Abstract: Brassieres are provided which provide enhanced levels of comfort and support to the wearer. In one aspect, the invention provides a brassiere comprising an elastic material and damping arrangement, wherein the damping arrangement is arranged so as to dampen movements of a strap of cup caused by movement of a breast. In another aspect there is provided a brassiere having a strap and cup arrangement which is configured to distribute the breast load. Also provided is a brassiere for constraining movement of a wearer's breasts during wear, wherein said brassiere is configured such that movement of one breast caused by movement of the wearer is restrained by a remaining breast.

Abstract: Brassieres are provided which provide enhanced levels of comfort and support to the wearer. In one aspect, the invention provides a brassiere comprising an elastic material and clamping means, wherein the clamping means is arranged so as to clamp movements of a strap or cup caused by movement of a breast. In another aspect there is provided a brassiere having a strap and cup arrangement which is configured to distribute the breast load. Also provided is a brassiere for constraining movement of a wearer's breasts during wear, wherein said brassiere is configured such that movement of one breast caused by movement of the wearer is restrained by a remaining breast.

Abstract: An interferometric procedure, such as electronic speckle pattern interferometry, involves generating two signals representing the point-by-point variations in intensity of respective patterns of electromagnetic radiation resulting from the interference of first and second beams of such radiation derived from a coherent source, with at least the first beam from each pattern being scattered, before interference with its respective second beam, from a common object surface, and with a corresponding pair of the beams, one for each pattern, having a predetermined relative phase difference of other than a multiple of .pi.; and determining from the two signals values for a datum phase of the radiation at the object surface. Preferably, as a preliminary to this last determination. DC components are removed from the two signals. Conveniently, to simplify the determination, the phase difference is an odd multiple of .pi./4 or .pi./2.

Abstract: An electronic speckle pattern interferometric for measuring the movement of a vibrating body (2) uses a coherent light source (16) to illuminate the body. A television camera (4) receives radiation scattered by the body and from a reference beam (7) to form a speckle pattern. Successive measurements are stored in a frame store (8, 9) and displayed on a monitor (10).

Abstract: A method of optical inspection involving laser speckle pattern interferometry comprises comparing two patterns of illumination each resulting from interference and respectively generated by coherent light beams of differing phase or phase wavefront. Apparatus for carrying out such a method comprises at least one coherent light source exhibiting a multimode profile for generating each beam. Application to double pulsed electronic speckle pattern interferometry is particularly appropriate by use of separate sources of variable phase relationship to generate the respective pulses at times which are not constrained as is the case where a common source is used.