Abstract: A cooling device, which includes a cooling solution and an absorption means; such that the cooling solution includes one or more low boiling point alcohols, one or more cooling sensates and water; wherein the total concentration of low boiling point alcohols is between 5% and 25% of the cooling solution; the total concentration of cooling sensates is up to 20% of the cooling solution, and the concentration of any single cooling sensate is a maximum of 10% of the cooling solution; and the water concentration is at least 50% of the cooling solution, wherein at least part of the absorption means is configured to releasably absorb any cooling solution applied to it and, in use, allow contact between a user's skin and the cooling solution; and wherein said absorption means is a flexible garment configured to closely fit one or more body parts of the user.

Abstract: A method of providing liquid generated lines by droplet methods by controlling the material parameters and the printing parameters that lead to the contact angle of the rivulet formed by the droplets being below the advancing contact angle at all times.

Abstract: A method is provided for storing data on a tape by means of data storage apparatus programmed to record the data in accordance with a format specifying a log of tape-usage information and a series of recording regions to store the data. Errors in the recorded data are detected and an error entry for each error is recorded in the log. The error entry identifies the recording region in which the error is located.

Abstract: A display element comprising at least two conductive porous layers and a conductive liquid, the conductive porous layers comprising a plurality of connected conductive particles insulated from the conductive liquid by a dielectric and lyophobic covering, and means for separately connecting a voltage across the at least two porous layers and the liquid such that on sequential application of a voltage to each conductive layer the liquid is displaced from one location to another location, the liquid only returning to the original location upon alternate sequential application of a voltage.

Abstract: A display element comprising a single layer of porous material and a discrete drop of liquid. Application of a voltage between the liquid and the layer causes movement of the liquid and consequential optical changes to the element.

Abstract: A method for increasing the diameter of an ink jet ink dot resulting from the application of an ink jet ink drop applied to the surface of an ink jet recording medium having a support having thereon an image-receiving layer, the image-receiving layer containing: a) from about 20 to about 65% by volume of particles; b) from about 25 to about 70% by volume of a polymeric binder; and c) up to about 10% by volume of a cross-linking agent; the method comprising applying the ink jet ink drop on the surface of the image-receiving layer whereby the diameter of the ink jet ink dot is increased relative to that which would have been obtained if the image-receiving layer had greater than about 65% by volume of particles.

Abstract: Disclosed is a method of storing data on a tape medium in at least one data recording session employing a tape drive apparatus operable to record the data in accordance with a format specifying an unused area of the tape medium. The method comprises formatting the tape medium according to the format, and recording a tape medium identifier in the specified unused area of the tape medium.

Abstract: A zero-footprint remotely hosted phone application development environment is described. The environment allows a developer to use a standard computer without any specialized software (in some embodiments all that is necessary is a web browser and network access) together with a telephone to develop sophisticated phone applications that use speech recognition and/or touch tone inputs to perform tasks, access web-based information, and/or perform commercial transactions. Some embodiments support concurrent call flow tracking that allows a developer to observe, using a web browser, the execution of her/his application. A variety of reusable libraries are provided to enable the developer to leverage well-developed libraries for common playback, input, and computational tasks. Embodiments support rapid application deployment from the development environment to hosted application deployment to the intended audience.

Abstract: A sensor for monitoring a structure, said sensor comprising a network of interconnected electrical pathways, wherein an electrical property of the pathways (preferably at least one of the impedance, the capacitance, the inductance and the resistance) is arranged in use to be responsive to a change in a predetermined physical property of the structure. The sensor network may comprises a first sub-network of pathways and a second sub-network of pathways, the first and second sub-networks being superposed. A method of monitoring the structural health of a structure having the aforementioned sensor comprising the steps of monitoring an electrical property of the sensor, measuring changes in the monitored electrical property in order to identify and locate a structural event across the sensor, assessing the level of damage by comparing the measured change in the electrical property with that for known strain events, and sending an alert in the event the damage is assessed as significant.

Abstract: A data transfer apparatus is described for transferring data between at least one transducer head of the data transfer apparatus and a data medium removably received in the data transfer apparatus. The data transfer apparatus is operable to monitor at least one data transfer performance characteristic, and to use results of the monitoring to set an indicator for access by the data transfer apparatus, for use in connection with a subsequent head-cleaning process using a designated head-cleaning medium, the indicator corresponding to an appropriate quality of head-cleaning process.

Abstract: A request for secure data sent from a client computer 2 to a webtsite server computer 4 is redirected to a proxy computer 6. A secure connection is established with the proxy computer 6 using a protocol such as HTTP and Certificate Exchange. The proxy computer 6 then establishes its own secure connection with the website server 4. The data requested is passed in encrypted form from the website server computer 4 to the proxy computer 6. The proxy computer 6 decrypts this data and then scans it for illegal content, such as computer viruses, worms, Trojans, banned computer files, banned words, banned combinations of words or banned images and the like. Providing no illegal content is found, the data is encrypted again for transfer over the secure link between the proxy computer 6 and the client computer 2. The proxy computer 6 may conveniently be the firewall computer within a local area network.

Abstract: A method for increasing the diameter of an ink jet ink dot resulting from the application of an ink jet ink drop applied to the surface of an ink jet recording medium having a support having thereon an image-receiving layer, the image-receiving layer containing: a) from about 20 to about 65% by volume of particles; b) from about 25 to about 70% by volume of a polymeric binder; and c) up to about 10% by volume of a cross-linking agent; the method comprising applying the ink jet ink drop on the surface of the image-receiving layer whereby the diameter of the ink jet ink dot is increased relative to that which would have been obtained if the image-receiving layer had greater than about 65% by volume of particles.

Abstract: An ink jet recording element having a support having thereon an image-receiving layer, the image-receiving layer containing: a) from about 20 to about 65% by volume of particles; b) from about 25 to about 70% by volume of a polymeric binder; and c) up to about 10% by volume of a cross-linking agent.

Abstract: Described is a release mechanism for disconnecting internal fiber from an optical module. The optical module comprises a board, a faceplate, an adapter connected to the faceplate, a fiber optic cable assembly having a fiber optic cable and a release tab that connects the fiber optic cable to the adapter, and an actuator. The actuator is connected to the board for rotational movement about a pivot point between a first position in which the actuator is adjacent to the release tab of the fiber optic cable assembly and a second position in which the actuator engages the release tab and urges the release tab into an unlatched position so that the fiber optic cable assembly can be disconnected from the adapter of the optical module.

Abstract: A method for increasing the diameter of an ink jet ink dot resulting from the application of an ink jet ink drop applied to the surface of an ink jet recording medium having a support having thereon an image-receiving layer, the image-receiving layer containing: a) from about 20 to about 65% by volume of particles; b) from about 25 to about 70% by volume of a polymeric binder; and c) up to about 10% by volume of a cross-linking agent; the method comprising applying the ink jet ink drop on the surface of the image-receiving layer whereby the diameter of the ink jet ink dot is increased relative to that which would have been obtained if the image-receiving layer had greater than about 65% by volume of particles.

Abstract: The invention provides a method of creating a material for use as a material to be coated by curtain coating, comprising the step of: creating a surface texture of said material such that when said material is coated with a freely falling curtain formed of a composite layer of one or more coating compositions that impinges at a point of impingement against a continuously moving receiving surface of said material using roughness assisted wetting, the height of the composite layer at a distance &lgr; from the point of impingement, in which &lgr; is the average periodicity of the surface texture, is less than or equal to Rz. The invention also provides a method of identifying a material suitable for coating with Roughness Assisted coating.

Abstract: A method for increasing the diameter of an ink jet ink dot resulting from the application of an ink jet ink drop applied to the surface of an ink jet recording medium having a support having thereon an image-receiving layer, the image-receiving layer containing: a) from about 20 to about 65% by volume of particles; b) from about 25 to about 70% by volume of a polymeric binder; and c) up to about 10% by volume of a cross-linking agent; the method comprising applying the ink jet ink drop on the surface of the image-receiving layer whereby the diameter of the ink jet ink dot is increased relative to that which would have been obtained if the image-receiving layer had greater than about 65% by volume of particles.

Abstract: An ink jet recording element having a support having thereon an image-receiving layer, the image-receiving layer containing: a) from about 20 to about 65% by volume of particles; b) from about 25 to about 70% by volume of a polymeric binder; and c) up to about 10% by volume of a cross-linking agent.

Abstract: An apparatus and method of bead coating a web using a coating die. The method comprises forming one or more layers of coating material using the coating die and allowing the one or more layers to impinge on the web as the web and die move relative to each other. The web surface has an average peak to peak roughness as defined by DIN 4768, ISO4287 or BS1134 between 2 &mgr;m and 20 &mgr;m. The layer of coating material forming a wetting layer adjacent to the web has a viscosity of between 35 mPas and 200 mPas measured at a shear rate of substantially 10,000 s−1. An electrostatic field is provided at the point at which the layers impinge on the web to stabilize the layers of coating material. The method enables the web being coated to be conveyed at a speed greater than 400 cm/s relative to the coating die whilst avoiding the problem of air entrainment.

Abstract: A method, wherein a composition comprising Echinacea and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier is administered to an animal or a human, in an amount effective to cause a hematinic effect in the animal or the human. The Echinacea composition of the present invention has minimal or no side effects and is effective, simple to prepare and relatively inexpensive.