Abstract: A four-octave soprano steel pan set includes a first pan and a second pan. Each pan is divided into three concentric rings and six radial sectors. An outermost of the three rings is further radially divided into two portions, to form twenty-four note pads. Each note pad is adapted to produce a distinct musical pitch when struck. Each of the radial sectors has four note pads therein, the four note pads in each of the radial sectors in octave relation to each other. Thus the twelve total radial sectors of the first and the second pan contain the notes sufficient to span four octaves.

Abstract: A floway system for a building roof includes a substrate for supporting a periphyton culture that removes nutrient pollution from surface water and isolates the building envelope from solar-induced heat. The substrate is seedable to form a floway. A basin is provided for holding water to be treated, and a pump for pumping water therefrom to the floway inlet. At the floway outlet is positioned an effluent-collection gutter, which channels effluent to a collection vessel. Algal biomass can be harvested. A flexible divider is positioned in the gutter along the long axis, a top edge of securable adjacent the floway outlet so that, during harvesting, algal biomass is scraped into a distal section of the gutter, and thence to a biomass collection basin. The harvester can include a scraper and mechanism for traveling down the floway. The harvester can also move between adjacent floways and to the building roof.

Abstract: A device for generating atmospheric pressure cold plasma inside a hand-held unit discharges cold plasma with simultaneously different rf wavelengths and their harmonics. The device includes an rf tuning network that is powered by a low-voltage power supply connected to a series of high-voltage coils and capacitors. The rf energy signal is transferred to a primary containment chamber and dispersed through an electrode plate network of various sizes and thicknesses to create multiple frequencies. Helium gas is introduced into the first primary containment chamber, where electron separation is initiated. The energized gas flows into a secondary magnetic compression chamber, where a balanced frequency network grid with capacitance creates the final electron separation, which is inverted magnetically and exits through an orifice with a nozzle. The cold plasma thus generated has been shown to be capable of accelerating a healing process in flesh wounds on animal laboratory specimens.

Abstract: A system and method for facilitating the rapid proliferation of floating aquatic plants on a body of water for use in bioremediation are provided. In a particular embodiment, a method includes the steps of affixing a weight to each of a plurality of floating aquatic plants and distributing a plurality of weighted plants across a body of water so that at least some of the plants are sufficiently spatially distributed so as to avoid interfering with each other in an initial growth phase. The weighted plants are permitted to produce daughter plants and to substantially cover a surface of the body of water. Water desired to be treated for excess nutrients is channeled to the body of water for bioremediation by the plants, and treated water is then channeled out from the body of water.

Abstract: A method is provided that can amend treatment wetland soils and sediments in order to reduce pollutant export following the use of the wetland for contaminant removal. The method includes the steps of draining at least a portion of a water body and permitting the growth of vegetation on the sediments. Once grown, the resulting biomass is tilled into the soil, and the water body is permitted to re-hydrate. In some instances a portion of the vegetation can be harvested prior to tilling remaining crop residues into the soil. In another embodiment, the draining step occurs naturally.

Abstract: A jack port locking device includes a base having side longitudinal slots. A protrusion extends upwardly into the slot. The base's top is compressible between a released and a compressed position. A ramp slopes upward from the front end. A stop higher than the ramp is positioned rearward of the ramp. A front portion of the device in the compressed position is dimensioned for insertion into a port so that the ramp is retained within the port when the device is in the released position. When the device is retained within the port, the protrusion prevents sufficient compression to remove the device from the port, and the stop is positioned to prevent access into the port. Preferably, the device is removable only by destroying the device's integrity. The device may have an electronically pollable sensor for detecting the device's presence in a port over a network.

Abstract: A self-contained, integrated micro-cube-sized inertial measurement unit is provided wherein accuracy is achieved through the use of specifically oriented sensors, the orientation serving to substantially cancel noise and other first-order effects, and the use of a noise-reducing algorithm such as wavelet cascade denoising and an error correcting algorithm such as a Kalman filter embedded in a digital signal processor device. In a particular embodiment, a pair of three sets of angle rate sensors are orientable triaxially in opposite directions, wherein each set is mounted on a different sector of a base orientable normal to the other two and comprising N gyroscopes oriented at 360/N-degree increments, where N?2. At least one accelerometer is included to provide triaxial data. Signals are output from the angle rate sensors and accelerometer for calculating a change in attitude, position, angular rate, acceleration, and/or velocity of the unit.

Abstract: Pollutants, such as heavy metals, phosphorus, and pathogenic organisms, are removed from water by adding a chemical coagulant to water within an enclosure. With mixing, coagulation and flocculation occur, and a floc containing the pollutant settles to the enclosure bottom; so the treated water above the floc is free from at least some of the pollutant. Some of the treated water is removed from the enclosure, and new water is added. The new water and the settled floc are mixed to resuspend floc components. The process is repeated until the floc no longer exhibits contaminant-removal capability. In an alternate system, a matrix element is deployed within the enclosure, which captures a portion of the floc that settles within the water column. Pollutants in new water added to the enclosure encounter these suspended floc particles and are subsequently removed from the water.

Abstract: A motion-activated reminder calendar (1) having a front panel (38) and a rear panel (39) connected to one another by a plurality of sides (40), a calendar display (47) located on the front panel (38), a date display (4) having a plurality of day displays (9), a motion-activated sensor (5) electrically connected to a voltage source (34), a data storage means (42) electrically connected to the sensor (5), a record button (11) located on each day display (9) and electrically connected to the data storage means (42) and located on each day display (9) wherein the data storage means (42) records and stores the verbal reminders and a speaker (6) electrically connected to the data storage means (42) wherein the verbal reminder is transmitted through the speaker (6) on the selected day display (9) when motion is detected by the motion-activated sensor (5).