All The Claims

1. A spinal implant for stabilizing intervertebral space between adjacent vertebrae and maintaining curvature of the spine comprising a cage with a hollow interior and having a first end and a second end, a first elongated side connecting said first end and said second end, a second elongated side connecting said first end and said second end, said second elongated side diametrically opposed to said first elongated side about said hollow interior, said first elongated side and said second elongated side spaced apart forming an opening communicating with said hollow interior, said opening having a periphery defined by the edges of said first elongated side and said second elongated side, said periphery including a plurality of angled teeth, a first portion of said plurality of teeth angled toward said first end and a second portion of said plurality of teeth angled away from said first end, said first end being longer than said second end, said first elongated side and said second elongated side extending toward each other to form a wedge, said wedge adapted to contact adjacent vertebrae to maintain curvature of the spine, said first end having a rectilinear shape with two opposite long sides connected to two opposite short sides, said second end having a rectilinear shape with two opposite long sides connected to two opposite short sides, said first elongated sidewall attached to one long side of said first end and said second elongated sidewall attached to a second long side of said first end, said second end having a rectilinear shape with two opposite sides shorter than said opposite long sides of said first end, said first elongated sidewall attached to one shorter side of said second end and said second elongated sidewall attached to the opposite shorter side of said second end.
2. A spinal implant for stabilizing adjacent vertebrae and maintaining curvature of the spine of claim 1 comprising said first elongated side and said second elongated side formed in an arc between said first end and said second end, said arc increasing said hollow interior of said cage.
3. A spinal implant for stabilizing adjacent vertebrae and maintaining curvature of the spine of claim 1 comprising a bone growth material disposed in said hollow interior, said bone growth material adapted to contact adjacent vertebrae through said opening.
4. A spinal implant for low profile insertion in the intervertebral space between adjacent vertebrae and maintaining curvature of the spine comprising a cage with a hollow interior and having a leading end and a trailing end, said leading end being rectilinear with two opposite short sides connected to two opposite long sides, said trailing end being rectilinear with two opposite short side connected to two opposite long sides, a first cage wall connected to one of said opposite long sides, a second cage wall connected to the other of said opposite long sides, said cage adapted to be inserted between adjacent vertebrae with said first cage wall and said second cage wall contacting the end plates of the vertebrae, said trailing end having a rectilinear shape with opposed sides, said first cage wall connected to a side of said trailing end shorter than one of said long sides of said leading end, said second cage wall connected to the opposed side of said trailing end shorter than the other of said opposite long sides of said leading end, said first cage wall and said second cage wall forming said hollow interior whereby upon insertion and rotation, said cage is adapted to increase the intervertebral space at said leading end, said first cage wall and said second cage wall having a first width at said leading end and a second smaller width at said trailing end whereby upon rotation said intervertebral space at said leading end increases and said vertebral space at said trailing end decreases.
5. A spinal implant for low profile insertion in the intervertebral space between adjacent vertebrae and maintaining curvature of the spine of claim 4 comprising said cage having a wedge shape with said first cage wall and said second cage wall sloping outwardly from said leading end toward said trailing end.
6. A spinal implant for low profile insertion in the intervertebral space between adjacent vertebrae and maintaining curvature of the spine of claim 5 comprising first cage wall and said second cage wall having a first width at said leading end and a second smaller width at said trailing end whereby upon rotation said intervertebral space at said leading end increases and said vertebral space at said trailing end decreases.
7. A spinal implant for low profile insertion in the intervertebral space between adjacent vertebrae and maintaining curvature of the spine of claim 4 comprising said first cage wall and said second cage wall each having an arcuate shape between said leading end and said trailing end increasing said hollow interior, said arcuate shape adapted to aid in placement of said implant.
8. A spinal implant for low profile insertion in the intervertebral space between adjacent vertebrae and maintaining curvature of the spine of claim 4 comprising said first cage wall and said second cage wall each having opposite edges, said edges formed with angled teeth and means for rotating said cage to engage said angled teeth with adjacent vertebrae.
9. A spinal implant for low profile insertion in the intervertebral space between adjacent vertebrae and maintaining curvature of the spine of claim 4 comprising at least one radiopaque marker in said cage.

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 producing polylactic acid (PLA) comprising:
(A) fermenting in a fermentation vessel a recombinant micro-organism of the genus Monascus, that has been genetically modified to produce increased levels of lactic acid and have tolerance to lactic acid at a pH of at less than 5, in a medium at a pH less than or equal to 5 under conditions which produce lactic acid into the medium, such that said medium comprises at least 50 gL lactic acid,
(B) converting the lactic acid produced into lactide, and
(C) polymerizing the lactide to form PLA.
2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the lactic acid is recovered from the fermentation medium prior to conversion into lactide, wherein the recovery comprises:
(A) extracting free lactic acid from said medium clarified of debris by contacting said medium with an extracting solvent, to form:
(i) a lactic acid-containing extract and
(ii) a lactic acid-depleted aqueous solution; and

(B) separating said lactic acid-containing extract (i) from said aqueous solution (ii),

thereby obtaining recovered lactic acid.
3. The method according to claim 2 wherein the extracting solvent comprises one or more of 1-butanol, 2-ethyl hexanol, 1-octanol, methyl isobutyl ketone, cyclohexanone, disobutyl ketone, isopropyl ether, ethyl acetate, isobutyl acetate, ethyl lactate, butyl lactate, octyl lactate, N,N-dibutyl lactamide, hexanoic acid, a tertiary alkylamine tricaprylyl amine, or Alamine 336.
4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the recovery further comprises:
(C) stripping the extracted lactic acid from said separated extract (i) using a stripping solvent to form as immiscible phases:
iii) the stripping solution containing lactic acid, and
iv) lactic acid-depleted extracting solvent; and

(D) separating the stripping solution containing lactic acid (iii) from said lactic acid-depleted extracting solvent (iv),

thereby obtaining recovered lactic acid.
5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the stripping solvent is an aqueous solvent, polar organic solvent, or mixtures thereof.
6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the lactic acid is recovered from the fermentation medium prior to conversion into lactide, wherein the recovery comprises:
(A) precipitating contaminants in the medium, optionally clarified of debris, by use of an alcohol, and
(B) removing the precipitate to obtain a clarified alcohol solution containing lactic acid, thereby obtaining recovered lactic acid.
7. The method according to claim 6 wherein the alcohol is a C1 to C4 straight chain or branched alcohol.
8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the lactide is converted from lactic acid directly or via polycondensation of lactic acid to form lactic acid oligomers.
9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the recovered lactic acid is converted into lactide by:
(A) heating the recovered lactic acid to oligomerise the lactic acid, and
(B) heating the lactic acid oligomer so formed to produce a vapour of lactide.
10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the recovered lactic acid is in a hydrophobic solvent.
11. The method according to claim 9, wherein the step of heating the lactic acid oligomer to produce a vapour of lactide is performed in the presence of a catalyst.
12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the lactic acid is in an aqueous solution, and is converted into lactide by:
(A) heating the aqueous solution of recovered lactic acid to form a vapour, and
(B) passing the vapour so formed through a reactor maintained at elevated temperature, in which a catalyst is optionally disposed.
13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the catalyst is alumina.
14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the lactic acid is in an aqueous solution, and is converted into lactide by the removal of water from the aqueous solution.
15. The method according to claim 1, where the lactide is polymerised into PLA by a ring opening in the presence of a metal catalyst.
16. The method according to claim 10, wherein the hydrophobic solvent is Alamine 336.
17. The method according to claim 11, wherein the catalyst is a tin catalyst.
18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the catalyst is tin (II) octanoate.
19. The method according to claim 1, wherein the recombinant micro-organism of the genus Monascus is fermented in a medium at a pH less than or equal to 4 under conditions which produce lactic acid into the medium.
20. The method according to claim 1, wherein during the fermentation of the strain the pH of the medium drops to a value below the pKa value of lactic acid (of 3.85).
21. The method according to claim 1, wherein the recombinant micro-organism is Monascus ruber.
22. The method according to claim 1, wherein the yield of lactic acid is at least 2 gL.
23. The method according to claim 1, wherein the lactic acid productivity is at least 1 gLhr.

1. A time synchronization method for a passive optical network, used for implementing time synchronization from an Optical Line Terminal (OLT) to an Optical Network Unit (ONU), the method comprising:
transferring time information between the OLT and the ONU by using a management path;
wherein the time information includes a transmission delay between the ONU and the OLT and sending time identifier information of the time information; and
calculating a time offset between the ONU and the OLT by the ONU according to the time information and implementing the time synchronization with the OLT.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the management path is a Physical Layer Operation Administration Maintenance (PLOAM) message path; and the sending time identifier information of the time information is the sending time of a is PLOAM message.
3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the management path is an ONU Management and Control Interface (OMCI) message path; and the sending time identifier information of the time information comprises the sending time of a frame triggering the time synchronization and the frame number of the frame.
4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the time offset between the ONU and the OLT is the difference between the local time of the ONU and the sum of the sending time of the time information and the transmission delay.
5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the information transmission delay is obtained by the distance measuring function of the passive optical network system, or by the measurement through simulating the IEEE1588 protocol by using the PLOAM message path.
6. A time synchronization system for a passive optical network, comprising:
an optical Line Terminal (OLT) time synchronization receiving and processing module, used for realizing time synchronization with a superior device;
an OLT time information sending module, used for calculating a transmission delay between an OLT and an Optical Network Unit (ONU), and transferring time information to the ONU through a management path; wherein the time information comprises the transmission delay between the OLT and the ONU and the sending time identifier information of the time information; and
an ONU time synchronization receiving and processing module, used for receiving time information from the OLT, and calculating a time offset between the ONU and the OLT according to the time information, and implementing the time synchronization with the OLT.
7. The system according to claim 6, wherein the OLT time information sending module transfers the time information to the ONU by using a PLOAM message path, and the sending time identifier information of the time information is the sending time of a PLOAM message.
8. The system according to claim 6, wherein the OLT time information is sending modules transfers the time information to the ONU by using an OMCI message path, and the sending time identifier information of the time information comprises the sending time of a frame triggering the time synchronization and the frame number of the frame.
9. The system according to claim 6, wherein the time offset is the difference between the local time of the ONU and the sum of the sending time of the time information and the transmission delay.
10. The system according to claim 6, wherein the information transmission delay is obtained by the distance measuring function of the passive optical network system, or the measurement through simulating the IEEE1588 protocol by using the PLOAM message path.
11. The method according to claim 4, wherein the information transmission delay is obtained by the distance measuring function of the passive optical network system, or by the measurement through simulating the IEEE1588 protocol by using the PLOAM message path.
12. The system according to claim 7, wherein the information transmission delay is obtained by the distance measuring function of the passive optical network system, or the measurement through simulating the IEEE1588 protocol by using the PLOAM message path.
13. The system according to claim 8, wherein the information transmission delay is obtained by the distance measuring function of the passive optical network system, or the measurement through simulating the IEEE1588 protocol by using the PLOAM message path.
14. The system according to claim 9, wherein the information transmission delay is obtained by the distance measuring function of the passive optical network system, or the measurement through simulating the IEEE1588 protocol by using the PLOAM message path.

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 computer-implemented method for profile matching, comprising:
receiving a plurality of user profiles, each user profile comprising traits of a respective user;
receiving a request requesting matches, the request associated with a first user;
determining a first set of results in response to receiving the request, the first set of results comprising one or more of the plurality of user profiles;
receiving, from a second user, activity associated with a profile of a third user, the second user and the third user different than the first user;
determining a rating of the profile of the third user based on a number of times the profile of the third user was selected by users other than the first user;
identifying a profile of a fourth user from the plurality of user profiles in response to receiving the activity from the second user associated with the profile of the third user, the profile of the fourth user not in the first set of results;
determining a rating of the profile of the fourth user based on a number of times the profile of the fourth user was selected by users other than the first user;
comparing the rating of the profile of the third user with the rating of the profile of the fourth user;
determining a difference between a preference associated with the first user and a characteristic included in the profile of the fourth user;
reducing an impact of the difference between the preference associated with the first user and the characteristic included in the profile of the fourth user;
adding the profile of the fourth user to the first set of results in response to comparing the rating of the profile of the third user with the rating of the profile of the fourth user and in response to reducing the impact of the difference between the preference associated with the first user and the characteristic included in the profile of the fourth user; and
providing the profile of the fourth user to the first user.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving, from the second user, activity associated with the profile of the third user comprises receiving from the second user a recommendation of the profile of the third user.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the profile of the fourth user from the plurality of user profiles comprises identifying commonality between the profile of the fourth user and the profile of the third user.
4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:
determining a readability score associated with the profile of the third user;
determining a readability score associated with the profile of the fourth user; and
wherein identifying commonality between the profile of the fourth user and the profile of the third user comprises comparing the readability score associated with the profile of the third user to the readability score associated with the profile of the fourth user.
5. The method of claim 3, wherein identifying commonality between the profile of the fourth user and the profile of the third user comprises comparing fate characteristics of the profile of the third user to fate characteristics of the profile of the fourth user.
6. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, are configured to:
receive a plurality of user profiles, each user profile comprising traits of a respective user;
receive a request requesting matches from a first user, the first user associated with a first user profile;
determine a first set of results in response to receiving the request for matches, the first set of results comprising one or more of the plurality of user profiles;
receive, from a second user, activity associated with a profile of a third user, the second user and the third user different than the first user;
determine a rating of the profile of the third user based on a number of times the profile of the third user was selected by users other than the first user;
identify a profile of a fourth user from the plurality of user profiles in response to receiving the activity from the second user associated with the profile of the third user, the profile of the fourth user not in the first set of results;
determine a rating of the profile of the fourth user based on a number of times the profile of the fourth user was selected by users other than the first user;
compare the rating of the profile of the third user with the rating of the profile of the fourth user;
determine a difference between a preference associated with the first user and a characteristic included in the profile of the fourth user;
reduce an impact of the difference between the preference associated with the first user and the characteristic included in the profile of the fourth user;
add the profile of the fourth user to the first set of results in response to comparing the rating of the profile of the third user with the rating of the profile of the fourth user and in response to reducing the impact of the difference between the preference associated with the first user and the characteristic included in the profile of the fourth user; and
provide to the first user the profile of the fourth user to the first user.
7. The medium of claim 6, wherein the instructions configured to receive, from the second user, activity associated with the profile of the third user comprise instructions configured to receive, from the second user, a recommendation of the profile of the third user.
8. The medium of claim 6, wherein the instructions configured to identify the profile of the fourth user from the plurality of user profiles comprise instructions configured to identify commonality between the profile of the fourth user and the profile of the third user.
9. The medium of claim 8, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, are further configured to:
determine a readability score associated with the profile of the third user;
determine a readability score associated with the profile of the fourth user; and
wherein the instructions configured to identify commonality between the profile of the fourth user and the profile of the third user comprise instructions configured to compare the readability score associated with the profile of the third user to the readability score associated with the profile of the fourth user.
10. The medium of claim 8, wherein the instructions configured to identify commonality between the profile of the fourth user and the profile of the third user comprise instructions configured to compare fate characteristics of the profile of the third user to fate characteristics of the profile of the fourth user.
11. A system for profile matching, comprising:
an interface operable to:
receive a plurality of user profiles, each user profile comprising traits of a respective user;
receive a request requesting matches, the request associated with a first user;
receive, from a second user, activity associated with a profile of a third user, the second user different than the first user; and

a processor coupled to the interface and operable to:
determine a first set of results in response to receiving the request, the first set of results comprising one or more of the plurality of user profiles;
determine a rating of the profile of the third user based on a number of times the profile of the third user was selected by users other than the first user;
identify a profile of a fourth user from the plurality of user profiles in response to receiving the activity from the second user associated with the profile of the third user, the profile of the fourth user not in the first set of results;
determine a rating of the profile of the fourth user based on a number of times the profile of the fourth user was selected by users other than the first user;
compare the rating of the profile of the third user with the rating of the profile of the fourth user;
determine a difference between a preference associated with the first user and a characteristic included in the profile of the fourth user;
reduce an impact of the difference between the preference associated with the first user and the characteristic included in the profile of the fourth user;
add the profile of the fourth user to the first set of results in response to comparing the rating of the profile of the third user with the rating of the profile of the fourth user and in response to reducing the impact of the difference between the preference associated with the first user and the characteristic included in the profile of the fourth user; and

the interface further operable to provide the profile of the fourth user to the first user.
12. The system of claim 11, wherein the interface is operable to receive, from the second user, activity associated with the profile of the third user by receiving from the second user a recommendation of the profile of the third user.
13. The system of claim 11, wherein the processor is operable to identify the profile of the fourth user from the plurality of user profiles by identifying commonality between the profile of the fourth user and the profile of the third user.
14. The system of claim 13, wherein the processor is further operable to:
determine a readability score associated with the profile of the third user;
determine a readability score associated with the profile of the fourth user; and
wherein the processor is operable to identify commonality between the profile of the fourth user and the profile of the third user by comparing the readability score associated with the profile of the third user to the readability score associated with the profile of the fourth user.
15. The system of claim 13, wherein the processor is operable to identify commonality between the profile of the fourth user and the profile of the third user by comparing fate characteristics of the profile of the third user to fate characteristics of the profile of the fourth user.