Abstract: A test fixture for testing firearms or ammunition includes a base, a block, and a firing pin. The base has a lateral channel defining a front upright and a rear upright. The front upright is configured to support a firearm barrel. The block is rotatable within the lateral channel between an open position and a closed position. The open position provides user access to the firearm barrel. The firing pin is housed in the block. The closed position of the block aligns the firing pin with the firearm barrel.

Abstract: In some embodiments, social relationship information indicating social relationships between members of a group may be obtained. As an example, the social relationships may include a social relationship between a first member of the group and at least one other member of the group. Participation information indicating prior participation of the first group member (in prior events/activities with at least one other person with whom the first group member has the social relationship) may be obtained. Based on the prior participation of the first group member and at least one preference of the first group member with respect to participation in the prior events/activities, social-relationship-related conditions (for overriding a preference of a group member in making group recommendations) may be determined. Preference information indicating preferences of the group members may be obtained.

Abstract: A method and system is presented for providing event-attendance-responsive notifications via a hybrid architecture including a computer system and a social networking platform separate from the computer system. As an example, the computer system may obtain, from the social networking platform, profile-related information indicating characteristics of the social networking platform users. The computer system may determine a set of users of the social networking platform that have similar characteristics as one another based on the profile-related information. The computer system may predict that a user of the set of social networking platform users is or will be attending an event. The computer system may cause a notification regarding an attendance status of the user with respect to the event to be presented to at least one other user of the set of social networking platform users as one another.

Abstract: A method and system is presented for recommending an event or activity to members of a group. The system and method may access a group profile that includes preference information for each of a plurality of members. The system and method may determine a group preference based on the group profile, where the group preference is based on a preference of at least one of the plurality of members. The system and method may select, from among a plurality of events or activities, an event or activity for the plurality of members of the group to attend or do. The selection may be based on the group preference. The system and method may further create an itinerary of the event or activity and any planned ancillary services, and may facilitate social media and other services for the event.

Abstract: A method, apparatus and computer program product for providing removal of replicated objects based on garbage collection is presented. Data objects are replicated from a primary source to a backup device. A notification is received from a garbage collection process for at least one data object replicated from the primary source to the backup device, the notification indicating that the data object should be deleted. The data object having the notification is deleted from the backup destination.

Abstract: Methods in accordance with the present invention can include determining a position of a head along a stroke by locating one or more marker-zones printed to a reference surface of a disk. The one or more marker-zones can be printed to a portion of the reference surface as one or more pulses from a template pattern that can further comprise a plurality of chevrons. In one embodiment, each pulse can trace the motion of the stroke along at least a portion of the radius of the reference surface. A pulse can identify a marker-zone edge when the pulse disappears at some radius from the center of the disk. By moving the head along the stroke, the marker-zone edge can be detected and a gross position determined. A fractional position can be determined by measuring a phase of a chevron located at substantially the same radial location as the edge.

Abstract: Template patterns in accordance with the present invention can include one or more maker-zones printed to a reference surface of a disk for determining gross-position along a stroke of a read head connected with a rotary actuator. The one or more marker-zones can be printed or otherwise written to a portion of the reference surfaces as one or more pulses. In one embodiment, each pulse can trace the motion of the stroke along at least a portion of the radius of the reference surface. A pulse can identify a marker-zone edge when a di-bit (a transition pair representing a pulse) disappears at some radius from center of the disk. At a radius closer to the center of the disk, the di-bit can abruptly reappear so that the pulse is continued. The interruption in the radial continuity of the magnetized pulse defines the marker-zone and can be any length.

Abstract: An optimized refresh strategy for increasing bandwidth of an LCD. The present invention results in an LCD suitable for dynamic display of information. In the present invention, a display memory is used to store display data generated by a CPU and to provide that data to an LCD. All data writes to the display memory by the CPU are tracked and rows or columns that contain modified data are tagged. These tags may be "set" by mapping the display memory write addresses to row or column numbers. The tags are examined and mapped back into the display memory addresses and only those rows or columns containing changed data are transferred to the data stream for display. As a result, only the information that is changed in the display memory is sent to the display and the dynamic bandwidth of the display is maximized. The refresh in the present invention can be either row-based or column-based.