Abstract:
A novel method for eliminating or reducing, or otherwise treating, aquatic pests using juglone or juglone analogs is described. The methods are useful for removing zebra mussels and quagga mussels from water intake pipes and various other underwater hard surfaces. In addition, the methods are useful for treating dinoflaggellates, algae and amphipods, among other pests, from ballast water. A great advantage that these methods have over current protocols is that they have low environmental risk.
Abstract:
A directory service allows a user to receive email messages from senders without requiring the user to reveal his/her email address. The directory service maintains users' email addresses but allows users to restrict the display of their email addresses. The directory service can cause a message to be sent from a sender to a recipient without revealing the recipient's email address.
Abstract:
Apparatus with a multi-axis mechanism to perform, say, measurements or tests, has at least one pair of temperature detectors individually for each of selected members of the mechanism, each pair of temperature detectors being arranged to sense temperature differences transversely across the associated member. The required positions of the temperature detectors are predetermined from a preliminary examination of the mechanism, so that the extent and direction of each predetermined aspect of thermal distortion within the mechanism, can be computed from simultaneously detected transverse temperature differences, employing algorithms devised as a result of the preliminary examination of the mechanism. Compensation for corresponding selected errors in the measurements or tests can be calculated from the computed extent and direction of each of the predetermined aspects of thermal distortion within the mechanism.
Abstract:
A coiled rope providing a securely coiled rope structure which, when forcefully uncoiled, gives rapid yet controlled deployment of the rope, and a method of so coiling the rope. The rope is wound about a central core member in sequential, adjacent, planar circular layers of approximately similar diameter, each layer consisting of a plurality of coils of rope of increasing size commencing from the central core member. Adjacent coils of rope in each layer and adjacent layers of rope are releasably adhered to each other by contact cement so that the rope will remain securely coiled in storage or until required for use, and then permit rapid yet controlled uncoiling of the rope. Such a coiled rope is useful in providing controlled pay out of rope, for example, between life rafts being air dropped to survivors in the sea, the rope being payed out sequentially coil by coil and layer by layer.
Abstract:
Measuring apparatus for determining the position of a point in a measuring volume relative to a datum point at which three mutually perpendicular axes intersect, includes a probe member supported for movement within that volume. Errors due to rotations about the various axes are corrected by providing additional transducers on each axis, there being (n+1) transducers where n is the number of rotations for which correction is required. The embodiments described have three X-axis transducers X.sub.1, X.sub.2 and X.sub.3 and three Y-axis transducers Y.sub.1, Y.sub.2 and Y.sub.3 which, with the appropriate circuitry correct for pitch and yaw errors about the two axes. For the Z-axis only two transducers, Z.sub.1 and Z.sub.2, are required. The circuit means combines the various transducer outputs to derive corrected values of the three co-ordinates.
Abstract:
An exciter for use with a shaft speed magnetic pickup includes a strip of flexible, stretchable, sheet material having a plurality of magnetic elements attached to it that are uniformly spaced along the strip, enabling the magnetic elements to be attached to the exterior of various diameter rotatable shafts by stretching and fastening the strip about the circumference of the shaft close to the magnetic pickup which generates an electrical pulse signal whenever a magnetic element passes by it. The pulse signal is processed to produce a readout of shaft speed. Two magnetic pickups circumferentially spaced about the shaft closer than the circumferential spacing of the magnetic elements are used to provide signals that can be processed to indicate shaft direction of rotation as well as shaft speed.
Abstract:
A display interface buffer includes a general purpose memory to store data capable of being displayed on a panel, a plurality of display drivers to receive data from the general purpose memory, each of the display drivers to drive a different portion of the panel with the data, and processor or a direct memory access controller to access data in the general purpose memory and to provide the data to the display drivers for presentation on the panel.
Abstract:
The present invention provides a method (100) for virtual path switching of an ATM cell on a processing communications satellite. The method includes establishing a set of VPIs (104) associated with output ports on the satellite and assigning one VPI to an ATM cell (108). The ATM cell may then be received by an input port of the satellite (110). An associated output port (114) for the ATM cell is determined from the VPI, and the ATM cell is transferred to that output port (116). The present invention may also provide for multicast switching (400). The VPI assigned to the ATM cell may be associated with a multicast output port. The ATM cells may be reproduced (426) and reassigned with a new VPI from a multicast group of VPIs (428). The reproduced cells are received at an input port of the satellite (430) for routing to the corresponding output ports.
Abstract:
The present invention provides plant retroelements useful as molecular tools. In one embodiment, the present invention provides nucleic acids encoding gag, pol and/or env genes of plant retroelements. The elements can be used, among other uses, as building blocks of other constructs, tools to find other nucleic acid sequences and tools to transfer nucleic acid into cells.
Abstract:
A method and apparatus for closed-loop power threshold leveling for a satellite communication system is provided. A preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a user earth terminal (UET) (140), a satellite (120) and a network control center (NCC) (110). The satellite (120) periodically determines an average error rate for data bursts transmitted by a plurality of UETs (140) and sends the average error rate as well as the number of transmitted data bursts to the NCC (110). The NCC (110) accumulates average error rates over a period of time, and when a predetermined number of data bursts has been surpassed, determines an uplink power threshold adjustment based on the average error rates. The NCC (110) then transmits the uplink power threshold adjustment to the satellite (120), which adjusts an on-board uplink power level threshold in response to the uplink power threshold adjustment. In systems using multiple beams, the satellite (120) maintains a separate uplink power level threshold for each beam, and determines a separate average error rate for each beam. The NCC (140) then determines and transmits a separate uplink power threshold adjustment for each beam. In systems using multiple coding levels, the satellite (120) determines separate error rates for each coding level, and the NCC (110) determines uplink power offset adjustment corresponding to each coding level. The NCC (110) then delivers the uplink power offset adjustments to the UETs (140), which update their local power offset values stored in memory.