Abstract: A laminar board having a base of bonded wood particles carrying a decorat facing is produced by sequentially moving a carrier web through a loading zone and a press zone. The carrier web consists essentially of paper impregnated with a synthetic resin composition and having a permeability to water vapor of at least 1000 g/m.sup.2 /day. A layer of loose wood particles intimately mixed with a bonding agent is superimposed on the carrier web in the loading zone, and the resulting layered material is subjected in the press zone to a temperature and pressure sufficient to bond the loose particles to each other by the bonding agent in a dense structure and simultaneously to bond the particles to the carrier web by the bonding agent and/or the synthetic resin composition.

Abstract: Granular .gamma.-alumina in contact with the waste water of paper mills contaminated with oxygen-demanding, organic substances adsorbs the contaminants, particularly ligninsulfonic acids, and lowers the oxygen demand of the waste water much more effectively than activated charcoal, thereby permitting the purified waste to be fed directly to a secondary biological treatment without damaging the microorganisms.

Abstract: An artificial head assembly for a human femur consists of the head portion roper and a metal pin. The head portion is a sintered ceramic ball having a polished contact face of convex, spherical curvature and a blind bore tapering conically inward toward the contact face. The pin is shaped for insertion of one end into the hollow stump of the femur, the other end tapering conically at the same apex angle as the bore in the ball. A knurling of the conical face of the pin reduces the compressive strength of the pin surface to less than the tensile strength of the ball so that the assembled head and pin can be sterilized without cracking the ceramic head portion because of differences in coefficients of thermal expansion between the metal and the ceramic material.

Abstract: The dissolution and loss of granular .gamma.-alumina in acidic water conted with the alumina for purification from lignin and its derivatives can be reduced or eliminated by adding to the acidic waste water an aluminum salt of mineral acid. A flocculate of aluminum hydroxide having the impurities adsorbed thereon is formed on the granular aluminum oxide, and is converted to .gamma.-alumina when the granular material is calcined in air for combustion of the organic waste material.

Abstract: The biochemical oxygen demand of waste water from paper mills containing nin and other colloidally dispersed organic contaminants is sharply reduced by adsorption of the contaminants from the acidified waste water by granular alumina. The treatment is most effective at pH 2.5 and when the waste water is acidified with hydrochloric acid.

Abstract: The waste water of a sulfite pulp mill containing lignin and lignin derivves which are not bio-degradable is purified by contact with a fixed bed of granular, porous .gamma.-alumina having a particle size of 0.5-10 mm and a specific surface area of at least 140 m.sup.2 /g.