Abstract: Clean combustion and equilibration equipment and methods are provided to progressively deliver, combust and equilibrate mixtures of fuel, oxidant and aqueous diluent in a plurality of combustion regions and in one or more equilibration regions to further progress oxidation of products of incomplete combustion, in a manner that sustains combustion while controlling temperatures and residence times sufficiently to reduce CO and NOx emissions to below 25 ppmvd, and preferably to below 3 ppmvd at 15% O2.

Abstract: A fluid containment structure includes a containment vessel having an interior fluid chamber for fluid containment. A flexible bag is disposed within the containment vessel; the bag is vented to the external atmosphere outside the containment vessel. A spring is coupled to the bag to hold the bag in a coiled state until a back-pressure within the fluid chamber exerts sufficient force to commence uncoiling the bag against the spring pressure, allowing air from the external atmosphere to enter the bag and enlarge an interior bag space which is sealed from the interior fluid chamber.

Abstract: Cyanine dye compounds having a negatively charged substituent that are nucleic acid stains, particularly for fluorescent staining of DNA, including compounds having the formula wherein W forms one or two fused 5- or 6-membered aromatic rings, a has a value of 0 or 1, n has a value of 0, or 1, X is O, S, or Se, and D is a pyridinium, or quinolinium moiety, provided that the compound has at least one negatively charged substituent.

Abstract: A fluid supply including a body and a reversibly fluid absorbing material having a first surface energy and disposed in the body. In addition, the fluid supply has at least one fiber having a fiber surface energy where the fiber is disposed within the fluid absorbing material, and the fiber surface energy is less than the first surface energy of the fluid absorbing material.

Abstract: Cyanine dye compounds having a substituted methine moiety that are nucleic acid stains, particularly for fluorescent staining of RNA, including compounds having the formula where R1 is a C1-C6 alkyl, sulfoalkyl, carboxyalkyl or C1-C6 alkoxy; each R2 is independently selected from the group consisting of H, C1-C6 alkyl, C1-C6 alkoxy, fused benzo, trifluoromethyl, amino, sulfo, carboxy and halogen, that is optionally further substituted; at least one of R3, R4, and R5 is an alkyl, aryl, heteroaryl, cyclic, or heterocyclic moiety that is optionally substituted by alkyl, amino, aminoalkyl, carboxy, nitro, or halogen; and the remaining R3, R4 or R5 are hydrogen; X is S, O, or Se; and D is a substituted or unsubstituted pyridinium, quinolinium or benzazolium moiety.

Abstract: Optical wireless links automatically align themselves using feedback information that is transmitted over the light beams being aligned. Each link performs an acquisition routine in which its light beam is swept through a pre-defined pattern while transmitting its beam alignment information. When a link receives beam alignment information from a remote link, it updates its transmission to include the alignment information received from the remote link. At some point during the acquisition routine, the remote link will receive its own alignment information “echoed back” from the first link and will re-align its beam accordingly. At some point, each link will have received its own alignment information echoed back from the other link and will have aligned itself to that position. Data communication can begin at that point, or a more refined alignment step can then be performed. The alignment information can be based upon position, sample number, or time transmitted.

Abstract: A fluid containment structure includes a containment vessel having an interior vessel space for fluid containment, and a fluid outlet communicating with the interior vessel space. A flexible bag with opposed side surfaces is disposed within the containment vessel, vented to an external atmosphere outside the containment vessel. A sacrificial bond structure is formed between the side surfaces, and restrains the side surfaces together until a back-pressure within the vessel space exerts sufficient force to break the sacrificial bond structure, allowing air from the external atmosphere to enter the bag and enlarge an interior bag space.

Abstract: The present invention provides labeling reagents and methods for labeling primary antibodies and for detecting a target in a sample using an immuno-labeled complex that comprises a target-binding antibody and one or more labeling reagents. The labeling reagents comprise monovalent antibody fragments or non-antibody monomeric proteins whereby the labeling proteins have affinity for a specific region of the target-binding antibody and are covalently attached to a label. Typically, the labeling reagent is an anti-Fc Fab or Fab? fragment that was generated by immunizing a goat or rabbit with the Fc fragment of an antibody.

Abstract: An ink delivery apparatus includes a chamber configured to contain ink, where that chamber includes a proximal end for connection to the ink delivery apparatus, and opposing side portions having at least one tapered section configured to support the chamber and to facilitate at least partial controlled collapse of the chamber in response to a negative pressure.

Abstract: The invention relates in general to methods of controlled mixing one fluid with another. In particular it relates to a distributed direct fluid contactor including arrays of streamlined perforated tubes distributed across a flow to efficiently contact and mix one or more fluids flowing through one or more tubes with a second fluid flowing across those tubes. These distributed contactors thereby mix the fluids in a fairly uniform fashion causing a prescribed uniformity or variation in the ratio of the first to second fluid across the space. This thereby to generally creates and controls the physical and/or chemical changes in those fluids, including evaporation, condensation, forming powders and conducting chemical reactions including combustion.

Abstract: Ink reservoirs and methods are provided. One ink reservoir has at least one compartment and first and second vents that communicatively couple the compartment to an atmosphere surrounding an exterior of the ink reservoir.

Abstract: A system for providing network load distribution including a network having a number of portals that are configured to access portal services hosted by the network and a plurality of control nodes on the network that are configured to establish data connections with the portals on the network. The control nodes form a virtual local area network (VLAN) that includes multicast islands and singlecast bridges for broadcasting data to other nodes on the network. When a portal requests to access a portal service hosted on the network, a portal having the requested service is identified and authenticated by one of the control nodes, and a data connection is established between the identified portal and the requesting portal for sharing the requested service.

Abstract: A system for providing audiovisual media to a plurality of portals on a network including a central request server on the network that stores the media, at least one requesting portal that requests the media from the central request server, and a gateway server that is selected by the central request server to process the request from the requesting portal. The central request server replicates the media onto the selected gateway server and the selected gateway server replicates the media onto the requesting portal.

Abstract: System for providing software application updates to multiple clients on a network including a server component and a client component. The version of the software application on the client component is compared with the version of the application stored on the server component to determine whether the client's version is outdated. If an update is necessary, a first data transmission channel is established between the client and server components and the client recursively works through each file of the software application and sends a cyclical redundancy check (CRC) to the server for each file. The server recursively compares each CRC from the client with the equivalent file on the server to determine which files need to be updated or deleted. A second data transmission channel is established to transmit any updates to the client component.

Abstract: An artificial intelligence dialogue processor is an integrated software solution that mimics human behavior including a dialogue oriented knowledge database that contains static and dynamic data relating to human scenarios. The knowledge base is composed in a proprietary XML-based universal format and the processor further includes translation, processing, and analysis components that facilitate composition of the core knowledge base and are responsible for processing vocal and/or textual and/or video input, extracting emotional characteristics of the input, and producing instructions on how to respond to the customer with the appropriate substantive response and emotion based on relevant information found in the knowledge base.

Abstract: A conferencing system that enables communication between at least two portals on a network. An audiovisual feature enables users at portals simultaneously see and hear each other from their respective portals. A remote control feature enables the portals to share, display, and/or control software applications or an entire desktop from a remote location. A media streamer feature enables a host portal in a conference to stream local media files to other portals. A text data transfer feature enables real time transfer of text and binary data between portals. A file transfer feature enables portals participating in a conference to physically transfer files between them. An input/out feature enables a portal participating in a conference to detect and send data to peripheral devices connected to the ports of another portals participating in the conference.

Abstract: A trap for exterminating moles has a support adapted for placement on the ground to support the trap in an upright position generally above the ground. An impingement device is operatively connected to the support for motion relative to the support for capturing the mole. A barrel mounted on the support in a generally vertical position is adapted for slidably receiving a portion of the impingement device in a retracted position. An explosion chamber receives an explosive force and directs the explosive force generally downward against the portion of the impingement device received in the barrel to drive the impingement device rapidly downward to an extended position. A trigger mechanism triggers an explosion producing the explosive force.

Abstract: A set top box may in one embodiment enable customers to use their televisions to purchase through a live sales agent The set top box may have a high or low bandwidth bi-directional communication link that enables video conferencing through the television for the presentation of sales material to support the sales agent in his efforts to sell a product to the customer.

Abstract: A communication system and method that provides efficient, global load balancing and enables data transfer over the internet without being blocked by firewalls an proxies. The system includes a plurality of remote portals that place requests and receive responses. A request is sent to a plurality of gateway servers. The first gateway server to respond, considering any performance delays, is selected to process the request. The request is then passed to a plurality of routers. The first router to respond, considering any performance delays, processes the request and converts it into a response. The response is sent back to the gateway server and then to the portal. Data is transferred between the portals using a transport module which is a client interface that establishes connections between portals, a transport channel that is an application interface that transmits timely data, and proxy that assists the transport module in bypassing firewalls.

Abstract: A trap for exterminating moles has a support adapted for placement on the ground to support the trap in an upright position generally above the ground. An impingement device is operatively connected to the support for motion relative to the support for capturing the mole. A barrel mounted on the support in a generally vertical position is adapted for slidably receiving a portion of the impingement device in a retracted position. An explosion chamber receives an explosive force and directs the explosive force generally downward against the portion of the impingement device received in the barrel to drive the impingement device rapidly downward to an extended position. A trigger mechanism triggers an explosion producing the explosive force.