Abstract: Nitric oxide is formed by the oxidation of ammonia. An ammonia containing gas is contacted with an oxidation catalyst deposited on a surface of a solid electrolyte while an oxygen containing gas is contacted with a second catalyst capable of dissociating oxygen gas to oxygen ion deposited upon a second surface of the solid electrolyte. Oxygen ion is transported through the solid electrolyte to react with ammonia to form nitric oxide under simultaneous production of electric energy.

Abstract: The risk of ventricular fibrillation in animals is reduced by administering tyrosine, a tyrosine precursor, threonine or mixtures thereof, either alone or in combination with a substance which is known to reduce the risk of ventricular fibrillation. A novel composition is provided comprising a unit dosage form of tyrosine, a precursor for tyrosine, threonine or mixtures thereof and a substance which is known to reduce the risk of ventricular fibrillation.

Abstract: A wet/dry cooling tower wherein a liquid to-be-cooled is flowed along channels of a corrugated open surface or the like, which surface is swept by cooling air. The amount of the surface covered by the liquid is kept small compared to the dry part thereof so that said dry part acts as a fin for the wet part for heat dissipation.

Abstract: Processing of digitally-coded pictures to improve perceived quality without increasing transmission channel capacity, featuring dividing the video signal into a low, middle and high frequency signals (16, 26), finely quantizing the low frequency signal (18), adding pseudo-random noise (33) to the middle frequency signal prior to quantizing (28), enhancing (36) and adding pseudo-random noise (48) prior to coarsely quantizing (50) the high frequency signal. The pseudo-random signals are subtracted (37, 52) from the respective signals at the receiver.

Abstract: A surface acoustic wave (SAW) device including a crystal substrate having two substantially planar surfaces and at least one SAW-to-plate mode coupler positioned on one of the surfaces. The SAW-to-plate mode coupler includes a plurality of parallel, linear surface perturbations. The surface perturbations are adapted to convert a portion of an incident SAW to a bulk acoustic wave (BAW). In addition, the coupler is adapted to convert a portion of an incident BAW (from the crystal bulk region) to a SAW at those surface perturbations. In addition, the planar surfaces of the crystal substrate are adapted to reflect portions of incident BAW's. The coupler is positioned with respect to the crystal characteristics so that SAW's and BAW's resonantly interact at the coupler. In alternative configurations, a second SAW-to-plate mode coupler is positioned on the second surface of the crystal substrate.

Abstract: Two parallel rings are secured to a rotating shaft. A stationary central ring is located between the other two rings, creating parallel air gaps. The central ring includes a radially magnetized permanent magnet creating parallel magnetic circuits across the air gaps. Conductive coils are located on either side of the permanent magnet and arranged to carry current in the same direction. When energized by a control circuit, the conductors create a magnetic field that adds to the magnetic field across one gap and subtracts from the field across the other, providing an axial force on the shaft.

Abstract: Biologically active sulfur analogs of 6-aminopenicillanic acid having a nucleophile substituted in the 6-position are made by reacting a sulfenyl chloride with esters of diazopenicillanic acid. Biologically active sulfur analogs of 7-aminocephalosporanic acid having a nucleophile substituted in the 7-position are analogously made by reacting a sulfenyl chloride with esters of 7-diazocephalosporanic acid. Deacetoxycephalosporins can be formed from the corresponding analog of 6-aminopenicillanic acid and derivations thereof, by sulfoxide rearrangement of the thiazolidine ring of penicillins to the dihydrothiazine ring of cephalosporins. These nucleophile substituted sulfur analogs of penicillins and cephalosporins are new antibacterial agents and display antibacterial activity against a variety of microorganisms.

Abstract: Fluorinated low energy polymer surfaces are provided by fluorinating a hydrocarbon polymer with ions or radicals of fluorinated species in a cold plasma.

Abstract: A process for forming metal compositions containing in situ composites. A metal composition is heated to a liquid and then solidified by being directed into a cooling zone. The metal in the small volume at or near the liquid-solid interface is heated to achieve a high temperature gradient between the solid and liquid metal while not exceeding an average temperature in the liquid which degrades the container for the liquid metal. The metal fed into the small volume can be either a liquid or a solid.

Abstract: A generator for obtaining radioactive gallium-68 from germanium-68 bound in a resin containing unsubstituted phenolic hydroxyl groups. The germanium-68 is loaded into the resin from an aqueous solution of the germanium-68. A physiologically acceptable solution of gallium-68 having an activity of 0.1 to 50 millicuries per milliliter of gallium-68 solution is obtained. The solution is obtained from the bound germanium-68 which forms gallium-68 in situ by eluting the column with a hydrochloric acid solution to form an acidic solution of gallium-68. The acidic solution of gallium-68 can be neutralized.

Abstract: A separator to receive a fluid slurry containing magnetic particles and non-magnetic particles and operable to increase the concentration of the magnetic particles at one region within the slurry and deplete the concentration of the magnetic particles at another region of the slurry. There are no moving parts in this separator and its operation is continuous.

Abstract: An eye chart having a plurality of rows of letters where each letter is composed of a line-stroke having a plurality of adjoining black and white segments to provide an average reflectance which is the same as the reflectance of the gray background of the chart. Each row of the letters utilizes a different width line stroke (the line segments thereof are proportioned correspondingly). The sizes of the letters of each row are geometrically decreasing and are preferably in proportion to the width of the line stroke.

Abstract: An improved avalanche photodiode having an active layer of Ga.sub.x In.sub.1-x As.sub.y P.sub.1-y containing a p-n junction and a window layer grown epitaxially to an n.sup.+ substrate is disclosed herein, as well as methods for its fabrication.

Abstract: Ordered liquids, or mesophases, are aligned by forming a structure on a substrate surface using a planar process of formation, the surface structure having a predetermined pattern, and applying a mesophase to the surface to substantially orient the molecules of the mesophase in accordance with the predetermined pattern. A liquid crystal display device can be made in which, in a preferred embodiment, the liquid crystal is confined between two substrates having oppositely disposed surfaces on which selected patterns of surface structures have been formed. The surface structures can be grating structures made of a conductive material, such as metal, which structures act to align the liquid crystal in accordance with the selected patterns, to polarize light passing through the surface structures, and to provide electrical contacts so that an electrical signal applied thereto can produce an electric field in the region between the substrate surface structures.

Abstract: A process for fabricating polyimide membrane x-ray lithography masks is described. Thin membrane of polyimide is formed by spinning polyamic acid on a glass substrate and polymerizing in situ. The glass substrate acts as a holder and efficient heat sink during formation of gold absorber patterns on top of the polyimide. A support ring is then bonded to the polyimide, and the glass etched in dilute HF. Optically smooth polyimide membranes with thickness from 0.5 to 5 .mu.m are readily achieved. The method and resulting product is not limited to the above materials or to masks.

Abstract: A cross flow filtration molding apparatus and method are disclosed which are particularly useful for forming complicated shapes from dispersions of particles in a liquid medium. Dispersion is pumped through a mold which has porous walls and a sufficient pressure differential is applied to drive a portion of the liquid medium through the porous walls which results in deposition of particles on the walls to form a shaped article. The shaped article may inherently have sufficient structural integrity, or it may be post-treated to provide additional structural integrity.

Abstract: Isopenicillin derivatives having antimicrobial properties and a general formula of: ##STR1## where R, R.sub.1, and R.sub.2 are hydrogen, methyl, ethyl, propyl, isopropyl, or halogenated methyl, ethyl, propyl or isopropyl radicals and R.sub.3 is ##STR2## are produced in a cell-free system using an extract from Cephalosporium acremonium. The starting materials for the synthesis consist of tripeptides composed of unsubstituted or .beta.-substituted D-valine, unsubstituted or substituted L cysteine, and L- .alpha.-aminoadipic acid or its analogues. Certain enzymes in the cell-free extract are inactivated so that conversion does not proceed past the isopenicillin stage.

Abstract: Transparent heat-mirrors are disclosed which are formed from tin-doped indium oxide films or antimony-doped tin oxide films deposited onto polymeric substrates. Low temperature deposition processes, such as ion-beam sputtering, are employed to preserve the polymeric substrates, and films having high transparency to visible radiation and high reflectivity to infrared radiation are deposited on the polymeric substrates by carefully controlling the partial pressure of oxygen during deposition.

Abstract: A method of applying an electrical contact and an anodic reflection coating to an n.sup.+ layer of a direct gap semiconductor device, comprising applying an anodizable metal contact to the n.sup.+ layer and thereafter anodizing the n.sup.+ layer whereby its thickness is reduced and an antireflection layer is formed thereover.

Abstract: Representation of a speech signal by its short-time Fourier transform and the application of this representation to the problem of time compression and expansion of speech are presented. A time-frequency representation for linear time-varying systems is applied to a model for speech production to formulate a quasi-stationary representation for the speech waveform. This representation has the property that simple time scaling of the parameters of the representation corresponds to changing the rate of the speech. Given a real speech signal, short-time Fourier analysis provides a technique for estimating and modifying these parameters. The results of the theoretical analysis are used to design a high-quality speech rate-change system which are simulated on a general-purpose digital mini-computer.