Abstract: An oil seal having the usual lips for retaining oil and a guide member made of a variety of relatively stiff or rigid materials. The guide member is made slightly larger than the smallest diameter of the seal member when the seal rests on the shaft. The seal member can have the guide member on either the air side or the oil side of the seal. The disclosure also relates to a shipping plug, which is inserted into the seal and retains the oil in place during shipping when the seal is installed but a shaft is not installed.

Abstract: The present invention provides a shock absorbing device comprising: a hollow spring including a chamber having a proximal end, a distal end, and a bellows comprised of a springy material connecting the proximal end to the distal end and enclosing the chamber; a shock absorber extending through the hollow spring, the shock absorber including a cylinder and a piston which slidably engages the cylinder, the cylinder extending through and being attached to the hollow spring proximal end, the piston extending through and slidably engaging the hollow spring distal and the piston including contacting device located distally of the hollow spring distal end for urging the hollow spring distal end proximally when the contacting device is forced against the hollow spring distal end and for urging the piston distally when the hollow spring distal end is forced against the contacting device.

Abstract: A system and method for testing a plurality of packet data transmitters in which multiple devices-under-test (DUTs) are tested by providing similar transmit data streams to the DUTs each of which, in response thereto, provides a respective packet data signal. At least a portion of each packet data signal is captured to provide captured data packets, which are processed to provide multiple sets of test data respective ones of which, in turn, are analyzed in view of the transmit data to determine an operational status of each DUT.

Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a wire rack for mounting an iron on a wall and method of use thereof, and more specifically, to a wire rack for mounting an iron on a wall, the wire rack having a retractable rail for adjusting to different sizes of irons and equipped with an ironing board holder and a product holder. The iron holder holds the iron by the iron's base and can be adjusted to accommodate different sizes of irons. The frame is also made of heat-resistant, coated, welded wire that allows for the manufacture of a light, cost-effective device. The device is also equipped with large hooks to hold most types of ironing boards and arms designed to hold extra products used during ironing.

Abstract: A method for the in situ production of an emulsifier in a foodstuff, wherein a lipid acyltransferase is added to the foodstuff. Preferably the emulsifier is produced without an increase or without a substantial increase in the free fatty acid content of the foodstuff. Preferably, the lipid acyltransferase is one which is capable of transferring an acyl group from a lipid to one or more of the following acyl acceptors: a sterol, a stanol, a carbohydrate, a protein or a sub-unit thereof, glycerol. Preferably, in addition to an emulsifier one or more of a stanol ester or a stanol ester or a protein ester or a carbohydrate ester or a diglyceride or a monoglyceride may be produced. One or more of these may function as an additional emulsifier.

Abstract: A method for the in situ production of an emulsifier in a foodstuff, wherein a lipid acyltransferase is added to the foodstuff. Preferably the emulsifier is produced without an increase or without a substantial increase in the free fatty acid content of the foodstuff. Preferably, the lipid acyltransferase is one which is capable of transferring an acyl group from a lipid to one or more of the following acyl acceptors: a sterol, a stanol, a carbohydrate, a protein or a sub-unit thereof, glycerol. Preferably, in addition to an emulsifier one or more of a stanol ester or a stanol ester or a protein ester or a carbohydrate ester or a diglyceride or a monoglyceride may be produced. One or more of these may function as an additional emulsifier.

Abstract: A field sequence detector determines the field sequence of a series of fields of video by assessing the vertical frequency content of hypothetical de-interlaced images. Hypothetical images are formed from a currently processed field and an adjacent (e.g. previous or next) field. If the vertical frequency content is relatively high (e.g. above ½ the Nyquist frequency for the image), the hypothetical image is assessed to be formed of improperly interlaced fields, belonging to different frames. If the frequency content is relatively low, the hypothetical image is assessed to be properly assembled from fields of the same frame. The field sequence in the series of fields may be detected from the assessed frequency content for several of said series of fields. Known field sequence, such as 3:2 pull-down, 2:2 pull down, and more generally m:n:l:k pull-down sequences.

Abstract: A device, method and software for handling multiple interrupts in a peripheral device are disclosed. The disclosed method includes, upon a hardware event in the peripheral device recording the hardware event and determining an acceptable period before which an interrupt should be generated to service the event. A timer at the peripheral device is adjusted as needed to maintain a value within the acceptable period. Upon expiry of the timer a single interrupt is generated to a processor interconnected to the peripheral device. In response to the single interrupt, software code is executed on the processor to service un-serviced hardware events for which an indicator has been recorded.

Abstract: A synchronous detection and calibration system is provided for expedient calibration of differential acoustic sensors in a manufacturing and testing environment. By processing a series of sequentially received tones, respective portions of a system using differential acoustic sensors are tuned for optimum individual operation, following which corresponding control data are generated and stored for use in selecting among predetermined calibration vectors which establish and maintain optimum system operation.

Abstract: This disclosure relates to a table assembly, a jointed table, and a method of creating a clean interstice between adjacent tables. More particularly, this disclosure relates to the use of both male and female support connectors where the male connector includes a junction plate and the female connector includes a spacer and a holder plate to create a female connector space. In another embodiment, silicone joints and industrial grade stainless steel plate are used. A method of creating a clean joint by depositing silicone in an interstice between adjacent tables is also disclosed.

Abstract: A seal assembly having a seal bumper wall with a series of pyramid shaped formations lying on the bumper wall. The formations cause their apex portion to wear down rapidly in use, while the remainder of the pyramids remain and act as slingers and/or produce a convection effect to reduce temperature along the sealed area. In another embodiment, there are two each pyramid shaped formations located on each of several thrust bumpers, which are held in position by a retainer.

Abstract: An integrated circuit includes first and second voltage domains. The first voltage domain is associated with a positive voltage supply grid and the second voltage domain is associated with a selectably on voltage supply grid. A switch is used to selectably switch on and off the selectably on voltage supply grid to power the second voltage domain. A buffer cell cluster of at least on initial buffer cell and a pair of insulator cells is coupled to the positive voltage supply grid electrically independent of the nodes of a switch and is capable of buffering a feed-through signal having a logic one voltage level defined substantially at the voltage level of the positive voltage supply grid. The buffer cell cluster has two distal ends. buffer cell cluster, at one distal end, is coupled to a first insulator cell of the pair of cells while, at the other distal end, the buffer cell cluster is coupled to a second insulator cell of the pair of the cells.

Abstract: A digital communications test system and method for testing a plurality of devices under test (DUTs) in which multiple sets of a single vector signal analyzer (VSA) and single vector signal generator (VSG) can be used together to perform error vector magnitude (EVM) measurements for one or more DUTs in parallel, including one or more of composite, switched and multiple input multiple output (MIMO) EVM measurements. This allows N pairs of a VSA and VSG to test N DUTs with N×N MIMO in substantially the sane time as a single VSA and VSG pair can test a single DUT, thereby allowing a substantial increase in testing throughput as compared to that possible with only a single VSA and VSG set.

Abstract: A software or hardware test system and method repeatedly obtains testing status of a plurality of test units in a group while the test units are testing hardware or software being executed on the test units. The system and method provides for display of the current testing status of the plurality of units of the group while the plurality of test units is performing software testing. In another embodiment, a test system and method compiles heuristic data for a plurality of test units that are assigned to one or more groups of test units. The heuristic data may include, for example, data representing a frequency of use on a per-test unit basis over a period of time, and other heuristic data. The test system and method evaluates job queue sizes on a per-group basis to determine whether there are under-utilized test units in the group and determines on a per-group of test unit basis whether a first group allows for dynamic reassignment of a test unit in the group based on at least the compiled heuristic data.

Abstract: The present invention provides a scheme for compressing and decompressing the depth, or Z, components of image data. Image data is grouped into a plurality of tiles. A test is performed to determine if a tile can be compressed so that its size after compression is less than its size before compression. If so, the tile is compressed. A tile table includes a flag that can be set for each tile that is compressed. In one scheme, each tile comprises a 4×4 block of pixels. For each pixel, the visible depth complexity is determined where each visible level of depth complexity is represented by a plane equation. Depending on the depth complexity, a compression scheme is chosen that stores multiple plane equations in cache lines. The compression scheme can be used with unsampled or multisampled data and provides higher levels of compression in multisampled environments.

Abstract: A change in viral tropism occurs in many HIV positive individuals over time and can be indicated by a change in coreceptor usage from CCR5 to CXCR4. The change in coreceptor usage to CXCR4 has been shown to correlate with increased disease progression. In patients undergoing HAART, the predominant populations of virus can be shifted back to CCR5-mediated entry after the CXCR4-specific strains have emerged. The present invention relates to a diagnostic method to monitor coreceptor use in the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. The present invention further relates to a diagnostic method applied to HIV-positive individuals undergoing HAART to monitor the suppression of CXCR4 specific strains. The diagnostic methods can be used to assist in selecting antiretroviral therapy and to improve predictions of disease prognosis over time.

Abstract: A method of determining the doses of neutrons, gamma and X-ray photons, beta, alpha and other ionizing radiations using a method of image processing in spatial and frequency domain that produces parameters that are related to the radiation dose absorbed in a luminescent material. Portions of the luminescent material may be covered by different converters to allow for doses of different radiations to be discriminated.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for interpolating image information obtains pixel information for a plurality of pixels surrounding a location of a pixel to be interpolated, whether the pixel is a missing pixel or an existing pixel whose color or intensity information is to be changed, and applies a gradient square tensor operation on a plurality of surrounding pixels to determine if the pixel to be interpolated is part of a geometric feature. If it is determined that the interpolated pixel is part of a geometric feature, such as a diagonal line or other suitable geometric feature, the method and apparatus uses pixel information from at least some of the surrounding pixels that are also determined to be the in geometric feature. This may be performed on a group of pixel basis and may include, for example, utilizing a block or kernel of pixels and a moving window of blocks of pixels to utilize the plurality of surrounding pixels.