Abstract: An interface device for provisioning Internet Protocol (IP) communications to be established for base station equipment that employ proprietary device specific protocols. A fixed station interface (FSI) translates between a V.24 High-Level-Data-Link Control (HDLC) protocols used for external data connections on base station equipment to a Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol (VOIP) open-standard protocol. Upon being deployed in First Responder communications networks (that use legacy base station equipment), the FSI provisions for the retention of existing installed base station equipment while providing a low cost solution to support VOIP communications interconnectivity and reliability, thereby enhancing the effectiveness and safety of the First Responder systems.

Abstract: Methods and systems for measuring the effectiveness of pigment transfer in a tamper evident tape. A test area can be established on a substrate upon which a residual image is formed by pulling a tamper-evident tape. The test area is divided into a predefined number of units. Then, the number of units in which a residual is left behind on a surface of the substrate can be counted and compared to the number of units within an area of un-applied tamper-evident tape of identical application design such that a percentage of units remaining on the substrate after removal of the tamper-evident tape with the residual comprises a criterion for evaluating a relative effectiveness of the tamper-evident tape.

Abstract: The present disclosure describes simulants and methods of production thereof that imitate characteristics of known explosives, including characteristics at the microscopic and macroscopic level. For instance, the present disclosure includes a simulant with the same texture, granularity, bulk density, particle density, and porosity of a known explosive. The simulants described herein provide the macroscopic bulk physical properties and the microscopic scale properties of actual explosives.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are described herein for the interface of an ion mobility spectrometer (IMS) to a mass spectrometer (MS) that utilizes collisional focusing, through internal modification. Commercial standalone IMS instrumentation cannot be combined in tandem with a commercially available MS that utilizes collisional focusing due to the physics of the differentially pumped interface of the MS being an unsuitable environment for an IMS measurement. The invention provides for transfer of the ion beam from the IMS to the MS without distortion of the chemical species or temporal profile due to large scale collisions in the differentially pumped interface, by increasing the electric field strength between the orifice and skimmer, and decreasing the pressure in the differentially pumped interface, thereby reducing the number of background gas collisions encountered by the ion beam during transit from the IMS to the MS.