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For the last few months, I have been acting as Developer Advocate for the OVH Managed Kubernetes beta, following our beta testers, getting feedback, writing docs and tutorials, and generally helping to make sure the product matches our users' needs as closely as possible.
In the next few posts, I am going to tell you some stories about this beta phase. We'll be taking a look at feedback from some of our beta testers, technical insights, and some fun anecdotes about the development of this new service.
Today, we'll start with one of the most frequent questions I got during the early days of the beta: How do I route external traffic into my Kubernetes service? The question came up a lot as our customers began to explore Kubernetes, and when I tried to answer it, I realised that part of the problem was the sheer number of possible answers, and the concepts needed to understand them.
Related to that question was a feature request: most users wanted a load balancing tool. As the beta phase is all about confirming the stability of the product and validating the feature set prioritisation, we were able to quickly confirm
LoadBalanceras a key feature of our first commercial release.
To try to better answer the external traffic question, and to make the adoption of
LoadBalancereasier, we wrote a tutorial and added some drawings, which got nice feedback. This helped people to understand the concept underlaying the routing of external traffic on Kubernetes.
This blog post is an expanded version of this tutorial. We hope that you will find it useful!
Some concepts:
Ingress and
When you begin to use Kubernetes for real-world applications, one of the first questions to ask is how to get external traffic into your cluster. The official documentation offers a comprehensive (but rather dry) explanation of this topic, but here we are going to explain it in a more practical, need-to-know way.
There are several ways to route external traffic into your cluster:
Using Kubernetes proxy and
ClusterIP: The default Kubernetes
ClusterIp, which exposes the
Serviceon a cluster-internal IP. To reach the
ClusterIpfrom an external source, you can open a Kubernetes proxy between the external source and the cluster. This is usually only used for development.
Exposing services as
NodePort: Declaring a
NodePortexposes it on each Node's IP at a static port (referred to as the
NodePort). You can then access the
Servicefrom outside the cluster by requesting
<NodeIp>:<NodePort>. This can also be used for production, albeit with some limitations.
Exposing services as
LoadBalancer: Declaring a
LoadBalancerexposes it externally, using a cloud provider's load balancer solution. The cloud provider will provision a load balancer for the
Service, and map it to its automatically assigned
NodePort. This is the most widely used method in production environments.
Using Kubernetes proxy and
The default Kubernetes
ServiceType is
ClusterIp, which exposes the
Service on a cluster-internal IP. To reach the
ClusterIp from an external computer, you can open a Kubernetes proxy between the external computer and the cluster.
You can use
kubectl to create such a proxy. When the proxy is up, you're directly connected to the cluster, and you can use the internal IP (ClusterIp) for that
This method isn't suitable for a production environment, but it's useful for development, debugging, and other quick-and-dirty operations.
Exposing services as
Declaring a service as
NodePort exposes the
Service on each Node's IP at the
NodePort (a fixed port for that
Service, in the default range of 30000-32767). You can then access the
Service from outside the cluster by requesting
<NodeIp>:<NodePort>. Every service you deploy as
NodePort will be exposed in its own port, on every Node.
It's rather cumbersome to use
Servicesthat are in production. As you are using non-standard ports, you often need to set-up an external load balancer that listens to the standard ports and redirects the traffic to the
Exposing services as
Declaring a service of type
LoadBalancer exposes it externally using a cloud provider's load balancer. The cloud provider will provision a load balancer for the
Service, and map it to its automatically assigned
NodePort. How the traffic from that external load balancer is routed to the
Service pods depends on the cluster provider.
LoadBalancer is the best option for a production environment, with two caveats:
- Every
Servicethat you deploy as
LoadBalancerwill get it's own IP.
- The
LoadBalanceris usually billed based on the number of exposed services, which can be expensive.
We are currently offering the OVH Managed Kubernetes LoadBalancer service as a free preview, until the end of summer 2019.
What about
According to the official documentation, an
Ingress is an API object that manages external access to the services in a cluster (typically HTTP). So what's the difference between this and
LoadBalancer or
Ingress isn't a type of
Service, but rather an object that acts as a reverse proxy and single entry-point to your cluster that routes the request to different services. The most basic
Ingress is the NGINX Ingress Controller, where the NGINX takes on the role of reverse proxy, while also functioning as SSL.
Ingress is exposed to the outside of the cluster via
ClusterIP and Kubernetes proxy,
NodePort, or
LoadBalancer, and routes incoming traffic according to the configured rules.
The main advantage of using an
Ingress behind a
LoadBalancer is the cost: you can have lots of services behind a single
Which one should I use?
Well, that's the one million dollar question, and one which will probably elicit a different response depending on who you ask!
You could go 100%
LoadBalancer, getting an individual
LoadBalancer for each service. Conceptually, it's simple: every service is independent, with no extra configuration needed. The downside is the price (you will be paying for one
LoadBalancer per service), and also the difficulty of managing lots of different IPs.
You could also use only one
LoadBalancer and an
Ingress behind it. All your services would be under the same IP, each one in a different path. It's a cheaper approach, as you only pay for one
LoadBalancer, but if your services don't have a logical relationship, it can quickly become chaotic.
If you want my personal opinion, I would try to use a combination of the two…
An approach I like is having a
LoadBalancer for every related set of services, and then routing to those services using an
Ingressbehind the
LoadBalancer. For example, let's say you have two different microservice-based APIs, each one with around 10 services. I would put one
LoadBalancer in front of one
Ingress for each API, the
LoadBalancerbeing the single public entry-point, and the
Ingress routing traffic to the API's different services.
But if your architecture is quite complex (especially if you're using microservices), you will soon find that manually managing everything with
LoadBalancer and
Ingress is rather cumbersome. If that's the case, the answer could be to delegate those tasks to a service mesh…
What's a service mesh?
You may have heard of Istio or Linkerd, and how they make it easier to build microservice architectures on Kubernetes, adding nifty perks like A/B testing, canary releases, rate limiting, access control, and end-to-end authentication.
Istio, Linkerd, and similar tools are service meshes, which allow you to build networks of microservices and define their interactions, while simultaneously adding some high-value features that make the setup and operation of microservice-based architectures easier.
There's a lot to talk about when it comes to using service meshes on Kubernetes, but as they say, that's a story for another time…
Developer Evangelist at OVH, Spaniard lost in Brittany, speaker, coder, dreamer and all-around geek.His job is all around the technical communities: developers, devops, ops... He writes blog posts, prepares tutorials, organizes events, speaks at conferences and meetups...


text:
Cryosurgical instrument
A cryosurgical instrument having a purge cycle of indeterminate duration, separate and apart from its cooling and warming modes, which can be conducted with a refrigerant consisting of a low pressure unsaturated or saturated gas. During the purge cycle, the pressure of the refrigerant gas is regulated to a level below that which is required to effect a Joule-Thomson expansion of the gas upon its entrance into an expansion chamber adjacent the tip of the instrument while simultaneously exhausting the effluent to the atmosphere through an exhaust valve actuated by a footswitch.
Latest Cryomedics, Inc. Patents:
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to surgical apparatus, and more particularly, to an improved cryosurgical instrument.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Surgical techniques have been developed for necrosing, adhering and removing or coagulating defective or diseased body tissue by reducing the temperature of the tissue to relatively low values. Various cryosurgical instruments are known for aiding the medical practitioner in this form of treatment. Generally, these instruments include a probe tip which is initially placed in contact with the tissue to be treated and which is then cooled. The cooled probe tip is normally maintained in contact with the treated tissue for a short interval of time. The low temperature required for treatment must be attained rapidly after the probe tip contacts the tissue so that the tissue freezing is localized and the patient is not subjected to prolonged cold treatment. Additionally, it has been found that in certain treatment techniques, the body tissue undesirably adheres to a cooled treatment probe at these low temperatures and it is therefore necessary to provide means for rapidly warming the treatment probe in order to facilitate removal of the probe from the body tissue.
In a known form of cryosurgical instrument, a refrigerant gas under pressure is expanded into a chamber through a flow restriction thus producing a cooling effect commonly known as the Joule-Thomson effect. The probe tip, which is formed by an outer surface of the chamber, is thereby rapidly cooled. The instrument also incorporates means for effecting rapid warming of the probe tip in order to facilitate removal of the probe from the body tissue.
Various arrangements have been employed for cooling and for warming the probe tip. In one arrangement, the flow of a refrigerant gas to the expansion chamber is controlled by a valve located upstream from the chamber. Effluent gas from the chamber is exhausted to atmosphere. Cooling of the probe tip is accomplished by actuating the valve for enabling the flow of refrigerant gas to the expansion chamber and then to atmosphere. Warming of the probe tip is accomplished by interrupting the flow of gas to the expansion chamber and heating the probe tip by electrical means including a coil heater positioned in the probe tip.
In another cryosurgical instrument, probe tip cooling is provided by unseating a flow valve element located downstream of the expansion chamber and simultaneously forming a flow restriction at the chamber inlet by contacting an orifice seat with a moveable conduit. A refrigerant fluid then flows from a source, through the orifice and exhausts through the unseated downstream valve. Warming of the probe tip is accomplished by seating the downstream valve element and simultaneously separating the moveable conduit from the orifice seat thus permitting refrigerant fluid at ambient temperatures to flood the expansion chamber. Upon commencement of the cooling cycle, the instrument is purged of contaminants, such as dirt, ice particles and air bubbles. As the moveable conduit moves towards the orifice seat, refrigerant fluid flows from the source through the orifice momentarily before the conduit is seated on the orifice seat to form the flow restriction necessary to accomplish a Joule-Thomson expansion. This minute amount of unexpanded fluid is used to purge or flush the system of contaminant particles.
However, these arrangements as well as other various cryosurgical instrument arrangements are relatively complex and costly. At times they are relatively difficult for a medical practitioner to handle and do not provide him with the degree of manipulative facility necessary in a medical procedure where the practitioner must devote his close attention to the progress of the procedure. In addition, these known instruments do not provide a sufficient system for purging the instrument of contaminants, which may clog the flow restriction necessary for Joule-Thomson cooling, thereby rendering the instrument inoperative. This is particularly true when ice particles form in the flow restriction due to the rapid expansion of the refrigerant fluid.
In my prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,696,813, issued Oct. 10, 1972 to the same assignee as the present invention, I disclosed an improved cryogenic instrument utilizing the Joule-Thomson expansion principle for cooling the tip of the instrument which is placed in heat exchange relation with an expansion chamber. A quick acting two-way valve independent of and upstream from the expansion chamber is opened during cooling of the tip to exhaust the effluent refrigerating gas to the atmosphere, but upon closing causes interruption of the effluent gas flow to the atmosphere thereby trapping the refrigerant gas in the instrument at ambient temperature since the back pressure prevents further expansion of the incoming gas. This relatively large mass of high pressure gas at ambient temperature rapidly warms the tip thereby rapidly defrosting it.SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The apparatus of this invention incorporates the discoveries and principles of construction used in my prior cryosurgical instrument disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,696,813, with the additional improvement of a separate, safe purge cycle for flushing contaminants from the apparatus to prevent clogging of the instrument. As distinguished from the prior art, the purge of the instrument can be of indeterminate duration, separate and apart from its cooling and defrost, and can be conducted with a low pressure fluid.
These objectives are achieved by regulating the pressure of the refrigerant fluid to a level below that required to effect a Joule-Thomson expansion of said fluid prior to its entrance into the expansion chamber of the instrument and simultaneously exhausting the fluid to the atmosphere through an exhaust valve actuated by a footswitch. The low-pressure, ambient temperature gas will flow through the system as long as the footswitch is depressed to carry away with it any unwanted contaminants, such as dirt particles and air bubbles, and is of a temperature to melt or defrost any condensed ice particles formed adjacent the Joule-Thomson flow restriction. To accomplish cooling, the regulated gas is removed from the operational portion of the system circuit and a high-pressure refrigerant gas is supplied to the expansion chamber through a flow restriction or its Joule-Thomson equivalent, while the footswitch remains depressed to keep the exhaust valve open to exhaust the effluent to the atmosphere. Release of the footswitch closes the exhaust valve trapping the effluent gas in the system to cause defrost or warming of the instrument.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following description and claims, and from the accompanying drawings, wherein:BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view of the various components of the cryosurgical instrument of the present invention and illustrating the operation of the instrument in its stand-by condition to effect a purge cycle;
FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 illustrating the operation of the instrument in its purge mode;
FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 1 illustrating the operation of the instrument in its stand-by condition to effect a cooling cycle or in its warming or defrost mode;
FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 1 illustrating the operation of the instrument in its cooling mode;
FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 1 illustrating the manner of shutting down the instrument;
FIG. 6 is a legend defining the various flow pressures of the refrigerant flowing through the instrument in FIGS. 1 to 5;
FIG. 7 is an expanded view of a portion of the instrument diagrammatically illustrated in FIG. 1, including a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a typical opthalmic probe component;
FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 7, but illustrating a modified form of probe; and
FIG. 9 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the pressure relief valve component of the instrument diagrammatically illustrated in FIG. 1; and
FIG. 10 is a view similar to FIG. 3, but illustrating an alternative stand-by condition to effect a cooling cycle.DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring now to the drawings in detail, wherein like numerals indicate like elements throughout the several views, the component parts of the cryosurgical instrument comprising the subject of the present invention are illustrated diagrammatically in FIG. 1.
The cryosurgical instrument 20 includes an ophthalmic probe 22. Probe 22 includes a tip 24 of high thermal conductivity material, such as silver, which when cooled, can be used for the extraction of cataractous lenses of the eye. In this operation, the lens is removed from the eye by means of the refrigerated probe tip 22 which is applied to the surface of the lens, to adhere it to the tip. The ice ball which is thereby formed within the fluid and tissue of the lens permits the force exerted by the surgeon's hand to be spread over a wide area, permitting adhesion and withdrawal of the lens by the tip with greatly reduced chances of rupture. Other tip configurations can be employed without departing from the scope of the invention, such as a tip for "welding" or coagulating a detached retina, or even a probe attached to a pistol grip device as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,696,813, which is used for tissue necrosis.
In any event, each probe includes an expansion chamber adjacent the probe tip and means for conveying a gaseous or two-phase liquid-gas or saturated gas refrigerant from a source to the expansion chamber. The means includes a stationary body defining a flow restriction through which the gas is introduced into the chamber to effect a Joule-Thomson expansion of the gas to cool the chamber. The flow restriction may take many forms, such as an orifice, a porous plug, a throttle valve, or a capillary tube, so long as there is a large drop in pressure as the gas passes through the flow restriction into the expansion chamber to produce a drop in temperature of the gas under isenthalpic conditions.
If a two-phase refrigerant is supplied to the expansion chamber, e.g., a saturated gas having a liquid and gaseous phase which are intermixed, the refrigerant will flow into said expansion chamber and expand the gaseous phase into the chamber providing a Joule-Thomson refrigeration effect and additional cooling of the chamber is accomplished by the evaporation of the liquid phase therein. A saturated gas exhibits a high thermal conductivity relative to unsaturated gas and is therefore preferred as an efficient heat transfer medium for removing heat from the chamber. Exemplary gases for use in the instrument comprise carbon dioxide (CO.sub.2) and nitrous oxide (N.sub.2 O).
The other components of the instrument 20 include a refrigerant gas supply 26, an adjustable pressure regulator 28, a cross 30 with a pressure relief valve extension 31, a fixed pressure regulator 32, a footswitch 34, a valve and actuator 36, a manually operable valve 38, a pressure gauge 40, a probe inlet hose connector fitting 42 and a probe outlet hose connector fitting 44. Hoses are not shown in the diagrammatic views, but it will be understood that appropriate hose conduits are provided between the various components of instrument 20 to conduct the flow of refrigerant gas as depicted in FIGS. 1 to 5.
In accordance with the principles of this invention, the operation of the instrument 20 is initiated by turning on the gas supply cylinder 26. Gas from the cylinder 26, which is typically under 760 to 840 p.s.i. at 70.degree. F. depending on the refrigerant used, has its cylinder pressure regulated by pressure regulator 28 (as shown in FIG. 1) to 480 - 620 p.s.i. for safety reasons. A typical regulator 28 which can be used in the system is manufactured by the Veriflo Corporation of Richmond, California, Series No. IR403.
The regulated gas flows to the inlet 33 of cross 30 and pressure relief valve extension 31 will open and relieve the system if the system pressure at inlet 33 is above 675 p.s.i. If not, the regulated gas flows through outlet 35 of cross 30 into an inlet 46 of valve 38 and temporarily stops as the outlet 48 is not in communication with inlet 46 when the manual control is placed in the OFF position, as illustrated in FIG. 1. Simultaneously, another leg of the regulated gas flows through a second outlet 37 of cross 30 to the inlet 50 of fixed pressure regulator 32, is regulated by having its pressure reduced to 100 p.s.i., and travels from outlet 52 of regulator 32 to inlet 54 of the footswitch 34, which is closed in the position illustrated in FIG. 1 to prevent communication between the inlet 54 and its outlet 56 so that the gas also temporarily stops at this point. As no gas flows through pressure gauge 40, it reads 0 p.s.i. The instrument 20 is now in a stand-by condition to be purged and this state is fully illustrated in FIG. 1.
Pressure regulators 28 and 32, as well as cross 30 and valve 38, pressure gauge 40, valve and actuator 36, and footswitch 34 are standard hardware items and per se, form no part of the present invention. Pressure regulator 32 is manufactured by C. A. Norgren Co. of Littleton, Colorado, Model No. R37-100-N100A, while valve 30 is sold by the Lindco Co. of Worester, Massachusetts, under the trademark CIRCLE SEAL, valve 38 is sold under the trademark WHITEY by the Norwalk Valve Co. of Shelton, Connecticut, valve and actuator 36 is sold under the trademark CLIPPARD by Knox, Inc. of Bridgeport, Connecticut, pressure gauge 40 is manufactured by U.S. Gauge Co. of Somersville, Pennsylvania and sold under the trademark AMETEK, and footswitch 34 is manufactured by Linemaster Co. of Woodstock, Connecticut.
Pressure relief valve extension 31 is shown in detail in FIG. 9. Valve extension 31 included a pipe nipple 150 which is threaded onto the housing of cross 30 so that communication is established between inlet 33 of cross 30 and normally closed inlet orifice 152 in pipe nipple 150. Inlet orifice 152 is normally closed by a valve element 154 fixed to a seal 156 which is urged by a coil spring 158 in valve housing 160 into seated engagement with valve seat 162 at the distal end of inlet orifice 152. Coil spring 158 is calibrated to hold seal 156 against valve seat 162, and consequently valve element 154 in blocking relation closing orifice 152, until the pressure exerted against it exceeds 675 p.s.i. Should this occur, gas will flow past seal 156 into valve housing 160 and be expelled to the atmosphere through outlet port 164 in the valve housing.
In order to purge the instrument of contaminants such as residual moisture or dirt, the 100 p.s.i. refrigerant gas is circulated through probe 22, as shown in FIG. 2 by stepping on and depressing stem 39 of footswitch 34. This establishes communication between inlet 54 and outlet 56 of footswitch 34 and 100 p.s.i. regulated gas flows from the outlet 56 to the inlet 58 of valve and actuator 36. The presence of gas within valve and actuator 36 causes an exhaust port 60 to open, while the regulated gas exits through outlet 62 in valve and actuator 36 and is fed through a second inlet port 64 to valve 38. When manual valve 38 is in its OFF position, inlet 64 is in communication with outlet 48 and the regulated gas is then free to pass through pressure gauge 40, coupling 42, probe 22, coupling 44, a second inlet 66 in valve and actuator 36 and exhaust to the atmosphere through an exhaust port 60. The circulation of the regulated gas through probe 22 provides a flushing action which will remove any contaminants from the probe and its attendant conduits. Since the gas is at 100 p.s.i., there is an insufficient pressure differential created across the flow restriction in probe 22 for the gas to provide sufficient cooling of tip 24 due to a Joule-Thomson expansion. The purge mode is fully illustrated in FIG. 2 and can be of any duration as long as valve 38 is in the OFF position, and footswitch 34 is depressed. During this cycle, gauge 40 will read 100 p.s.i. Release of footswitch stem 39 returns the instrument to its stand-by to purge mode illustrated in FIG. 1.
In order to prepare the instrument 20 to effect cooling of tip 24 of probe 22, it is only necessary to manually place valve 38 in its ON position, as illustrated in FIG. 3. This will establish communication between inlet 46 and outlet 48 to permit the high pressure gas at 480 - 620 p.s.i. to flow through valve 38, pressure gauge 40, coupling 42, probe 22, coupling 44 and into inlet 66 of valve and actuator 36. Since exhaust port 60 is closed because footswitch stem 39 has not been depressed, gas pressure will build up upstream from the expansion chamber in probe 22 so that any Joule-Thomson expansion through the flow restriction in probe 22 is neutralized, precluding a temperature drop of the gas within the expansion chamber so that it remains at substantially ambient temperature. However, pressure gauge 40 will read 480 - 620 p.s.i., and this condition of the instrument is fully illustrated in FIG. 3.
In order to effect cooling of tip 24 of probe 22, the surgeon need only depress the footswitch stem 39, as illustrated in FIG. 4. This will allow the low pressure 100 p.s.i. regulated gas to flow through the footswitch to the actuator and valve 36, opening exhaust port 60. The low pressure gas flows from outlet 62 of actuator and valve 36 to the inlet 64 of valve 38. Since valve 38 is on ON, however, the flow of the low pressure gas stops at this point in the system. But, the high pressure gas will continue to flow through valve 38 through probe 22, and can now exhaust to the atmosphere through exhaust port 60. This will relieve the back pressure downstream from the flow restriction in probe 22 and permit a Joule-Thomson expansion to progress. The cooled gas in the expansion chamber adjacent tip 24 will cool it by heat-exchange therewith. Freezing at tip 24 will continue as long as footswitch 34 is depressed and pressure gauge 40 will continue to read 480 - 620 p.s.i.
In order to warm the tip 24 and cause it to defrost, it is only necessary to release footswitch stem 39 to return the instrument to its mode illustrated in FIG. 3, wherein the supply of low pressure gas to the actuator and valve 36 is cut-off so exhaust port 60 is closed. The accumulated back pressure upstream from the expansion chamber in the probe 22 will preclude further Joule-Thomson expansion and the instrument will be filled with high pressure gas at ambient temperature. Heat transfer between this gas and the tip 24 of probe 22 will rapidly defrost the tip.
Shut down of the instrument is illustrated in FIG. 5. With the operation finished, and footswitch 34 released, valve 38 is returned to the OFF position, which positions outlet 48 in communication with inlet 64 in valve 38. In this condition, instrument 20 has been returned to the stand-by to freeze mode illustrated in FIG. 3. This releases the gas pressure in the probe and most of the system. Probe 22 can now be disconnected from the supply 26 and any residual expanded gas within the system can be exhausted to the atmosphere as shown in FIG. 5 by the dot-dash lines. Exhaust pot 60 in actuator and valve 36 is opened by the residual pressure in probe 22 to exhaust the residual upstream gas to the atmosphere, while the downstream residual gas reverses its flow path and is exhausted through footswitch 34 via valve 38 and valve 36.
Details of a typical probe construction 22a used in cryosurgical instrument 20 and particularly useful for removal of cataractous eye lenses, are shown in FIG. 7. Probe 22a includes an elongated tubular body 70 forming a convenient gripping handle for the surgeon. Body 70 is rigidified adjacent its forward end by a tubular nose portion 72 of expanded thickness. An exhaust tube assembly 74 is positioned and fixed within the tubular nose portion 72 and includes an exhaust tube 76 coaxial with and concentric to a flow restriction comprising a capillary tube 78. The forward end of the exhaust tube terminates in a tip 24a of high thermal conductive material, such as silver. Capillary tube 78 terminates at its forward end in spaced relation to tip 24a to form a Joule-Thomson expansion chamber 80.
At its distal end, exhaust tube 76 has a tubular extension 82, which is fixed to a standard tube fitting 84, which connects exhaust tube extension 82 to an exhaust conduit 86. Communication between exhaust tube extension 82 and exhaust conduit 86 is provided via an opening 88 in the central portion of tube fitting 84.
At its distal end, capillary tube 78 is fixed to a tube 90 which in turn is locked in place within a second, standard tube fitting 92, which also holds the forward end of a refrigerant gas inlet conduit 94. Communication between capillary tube 78 and inlet conduit 94 is provided via an opening 96 in the central portion of tube fitting 92. A retaining collar 98 locks a protective sheath 100 for the inlet conduit 94 and exhaust conduit 86 to probe 22a.
The inlet conduit 94 and exhaust conduit 86 project beyond the end of protective sheath 100 and are split apart in a shrink tube or connector 102 and the exhaust and inlet conduits are enclosed in a sheath 104 and 106, respectively, which in turn are attached to connector fittings 44a and 42a, respectively, whose function has been disclosed in connection with FIGS. 1 to 5.
In operation, high or low pressure gas, depending upon which mode of operation the instrument is in, is supplied to the probe 22a through inlet conduit 94. Direction of flow of the gas is indicated by the arrows in FIG. 7. The gas passes through opening 96 in tube fitting 92, enters tube 90 and capillary tube 78 which passes through tube fitting 84. The gas is discharged through the end of the capillary tube 78 into the expansion chamber 80, wherein if exhaust port 60 of valve 36 is open and the gas is at a high pressure of between 480 and 620 p.s.i., it will undergo a Joule-Thomson expansion in chamber 80, cooling tip 24a. The effluent gas passes through exhaust tube 76 in concentric relation to capillary tube 78, through exhaust tube extension 82, opening 88 in tube fitting 84 into exhaust conduit 86 from which it is vented to the atmosphere. Upon closing of exhaust port 60, the gas pressure in the exhaust conduit 86 and the exhaust tube 76 will build up, precluding a substantial drop in pressure of the gas entering the expansion chamber 80 through capillary tube 78. As the gas entering chamber 80 is at ambient temperature, it will defrost the tip 24a through heat exchange with the tip. With low pressure, i.e., 100 p.s.i. gas flowing through capillary tube 78, no Joule-Thomson expansion occurs in chamber 80, and the effluent passes to the atmosphere as described above. However, such gas will purge the component parts of probe 22a, as well as the inlet and exhaust conduits of any foreign matter which may tend to clog expansion chamber 80. Any residual ice particles in capillary tube 78 or the exhaust tube 76 will also melt.
By pre-cooling the saturated refrigerant gas which is flowing through the capillary tube 78, there is provided both a vapor and a liquid phase refrigerant. The vapor phase expands in accordance with the Joule-Thomson effect and provides a refrigerating effect thereby cooling the tip 24a. In cooperation with this cooling effect, the liquid phase which can be provided by pre-cooling is sprayed into the expansion chamber 80 and absorbs a quantity of heat over a period of time equivalent to its latent heat of vaporization. It has been found that the combined cooling established by this combination of Joule-Thomson effect and the latent heat of vaporization rapidly lowers the temperature of the probe 22a and provides very rapid cooling of the tip 24a.
It will also be understood that probe 22a can operate with a saturated gas having both an intermixed liquid and gaseous phase. Both phases will enter expansion chamber 80 through capillary tube 78. The liquid phase refrigerant remains within the expansion chamber for a short interval of time during which time it absorbs latent heat of vaporixation. Thus, a double cooling action is provided which is highly desirable.
The construction of probe 22a does provide for this pre-cooling effect during the cooling mode, since the cold effluent gas is passed into heat exchange relation with the capillary tube 78 by virtue of the exhaust tube 76 surrounding the capillary tube in concentric relation.
However, in some types of ophthalmic surgical procedures, the pre-cooling effect accomplished by probe construction 22a can be detrimental, particularly where the forward portion 110 of the exhaust tube 76 attached to tip 24a must contact a portion of the eye as well as tip 24a. Because of the cold effluent gas passing on the outside of capillary tube 78, the forward portion 110 of exhaust tube 76 will be cooled as well as tip 24a and this may be detrimental to the surgical technique if portion 110 freezes adjacent tissue when the probe is passed into the eye. In order to prevent such an occurrence, probe 22b as illustrated in FIG. 8 may be used with cryosurgical instrument 20.
Probe 22b is similar in construction to probe 22a except for the inlet and exhaust tube assemblies. In probe 22b inlet conduit 112 passes through a tube fitting 114 and delivers the gaseous refrigerant to an inlet tube 116, having one end held fixed by tube fitting 114. Inlet tube 116 includes a forwardly projecting extension 118 terminating in a tip 24b, particularly useful for retinal coagulation. An exhaust tube 120 is positioned within and concentric to inlet tube extension 118. Exhaust tube 120 has an extension 122 which is coupled by tube fitting 114 to an exhaust conduit 124. The extreme forward end 126 of exhaust tube 120 is enlarged in diameter so as to form a Joule-Thomson flow restriction by providing an annular space or orifice 128 between forward end 126 of exhaust tube 120 and inlet tube 116. Orifice 128 terminates in an expansion chamber 130 in heat exchange relation with tip 24b.
In probe construction 22b, incoming high pressure ambient refrigerant gas will traverse the annular space between inlet tube 118 and exhaust tube 120 and expand through the annular space at flow restriction 128 into expansion chamber 130 to cool tip 24b. The effluent will leave through the interior exhaust tube 118 to the atmosphere. Because of this arrangement, the colder effluent gas is not placed in heat exchange relation with inlet tube 118, but rather the incoming ambient gas serves to insulate the tube surface to preclude cooling thereof. In all other respects, operation operation of probe 22b is identical to probe 22a.
It has also been found that the capillary tube 78 in probe 22a or one of the conduits in probe 22b may become plugged with ice crystals caused by condensed refrigerant vapor, if either probe is left in its stand-by to freeze or defrost mode for an extended period of time. This time has been found to be in excess of 3 to 10 minutes, depending on the type of the probe.
In order to avoid this problem an alternative stand-by to freeze or defrost cycle as illustrated in FIG. 10 can be utilized in the operation of the instrument. In this embodiment of the invention, a bleed valve 170 is placed between the outlet of the probe 22 and the inlet 66 to exhaust port 60. Bleed valve 170 enables a continuous flow of high pressure gas to be bled from the probe 22 when exhaust port 60 is closed without impairing the freeze or defrost abilities of probe 22. The small amount of flow through valve 170, which can be of the standard needle type, can be on the order of 1.3 to 1.4 scfh at an input pressure of between 480 to 620 p.s.i. The bleeding of the high pressure gas precludes refrigerant vapor from being in contact with the components of the probe for too long a protracted period of time so as to prevent the vapor from condensing on the components to form ice crystals which can plug the components.
However, during the freeze or purge cycles of the instrument, the gas will take the path of least resistance, which is through exhaust port 60, thereby not effecting the freeze, defrost or purge modes of the instrument illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 5, inclusive.
1. A cryosurgical instrument comprising:
- means defining an expansion chamber, said means including
- a body formed of a high thermal conductivity material and having a surface thereof shaped for contacting body tissue and providing heat transfer with the tissue,
- refrigerant supply means for conveying a gaseous refrigerant under pressure from a source to said expansion chamber, said means including
- flow restriction means adjacent said chamber for providing an appropriate pressure differential as said pressurized gas passes therethrough to cause a Joule-Thomson expansion of said gas to cool said chamber,
- selectively operable pressure regulation means for reducing the pressure of said gaseous refrigerant below that required to effect said Joule-Thomson expansion of said gas prior to its entrance into said expansion chamber, and
- selectively operable exhaust means for conveying an effluent gas from said chamber to the atmosphere,
- whereby with said pressure regulation means in its inoperative mode and said exhaust means in its operative mode, said gas can expand into said chamber and exhaust to the atmosphere to effect rapid cooling of said chamber; with said pressure regulation means in its inoperative mode and said exhaust means in its inoperative mode,
- said gas flow to the atmosphere can be interrupted thereby effecting rapid warming of said chamber; and with said pressure regulation means in its operative mode and said exhaust means in its operative mode said gas will not undergo a Joule-Thomson expansion but will flow through and purge said refrigerant supply means, chamber, and exhaust means of contaminants.
2. A cryosurgical instrument in accordance with claim 1 wherein said exhaust means includes
- an exhaust valve, and
- an exhaust flow channel for said effluent gas in communication with said expansion chamber and said exhaust valve.
3. A cryosurgical instrument in accordance with claim 2 including means for selectively actuating said exhaust valve to open it to the atmosphere, said means including a foot-actuated gas switch.
4. A cryosurgical instrument in accordance with claim 1 wherein said flow restriction means includes a capillary tube.
5. A cryosurgical instrument in accordance with claim 1 wherein said refrigerant supply means includes valve means for providing a flow path for said pressurized gas to the atmosphere when the pressure within said instrument exceeds a predetermined safe pressure.
6. A cryosurgical instrument in accordance with claim 2 wherein said refrigerant supply means includes an elongated supply conduit means, said flow restriction means is positioned near a distal end of said supply conduit means, means are provided for supplying a gaseous refrigerant to an inlet end of said supply conduit means, said exhaust flow channel is formed by exhaust conduit means which is positioned with relation to said supply conduit means for forming an annular space therebetween, and said exhaust valve is coupled in a flow path between said exhaust conduit means and the atmosphere.
7. A cryosurgical instrument in accordance with claim 6 wherein at least a portion of said supply and exhaust conduit means are concentrically oriented, said supply conduit means being positioned inside said exhaust conduit means.
8. A cryosurgical instrument in accordance with claim 7 wherein said portion of said supply conduit means concentrically oriented with respect to said exhaust conduit means is a capillary tube.
9. A cryosurgical instrument in accordance with claim 6 wherein at least a portion of said supply and exhaust conduit means are concentrically oriented, said exhaust conduit means being positioned inside said supply conduit means.
10. A cryosurgical instrument in accordance with claim 1 wherein said flow restriction means is a stationary body.
11. In a method for cooling and warming an applicator head of a cryosurgical instrument in contact with body tissue which comprises the steps of:
- 1. conveying a gaseous refrigerant at substantially ambient temperature and relatively high pressure toward a stationary flow restriction means communicating with an expansion chamber in the head of the instrument;
- 2. introducing the refrigerant through said stationary flow restriction means into the expansion chamber, said chamber being in contact with the applicator head of said instrument, and effecting a Joule-Thomson expansion of said gaseous refrigerant thereby cooling said expansion chamber; and
- 3. conveying an effluent gas from said expansion chamber to the atmosphere during cooling of said chamber and then cutting off the flow of said effluent gas trapping a sufficient body of gaseous refrigerant at substantially ambient temperature within said instrument to effect rapid warming of said chamber, the improvement comprising:
4. purging said instrument of contaminants by reducing the pressure of said gaseous refrigerant prior to its entrance into said expansion chamber below that necessary to effect said Joule-Thomson expansion of said gas while,
- 5. conveying an effluent gas from said expansion chamber to the atmosphere.
12. A cryosurgical instrument in accordance with claim 1 including
- bleed valve means between said selectively operable exhaust means and said expansion chamber, said bleed valve means enabling a continuous bleed of effluent gas from said expansion chamber to atmosphere.
13. A cryosurgical instrument comprising:
- means defining an expansion chamber, said means including
- a body formed of a high thermal conductivity material and having a surface thereof shaped for contacting body tissue and providing heat transfer with the tissue,
- refrigerant supply means for conveying a gaseous refrigerant under pressure from a source to said expansion chamber, said means including
- flow restriction means adjacent said chamber for providing an appropriate pressure defferential as said pressurized gas passes therethrough to cause a Joule-Thomson expansion of said gas to cool said chamber,
- selectively operable exhaust means for conveying an effluent gas from said chamber to the atmosphere, and
- bleed valve means between said selectively operable exhaust means and expansion chamber, said bleed valve means enabling a continuous bleed of effluent gas from said expansion chamber to atmosphere.
|December 1970
|Reynolds et al.
|October 1971
|Crump et al.
|October 1972
|October 1975
|Ritson et al.
Type: Grant
Filed: Oct 9, 1975
Date of Patent: Apr 19, 1977
Assignee: Cryomedics, Inc. (Bridgeport, CT)
Inventor: Ronald M. Wallach (Norwalk, CT)
Primary Examiner: Channing L. Pace
Attorney: Barry Kramer
Application Number: 5/621,105
International Classification: A61B 1736;

subset: commoncrawl


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800-Mile-Wide Hot Anomaly Found Under Seafloor off Hawaii
Findings contradict long-held theory that a plume directly fuels Hawaii.
Hawaii's traditional birth story—that the volcanic islands were, and are, fueled by a hot-rock plume running directly to Earth's scorching core—could be toast, a new study hints.
(See pictures of a recent eruption Hawaii's Kilauea volcano.)
Scientists say they've found solid evidence of a giant mass of hot rock under the seafloor in the region. But it's not a plume running straight from the core to the surface—and it's hundreds of miles west of the nearest Hawaiian island.
Until now, the researchers say, good seismic data on the region has been scarce, so it was tough to question the traditional explanation: that a stream of hot rock directly from around Earth's core formed the 3,100-mile-long (5,000-kilometer-long) chain of islands and undersea mountains in the Pacific Ocean.
As Earth's crust slid over the plume, as if on a conveyor belt, the erupting seafloor built mounts, mountains, and islands out of layers of cooled lava over tens of millions of years—or so the conventional wisdom goes.
But after analyzing 20 years' worth of earthquake data, geophysicists say they've found an 800-mile-wide (1,300-kilometer-wide) region of hot rock in the Hawaiian region—but nothing beneath the Big Island of Hawaii. The island, the youngest in the chain, is traditionally thought to be above the purported plume.
Although the new evidence flies in the face of the giant-plume theory, "we can't rule out a narrow plume below the island, but the main source comes from a different place. It can't be linked directly below," said geophysicist Robert van der Hilst of MIT, co-author of the new study, led by his colleague Qin Cao and appearing online today in the journal Science.
(Related: "Hawaii's 'Gentle' Volcano More Dangerous Than Thought.")
Hawaii Plume Takes Deep Detour?
Volcano formation starts where Earth's mantle—the planet's thickest rock layer—meets the molten outer core, some 1,800 miles (2,900 kilometers) below the surface.
The outer core heats the mantle's bottom rocks into buoyant putty, which rises toward the crust, as if in a lava lamp. Within a few miles of the crust, the rock decompresses, melts, and often oozes—or erupts—out of the Earth's surface.
(See "New Magma Layer Found Deep in Earth's Mantle?")
A technique called seismic tomography uses the sounds of earthquakes rippling through the planet and bouncing around to detect such plumes, or hot spots. But this kind of data has been limited for Hawaii.
"It's been very difficult to image the mantle below Hawaii, simply because it's so far away from [large] seismic-sensor networks," van der Hilst said. Data suggesting a plume directly below the island is very limited and based on relatively narrow sampling by seismic waves, he said.
By contrast, Van der Hilst said, the new study analyzed two decades' worth of seismic data and extracted subtle but clear signals.
Those signals point to the giant anomaly, about 410 miles (660 kilometers) down: a relatively disklike segment of rock between 540 and 720 degrees Fahrenheit (300 and 400 degrees Celsius) hotter than its surroundings and between 370 miles (600 kilometers) and 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) west of the Big Island.
The team suspects the plume is pooling at the boundary between the upper and lower mantle, then snaking its way to the crust below the archipelago before rising to feed Hawaii's volcanic islands.
(Related: "Scientists to Drill Earth's Mantle, Retrieve First Sample?")
More evidence is needed before it's known for sure what's stoking the volatile island chain, but at the least, the new study "shows the process of how our planet loses heat is more complicated than we thought," van der Hilst said. It may also help explain how other Pacific seamounts came to be, he added.


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About CUNY+
CUNY+ is an online Catalog shared by all of the CUNY Colleges. The Center for Puerto Rican Studies Library has its holding on CUNY+ as well. These items include books, dissertations, finding aids and some films. Before using CUNY+, be sure to look at the guide below for suggested search methods. You do not have to be at Centro to conduct searches on CUNY+, you simply need to be using any device connected to the internet. Please be aware that unlike many other CUNY based institutions, the Centro Library does not circulate any of its materials and does not participate in an inter-library loan system.
CUNY+ also has a link to CUNY OneSearch that allows you to search the entire CUNY catalog, academic journals, periodicals, magazines, books and multimedia items CUNY wide. CUNY One plus is a useful resource to start your search on a specific topic or if you need obtain sources from library resources. CUNY OneSearch also gives you the ability to search through World Cat, to see what other library worldwide has the materials. CUNY OneSearch is available online from a CUNY campus or entering your library bar-code.
Using CUNY+ for Centro Materials
Once you are on the CUNY+ page, you can begin searching through the various catalogs within the CUNY system. To specifically search the Centro's catalog, select Centro at Hunter from the drop down menu on the right. This will ensure that your results will display items held at Centro. Search results will display a list of 20 items per page consisting of authors, titles and date. These items are typically arranged in chronological order with newer items placed at the top.
It is strongly suggested that you make a note of the call number of the item. This will allow the librarian to quickly locate the items you need. The call number can be viewed by clicking on the word Centro in the availability section of the list. Examples of call numbers are F128.9 .P85 S264 2010 or THESIS 2324.
For dissertations type the word 'thesis' and select the 'All Fields' in the search type.
Advanced Searching
The Command Search tab on the CUNY+ catalog, allows individuals to conduct Boolean searches. You can refine your search by language, material and record type and location, if you are interested in seeing whether another CUNY institution has the material in addition to Centro you do that by choosing "All CUNY Libraries" from the drop down menu.
Helpful Hints
• Avoid using one-word searches. Often using one word leads to retrieving many irrelevant results.
• When conducting a basic search, try to be as specific as possible by either using names or including words such as Puerto Rican or Puerto Rico.
• Be careful when using words such as and, or, not. These words may limit the amount of items retrieved. • Call numbers for dissertations only consist of a number.
• If you are interested in only retrieving dissertations, try including the word "thesis" in your search query. • Avoid using punctuation marks in a search query.
• CUNY+ does not allow for fuzzy searching, please be sure to spell author name or keywords properly.
• When relevant materials are found, click on the subject headings of the records to find related materials.


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Seen during the Spring/Summer 2015 Fashion Weeks, Dutch beauty Daphne Groeneveld impressed on the street with a unique but relaxed off-duty ensemble. Pairing a white blazer with a black crop top, Daphne completed her outfit with black skinny trousers, trainers and a green leather shoulder bag. Still wearing the dramatic smoky eye makeup from her previous catwalk appearance, Daphne's effortless and bold style choice stands out.
Home Streetstyle Model Street Style: Daphne Groeneveld's Crop Top
Model Street Style: Daphne Groeneveld's Crop Top
By tfrv 19.11.14
Subscribe to: Post Comments ( Atom )


text:
To help protect the public against the spread of COVID-19, Governor Mike DeWine and Ohio Department of Health Director Amy Acton, M.D., MPH, require employees follow the below guidelines, including a daily symptom assessment.
Required Guidelines
- Ensure minimum of 6 feet between people; if not possible, install barriers.
- Personnel should work from home when possible
- Employees must perform daily symptom assessment.*
- Require employers to stay home if symptomatic.
- Face coverings must be worn at all times while working.
- Require regular hand-washing.
- Reduce sharing of work materials.
- Limit travel as much as possible.
- Stagger arrival of all employees and guests.
- Post signage on health safety guidelines in common areas.
Learn more about how to keep you and your family safe on the following websites.
We want to keep you and your families safe, along with our community. If you have any questions, please contact Jamie at email@example.com.


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Away on holiday
on July 12, 2007 at 8:44 pm
Posted In: News
I will be on vacation for a month. Unfortunately I haven't enough buffer to tide over the time. This is partly due my spending so much time on my site instead of my comic. Rather than having no comics at all I have decided to spread wht buffer I have over July and August. this means there will be an update every other week.
Meanwhile here's a sneak peek of what is coming;)


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Fact Sheet: The Evolution of Community-Based Distribution of Family Planning in Kenya
fs-14-95.pdf — PDF document, 563 kB (576,978 bytes)
Year: 2014Abstract:
Family planning (FP) has been increasingly acknowledged for its health, economic and environmental benefits. However, about a quarter of married Kenyan women (mostly poor and residing in rural areas) would like to delay the next birth or stop childbearing altogether but are not using any form of contraception. Task-shifting specific services to trained volunteers (community health workers or CHWs) was initiated in Kenya in the early 1980s as a solution to the health workforce crisis and insufficient number of health facilities. The community-based distribution (CBD) program stalled in the late 1990s, affecting FP uptake, but was rejuvenated in the 2000s. The African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP) was awarded a small grant from the MEASURE Evaluation PRH project to evaluate these policy and program changes. To read the full report, see: http://www.measureevaluation.org/publications/wp-14-144


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If Free Condoms Can Stop AIDS, We'd Damn Well Like to Hear About It
For World AIDS Day, Escala Comunicacao e Marketing unveiled a self-standing billboard with AIDS spelled in yellow condoms. The client was the Health Secretariat of Rio Grande, Brazil.
Something like 500 condoms were distributed. All told, this promotional collage says more than 8000 pedestrians "interacted" with the poster.
We always get a little sketched-out about the word "interact." If only 500 condoms were available, how did thousands interact with the billboard? Did they lean against it? Take pictures of it? Yell at kids or beat up cops in front of it? Sell their freely-acquired yellow condoms to peers?
The world may never know.
Update: A representative for Escala explained that the condoms were replaced everytime AIDS vanished from the board. That's kind of poetic.
Topic: Cause, Good, Outdoor, Poster


text:
Although the hydration process gives off heat, this is more than compensated for by the heat absorbed during the initial decomposition of the salt into ions. In other words, the total process of dissolution--decomposition into ions plus hydration--absorbs heat. This can easily be demonstrated: pour some water into a glass and test its temperature with your finger. Add some salt, stir, and test it again. The temperature will have decreased.
The actual reason that the application of salt causes ice to melt is that a solution of water and dissolved salt has a lower freezing point than pure water. When added to ice, salt first dissolves in the film of liquid water that is always present on the surface, thereby lowering its freezing point below the ices temperature. Ice in contact with salty water therefore melts, creating more liquid water, which dissolves more salt, thereby causing more ice to melt, and so on. The higher the concentration of dissolved salt, the lower its overall freezing point. There is a limit, however, to the amount of salt that can be dissolved in water. Water containing a maximum amount of dissolved salt has a freezing point of about zero degrees Fahrenheit. Therefore, the application of salt will not melt the ice on a sidewalk if the temperature is below zero degrees F.
To understand why water containing dissolved salt has a lower freezing point than pure water, consider that when ice and water are in contact there is a dynamic exchange at the interface of the two phase states. Because of thermal vibrations in the ice, a large number of molecules per second become detached from its surface and enter into the water. During the same period of time, a large number of water molecules attach themselves to the surface of the ice and become part of the solid phase. At higher temperatures, the former rate is faster than the latter and the ice melts. At lower temperatures the reverse is true. At the freezing point the two rates are equal. If salt is dissolved in the water, the rate of detachment of the ice molecules is unaffected but the rate at which water molecules attach to the ice surface is decreased, mainly because the concentration of water molecules in the liquid (molecules per cubic centimeter) is lower. Hence, the melting point is lower.
John Margrave, a chemistry professor at Rice University, explains.
All icy surfaces in fact contain small puddles of water. Because salt is soluble in water, salt applied to such surfaces dissolves. Liquid water has what is known as a high dielectric constant, which allows the ions in the salt (positively charged sodium and negatively charged chlorine) to separate. These ions, in turn, react with water molecules and hydratethat is, form hydrated ions (charged ions joined to water molecules). This process gives off heat, because hydrates are more stable than the individual ions. That energy then melts microscopic parts of the ice surface. Thus a substantial amount of salt spread over a large surface can actually thaw the ice. In addition, if you drive over the ice in your automobile, the pressure helps force the salt into the ice and more of this hydration occurs.
The rock salt applied to icy roads in the winter is the same substance that comes out of your salt shaker. The only difference is the size. Rock salt is the material that has crystalized in larger pieces, whereas table salt has been ground up and pulverized to a more or less uniform size distribution. Calcium chloride is just as commonly used to melt ice on the streets as sodium chloride is. In fact, it's cheaper than sodium chloride. Companies manufacture large amounts of calcium chloride from brines and other natural materials that can be used for the same purpose.
Originally published on December 8, 2003.


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Forum | Staff Editorials
Constitutional Council: Rule in favor of students
Whenever campus politics make enough noise to catch the attention of the student body, it is usually cause for celebration. We tend to believe that Student Union recognizes this as well. So when that very government puts up obstacles when a student tries to change things, we can only react with dismay.
Over the past two weeks Trevor Mattea has sought signatures for nine proposed amendments to SU's constitution. Some of these amendments include allowing undergraduate students who are abroad to vote in elections and run for office and allowing the president to propose the general budget. Mattea has already collected well over the 900 signatures that are required to put these amendments on the ballot in the upcoming SU elections. But an anonymous grievance lodged against Mattea alleges that his methods of collecting these signatures violate constitution protocol. Should the majority of the five judges on the Constitutional Council rule against him on Tuesday, his proposal will be dead in the water.
The grievance submitted to the Council does not elaborate on the nature of Mattea's alleged infraction. Mattea said that Associate Justice Justin Taylor, a sophomore, wrote in an e-mail that the hearing will answer the question of when a signature on a petition to amend the Constitution is valid. Additionally, the hearing will determine if a petition proposing a body of Constitutional amendments signed by 15 percent of the constituency of Student Union must be voted on as one unit or if the amendments can be voted on separately.
These are legitimate questions so far as they go. As Americans we take some pride in the rigorous discourse that any change to our constitution entails. But we fear in this case, undue regard for procedure might strangle much needed reform.
The argument appears to be that since Mattea intends to try each measure independently, he should have sought signatures for each amendment. Or, conversely, that his amendments currently deserve only one referendum.
The student judges have the responsibility to ensure that Mattea's amendments see the light of day. But such an outcome is by no means promised. The court could very well decide to have Mattea's initiatives summarily rejected. An individual student trying to enact change of such magnitude within SU is unprecedented, and preventing these proposed changes from going on the ballot would create a dangerous precedent.
It would have been practically impossible for Mattea to have gathered the 8,100 signatures needed for his nine amendments. We can presume that a defeat for Mattea will discourage such bold attempts in the future. It therefore strikes us as oddly self-defeating that SU, a group long-plagued by the apathy of its community, might smother the only issue in recent memory about which 15 percent of people demonstrably care. The message it would send to Mattea's 900, and to the student body at large is potentially dangerous: SU doesn't care what you think. For his part, Mattea is confident he followed the rules.
"I think I did everything honestly, and my arguments are sound. To the degree that this is something vague, I think the council should err on the side of the students," Mattea said.
We couldn't agree more.


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Home >> The IAF Today >> Super Flanker Special >>
Air Fleet, airfleet.ru
By Andrey Fomin
[November/December 1998]
The Lyulka-Saturn joint-stock company has been making jet engines for combat aircraft for more than fifty years. The hallmarks of the national aviation were such warplanes as Su-7B, Su-17, Su-24, Su-27, all of which took to the air being powered by the AL-designated engines. The AL-31FP thrust vector-controlled (TVC) engine is the heart of one of the best modern aircraft that is Su-37. The Lyulka-Saturn company was the first national engine-builder to have created a fifth-generation jet engine for future XXI century fighters. The engines built by the design bureau have always attracted keen interest of experts. Academician Victor Mikhailovich Chepkin, Director General/Designer General of the famous company, has kindly agreed to answer Air Fleet's questions.
Victor Mikhailovich, it is known that your company is going to participate in the international airshow in China in cooperation with two aircraft production plants, namely: the Moscow-based Salyut Machine-Building Plant and Ufa Engine-Building Association. What is the reason for that alliance?
Our company was founded more than fifty years ago and is specialised in the development of engines for combat aircraft. We believe, development of AL-31F family engines for the Su-27 derivatives (such as Su-30, Su-33, Su-34, Su-35) is currently our primary task. The version of that engine, fitted with a TVC nozzle, has been developed and undergone most of the tests. It is this engine that we are going to display in China, and not only display but also offer for sale to foreign customers. That's the reason why we have teamed up with the Moscow-based Salyut and Ufa-based engine-building plants which are the producers of the series AL-31F engines.
Nowadays, the AL-31F engines are known to be mounted on the Su-27 and its derivatives only. How about fitting other aircraft with them, future foreign planes, in particular?
The Lyulka-Saturn company is currently engaged in developing a whole series of engines based on the AL-31F. One of them is the AL-31FN turbofan engine featuring engine accessory gearbox and aircraft accessory gearbox mounted beneath. The basic variant boasts those gearboxes mounted on top of the engine, which resulted from peculiarities of the Su-27's aerodynamic configuration. However, aircraft designers require sometimes gearboxes to be mounted beneath the engine. For example, American F100 and F110 engines, mounted on the F-15 and F-16 fighters, employ such a design. In principle, repositioning of the above gearboxes does not pose any significant problem for us. If a customer wants an engine fitted with, say, side-mounted accessory gearbox, we will make it for him. This is a mere technological task. A real problem is controlling the thrust vector. We have been trying to solve that problem for 12 years.
What problems did you face while developing a swiveling nozzle?
A lot of spears had been broken in choosing the very system of thrust vector deflection. The Americans went one way, we chose another, quite different to boot. While developing the swiveling nozzle, we encountered a most formidable problem - that of the seal between the moving and static parts of the nozzle. The exhaust gas pressure here reaches seven atmospheres with temperature running as high as 2000 degrees centigrade. The sealing of the point where two parts of the engine - the static and moving ones - meet, must be ideal, since the gas leakage here means a fire on board the aircraft. The second important problem is how to provide reliable control of the nozzle itself. Fancy that: during the take-off, the nozzle at an altitude of 15 m deflects on its own into the pitch position. In 1-1.5 seconds, the crash will be bound to happen. At a low speed, the pilot is absolutely unable to counter the sudden negative pitching moment, since the alteration of the thrust vector at full reheat is enormously powerful exceeding the effectiveness of the aircraft control surfaces.
Thus, developing the TVC version of the AL-31F engine, we had to solve most complicated technical problems and look for ways to ensure the highest degree of reliability of the system as a whole. Many a year of theoretic and experimental research resulted in successful resolution of those problems, and, for two years now, the AL-31FP-powered Su-37 fighter performs brilliantly at international airshows displaying magnificent maneuverability. Which is not the case with its foreign counterparts. There have not been any American or European combat aircraft featuring TVC engines at public airshows, though their development has been going on abroad for quite a while. Maybe, there is nothing to show yet...
The AL-31FP boasts an axial exit nozzle. That is to say the nozzle is circular. It is known that your overseas counterparts used to try to solve the thrust vector control problem via the use of a flat nozzle that should be easier to swivel. What do you think of that?
In the late 1980s, we were engaged in the development of the flat nozzle too and conducted a thorough research. The Ufa-based Motor Scientific Production Enterprise under the guidance of Chief Designer Alexei A. Ryzhov manufactured an experimental flat nozzle that underwent a series of tests. The conclusions were as follows. Presently, the flat nozzle has two inherent snags which, in principle, have not been dealt with yet. Firstly, the turbine is round but the nozzle is flat with a distance between them being small. The distance cannot be increased because this would lead to an increase in the overall length of the aircraft, a loss of thrust, etc. While transforming the circular gas stream into the flat one, the nozzle, developed by Mr. Ryzhov, was losing 14-17% of thrust. Unfor-tunately, the gas stream cannot be "bent" as we would like it to. It has its own laws too. So far, no one has managed to transform the circular gas stream into the flat one without losing thrust. The very same snag was hit by the Americans in developing their F-117 featuring a non-afterburning engine. Such engines lose approximately 15% of thrust too. However, the F-117 is a specialised Stealth aircraft with the main requirement of ensuring "invisibility". It does not need a real good thrust/weight ratio. That is why the Americans put up deliberately with an unavoidable loss of thrust but benefited from reduced signatures.
In 1990, the T10U-5 combat trainer was converted into a flying lab
whose left engine was fitted with a flat variable-geometry nozzle.
Secondly, the other primary problem is weight. The circular TVC nozzle produces only tensile stress while the flat one exerts bending stress as well. Those stresses require special measures to be taken to ensure the nozzle strength in order to avoid deformation of the nozzle. Those measures mean additional weight. The flat nozzle made of metal is heavier than the circular one by approximately half a tonne. Mind you, the whole AL-31FP fitted with its circular swivel nozzle weighs a little bit more than 1500 kg only. So, the use of a flat nozzle implies an extra tonne at the rear of a plane (two-engine are meant here, which make up the most of modern fighters). The problem can be circumvented through the use of the "carbon-carbon" materials which have low specific weight and can stand high temperature. But they burn in the end anyway, since they are based on the very same coal. Nobody has solved the problem of preventing carbon-carbon units from burning during their operation as part of an aircraft engine. Currently, such materials covered by a thick layer of fire-resistant ceramics are used only in manufacturing the control surfaces of rocket engines. The latter are actually disposable since their operation never exceeds 40-50 seconds while an aircraft engine service life amounts to 1,000 hours or more.
So, the problem of ensuring an effective long-term protection of the non-metal nozzle is still to be solved. Thus, development of the flat nozzle encounters two problems - the loss of thrust (and it is not resolved even in theory) and the extra weight. With those two problems in mind, we stick to the circular nozzle.
The current state of national economy prevents the Ministry of Defence (MoD) from ordering new combat aircraft, to include Su-30 and Su-37 that the AL-31FP TVC engines are mounted on. However, is it viable to retrofit the operational Su-27s with these powerplants?
Yes, it is possible. We are even ready not only to retrofit the Su-27s with new AL-31FP engines (preparation for their manufacturing at Moscow's Salyut and Ufa's plants have been underway for some time) instead of the AL-31Fs which completed their service life, but to update the series AL-31Fs dismounted from planes for repair. Naturally, such engines will have to be sent to the plant because we will have to fit them with a new nozzle with all control devices, as well as to enhance their strength. This is necessary to ensure transmission of lateral force to the aircraft during the deflection of the thrust vector. But this updating is rather inexpensive and makes up around 15% of the engine cost.
At the Engines-98 exhibition the Lyulka-Saturn company presented its new AL-55 turbofan with the thrust of 2000 kgf. How could this engine be employed?
Since the early 1990s, a new trainer aircraft capable of replacing the ageing Czech L-39 has been developed for the Russian Air Force (RusAF). By now, prototypes of such an aircraft - MiG-AT and Yak-130 - have been built and undergoing tests. One of the problems the developers faced is the choice of the powerplant for them. The point is there are no modern light jet engines in Russia which could be mounted on the future trainer. As a result, the MiG-AT features the French-made Larzac engine that was developed as far back as the the 1960s. The Zaporozhye-developed AI-25TLs, that were made in Slovakia for L-39s, are roughly of the same age. The new trainer aircraft needs an up-to-date, light and powerful engine ensuring not only training pilots under the conditions as close to the fourth-generation fighters as possible, but using the trainer as a light attack aircraft or light fighter as well. The existing engines are hardly able to ensure accomplishment of those tasks. Have you seen those plane fly at airshows? Their aerobatics resembles demonstration flights of some civilian plane with low maneuverability. The reason is simple enough: low thrust/weight ratio. So we decided to build the AL-55 engine to fit it in a non-afterburning version on light subsonic planes with a take-off weight of 5-7 tonnes.
Designing the AL-55, we chose an approach that later bore its fruit - we took the venerable and successful AL-31F as a basis, removed the afterburner and reduced the engines dimensions two-fold and it's thrust four-fold, which resulted in a very compact and light engine with a thrust of 2,000 kgf. Boasting the same weight as the Larzac engine does, the AL-55 develops the thrust that exceeds the Larzac's one by 40%. Using that approach, we managed to cut down on designing expenses because the basic engine aerodynamic characteristics had been thoroughly worked out, compressor stability was known well, strength could be modelled in full. Now, the design bureau is busy with issuing the AL-55 drawings, the Salyut plant has built the mock-up that will be displayed at the China-98 airshow. Our new engine could come in handy abroad too, since the aircraft of the same type as the MiG-AT are produced worldwide in greater numbers than, say, heavier and more expensive multirole supersonic fighters.
Some media have reported lately that you and Moscow's mayor Yuri Luzhkov, accompanied by representatives of the Defence Ministry, paid a visit to the Rybinskiye Motory (the Rybinsk Engines) joint-stock company. What was the reason?
We have been going ahead all the time. We have developed a fifth-generation engine that follows the AL-31F that is an absolutely new device featuring totally new aerodynamic characteristics. It was built through the use of all sophisticated methods of aerodynamic design, completely new approaches to securing strength, using utterly new materials, including various exotic ones, such as high-temperature ceramics, "carbon-carbon" and "boron-aluminium" compounds, etc. Everything our science knows has been embodied in this engine. The AL-41F, as we call it, has been developed since the mid-1980s. By now, it has completed flight tests in flying laboratories as well as most of the bench tests, and is ready for series production that is planned to be exercised at the Rybinskiye Motory plant.
Would you mention some qualitative differences of the AL-41F as compared with the series-produced AL-31F?
The first main difference is as follows. Each kilogram of the AL-31F weight ensures eight kilograms of thrust, while each kilogram of the AL-41F weight ensures development of a thrust of 10 kgf. Hence, the new engine is lighter, which will decrease the overall weight of the aircraft it is fitted to, since in practice every kilogram of the engine weight means five kilograms of the aircraft. The second difference is that the AL-41F is an engine providing non-afterburning supersonic cruise speed. Before the fifth generation engines came to being, every plane, including the Su-27, required enabling the afterburner to go supersonic. However, the afterburner increases fuel consumption nearly three-fold. How did afterburners come into existence in their day? Because designers could not burn all oxygen (about 20%) out of the air in regular turbojet combustion chambers, since the existing material could not be used to make turbines which could stand such high temperatures. So, the gas used to be completely burnt behind the turbine, i.e. in the afterburner.
However, nowadays, with development of new thermoresistant materials, there is a good chance to considerably enhance the temperature used in the combustion chamber before the turbine. Ideally, when the so-called stechiometric temperature (around 2,500 K) is achieved, that will leave no oxygen in the air, the afterburner will no longer be necessary. However, there are no such materials which would stand such a temperature. However, the fifth generation engine now ensures a significant rise - 250 degrees - in the gas temperature before the turbine as compared to the AL-31F. The temperature in the combustion chamber exceeded 1800-1900 K, which made possible non-afterburner supersonic flights.
Could you compare your new engine with its foreign counterparts?
It may look strange but we do not lag behind at all: neither in development, nor as far as the schedule is concerned. There is a truly operational fifth generation engine in the US - the F119, built by Pratt & Whitney and mounted on the F-22 Raptor fighters. We know its characteristics -the foreign press publishes lots of relevant data.
Americans have to fight tooth and nail for their money and prepare the public opinion, too. So, I can state definitely that our engine goes neck-and-neck with its American opposite number while surpassing it in some respects.
It is common knowledge that if one day a new MiG, designated MFI (Russian abbreviation for Multirole Frontline Fighter ) climbs into the air, it will be this engine that will power it... However, earlier, the AL-series engines have been fitted on Sukhoi-made planes while the MiG company worked in close cooperation with the Klimov and Tumansky engine design bureaus...
I reckon the new MiG is finally going to fly this year. It is true that this MiG boasts our engines, it has been featuring them long enough. They are completely test-ready and fully comply with the parameters set by the directive of CPSU Central Committee and the Council of Ministers of the then Soviet Union. As to the division of the spheres of influence between the "engine-building" and "airframe-making" bureaus... We have very loyal attitude to competition of every kind. We have never considered a routine, natural competition to be evil. For example, let Alexander A. Sarkisov (Designer General of the St. Petersburg-based Klimov Engine Design Bureau. - Ed.) have a go with the Sukhoi company, if it is for common good.
The MiG MFI Concept
In your opinion, what future does the fifth generation engine have considering the current state of the Russian economy and aerospace industry, in particular? Has it any chance to match the popularity enjoyed by the AL-31F?
Well, firstly, as to the current dire straits, I have been working here for 15 years now. My predecessor Arkhip Mikhailovich Lyulka, founder of our company, had worked here more that 35 years at a stretch. Working here has never been easy. Before he passed away, Arkhip Mikhailovich had not taken vacation for four consecutive years, he was perfecting the engine now known as the AL-31F. His life was not enough to do it. It was me who had to finish the official state tests of this engine. The acceptance report was signed on 15 September, 1985. So, it has never been easy for aviators, especially for engine developers. Current problems are our routine. This is our attitude to problems. Now, as to the prospects for the new engine... If we do not keep moving, the whole world will overtake us. What we make is arms. The arms should not be bad. It must be top-notch. The experience drawn from the Persian Gulf war showed that one must not second-rate weaponry. During the Desert Storm operation, 25 F-15 fighters downed 280 various enemy aircraft, having lost none of theirs.
That is why we should sell most sophisticated arms, and to do so, we must keep the pace. That is the only way to go. Nobody has learnt flying with no engine so far. The engine should be up-to-date, it should be lightweight. There are lots of other parameters to perfect, such as reduction of infrared and radar signatures. If our project fails, you bet that 15 years from now our aviation can cease to exist. Arms must be modern and first-rate, since lousy arms cannot be called arms at all.
Thank you for your interesting interview.
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The apparel industry rakes in a massive amount of revenue each year.
But as shopping malls struggle with a decline in foot traffic, many retailers have had to get creative to keep sales growing.
Some companies, like Nike and Ralph Lauren, are dominating the industry, while others, like Gap, are closing stores and laying off employees.
The website Fashionista recently compiled a list of the top brands in the US ranked by sales.
Check out what Americans love to wear:
10. Under Armour
Annual revenue: $3.1 billion
The sports retailer made more than $3 billion in revenue last year. It may be far from eclipsing Nike's global empire, but it continues to grow and sign major deals with impressive athletes, like Stephen Curry and Jordan Spieth.
9. American Eagle
Annual revenue: $3.3 billion
American Eagle implemented new techniques to help its business after comparable sales decreased by 5% in fiscal 2014. It launched a one-size-fits-all brand called Don't Ask Why to connect with more of a teen audience.
8. Tommy Hilfiger
Annual revenue: $3.6 billion
This iconic American brand recently celebrated its 30th anniversary, and it definitely hasn't lost its luster. The company reported a fourth consecutive earnings beat in the most recent fiscal quarter. Revenues increased 3%, and earnings per share grew 20%, according to an earnings call.
7. Coach
Annual revenue: $4.3 billion
This luxury fashion house recently reported disappointing sales, and some believe that its decline lies in its decision to open too many outlet stores. Millennials are less inclined to spend more money on luxury apparel, which is hurting brands like Coach.
6. Michael Kors
Annual revenue: $4.4 billion
Michael Kors, like Coach, is affected by millennials' gravitation away from luxury brands. Michael Kors' decline is affecting large department stores like Macy's; many believe the brand's time has passed because it got too popular, and it's name no longer holds the same value.
5. Levi Strauss & Co.
Annual revenue: $4.8 billion
Levi's jeans have seen a resurgence in recent years. More customers are embracing basics and drifting back to classic styles from one of the most famous jean retailers in the world.
4. Gap
Annual revenue: $6.2 billion
Although Gap's revenue lends the company a high ranking on this list, the brand is in major trouble. It's closing many stores and firing a large number of employees; sales have even declined for 13 straight months. Some credit the company's decline to its struggle to capitalize on its key products, while others believe its' Instagram and other social media presences are to blame.
3. Old Navy
Annual revenue: $6.6 billion
Old Navy is currently doing better than its parent brand, the Gap. It has lower prices and tends to stay on brand, targeting the right consumers with affordable styles.
2. Ralph Lauren
Annual revenue: $7.6 billion
Ralph Lauren is a staple in American apparel. It's one of the leading brands in this industry year after year because it stays true to its core aesthetic and sticks with what works.
1. Nike
Annual revenue: $30.6 billion
Nike is the most successful and recognizable sports brand in the world. It recently closed a deal rumored to be worth roughly $1 billion to become the official uniform and apparel provider for the NBA.


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Acrylic and Charcoal on Paper 23cmx30cm
Available for Sale $250.00 (Including Shipping)
The dark trees, silhouettes of the bridge over the canal. The hint of people against the buildings, with bits of light reflected off the water, provided a wonderful tonal painting opportunity.
The charcoal dominates, creating a somber painting, with mushy dark brooding colours. Not what I was after at all.


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- Part No: 303071.
- Pull Handle, Wright Storm Door Hardware - Brushed/Satin Nickel
- This item is limited to existing inventory.
- Wright storm door pull handle.
- Hardware will fit 3/4, 1, 1-1/4 inch thick doors.
- Villa Latch.
- Priced and Sold Each.
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Last updated: December 10, 2021
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Mail and Telemarketing Software
Quickguide - Choosing dialing system
Choice of phone system is made in the user's menu
The user who needs his telephony set up is found in the menu "all users" under
user control
. Double click on the user and choose the correct calling system in the drop down box. For IP hones enter the ip addres of the phone you wish to call from in either this picture or in the phoner picture.
For Skype do not enter any ip address, however skype needs to be correctly configured on the computer. Under "tools", "settings", "advanced" set up a notch for "use skype for callto: links on the internet".
For Yealink enter 2 ip addresses separated by a comma. First the ip address of the phone and then the main ip address of the router (f.ex. 192.168.1.0).
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text: Hi! I hope you are enjoying a beautiful summer. I recently designed some free desktop wallpapers for FineStationery and decided to include them here as well. As a bonus, I'm also including a free iPhone wallpaper in the same design. This fun design features cute orange popsicles and the words 'Cheers to Summer' on a soft pink gingham background. A fun way to dress your tech in a fresh summer style. \nSign-up for our email list to receive the latest news, tips, sales and freebies plus get access to this free download and more by clicking the graphic below. \n\nWe may collect, use and process your data according to our Privacy Policy.\n\n\nCheers!\n\n----------Please remember all downloadable freebies from The Spotted Olive™ are for personal use only.\n


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Levenhuk Broadway 325N Opera Glasses (white lorgnette with LED light)
Levenhuk Broadway Opera Glasses
Levenhuk Broadway Opera Glasses, apart from being a practical tool when you want to see what is happening on the stage in sharpest details, are a very stylish accessory. Elegant opera glasses would be a good complement to an evening dress, and the performance on stage will reveal itself to you under an entirely new angle
The Broadway 325N model comes in classic, harmonious coloring: golden and white with golden and black. The lorgnette is lacquer coated, which provides it with an even more luxurious appearance. Although made of metal, the lorgnette is lightweight (about 7 ounces). It is so compact that you could carry it in the smallest purse
The telescopic handle allows you to adjust the lorgnette for the most comfortable use
The binoculars have a central focus, which is convenient for quick sharpness adjustment. In addition, the model is equipped with LED light, which will help you, for example, find your seat even in complete darkness. The energy-efficient LED light is powered by two LR-41 button batteries (included in the kit), which provide for long life and rarely need to be replaced
- 25mm Objective Lens
- Fully Multi Coated Optics
- 3x Magnification
- 8.3mm Pupil Exit
- 5.0mm Eye Relief
- BaK4 Roof Prism
- 6.0Degree Field Of View
- 109m Linear Field Of View @ 1000m
- 290 Grams Weight
Included Items
- Binoculars
- Sueded cleaning cloth
- Pouch
- 2 LR41 batteries
- User guide
- Levenhuk lifetime international warranty
Customer comments


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Tex-Mex Cheese Tortilla Wedges
Why I Love This Recipe
These tortilla wedges are made with flour tortillas, Cheddar and Mozzarella cheeses, and sliced tomatoes.
Ingredients You'll Need
1 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese, part skim milk
1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro, or more
8 flour tortillas, (10-inch, or burrito size)
1 medium tomato, thinly sliced
1/2 cup light sour cream or guacamole
In medium bowl, combine the cheeses, green onions, and cilantro; mix well.
Divide the cheese mixture among 4 of the tortillas then top with the tomatoes.
Top each tortilla with another tortilla.
In a 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, cook each quesadilla for 3 minutes, or until golden brown.
Turn and cook for 1 minute, or until cheese melts.
Transfer each to a plate.
With a serrated knife, cut each tortilla sandwich into 8 wedges.
Top with the the sour cream or guacamole and chopped tomato or salsa.
Questions, Comments & Reviews
'CHEF' the Film Cookbook: Recipes from El JefeBy CHEF the Film
7 Recipes11876 Downloads