endothelial function and therefore may indicate the onset of a condition related to impaired vascular endothelial function such as atherosclerosis.
Abstract:
A laryngoscope body for use with laryngoscope blades is presented having an elongate handle and a blade retaining member configured to retain a blade such that the blade extends away from the elongate handle; wherein the blade retaining member is fixable at a plurality of positions to allow a blade to be retained on the blade retaining member at a plurality of - angles relative to the elongate handle. There is also disclosed a kit of parts comprising a laryngoscope body and a plurality of blades, as well as a method of use for the said laryngoscope body with a suitable laryngoscope blade.
Abstract:
An optical absorption gas sensor for detecting an analyte gas comprises a gas sample receiving chamber, at least one light emitting diode (LED) and a photodiode or other photosensor. A plurality of light pulses are generated by passing pulses of current through the at least one LED. The current through the at least one LED is measured a plurality of times during each pulse and taken into account when generating a compensated output signal. The transfer ratio between LED current and photodiode output signal is calculated a plurality of times during each pulse. An ADC measures the LED and photodiode currents alternately. The LED pulses are generated by inductor discharge flyback and the period of time for which current is supplied to the inductor prior to each pulse is selected so that the photodiode output current is at an optimal region within the input range of the ADC. At least the temperature of the at least one LED is measured and taken into account when generating the compensated output signal. Thus, rather than providing especially careful control of the LED pulses, the pulses are measured, enabling a simpler, lower power circuit which is tolerant of variations in temperature to be provided.
Abstract:
An optical absorption gas sensor has an LED light source and a photodiode light detector, a temperature measuring device for measuring the LED temperature and a temperature measuring device for measuring the photodiode temperature. The sensor is calibrated by measuring the response of photodiode current at zero analyte gas concentration and at a reference analyte gas concentration. From these measurement, calibration data taking into account the effect of photodiode temperature on the sensitivity of the photodiode and, independently, the effect of changes in the spectrum of light output by the LED on the light detected by the photodiode with LED temperature can be obtained. Calibration data is written to memory in the gas sensor and in operation of the gas sensor, the output is compensated for both LED and photodiode temperature. The LED and photodiode can therefore be relatively far apart and operate at significantly different temperatures allowing greater freedom of optical pathway design. There is also disclosed an elongate waveguide for an optical absorption gas sensor formed from two opposed compound parabolic collectors.
Abstract:
A single photon avalanche diode (400) is disclosed, for use in a CMOS integrated circuit, the single photon avalanche diode, SPAD, comprising: a deep n-well region (406) formed above a p-type substrate (402); an n-well region (408) formed above and in contact with the deep n-well region (406); a cathode contact (412) connected to the n-well region (408) via a heavily doped n-type implant (410); a lightly doped region (428) forming a guard ring around the n-well and deep n-well regions; a p-well region (416, 422) adjacent to the lightly doped region; and an anode contact (420, 426) connected to the p-well region via a heavily doped p-type implant (418, 424); the junction (414) between the bottom of the deep n-well region and the substrate forming a SPAD multiplication region when an appropriate bias voltage is applied between the anode and cathode and the guard ring breakdown voltage being controlled with appropriate control of the lateral doping concentration gradient such that the breakdown voltage is higher than that of the planar SPAD multiplication region.