Author: claimsbot

1. A method for repairing an ossicular discontinuity, comprising the steps of:
forming an elongated fusing strip out of a paste of bone material on an elongated fuser support;
bringing the ends of said strip into contact with the two ossicular elements forming the discontinuity in the ossicular chain;
continuing to support the strip while it hardens to self-supporting condition; and
removing the support.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the fuser element is formed of hydroxyapatite.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the fuser element is formed of an ionomeric bone cement.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the fuser element is formed of inorganic aluminum fluorosilicate particles in a hydrogel matrix.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein the support consists of a cylindrically concave, elongated fuser member.
6. The method of claim 5 wherein the cylindrically concave, elongate fuser member is semi-circular in configuration.
7. The method of claim 5 wherein the concave elongate support surface constitutes the interior of a tube.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein the bone cement is fed onto the support from a syringe.
9. The method of claim 8 wherein the syringe includes a manually actuated plunger for pressurizing the bone cement and forcing it onto the fuser support.
10. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of forming is performed manually.
11. An instrument for forming a fused link of bone cement between two discontinuous portions of an ossicular chain in order to improve the conduction of vibrations through the chain, comprising:
a fuser support having a concave surface for forming a strip of paste bone cement;
a syringe adapted to be filled with bone cement and connected to the fuser support by a conduit; and
means for forcing paste bone cement through said tube from said syringe to fill the volume surrounding said concave support.
12. The instrument of claim 11 wherein the fuser support has an expandable wing to adjust its length.
13. The instrument of claim 11 wherein the concave surface comprises the interior of an expandable plastic tube having apertures in its ends through which bone cement may flow.
14. An instrument for forming a fused link of bone cement between two discontinuous portion of an ossicular chain in order to improve the condition of vibrations through the chain, comprising,
A fuse support having a concave channel for receiving a strip of paste bone cement; and
a handle member extending generally normally to the channel for supporting the channel with ends of the strip in contact with the two discontinuous portions until the paste hardens into a self-supporting state.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A method for processing a work item using an electronic workflow manager comprising:
electronically receiving a work item;
automatically and electronically acknowledging receipt of the work item to a designated party;
determining one or more certain parameters from or about the work item;
applying the one or more certain parameters to a set of business rules;
if said certain parameters comport with said set of business rules, then;
determining from said set of parameters one or more users for processing said work item, where each of said users are assigned to a team and said team belongs to a center of a business enterprise;
determining if any of said one or more users are available and routing said work item to an available user;
if none of said one or more users are available, then holding said work item in an electronic queue until at least one of said one or more users become available; and
routing said work item to said available one or more users for processing said work item in accordance with said business rules;

if said certain parameters do not comport with said set of business rules, then;
routing said work item to an electronic queue for unidentified work items.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprising modifying said set of business rules such that said certain parameters of said certain work item in said electronic queue for unidentified work items comports with said business rules.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein said work item is one of an electronic message, an order for services, an order for a device, or an order for services and a device.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein said one or more certain parameters from or about the work item include one or more of an Internet domain from which the work item originated, an email address from which the work item originated, and key words, phrases or codes contained within the work item.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically and electronically acknowledging receipt of the work item to a designated party comprises sending an email message to the originator of the work item.
6. The method of claim 1, further comprising assigning the work item a service level commitment based on a timeframe for processing the work item, monitoring the work item and its assigned service level commitment and reporting the work item if it is in jeopardy of not meeting its assigned service level commitment or has missed its assigned service level commitment.
7. A method for processing a work item using an electronic workflow manager comprising:
electronically receiving a work item;
automatically and electronically acknowledging receipt of the work item to a designated party;
determining one or more certain parameters from or about the work item;
applying the one or more certain parameters to a first set of business rules and if said certain parameters comport with said first set of business rules, then routing said work item to a first electronic queue, and if said certain parameters do not comport with said first set of business rules, then routing said work item to an electronic queue for unidentified work items;
applying the one or more certain parameters to a second set of business rules and if said certain parameters comport with said second set of business rules, then routing said work item to a second electronic queue, and if said certain parameters do not comport with said second set of business rules, then routing said work item to an electronic queue for unidentified work items;
applying the one or more certain parameters to a third set of business rules and if said certain parameters comport with said third set of business rules, then routing said work item to a third electronic queue to await processing by an available customer service representative, and if said certain parameters do not comport with said second set of business rules, then routing said work item to an electronic queue for unidentified work items.
8. The method of claim 7 further comprising modifying said first set of business rules such that said certain parameters of said certain work item in said electronic queue for unidentified work items comports with said first set of business rules.
9. The method of claim 7 further comprising modifying said second set of business rules such that said certain parameters of said certain work item in said electronic queue for unidentified work items comports with said second set of business rules.
10. The method of claim 7 further comprising modifying said third set of business rules such that said certain parameters of said certain work item in said electronic queue for unidentified work items comports with said third set of business rules.
11. The method of claim 7, wherein said work item is one of an electronic message, an order for services, an order for a device, or an order for services and a device.
12. The method of claim 7, wherein said one or more certain parameters from or about the work item include one or more of an Internet domain from which the work item originated, an email address from which the work item originated, and key words, phrases or codes contained within the work item.
13. The method of claim 7, wherein automatically and electronically acknowledging receipt of the work item to a designated party comprises sending an email message to the originator of the work item.
14. The method of claim 7, further comprising assigning the work item a service level commitment based on a timeframe for processing the work item, monitoring the work item and its assigned service level commitment and reporting the work item if it is in jeopardy of not meeting its assigned service level commitment or has missed its assigned service level commitment.
15. The method of claim 7, wherein said first electronic queue is associated with a center that comprises a portion of a business enterprise.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein said second electronic queue is associated with a team that comprises a portion of the center.
17. The method of claim 16, wherein said third electronic queue is associated with the customer service representative that comprises a portion of the team.
18. A system operating on one or more computing devices for electronically managing the workflow of one or more work items in a business enterprise, said system comprised of:
an import server, wherein said import server receives the one or more work items that are sent to the business organization and stores said one or more work items at least momentarily on a database;
a routing engine, wherein said routing engine discerns information from and about each said one or more work items, applies at least one set of business rules to said information, and based upon said information comporting with said at least one set of business rules said routing engine determines which of one or more available users to route each said one or more work items, and if said information does not comport with said at least one set of business rules then said routing engine routes each said one or more work items to an unidentified work item electronic queue; and
an application server, wherein the application server services one or more graphical user interfaces (GUIs) such that said one or more work items routed to said one or more available users are displayed to said one or more available users and said one or more available users may interact with and process said one or more work items on discrete and consolidated bases.
19. The system of claim 18, further comprised of a templates and auto-acknowledgment module that acknowledges receipt of a work item by the business organization to a designated party and further is configured to provide for an available user to electronically communicate with the designated party.
20. The system of claim 19, wherein the electronic communication with the designated party is via email using pre-existing templates.
21. The system of claim 18 further comprising a tracking module, wherein said one or more work items are assigned a service level commitment based on a timeframe for processing the work item, said tracking module monitors the one or work items and their assigned service level commitments and provides alerts if any one of said one or more work items are in jeopardy of not meeting its assigned service level commitment or has missed its assigned service level commitment.
22. The system of claim 18 further comprising a reporting module, wherein said reporting module is configured to provide discrete and cumulative statistical reports on the one or more work items received by the business organization, the processing of the one or more work items by the system, and the one or more users of the system.
23. The system of claim 18 further comprising a business applications module that is configured to interface with business applications of the business organization such that actions taken in response to the one or more work items by the business applications may be tracked and reported by the system.
24. A computer program product, comprising:
a memory having computer readable code embodied therein, for execution by a computing device, for processing one or more work items using an electronic workflow manager, said code comprising:
a) executable code for electronically receiving a work item;
b) executable code for automatically and electronically acknowledging receipt of the work item to a designated party;
c) executable code for determining one or more certain parameters from or about the work item;
d) executable code for applying the one or more certain parameters to a set of business rules;
e) executable code for determining if said certain parameters comport with said set of business rules, and if they do then;
f) executable code for determining from said set of parameters one or more users for processing said work item, where each of said users are assigned to a team and said team belongs to a center of a business enterprise;
g) executable code for determining if any of said one or more users are available and routing said work item to an available user;
h) executable code for determining if none of said one or more users are available, then holding said work item in an electronic queue until at least one of said one or more users become available and routing said work item to said available one or more users for processing said work item in accordance with said business rules; and
i) executable code for determining if said certain parameters do not comport with said set of business rules, and then routing said work item to an electronic queue for unidentified work items.

1. A composition comprising a polymer formed from a first composition comprising:
i) an uncrosslinked elastomeric polymer, and
ii) a sulfide modifier represented by Formula 1:
AS\u2014Y-Zm\u2003\u2003(Formula 1), and
wherein
Y is (C12-C100) aralkyl, (C12-C100) aryl, (C12-C100)alkyl, or (C12-C100) dialkylether (alkyl-O-alkyl), and wherein each may be optionally substituted with (C1-C4) alkyl, (C1-C4) alkoxy, (C7-C16) aryl, (C7-C16) aralkyl, nitrile, amine, NO2, alkoxy, or thioalkyl;
S is sulfur;
A is hydrogen, \u2014(S)p\u2014R1 or -MR2R3R4;
Z is \u2014SH, \u2014S-MR5R6R7, \u2014S\u2014(S)p\u2014R8, \u2014NR9R10, \u2014NR11COR12, \u2014O\u2014CO\u2014R13, \u2014NCO, or \u2014COOR14;
M is silicon or tin;
N is nitrogen;
O is oxygen;
m is the number one, two or three;
p is the number one, two, three, four or five;
R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, R8, R9, R10, R11, R12, R13 and R14 are the same or different, and are each, independently, selected from hydrogen (H), (C1-C16) alkyl, (C6-C16) aryl, (C7-C16) aralkyl or (C3-C30) tri(hydrocarbyl)silyl, and wherein the hydrocarbyl groups are each independently selected from (C1-C16) alkyl, (C6-C16) aryl, or (C7-C16) aralkyl.
2. The composition of claim 1, wherein
Y is (C12-C100) alkyl, (C12-C100) aralkyl, or (C12-C100) aryl;
A is hydrogen, \u2014(S)p\u2014R1 or \u2014SiR2R3R4;
Z is \u2014SH, \u2014S\u2014SiR2R3R4, \u2014S\u2014(S)p\u2014R8, \u2014NR9R10, \u2014NR11COR12, or \u2014COOR14;
m is the number one R1, R2, R3, R4, R8, R9, R10, R11, R12 and R14 are the same or different, and are each, independently, selected from hydrogen (H), (C1-C16) alkyl, (C6-C16) aryl, (C7-C16) aralkyl or (C3-C30) tri(hydrocarbyl)silyl, and wherein the hydrocarbyl groups are each independently selected from (C1-C16) alkyl, (C6-C16) aryl, or (C7-C16) aralkyl.
3. The composition of claim 1, wherein the uncrosslinked elastomeric polymer comprises a chemical moiety derived from at least one coupling agent selected from the group consisting of tin halide, tin alkoxide, silicon halide, and silicon alkoxide.
4. The composition of claim 1, further comprising a polystyrene.
5. The composition of claim 2, further comprising a polystyrene.
6. The composition of claim 1, further comprising a butadieneacrylonitrile copolymer with an acrylonitrile unit content from 5 to 60 weight percent, based on the weight of the copolymer, and wherein the butadieneacrylonitrile copolymer is partially hydrogenated or fully hydrogenated.
7. The composition of claim 2, further comprising a butadieneacrylonitrile copolymer with an acrylonitrile unit content from 5 to 60 weight percent, based on the weight of the copolymer, and wherein the butadieneacrylonitrile copolymer is partially hydrogenated or fully hydrogenated.
8. The composition of claim 3, further comprising a butadieneacrylonitrile copolymer with an acrylonitrile unit content from 5 to 60 weight percent, based on the weight of the copolymer, and wherein the butadieneacrylonitrile copolymer is partially hydrogenated or fully hydrogenated.
9. The composition of claim 1, wherein the elastomeric polymer is selected from at least one of isoprene homopolymers, isoprene copolymers, isoprene terpolymers, butadiene homopolymers, butadiene copolymers, butadiene terpolymers, butadiene-styrene copolymers or butadiene-styrene terpolymers.
10. A crosslinked composition comprising an elastomeric polymer formed from a second composition comprising:
1) a filler;
2) a vulcanization agent; and
3) a modified polymer, which is formed from a first composition comprising:
i) an uncrosslinked elastomeric polymer, and
ii) a sulfide modifier represented by the Formula 1:
AS\u2014Y-Zm\u2003\u2003(Formula 1), and
wherein
Y is (C12-C100) aralkyl, (C12-C100) aryl, (C12-C100) alkyl and (C12-C100) dialkylether (alkyl-O-alkyl), and wherein each which may be optionally substituted with (C1-C4) alkyl, (C1-C4) alkoxy, (C7-C16) aryl, (C7-C16) aralkyl, nitrile, amine, NO2, alkoxy, or thioalkyl;
S is sulfur;
A is hydrogen, \u2014(S)p\u2014R1 or -MR2R3R4;
Z is \u2014SH, \u2014S-MR5R6R7, \u2014S\u2014(S)p\u2014R8, \u2014NR9R10, \u2014NR11COR12, \u2014O\u2014CO\u2014R13, \u2014NCO, \u2014COOR14;
M is silicon or tin;
N is nitrogen;
O is oxygen;
m is the number one, two or three;
p is the number one, two, three, four or five; and
R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, R8, R9, R10, R11, R12, R13 and R14 are the same or different, and are each, independently, selected from hydrogen (H), (C1-C16) alkyl, (C6-C16) aryl, (C7-C16) aralkyl or (C3-C30) tri(hydrocarbyl)silyl, and wherein the hydrocarbyl groups are each, independently, selected from (C1-C16) alkyl, (C6-C16) aryl, or (C7-C16) aralkyl.
11. The composition of claim 10, wherein
Y is (C12-C100) alkyl, (C12-C100) aralkyl, or (C12-C100) aryl;
A is hydrogen, \u2014(S)p\u2014R1 or \u2014SiR2R3R4;
Z is \u2014SH, \u2014S\u2014SiR2R3R4, \u2014S\u2014(S)p\u2014R8, \u2014NR9R10, \u2014NR11COR12, or \u2014COOR14; and
R1, R2, R3, R4, R8, R9, R10, R11, R12 and R14 are the same or different, and are each, independently, selected from hydrogen (H), (C1-C16) alkyl, (C6-C16) aryl, (C7-C16) aralkyl or (C3-C30) tri(hydrocarbyl)silyl, and wherein the hydrocarbyl groups are each, independently, selected from (C1-C16) alkyl, (C6-C16) aryl, or (C7-C16) aralkyl.
12. A tire tread comprising the composition of claim 10.
13. A modified polymer formed from a composition comprising:
i) an uncrosslinked elastomeric polymer, and
ii) a sulfide modifier, represented by the Formula 1:
AS\u2014Y-Zm\u2003\u2003(Formula 1), and
wherein
Y is (C12-C100) aralkyl, (C12-C100) aryl, (C12-C100) alkyl, or (C12-C100) dialkylether (alkyl-O-alkyl), and wherein each may be optionally substituted with (C1-C4) alkyl, (C1-C4) alkoxy, (C7-C16) aryl, (C7-C16) aralkyl, nitrile, amine, NO2, alkoxy, or thioalkyl;
S is sulfur;
A is hydrogen, \u2014(S)p\u2014R1 or -MR2R3R4;
Z is \u2014SH, \u2014S-MR5R6R7, \u2014S\u2014(S)p\u2014R8, \u2014NR9R10, \u2014NR11COR12, \u2014O\u2014CO\u2014R13, \u2014NCO, or \u2014COOR14;
M is silicon or tin;
N is nitrogen;
O is oxygen;
m is the number one, two or three;
p is the number one, two, three, four or five;
R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, R8, R9, R10, R11, R12, R13 and R14 are the same or different, and are each, independently, selected from hydrogen (H), (C1-C16) alkyl, (C6-C16) aryl, (C7-C16) aralkyl or (C3-C30) tri(hydrocarbyl)silyl, and wherein the hydrocarbyl groups are each independently selected from (C1-C16) alkyl, (C6-C16) aryl, or (C7-C16) aralkyl.
14. The polymer of claim 13, wherein
Y is (C12-C100) alkyl, (C12-C100) aralkyl, or (C12-C100) aryl;
A is hydrogen, \u2014(S)p\u2014R1 or \u2014SiR2R3R4;
Z is \u2014SH, \u2014S\u2014SiR2R3R4, \u2014S\u2014(S)p\u2014R8, \u2014NR9R10, \u2014NR11COR12, or \u2014COOR14;
R1, R2, R3, R4, R8, R9, R10, R11, R12 and R14 are the same or different, and are each, independently, selected from hydrogen (H), (C1-C16) alkyl, (C6-C16) aryl, (C7-C16) aralkyl or (C3-C30) tri(hydrocarbyl)silyl, and wherein the hydrocarbyl groups are each independently selected from (C1-C16) alkyl, (C6-C16) aryl, or (C7-C16) aralkyl.
15. The polymer of claim 13, wherein the composition further comprises at least one coupling agent selected from tin halide, tin alkoxide, silicon halide, or silicon alkoxide.
16. The composition of claim 1, wherein the uncrosslinked elastomeric polymer is prepared from a mixture comprising at least one coupling agent selected from tin halide, tin alkoxide, silicon halide, or silicon alkoxide.
17. An article comprising at least one component formed from the composition of claim 1.
18. The article of claim 17, wherein the article is selected from the group consisting of a tire component, an automotive part, a footwear component, a belt, a gasket, a seal, and a hose.
19. An article comprising at least one component formed from the polymer of claim 13.
20. The article of claim 19, wherein the article is selected from the group consisting of a tire component, an automotive part, a footwear component, a belt, a gasket, a seal, and a hose.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A system for targeting advertising content of a first or second sponsor to a plurality of mobile communication facilities, the system comprising one or more computers having computer readable mediums having stored thereon instructions which, when executed by one or more processors of the one or more computers, causes the system to perform the steps of:
(a) receiving from a website publisher or an application provider respective requests for advertising content corresponding to the plurality of mobile communication facilities operated by a group of users, wherein the plurality of mobile communication facilities includes a first type of mobile communication facility and a second type of mobile communication facility, wherein a rendering capability of the first type of mobile communication facility is different from a rendering capability of the second type of mobile communication facility;
(b) receiving a contextual datum associated with a website or an application accessed by the group of users;
(c) selecting respective advertising content from the first sponsor and the second sponsor based at least on a relevancy of each advertising content to the contextual datum associated with the website or the application, wherein each advertising content includes a first item and a second item, wherein the first item requires the rendering capability of the first type of mobile communication facility to be rendered thereon and wherein the second item requires the rendering capability of the second type of mobile communication facility to be rendered thereon, wherein the first item is incompatible with the second type of mobile communication facility and the second item is incompatible with the first type of mobile communication facility;
(d) receiving a bid from the first sponsor offered for delivery of the advertising content of the first sponsor to users associated with the contextual datum associated with the website or the application;
(e) receiving a bid from the second sponsor offered for delivery of the advertising content of the second sponsor to users associated with the contextual datum associated with the website or the application;
(f) attributing a priority to the delivery of the advertising content of the first sponsor over the delivery of the advertising content of the second sponsor to users associated with the contextual datum associated with the website or the application based upon a determination that a yield derived from the financial consideration of the first sponsor is greater than a yield derived from the financial consideration of the second sponsor; and
(g) transmitting the first item of the advertising content of the first sponsor instead of the first item of the advertising content of the second sponsor to the first type of mobile communication facility for display thereon and transmitting the second item of the advertising content of the first sponsor instead of the second item of the advertising content of the second sponsor to the second type of mobile communication facility for display thereon.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the contextual datum associated with the website or the application is provided at least by:
(a) a carrier;
(b) a publisher;
(c) an application developer;
(d) a handset manufacturer;
(e) an advertiser; or
(f) a provider of offline data.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein the item is:
(a) audio;
(b) text;
(c) video;
(d) an image;
(e) a banner;
(f) a ringtone;
(g) an interactive application; or
(h) a game.
4. The system of claim 1, wherein the group of users are identified via at least:
(a) a cookie;
(b) a handset identification; or
(c) a private header.
5. The system of claim 1, wherein the rendering capability comprises one or more hardware or software characteristics selected from the list consisting of:
(a) make of mobile communication facility;
(b) model of mobile communication facility;
(c) operating system of the mobile communication facility;
(d) operating system version of the mobile communication facility;
(e) MIDP support;
(f) polyphonic ringtone support;
(g) ringtone support;
(h) video download support;
(i) video streaming support;
(j) WAP push support;
(k) WML support;
(l) wallpaper support;
(m) XHTML support;
(n) touch screen support;
(o) a display resolution;
(p) a screen size;
(q) processor type of the mobile communication facility;
(r) processing speed of the mobile communication facility;
(s) storage capability of the mobile communication facility; and
(t) memory capacity of the mobile communication facility.
6. The system of claim 1, wherein each yield represents an expected revenue associated with the respective advertising content, wherein the expected revenue is expressed as one of:
(a) a cost-per-thousand impression (CPM) of the respective advertising content on the plurality of mobile communication devices;
(b) a cost-per-click (CPC) of the respective advertising content on the plurality of mobile communication devices, where the yield takes into consideration a historical or expected clickthrough rate;
(c) a cost-per-action (CPA), where the yield takes into consideration a historical or expected action conversion rate; and
(d) a cost-per-engagement (CPE) of the respective advertising content on the plurality of mobile communication devices.
7. The system of claim 1, wherein each bid is determined at the time of the requests for the advertising content.
8. The system of claim 7, wherein a sponsor is competing for placement in a bidded competitive auction.
9. The system of claim 1, wherein the contextual datum is based on contextual information associated with a webpage or application.
10. The system of claim 1, wherein the contextual information further includes a link structure.
11. The system of claim 1, wherein the contextual information further includes an inbound link.
12. The system of claim 1, wherein the contextual information further includes an outbound link.
13. The system of claim 1, wherein the contextual information further includes meta data.