Author: claimsbot

1. A device comprising:
a resorbable porous scaffold comprising a plurality of particles, the plurality of particles comprising at least one resorbable polymer,
wherein at least a portion of the plurality of particles are fused together, the fused particles having a consolidated polymer structure.
2. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least one resorbable polymer is selected from the group consisting of poly(lactic acid), poly(glycolic acid), poly(lactide-co-glycolide), and combinations thereof.
3. The device of claim 1, wherein the porous scaffold includes at least two different resorption profiles, thereby providing a step-wise resorption.
4. The device of claim 1, wherein the porous scaffold comprises two or more polymers having at least two different resorption profiles including a first polymer and a second polymer.
5. The device of claim 4, wherein the first polymer has an inherent viscosity of about 0.5-1.5 and the second polymer has an inherent viscosity of about 4-7.
6. The device of claim 4, wherein the first polymer comprises 82:18 poly (L-lactide co-glycolide) and the second polymer comprises 85:15 poly (D, L lactide-co-glycolide).
7. The device of claim 4, wherein the first polymer comprises 70:30 poly (LD,L lactide) and the second polymer comprises 82:18 poly(lactide-co-glycolide).
8. The device of claim 1, wherein the porous scaffold comprises a first polymer having a degradation time of about 6-9 months and a second polymer having a degradation time of about 2-3 months.
9. The device of claim 1, wherein the porous scaffold is a multi-phase composite.
10. The device of claim 1, wherein the porous scaffold is at least partially filled with a calcium-containing material selected from the group consisting of hydroxyapatite, tricalcium phosphate, calcium carbonate, calcium sulfate, and combinations thereof.
11. The device of claim 1, wherein the porous scaffold comprises macropores.
12. The device of claim 1, wherein the porous scaffold has substantially no microporosity.
13. The device of claim 1 further comprising a coating on a surface of the resorbable porous scaffold.
14. The device of claim 1, wherein the porous scaffold is in the shape of a plurality of granules, a sheet, a rod, or a block.
15. The device of claim 1, wherein the device is selected from the group consisting of an interbody spacer, a fusion device, a bone graft, fusion cages, bone graft struts, structural augments, rods, screws, tacks, suture anchors, interference screws, a cartilage repair device, a tissue augmentation device, and a disc repair device.
16. An implant comprising:
a resorbable porous scaffold comprising a plurality of particles, the plurality of particles comprising at least one resorbable polymer,
wherein at least a portion of the plurality of particles are fused together, the fused particles having a consolidated polymer structure.
17. A method of treating a patient comprising inserting into a patient the implant of claim 16.
18. The method of claim 17 further comprising applying at least one biologically active agent to the implant before inserting the implant into the patient.
19. The method of claim 17, wherein the at least one biologically active agent includes growth factors, cells, blood factors, antibiotic substances, demineralized bone matrix powder, and combinations thereof.
20. A kit comprising:
the implant of claim 16, and
at least one device for placement, application of a biologically active agent, or shaping of the implant.

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 cyclonic separator for separating a single phase fluid into a gas phase and a liquid phase, said single phase fluid comprising either a liquid containing dissolved gas or a mixture of liquids with different vapor pressures, the cyclonic separator comprising an inlet chamber, a cyclonic separation chamber and an outlet chamber, all arranged sequentially to allow fluids to flow substantially uniaxially through the separator, wherein the inlet chamber comprises a curved inlet duct of decreasing radius that induces fluids flowing through the chamber to swirl around an axis, wherein the cyclonic separation chamber receives fluids from the inlet chamber, increases a rotational speed of the fluids and separates the fluids by cyclonic action into a gas portion and a liquid portion, wherein the outlet chamber is connected to receive the gas and liquid portions from the cyclonic separation chamber and comprises a curved outlet duct of increasing radius, a first outlet for liquids and a second outlet for gases, wherein the separation chamber is elongate and has a length L and an inlet diameter D, wherein LD is in the range of 1 to 10, and includes a throat portion with a diameter DT , wherein DT <D, and includes a convergent portion upstream of the throat portion and a divergent portion downstream of the throat portion.
2. A cyclonic separator according to claim 1, wherein the throat diameter DTD is in the range of 0.3 to <1.0.
3. A cyclonic separator according to claim 1, wherein the throat portion has a length LT, wherein LTDT is in the range of 0 to 3.5.
4. A cyclonic separator according to claim 1, wherein the convergent portion is enclosed by a wall which is inclined at an included angle \u03b8c that is less than 45\xb0.
5. A cyclonic separator according to claim 1, wherein the elongate separation chamber includes a cylindrical inlet portion upstream of the convergent portion.
6. A cyclonic separator according to claim 5, wherein the inlet portion has a length L1, wherein L1 D is less than 2.
7. A cyclonic separator to claim 1, wherein the divergent portion is enclosed by a wall which is inclined at an included angle \u03b8D that is less than 30.
8. A cyclonic separator according to claim 1, wherein the elongate separation chamber includes a cylindrical outlet portion downstream of the divergent portion.
9. A cyclonic separator according to claim 8, wherein the outlet portion has a length LO, where LOD is less than 2.
10. A cyclonic separator according to claim 1, wherein the curved inlet duct has a decreasing cross-sectional area.
11. A cyclonic separator according to claim 1, wherein the curved inlet duct has an involute shape.
12. A cyclonic separator according to claim 1, wherein the curved inlet duct extends around approximately 360\xb0.
13. A cyclonic separator according claim 1, wherein the inlet chamber has a substantially tangential inlet and an axial outlet.
14. A cyclonic separator according to claim 1, wherein the curved outlet duct has an increasing cross-sectional area.
15. A cyclonic separator according to claim 1, wherein the curved outlet duct has an involute shape.
16. A cyclonic separator according to claim 1, wherein the curved outlet duct extends around approximately 360\xb0.
17. A cyclonic separator according claim 1, wherein the outlet chamber has an axial inlet, a substantially tangential outlet for liquids and an axial outlet for gases.
18. A cyclonic separator according claim 1, wherein the inlet chamber, the separation chamber and the outlet chamber are substantially coaxial.
19. A method of separating a single phase fluid into a gas phase and a liquid phase, said single phase fluid comprising either a liquid containing dissolved gas or a mixture of liquids with different vapour pressures, the method comprising passing the fluids through a cyclonic separator comprising an inlet chamber with a curved inlet duct of decreasing radius, a cyclonic separation chamber with a throat portion, a convergent portion upstream of the throat portion and a divergent portion downstream of the throat portion, and an outlet chamber with a curved outlet duct of increasing radius, separating the fluids by cyclonic action into a gas portion and a liquid portion, and capturing through separate outlets any gases and liquids exiting the separator.
20. A method according to claim 19, comprising passing fluids including liquids and dissolved gases through a cyclonic separator to separate at least some of the dissolved gases from the liquids, and capturing the gases and liquids separately as they flow through the respective outlets.
21. A method according to claim 19, comprising passing fluids including at least two liquids having different vapour pressures through a cyclonic separator to convert at least one of the liquids to a gas, separating at least some of the evolved gases from the liquids, and capturing the gases and liquids separately as they flow through the respective outlets.
22. A method according to claim 19, wherein the pressure of the fluids is reduced while passing them through the cyclonic separator to a value of less than 0.9 bar absolute, when the inlet pressure is 3 bar absolute or lower.
23. A method according to claim 19, comprising passing the fluids through a cyclonic separator according claim 1.
24. The cyclonic separator according to claim 2, wherein the throat diameter DTD is in the range of 0.5 to 0.9.
25. The cyclonic separator according to claim 3, wherein LTDT is in the range of 0.1 to 3.
26. The cyclonic separator according to claim 4, wherein the wall is inclined at an included angle \u03b8c that is in the range of 5\xb0 to 45\xb0.
27. The cyclonic separator according to claim 26, wherein the wall is inclined at an included angle \u03b8c that is in the range of 5\xb0 to 30\xb0.
28. The cyclonic separator according to claim 6, wherein L1D is in the range of 0.1 to 1.
29. The cyclonic separator according to claim 7, wherein the wall is inclined at an included angle \u03b8D that is in the range of 2\xb0 to 20\xb0.
30. The cyclonic separator according to claim 9, wherein LOD is in the range of 0.1 to 1.
31. The method of claim 22, wherein the pressure of the fluids is reduced while passing them through the cyclonic separator to a value of less than about 0.4 bar absolute.

1. An optical arrangement for receiving a response signal returned from a device under test\u2014DUT\u2014in response to a stimulus signal received from a light source, comprising:
a first splitter for receiving the response signal and for wavelength dependent splitting the response signal into a first partial signal and a second partial signal,
a second splitter for receiving the second partial signal and for wavelength dependent splitting therefrom a third partial signal with a third spectral component,
an optical detector for receiving the first partial signal and the third partial signal and detecting an optical power of the received signals,
an optical shutter arranged to be moved to either let through to or block from the optical detector one of: the first partial signal and the third partial signal, and
a first optical path for conducting the response signal from the DUT to the first splitter, a second optical path for conducting the second partial signal path from the first splitter to the second splitter, a third optical path for conducting the third partial signal from the second splitter, over the optical shutter to the first splitter, and a fourth optical path for conducting the first partial signal and the third partial signal to the optical detector.
2. The arrangement of claim 1, wherein the first splitter and the second splitter are free space optical elements, and wherein the optical signals are free space optical beams.
3. The arrangement of claim 2, wherein
the first splitter is arranged to receive the response signal from the first optical path at a first surface, to let through the first partial signal from the first optical path to the fourth optical path and to reflect the second partial signal from the first optical path to the second optical path, and to receive the third partial signal from the third optical path at a second surface opposite to the first surface and to reflect this third partial signal to the fourth optical path,
the second splitter is arranged to receive the second partial signal from the second optical path, and to let through the third partial signal from the second optical path to the third optical path.
4. The arrangement of claim 3, wherein the third optical path is directed over a first and a second retro reflector, so that second optical path and the third optical path form a parallelogram.
5. The arrangement of claim 3, wherein the optical shutter is realized as rotatable light-impermeable cylinder comprising a through hole.
6. The arrangement of claim 1, for receiving the stimulus signal at the second splitter and to conduct this signal over the first splitter to the DUT in opposite direction to the second partial signal and the response signal.
7. The arrangement of claim 1, wherein the first partial signal is one of: an Anti stokes signal with a center wavelength at a first response wavelength and a Stokes signal with a center wavelength at a second response wavelength, and the third partial signal is the other of the Stokes signal or Anti stokes signal and wherein the distributed physical property is a temperature profile along at least a part of the DUT.
8. An optical arrangement for receiving a response signal returned from a device under test\u2014DUT\u2014in response to a stimulus signal received from a light source, comprising:
a first splitter for receiving the response signal and for wavelength dependent splitting the response signal into a first partial signal and a second partial signal,
a second splitter for receiving the second partial signal and for wavelength dependent splitting therefrom a third partial signal with a third spectral component,
an optical detector for receiving the first partial signal and the third partial signal and detecting an optical power of the received signals,
an optical shutter arranged to be moved to either let through to or block from the optical detector one of: the first partial signal and the third partial signal, and
a processing unit for controlling the optical shutter, to receive from the optical detector a first power information related to a first position of the optical shutter and a second power information related to a second position of the optical shutter,
and to determine an optical property of the DUT as a function of the first power information and the second power information,
wherein the DUT is an optical fiber of a defined length, wherein the response signal comprises light backscattered over a time period corresponding to the travel time of the stimulus signal through the DUT, and wherein the first power information and the second power information are functions over time, and wherein the processing unit determines a physical property over the length of the DUT on the base of the first power information the second power information and the velocity of light within the DUT.
9. An optical arrangement for receiving a response signal returned from a device under test\u2014DUT\u2014in response to a stimulus signal received from a light source, comprising:
a first splitter for receiving the response signal and for wavelength dependent splitting the response signal into a first partial signal and a second partial signal,
a second splitter for receiving the second partial signal and for wavelength dependent splitting therefrom a third partial signal with a third spectral component,
an optical detector for receiving the first partial signal and the third partial signal and detecting an optical power of the received signals,
an optical shutter arranged to be moved to either let through to or block from the optical detector one of: the first partial signal and the third partial signal, and
a processing unit for controlling the optical shutter, to receive from the optical detector a first power information related to a first position of the optical shutter and a second power information related to a second position of the optical shutter, and to determine an optical property of the DUT as a function of the first power information and the second power information,
wherein the processing unit controls the light source such that the stimulus signal comprises a sequence of optical pulses, to determine a first correlation function by correlating said sequence with the first power information, and a second correlation function by correlating said sequence with the second optical power information, and to determine the distributed physical property on the base of the first correlation function and the second correlation function.

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 non-transitory computer program product for managing media storage, the computer program product comprising:
one or more computer-readable tangible storage media and program instructions stored on the one or more computer-readable tangible storage media, wherein the one or more computer-readable tangible storage media is hardware, the program instructions comprising:
program instructions to determine that storage space is needed on a storage device, wherein the storage device stores one or more media files;
program instructions to select a media file from the one or more media files, based, at least in part, on a scheduled time for conversion of the media file, and a user selection of a first media file including a children’s program to convert before a second media file is selected, and one or more of: indicated content of the media file, a media genre, wherein a viewing quality of the media genre is not impacted by conversion to a same extent as one or more other genres, a viewing history of the media file, wherein the viewing history indicates a media file a user is least likely to watch, and one or more user preferences associated with the media file, wherein the one or more user preferences include one or more of: a user preference for a first media content to be selected for conversion before a second media content, and a user selection of a content to convert to the second format;
program instructions to determine a likely viewing device for the media file selected from the one or more media files, based, at least in part, on the viewing history of the media file, wherein the viewing history includes at least a viewing device previously used for the media file, and one or more of: a media file a user is unlikely to watch, and a viewing device on which a media genre is previously watched;
program instructions to convert the media file from a first format to the second format, based on the determined likely viewing device;
program instructions to store the converted media file in the second format;
program instructions to remove the media file in the first format from the storage device; and
program instructions to update one or more internal processes to access the converted media file in the second format.
2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the one or more media files include one or more of: an audio file, a video file, or a data-broadcast file.
3. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein program instructions to determine the likely viewing device further comprise:
program instructions to request, from a communication network, one or more details of a viewing device, wherein such details include one or more of: a display resolution, a display size, and a processing property of the viewing device; and
program instructions to determine the likely viewing device based on at least one of the one or more details of the viewing device.
4. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the determined likely viewing device includes one or more of: a televising device, a personal computing device and a mobile computing device.
5. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the second format is a lower quality digital format than the first format.
6. A computer system for managing media storage, the computer system comprising:
one or more computer processors;
one or more computer-readable tangible storage media;
program instructions stored on the one or more computer-readable tangible storage media for execution by at least one of the one or more computer processors, the program instructions comprising:
program instructions to determine that storage space is needed on a storage device, wherein the storage device stores one or more media files;
program instructions to select a media file from the one or more media files, based, at least in part, on a scheduled time for conversion of the media file, and a user selection of a first media file including a children’s program to convert before a second media file is selected, and one or more of: indicated content of the media file, a media genre, wherein a viewing quality of the media genre is not impacted by conversion to a same extent as one or more other genres, a viewing history of the media file, wherein the viewing history indicates a media file a user is least likely to watch, and one or more user preferences associated with the media file, wherein the one or more user preferences include one or more of: a user preference for a first media content to be selected for conversion before a second media content, and a user selection of a content to convert to the second format;
program instructions to determine a likely viewing device for the media file selected from the one or more media files, based, at least in part, on the viewing history of the media file, wherein the viewing history includes at least a viewing device previously used for the media file, and one or more of: a media file a user is unlikely to watch, and a viewing device on which a media genre is previously watched;
program instructions to convert the media file from a first format to the second format, based on the determined likely viewing device;
program instructions to store the converted media file in the second format;
program instructions to remove the media file in the first format from the storage device; and
program instructions to update one or more internal processes to access the converted media file in the second format.
7. The computer system of claim 6, wherein the one or more media files include one or more of: an audio file, a video file, or a data-broadcast file.
8. The computer system of claim 6, wherein program instructions to determine the likely viewing device further comprise:
program instructions to request, from a communication network, one or more details of a viewing device, wherein such details include one or more of: a display resolution, a display size, and a processing property of the viewing device; and
program instructions to determine the likely viewing device based on at least one of the one or more details of a viewing device.
9. The computer system of claim 6, wherein the determined likely viewing device includes one or more of: a televising device, a personal computing device and a mobile computing device.
10. The computer system of claim 6, wherein the second format is a lower quality digital format than the first format.