Abstract: A plastic upper jaw is pivotably mounted by a steel pin to a plastic base. A spring urges the jaw to close upon the base. A trigger is pivotably mounted to the base. A catch restrains the upper jaw in a set position until the trigger is actuated. The base has two upwardly extending side walls. Each side wall has a cable opening adjacent the floor of the base. A cable tie is looped around a pipe or support member and extends through the opposed openings in the opposite side walls. The ends of the tie are connected to secure the rodent trap to the support member. Because the upper jaw provides a wide gripping area, allowing the trap to be safely set, the trap is readily moved into the set position while it is secured to the support member, even if in an overhead position.

Abstract: A rodent trap particularly adapted for rats has a plastic base to which a plastic upper jaw is pivotably mounted by a steel pin. A spring is engaged between the base and the upper jaw and urges the jaw to close upon the base. A trigger is pivotably mounted by the pin to ears which project upwardly from the base. A catch mechanism operates to restrain the upper jaw in a set position until the trigger is actuated. A plastic bait container has radially protruding flanges which permit it to be extended through a hole in the base beneath the trigger and secured to the base such that the bait within the container is accessible through another hole in the trigger. In one embodiment, the bait container is generally cylindrical and is twisted into place. The bait container is readily removed for replenishment.

Abstract: A plastic lid is hinged to a rodent bait containing base. A card holder protrudes from the inside surface of a lid upper wall. Tabs extend inwardly from two side rails extending from the inside surface, with a flexible service record card being retained between the tabs and the inside surface. Inadvertent dislodgment of the card from between the side rails is prevented by front and rear members. The card is readily removed from the card holder by being flexed and extracted over the front member. The tabs may have beveled front surfaces to facilitate insertion of the card. The card is marked with indicia to indicate the service history of the bait station.

Abstract: A molded plastic base has a rodent runway which extends from two inlet openings to a single rodent containment compartment. Pivotable ramps are positioned in the rodent runway adjacent cacti inlet opening. A plastic lid is slidingly engaged with the base, and is movable along the axis of the rodent runway. The lid has downwardly extending tabs which have inclined inside and outside surfaces, and barriers extending between each pair of tabs. The inclined surfaces of the tabs engage inclined protrusions which project upwardly from the ramps when the lid is slid open and closed, the engagement between the inclined surfaces causes the ramps to pivot out of the way of the barriers, facilitating smooth and uninterrupted opening and closing of the lid on the base.

Abstract: A plastic jaw or striker with downwardly facing teeth is pivotally mounted to a plastic base with mating upwardly facing teeth. A plastic trigger hangs from the base, and a coil spring extends between the jaw and the base rearward of the trigger. The spring holds the jaw in the set position, by engaging the rear of the jaw against the rear of the base. The trap is tuned to be not overly sensitive, avoiding springing of the trap by vibrations or insubstantial rodent entry. The spring or tension axis does not go through the trigger, simplifying construction and arrangement of parts. The open position is limited by the jaw engaging the base. The jaw is just over-center when set, such that a small movement towards closure does not trigger it. The trigger requires fairly large movement, facilitated by the raised pivot axis, to trigger the trap.

Abstract: An injection molded plastic body has a lid joined by a living hinge. A rodent passageway extends within the body between two aligned holes. The hinge is perpendicular to the passageway, allowing the lid to be opened when the body is fixed adjacent a building wall. The interior of the body is divided by a raised wall which is broken into two segments by an opening to a blind passageway extending perpendicular to the passageway. Two rodent feeding areas are positioned adjacent the blind passageway. Bait blocks are positioned within each feeding area on protrusions which are received within axially extending central holes. The blocks are clamped between underlying rings and cooperating structure depending downwardly from the lid. Instead of bait, a mechanical trap maybe positioned on two of three protrusions aligned along the blind passageway. The mechanical trap inter-fits with the protrusions to positively position the mechanical trap.

Abstract: A pest trap has a cover which engages with a base in two alternative positions. The cover has rodent access openings on opposed side walls which, in a first position, align with openings of similar dimensions in the opposed side walls of the base; and in a second position, when the cover is rotated 180°, align with solid portions of the base side walls to block the rodent access openings. A glue board within the base allows it to be used for trapping rodents and insects, or insects alone. The cover has tabs which pivot in base tab holes, and prongs which engage with base ledges to secure the cover to the base. The cover may have interior board restraint fingers which help to retain the glue board in a flat condition. A rod may support a bait block over a tray in place of the glue board.

Abstract: In the coding and decoding of stereo audio spectral values both the intensity stereo process and prediction are used in order to achieve high data compression. If intensity stereo coding is active in one section of scale factor bands, the prediction for the right channel in that range is deactivated, whereby the results of the prediction are not used to form the coded stereo audio spectral values. To allow further adaptation of the prediction for the right channel, the predictor of the right channel is fed with stereo audio spectral values for the channel, which again are intensity stereo decoded.

Abstract: Rodents are entrapped in hot melt adhesive which is disposed on a thermoformed thermoplastic base sheet which has a series of closely spaced ridges defining a rodent runway extending the length of the base sheet. The ridges create a series of depressed valleys which receive the adhesive and engage the quantity of adhesive with the base sheet to mechanically retain the adhesive against shifting off the base sheet. A substantially unobstructed expanse of adhesive without exposed ridges is presented on the runway for encounter by a rodent. Two stiffening ribs extend upwardly from the base sheet on either side of the runway to rigidify the base sheet. Multiple protrusions extend adjacent to each stiffening rib exterior to the runway. The protrusions are engaged on top and bottom by parallel projections of rack members within a papers or corrugated container such that multiple glue boards may be stored and dispensed.

Abstract: Adhesive rodent glue boards are compactly packaged in a flexible plastic wrapper. Thermoformed glue-containing boards have protruding dam walls which extend upwardly from a base wall to define a reservoir for rodent-entrapping glue. The boards have a peripheral rim below the level of the glue. A paperboard sleeve extends between the rim of a first board and the rim of an overlying, inverted, second board, to maintain the glue of the two boards in spaced, non-contacting, relation. The glue extends to a level proximate the upper lip of the dam wall, allowing the board to present a lower profile to targeted rodents.

Abstract: Digital signals, such as digitized television signals, are subjected to a source coding step followed by a channel mapping step. The source coding step causes the signal to be represented by first and second data streams. The first stream carries data regarded as more important and the second carries data regarded as less important. In the channel mapping step, the mapping is such that the data elements of the various data streams have differing probabilities of being erroneously detected at the receiver. The channel mapping step includes at least one multi-level coding step. The signal constellations used in the channel mapping step are partitioned into supersymbols, in which the distance between the symbols comprising at least ones of the supersymbols is less than a parameter referred to as the maximum intra-subset distance (MID).

Abstract: A diamond body, such as a CVD diamond film, is etched by immersion of the body in a molten or partially molten metal, such as the rare earth metal La or Ce. While the body is being etched, various portions of a major surface of the body can be protected for various time durations by masks against the etching--whereby, after dicing the body, the resulting dies can be used as submounts for lasers with feedback.

Abstract: An integrally molded plastic rodenticide dispenser has a base with a floor from which exterior sidewalls extend upwardly. A lid is joined to the base by an integral hinge. The lid is pivotal about the hinge to selectively cover and uncover the base. A passageway for pests, in particular rodents such as rats, is formed within the interior volume of the covered base by two converging barriers, the ends of which are spaced from one another to define a rodent feeding trough. Each barrier is comprised of two segments: a base barrier segment which is integrally formed with the base and extends upwardly from the base floor a distance less than the height of the base sidewalls, and a lid barrier segment which is integrally formed with the lid and which protrudes from the lid. The lid barrier segment is aligned with the base barrier segment when the lid covers the base to define a barrier across a portion of the base to block the passage of pests through the barrier.

Abstract: In contrast to previous approaches, the present inventors have discovered that diamond films can be grown by carbon CVT reactions occurring exclusively in the exothermic regime, where the lower temperature (<1500.degree.C.) conditions considerably simplify the equilibrium gas phase chemistry. Under these conditions of a small temperature gradient and short transport distance between the source and substrate, supersaturation of the gas phase with regard to graphite and diamond does not attain sufficiently high values to induce spontaneous homonucleation of graphite and diamond in the gas phase. With this process, temperatures as low as 680.degree.C. were found to be sufficient to induce the growth of continuous diamond films free of non-diamond allotropes.

Abstract: An integrated console for a human operator who provides listing and directory services, particularly for the 800 telephone number system, to callers via a stored program switching device employs simultaneous MS-DOS and a memory management utility, such as MicroSoft Windows.TM.. Data is exchanged between applications for MS-DOS and applications for Windows.TM. via a shared memory. Data pertaining to the directory and listing services is stored in a database which is accessed via a data network which may be a LAN or a WAN. Thus, the information in the database can be accessed by a plurality of operators on consoles in the network. Communication between the operator console and the stored program switching device is achieved via a digital subscriber line which is coupled to the console via an interface board compatible with the integrated services data network (ISDN).

Abstract: Photocurrent suppression is achieved without deleteriously affecting modulation performance in a surface normal, electro-absorption, quantum well modulator by introducing a sufficient number of non-radiative recombination centers in the quantum well region of the modulator. The presence of the non-radiative recombination centers significantly shortens the lifetime of photogenerated carriers and, thereby, suppresses the photocurrent. Modulation performance characteristics such as contrast ratio are maintained at acceptable levels even though exciton broadening occurs in the quantum wells. The present modulator exhibits a careful balance between defect density in the quantum wells and the acceptable degree of exciton broadening necessary to preserve quantum effects.

Abstract: A bar code (14) on an object (12) is read a distance from the object by a television camera. The output signal of the camera is thresholded to obtain a binary signal indicative of the image information associated with at least one scan line. This binary signal is written into a FIFO storage device (28) at a rate corresponding to the rate at which the camera images the bar code. Once the binary signal is fully written into the FIFO storage device, the binary signal is read from the FIFO at a second, much slower rate for decoding by a bar code decoder (36). In this way, the image of the bar code can be obtained by a television camera which is capable of imaging the bar code at a distance, while the image information can be decoded by a bar code decoder that operates to perform decoding at a rate much slower than the rate at which the camera acquires information.