Abstract: A multimedia collaboration system combines unique multimedia communications and media processing mechanisms with off-the-shelf components that support information sharing and distribution. More specifically, the system provides an asynchronous multimedia collaboration whiteboard that enables the creation of messages containing synchronized voice, graphics and mouse gestures to describe conditions associated with an underlying multimedia object. On the server side, the system includes a delayed conference manager connected to a conference database, an email server, a newsgroup server and a web server. On the client side, the system includes a dynamic annotation editor which enables the use of synchronized voice, graphics and mouse gestures in the discussion. The client side also includes a newsgroup and email reader and a web browser.

Abstract: Compositions and methods for the treatment and diagnosis of lipopolysaccharide-related conditions and coagulant-related disease are provided. Compositions include polypeptides which are identical or homologous to a certain cationic protein (CAP18) obtained from mammalian granulocytes, particularly including a reactive nitrogen inhibiting peptide (RNIP) fragment found at the carboxy-terminus of CAP18. Polypeptides are capable of binding to LPS and inhibiting LPS-mediated activation of macrophage, as well as interfering with the clotting cascade to inhibit coagulation in conditions such as disseminated intravascular coagulation. Compositions comprising the polypeptides in a suitable pharmaceutical carrier are also provided.

Abstract: Regenerative adsorption of mercury on activated carbons derived from scrap tires enables the removal and recovery of mercury from combustion/incineration flue gas, with concurrent control of SO.sub.2 and NO.sub.x. Flue gas is used for regeneration of the activated carbon, and mercury stripped from the activated carbon is recovered downstream of the regenerator.

Abstract: An improved method of removing rust stains from carpet and other textiles including application of ammonium bifluoride or other fluoride compounds to a rust stain. If the ammonium bifluoride is unable to remove the stain, an acidifying agent is added to the ammonium bifluoride to generate hydrofluoric acid on the stain. The unreacted hydrofluoric acid is then neutralized and removed along with the stain.

Abstract: A carotene conjugate of the formula: ##STR1## where R.sup.1 is hydrogen or methyl; R.sup.2 is: ##STR2## R.sup.3, R.sup.4 and R.sup.5 are independently, hydrogen, methyl or ethyl; R.sup.6 and R.sup.7 are independently --R.sup.13, --OR , --C(R.sup.6)(O), --C(R.sup.16).sub.2 OR.sup.13, --CH.dbd.CHR.sup.13, or --(CH.sub.2)R.sup.14 ; R.sup.8 is --R.sup.13, --OR.sup.13, --C(R.sup.16)(O), --C(R.sup.16).sub.2 OR.sup.13, --CH.dbd.CHR.sup.13, or --(CH.sub.2)R.sup.14 or taken with R.sup.10 is .dbd.O; R.sup.9 is --R.sup.13, --OR.sup.13, --C(R.sup.16)(O), --C(R.sup.16).sub.2 OR.sup.13, --CH.dbd.CHR.sup.13, or --(CH.sub.2)R.sup.14 or taken with R.sup.10 is a chemical bond; R.sup.10 is --R.sup.13, --OR.sup.13, --C(R.sup.16)(O) , --C(R.sup.16).sub.2 OR.sup.13, --CH.dbd.CHR.sup.13, or --(CH.sub.2)R.sup.14 or taken together with R.sup.9 is a chemical bond or taken with R.sup.8 is .dbd.O; R.sup.11 is R.sup.13, or --OR.sup.13 ; R.sup.12 is --C(R.sup.13).sub.2 C(Y)--, --C(O)O(O)C--, --C(NR.sup.13)O(O)C--, or --C(O)N(R.sup.

Abstract: The RF tag system of the present invention minimizes the effect of the RF tag on the overall radar cross section (RCS) of the object with which it is associated, tailors the signal reflected from the tag to match the actual RCS of the object with which it is associated, utilizes an RF tag design that reduces degenerative RF coupling at the tag, and is designed to exploit the operational features of conventional pulse Doppler radars. In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a radio frequency tag system is provided including an interrogator and a tag. The tag is secured to an object. The interrogator is configured to generate a transmitted electromagnetic interrogation signal at a predetermined interrogation frequency. The tag comprises an antenna array including a plurality of receiver antennas and a plurality of transmitter antennas.

Abstract: A multiprocessor computer system includes processing element nodes interconnected by physical communication links. Routers route messages between processing element nodes on the physical communication links. Each router includes input ports for receiving messages, output ports for sending messages from the router, two types of virtual channels, a lookup table associated with the input port having a lookup table virtual channel number, and a virtual channel assignment mechanism. The virtual channel assignment mechanism assigns an output next virtual channel number for determining the type of virtual channel to be used for routing from a next router along a given route. The next virtual channel number is assigned based on the lookup table virtual channel number and an input next virtual channel number received from a previous router along the given route.

Abstract: A hybrid material comprising a substrate prepared by curing a fabricated material made of a mixture of one or more kinds of organic binders and at least one kind of inorganic powders, and at least one unidirectional fiber layer which is comprised from one or more kinds of fibers, adhered to at least one of outer surfaces of the substrate by resin impregnation, wherein E.sub.f /E.sub.s satisfies the following relational formula (1) and E.sub.f .multidot.t.sub.f /E.sub.s .multidot.t.sub.s satisfies the following relational formula (2),E.sub.f /E.sub.s >1 (1)E.sub.f /E.sub.s .gtoreq.E.sub.f .multidot.t.sub.f /E.sub.s .multidot.t.sub.s .gtoreq.0.15 (2)where E.sub.f is bending modulus of elasticity of the resin impregnated unidirectional fiber layer, E.sub.s is bending modulus of elasticity of the substrate, t.sub.f is thickness of resin impregnated unidirectional fiber layer and t.sub.s is thickness of the substrate.

Abstract: A hearing aid apparatus is disclosed that employs both an omnidirectional microphone and at least one directional microphone of at least the first order. The electrical signals output from the directional microphone are supplied to an equalization amplifier which at least partially equalizes the amplitude of the low frequency electrical signal components of the electrical signal with the amplitude of the mid and high frequency electrical signal components of the electrical signals of the directional microphone. A switching circuit accepts the signals output from both the omnidirectional microphone and the directional microphone. The switching circuit connects the signal from the omnidirectional microphone to an input of a hearing aid amplifier when the switching circuit is in a first switching state, and connects the output of the equalization circuit to the hearing aid amplifier input when the switching circuit is in a second switching state.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for measurement of wide dynamic range signals is provided. The method and apparatus is particularly suited to measurement of physical parameters over a wide dynamic range and utilizes a plurality of concurrently operating channels of moderate dynamic range, each of which incorporates a detector. The method has the steps of transducing the physical signal into an electrical signal; amplifying and filtering the electrical signal through a plurality of channels, each of which operating within a preselected range of levels; applying the filtered and amplified electrical signals to a plurality of detectors, one for each channel; averaging, using a first time constant, the electrical signals to create a plurality of outputs; sampling the outputs; determining which channel of the plurality of channels has a valid output; averaging, using a second time constant greater than the first time constant, the resultant series of valid output samples (i.e.

Abstract: A computer-implemented method for the identification and interpretation of text captions in an encoded video stream of digital video signals comprises sampling by selecting frames for video analysis, decoding by converting each of frames selected into a digitized color image, performing edge detection for generating a grey scale image, binarizing by converting the grey scale image into a bi-level image by means of a thresholding operation, compressing groups of consecutive pixel values in the binary image, mapping the consecutive pixel values into a binary value, and separating groups of connected pixels and determining whether they are likely to be part of a text region in the image or not.

Abstract: A system for automatically composing target objects from a sequence of x-ray images for the purpose of diagnostic examination or measurement detects and matches semantically meaningful visual event hierarchy. The system can automatically composite the target object explicitly ignoring image regions that are not of interest for diagnosis. Diagnostic examination and measurement are helped significantly by the use of compound x-ray images. Prior to compound image generation, each constituent image undergoes two automatic pre-processing steps through a background detector and an emphasis field extractor. The system further includes a pair-wise aligner, a compound image generator and an examiner/measurer. The system increases the efficiency of compound image generation and improves its accuracy by de-emphasizing alignment of irrelevant structures in the images.

Abstract: An apparatus and method emulates mouse pointer functions utilizing a keyboard having an additional special function key. When the special function key is depressed, designated keys on the keyboard are interpreted as "mouse keys" which may be used to direct a pointer on a computer screen in a manner similar to a conventional mouse pointer. In one embodiment, the keys used as cursor movement keys during normal operation are designated as "mouse keys" which effect the movement of the pointer on the screen when the special function key is depressed. In addition, other keys may be used as left and right mouse buttons and as mouse lock keys. In one embodiment, the pointer speed is gradually increased when the user continuously holds any of the cursor movement keys down for a preselected interval.

Abstract: This invention provides catalysts for the oxidation of hydrogen sulfide. In particular, the invention provides catalysts for the partial oxidation of hydrogen sulfide to elemental sulfur and water. The catalytically active component of the catalyst comprises a mixture of metal oxides containing titanium oxide and one or more metal oxides which can be selected from the group of metal oxides or mixtures of metal oxides of transition metals or lanthanide metals. Preferred metal oxides for combination with TiO.sub.2 in the catalysts of this invention include oxides of V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Nb, Mo, Tc, Ru, Rh, Hf, Ta, W, Au, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, and Lu. Catalysts which comprise a homogeneous mixture of titanium oxide and niobium (Nb) oxide are also provided. A preferred method for preparing the precursor homogenous mixture of metal hydroxides is by coprecipitation of titanium hydroxide with one or more other selected metal hydroxides.

Abstract: A display device for a transportation includes: a display unit displaying a display image on front and rear face sides, the display images displayed on the rear face side being in mirror image relationship with each other; and an optical member for inverting the display image displayed on the rear face side; wherein the display image displayed on the front face side is directly seen by a driver and the display image displayed on the rear face side is inverted by the optical member, so as to see in the same direction of the display image displayed on the front face side. The above display unit may be constituted by a light source having plural color spectra; an attenuation filter in which a transmittance for light emitted from the light source can be partly changed by an external signal; and a transparent light guide plate which guides light emitted from the light source to at least one of front and rear faces of the attenuation filter.

Abstract: A method for preventing tissue damage associated with graft-versus-host disease in a patient having undergone hematopoietic cell transplantation, and host-versus-graft disease in a patient having undergone organ allograft transplantation. The method includes orally administering to the patient a prophylactically effective amount of a topically active corticosteroid, such as beclomethasone dipropionate, for a period of time following hematopoietic cell or organ allograft transplantation, and prior to the presentation of symptoms associated with graft-versus-host disease or host-versus-graft disease. Representative tissues includes tissue of the intestine and liver, while representative tissue damage includes inflammation thereof.

Abstract: Apparatus for determining a proper insertion depth of a biopsy needle so that a sampling end of the needle just reaches to a designated target area within the body comprises at least one straight calibrated pointing device aligned to point through the selected point in a straight line passing through the designated target region. The pointing device exhibits first and second markers along its length such that respective images are formed on a first image plane by utilizing radiation from a radiation source, along with images corresponding to the selected point and the target area. The images are formed along a straight line in this order: (A) the first marker, (B) the second marker, (C) the selected point, and (D) the target region. The apparatus includes an arrangement for measuring distances on the image plane between images (A), (B), (C), and (D) and a calculator for calculating the cross ratio of the distances, whereby the proper insertion depth of the biopsy needle is determined.