Abstract: A method of removing layers of heat cured paint buildup on supporting hangers is disclosed. The method includes coating support hangers with a layer of a thermally expandable material in a water soluble carrier and thereafter applying a water insoluble coating layer. The thermally expandable material, the carrier and the water insoluble coating are all selected so as to be relatively unaffected by the curing temperatures of the paint line where the hangers are to be used. When an undesirably thick coating of cured paint has built-up on the hangers, it is removed by heating to a temperature sufficient to expand the thermally expandable material thereby cracking the paint layers. Thereafter, the hangers are soaked in a hot aqueous solution to dissolve the carrier layer and remove the cracked, cured paint layers.

Abstract: A method for treating and maintaining floors cleans the floor and restores an optimum coefficient of friction. The method involves a restoring phase and a cleaning phase, in which the cleaning phase is performed using the same solution as in the restoring phase, but in a diluted form. The method is applicable to cleaning solid hard floors such as those made of unglazed quarry tiles, glazed ceramic tiles and cement.

Abstract: A method is provided for manufacturing a fiber optic sensor for detecting or measuring a parameter of interest in a sample fluid, including pH, concentration of dissolved gases such as O.sub.2 or CO.sub.2, and the like. The sensing chemistry is affixed to the distal end of an elongated optical fiber by way of an adhesive layer typically comprised of an acrylic adhesive composition. Novel optical sensors, fabricated using the aforementioned method, are provided as well.

Abstract: A method for removing ferric-ferrous oxides from a liquid containing ferric-ferrous oxides and ferrous ions and to a method for determining the amount of ferrous ion in a liquid. The invention has particular utility for use in a method to accurately determine the corrosion rates of ferrometals in contact with aqueous liquids by filtering ferric-ferrous oxides from the aqueous liquid prior to determining the ferrous ion content of the aqueous liquid.

Abstract: A chemical sensor couples a material that changes temperature in response to a chemical condition with an oscillator. The oscillator is coupled to the material to detect the change in temperature in the material so that the frequency of the oscillator changes in correspondence with the change in temperature as an indication of the chemical condition.

Abstract: A self-contained single-use apparatus for cleaning and hydrating a pair of contact lenses comprises a housing including a pair of hollow snap-lock lens containers in which opposed layers of a deformable relatively hydrophobic reactive material having surfaces arranged for non-abrasive contiguous wetted contact with the optical surfaces of the lenses when the lenses are enclosed in the housings. While in contact with the optical surfaces contaminants in the lenses are attracted to the contacting surfaces of the reactive layers. Upon removal of the lenses the attracted contaminants remain on the contacting surfaces and are disposed of with the housing. The container contains sufficient absorbed liquid for maintaining the lens in a hydrated condition while being treated in the container during the treatment process.

Abstract: A chemical switch device comprising a film which irreversibly reacts upon exposure to specific chemical components in the environment under the conditions of measurement. The reactions can lead to large changes in the physical and chemical properties of the film which are measurable electrically, optically or by other methods.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a field kit for the detection of analytes and to a method for using such a field kit. The field kit comprises a tray and lid adhered to the surface of the tray. Reaction-reagent compartments are formed by recesses in the tray when the tray is adhered to the lid. Probe compartments may also be included if desired. In operation, the tray and lid are bent at a score line to open the wells containing the reaction reagents. The lid is bent to form an A-shaped structure so that the kit may be placed in an upright position for use. A portion of the lid is peeled back from the tray to release probes and other, non-liquid components, if present.

Abstract: The present invention provides novel test cartridges for use in the assay of liquid samples and methods of carrying out such assays. These test cartridges are particularly useful in assays which include at least one step during which the sample to be assayed and one or more components of the assay system are kept separated by a pierceable member. The test cartridges comprise a housing through which the sample flows during the assay. The housing includes a holding chamber for holding the sample and a test chamber separated by a pierceable member having a cut therein. The test chamber further includes a partition member which has an opening therethrough and includes at least one reagent for the assay. A transfer member movably mounted in the test chamber can move towards and pierce the pierceable member by moving through the cut and contact the liquid sample in the holding chamber.

Abstract: Disclosed are oxygen concentration and/or pressure sensing devices and methods which incorporate photoluminescent silica aerogels. Disclosed sensors include a light proof housing for holding the photoluminescent aerogel, a source of excitation radiation (e.g., a UV source), a detector for detecting radiation emitted by the aerogel, a system for delivering a sample gas to the aerogel, and a thermocouple. Also disclosed are water resistant oxygen sensors having a photoluminescent aerogel coated with a hydrophobic material.

Abstract: A PCB supporting electronics is potted in a resilient sheet of material having an adhesive back face glued to a urinal below the flush water outlet. The front face is a target for a urine stream; it supports a urine sensor, say a temperature sensor. Added sensors measure urine characteristics as it flows over the face. Residue is flushed away. The PCB supports a data processing circuit. The output is sent to a remote indicator.

Abstract: At first, a semiconductor wafer is held and rotated by a spin chuck, and supplied with a hydrofluoric acid solution from a chemical liquid nozzle to remove natural oxide films on the wafer. Then, the wafer is supplied with pure water for rinsing it from a rinsing nozzle while the wafer is rotated. Right before the pure water stops being supplied, the wafer is supplied with an IPA liquid from a replacing medium nozzle while the wafer is rotated. The pure water is replaced with the IPA liquid by means of the Marangoni effect and a centrifugal force. Then, the wafer is rotated at 300 rpm for one second, at 3000 rpm for four seconds, and at 5000 rpm for five seconds, in this order, to remove the IPA liquid by means of a centrifugal force.

Abstract: A method was developed for the nondestructive removal of thermoset foamed potting material from the electronics package of components in ammunition. The ultimate objective in this effort was to perform a systems technical analysis of the electronic guidance and fuse systems. This was being done in order to determine the electronic components used, the engineering design, functional circuitry, and overall performance of the ammunition.

Abstract: In a flue gas desulfurization process based on the wet lime-gypsum method, the controlled oxidation of sulfites, by comparison of the redox potential of an absorbing fluid in a sample tank and the redox potential of the absorbing fluid in a completely oxidized state in a reference tank, and adjustment of the rate of air flow through the absorbing fluid, is improved by removing peroxides from the absorbing fluid in the reference tank before passing air therethrough to effect oxidization to a completely oxidized state. The method avoids instability due to the presence of peroxides in the absorbing fluid.

Abstract: Light, pulsed or continuous at a wavelength (e.g. 780 nm), fluoresceces a specimen. The specimens may be combinations of a dye (preferably labelled), an antigen (e.g. rubella) and an antibody reactive with the antigen, with properties of polarizing the light when fluoresced. The light polarized in a first direction (e.g. z-axis) parallel to the incident light and in a second direction (e.g. x-axis) perpendicular to the incident light are measured. A second specimen is then provided with the antigen and the antibody but without the dye. The same light as discussed above fluoresces the second specimen and polarizes the light when fluoresced. The light polarized in the first (z-axis) and second (x-axis) directions in the second specimen is measured. These measurements are processed in a microprocessor with the measurements in the z and x directions in the first specimen to identify the antigen or, when the antigen is known, to identify the concentration of the antigen in the first specimen.

Abstract: A gas detection and measurement system includes a light source, a light sensor, a test cell body having a first fluid port and a second fluid port, and first and second optical paths from the light source to the light sensor through the test cell. The first and second optical paths have different lengths. As fluid flows through the test cell body, light intensity measurements are taken along the first and second optical paths so that the concentration of a target gas within the fluid can be calculated.

Abstract: The invention is a sensing method and an oxygen sensor for detecting a change of oxygen partial pressure in an ambient atmosphere through a change of a measurable physical property of a sensing material. The sensor includes a sensing material selected from metal or its oxides which, when at an elevated temperature and exposed to a gas containing a changing partial pressures of oxygen, is capable of changing from one metal or metal oxide phase to another such oxide phase and vice versa. Associated with such phase change is a change in a measurable physical property of the material. The sensor also includes an electrical heating source, connectable to a power source, maintaining a temperature gradient across the sensing material since it is critical that the sensing material exist in at least two phases during active sensing.

Abstract: A three-dimensional structure of porous silicon considerably improves the anchorage of sensor-active material such as, for example, enzymes, antibodies, etc., on or in the substrate surface of chemical sensors, in particular silicon-based biosensors. This structure is produced by means of suitable etching which forms pore apertures adapted to the penetrability of the sensor-active material. The pore walls advantageously receive a non-conductive boundary layer which consists of oxides of Si and/or Al or Ta or silicon nitride and are preferably 1-100 nm thick. The porous layer is advantageously between 10 nm and 100 .mu.m thick and the pores are preferably in the form of branched ducts whose average diameter is 1 nm-10 .mu.m and in particular 10-1000 nm. The sensor-active material can optionally be distributed in a glass, solid, plastics or polymer membrane.

Abstract: A method for the determination of the oxidizability of low density lipoproteins (LDL) in a serum or plasma sample from a mammal, which method comprisesisolating the LDL from the serum or plasma sample for the preparation of a LDL fraction,separating the lipids from the LDL fraction to obtain a lipid fraction therefrom,determining the baseline level of conjugated dienes (BDC) in the lipid fraction.

Abstract: The present invention provides for a semiconductor bath system which has a tank, a housing which joins the tank, and a seal for the joint between the housing and the tank. A porous conduit is placed in close proximity with the seal. A pump drives washing fluid through the conduit and through the walls of the conduit so that the fluid irrigates the seal to preserve its integrity.