Abstract: Granules of plastics material have grains of an inert mineral such as sand coated thereon to provide a habitat for microorganisms effective in waste water treatment, the granules having a predetermined particle size range, and the grains having a predetermined particle size range and being disposed at a predetermined packing density range on the granules. The particles have an average density of approximately 1.0 g/cc such that a proportion tend to float and a proportion tend to sink in the waste water. The particles arc manufactured by contacting the granules of plastics material with a mixture of grains of the inert mineral and grains of a soluble substance such as salt, at an elevated temperature, to coat the granules with the mixture, and subsequently dissolving the soluble substance grains from the coating to provide the granules coated with the grains of inert mineral in the predetermined packing density range.

Abstract: A safety container is described which can simultaneously store and secure containers of liquid and solid medications without any mingling of the two types of medications occurring. The safety container can also store and secure medical equipment and supplies used in the administration of medications, as well as other items. The lid of the safety container is secured to the receptacle of the safety container by a slidable elongated bolt which engages a flange located on the receptacle. The slidable elongated bolt can be held in place by a lock. Multiple units of the safety container can be joined together through a tongue-and-groove configuration located on opposing walls of the receptacles. In another embodiment, a safety container is described which allows the lid to move horizontally with respect to the receptacle. The lid is prevented from being raised upwardly be at least one flange which abuts at least aperture located on one sidewall of the lid.

Abstract: Particulate material for use in waste water treatment. The material comprises granules of a plastic material (e.g. poly-ethylene), each of which contains a plurality of grains of a substantially inert mineral (e.g. sand) coated thereon to provide a habitat for microorganisms effective in waste water treatment. The granules will have a predetermined particle size which is governed by the particle size range of the granules, e.g 3-10 mm and the grains will have a predetermined particle size range, e.g. 0.1-3.5 mm.

Abstract: A system using a public access medium to establish asymmetric full-duplex circuits connecting a premises device and a central device. The premises device converts a standard Ethernet interface into the asymmetric full-duplex link. The central device aggregates traffic from a plurality of asymmetric links into one or more local ethernet connection. The premises device is attached to any network node (such as a personal computer, LAN bridge/router, terminal server, etc.) which offers an ethernet interface. The device thereby emulates an Ethernet LAN so that the network node's operation is transparent. Such an Ethernet to asymmetric converter is provided at one end of the asymmetric full-duplex link. The central device aggregates traffic from several asymmetric links into one or more Ethernet connection. This device inspects Ethernet packets as they are transferred in order to determine which physical ports should receive a packet. This device resembles or is provided as a local area network bridge.