Abstract: An improved serrated cutting blade is characterized by the shape and positioning of the sharpened teeth ofthe cutting edge. In preferred embodiments the blade may be used in combination with a handle or holder such as that typically referred to as a utility knife or box cutter.

Abstract: The SOLAR VORTEX ELECTRIC POWER GENERATOR utilizes hot, unstable air on a flat surface when drawn under the collector surface to rise in a central tower where it acts as a controlled tornado turning blades and a shaft to power a generator. This provides power during peak summer demand for air conditioners and a water pump can also be driven directly by the sea to power a reverse osmossis plant. One square mile of collector area at 25% effeciency on a hot summer day can provide 640 megawatts at the generator. This is very cheap to make as surplus, rusty corrigated sheet steel can be used as the collector.

Abstract: A vehicle control system includes a conventional electrical locking system in tandem with a system providing an encrypted code sent along a CAN (Control Area Network) link to unlock the vehicle.

Abstract: This invention is directed to dihydropyrimidines which are selective antagonists for human &agr;1a receptors. This invention is also related to uses of these compounds for relaxing lower urinary tract tissue, treating benign prostatic hyperplasia and for the treatment of any disease where the antagonism of the &agr;1a receptor may be useful. The invention further provides a pharmaceutical composition comprising a therapeutically effective amount of the above-defined compounds and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.

Abstract: For digital underwater transmission an information sequence (17) of digital bits is partitioned into a succession of symbols each comprising n bits where n is equal to or greater than one (2n potential symbols), each symbol (19) is replaced (20) with a corresponding base code sequence of length m bits and the result (21) is passed to an acoustic transducer after bi-phase modulation (22) on a carrier. The code has good correlation properties, e.g. a pseudo-random maixmal length sequence, a Gold code or a Kasami code, and the value of m/n is at least (32). Preferably the base sequence is cyclically extended at one or both ends prior to modulation, and Solomon Reed redundancy coding (18) is initially applied to the information sequence. The output (23) of modulator (22) may be prefaced (26) by a pair of chirp waveforms (24). Provision is made for Doppler and multi-path correction.

Abstract: In a digital acoustic transmission device in which a digital information sequence (31) is electrically modulated (22) on a carrier cos &ohgr;t, the modulated carrier (23) is prefaced with at least two pulse signals (24) of known timing relative to each other and to the modulated digital sequence to provide an output signal (13) for acoustic transmission. The pulse signals indicate to receiver the start of a transmission, and contain Doppler information for resampling the modulated signal prior to demodulation. Where the information sequence is in encoded blocks of equal length, the relation between successive blocks can be used to update the Doppler information for use with a following block. Channel information can also be derived from the pulse signals and/or blocks for raking the next part of the incoming signal. Preferably the pulse signals have good correlation characteristics. In the embodiments the pulse signals are an immediately successive identical pair of linearly rising chirps.

Abstract: A pump for ultra-pure fluids comprises a flexible diaphragm separating a fluid chamber from an air chamber. The diaphragm creates an airtight seal between the fluid chamber and the air chamber. Any leak from the fluid chamber into the air chamber is detected by a fiber optic system comprising an element and two optical fibers that are disposed such that light is detected by the second optical fiber only when the element is not in contact with liquid. A second fiber optic system can also be used to determine the stroke of an oscillating member by disposing the fiber optic lines at an angle calculated to reflect light off of the oscillating member when the member arrives at a predetermined location. The fiber optics are adapted to be resistant to corrosion, non-igniting, and non-contaminating.

Abstract: This invention is directed to dihydropyrimidines which are selective antagonists for human &agr;1a receptors. This invention is also related to uses of these compounds for relaxing lower urinary tract tissue, treating benign prostatic hyperplasia and for the treatment of any disease where the antagonism of the &agr;1a receptor may be useful. The invention further provides a pharmaceutical composition comprising a therapeutically effective amount of the above-defined compounds and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.

Abstract: A method of making steel in an electric arc furnace is provided. The method comprises the steps of measuring electrical current in at least two phases of electrical power supplied to electrodes in the furnace during a campaign, establishing a setpoint current level and an input time interval, and switching between modes of inputting exothermic energy into the steel melt when at least two phases have measured current levels below the setpoint for the input time interval.

Abstract: The SOLAR VORTEX ELECTRIC POWER GENERATOR utilizes hot, unstable air on a flat surface when drawn under the collector surface to rise in a central tower where it acts as a controlled tornado turning blades and a shaft to power a generator. This provides power during peak summer demand for air conditioners and a water pump can also be driven directly by the sea to power a reverse osmossis plant. One square mile of collector area at 25% effeciency on a hot summer day can provide 640 megawatts at the generator. This is very cheap to make as surplus, rusty corrigated sheet steel can be used as the collector.

Abstract: An infrastructure that allows applications to run with specified versions of dependent assemblies, wherein each assembly may exist and run side-by-side on the system with other versions of the same assembly being used by other applications. An application provides a manifest to specify any desired assembly versions on which it is dependent. Similarly, each assembly may have an assembly manifest that specifies the versions of assemblies on which it is dependent. During an initialization phase, an activation context is created for the application, based on the manifests, to map version independent names to a particular assembly version maintained on the system. While the application is in a running phase, for any globally named object that the application wants created, the activation context is accessed to locate the application's or assembly's manifest-specified version. The manifests and activation context constructed therefrom thus isolate an application from assembly version changes.

Abstract: This invention is directed to dihydropyrimidines which are selective antagonists for human &agr;1a receptors. This invention is also related to uses of these compounds for relaxing lower urinary tract tissue, treating benign prostatic hyperplasia and for the treatment of any disease where the antagonism of the &agr;1a receptor may be useful. The invention further provides a pharmaceutical composition comprising a therapeutically effective amount of the above-defined compounds and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for graphically indicating the status of one or more computer processes. The processes can be batch or online processes, which can be scheduled for, executing or abended on a mainframe computer or distributed computer system. Flowcharts or milestone charts are provided to graphically display to the user the status of one or more processes. Information regarding the relationships between processes is also provided. Color may be employed to indicate the status of a particular process. A preferred embodiment employs a client/server architecture. A message stream of process status is provided to the application server from the mainframe or distributed computer system.

Abstract: This invention is directed to dihydropyrimidines which are selective antagonists for human &agr;1a receptors. This invention is also related to uses of these compounds for relaxing lower urinary tract tissue, treating benign prostatic hyperplasia and for the treatment of any disease where the antagonism of the &agr;1a receptor may be useful. The invention further provides a pharmaceutical composition comprising a therapeutically effective amount of the above-defined compounds and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.

Abstract: A system/method is disclosed for screening telephone system callers, using speaker-dependent text-independent voice recognition, to either prevent excessive fraudulent use of certain telephone system lines (or radio channels) or to selectively restrict classes of service allowed for different users of a common line. The voice recognition process is configured to provide an extent of mismatch indication, between a voice sample taken from a caller immediately using the protected line (or channel) and a recorded reference voice sample, which indication corresponds to the probability that the instant caller is not the same as the person who provided the reference sample. The extent of mismatch indication is compared to a mismatch limit value which can be set to a different magnitude for each call. Different actions are taken depending upon whether the extent of mismatch indication is or is not larger than the limit value.

Abstract: Disclosed apparatus and method enable a host computer or server in a non-synchronous data communication network--e.g. a network in which data is subject to routing over transmission paths of indefinite configurations and lengths, and receptive handling of indefinite duration--to gather time statistics from client computers or terminals receiving the data; particularly statistics useful for determining: (a) transit times of data from server to clients; (b) times elapsed at client stations, between reception of data and one or more events pre-specified in information accompanying the data; and (c) transit times of return messages sent from respective client stations to the server. Control information attached to transmitted data includes a "timing script" written in a scripted language subject to interpretation by software at the client station receiving the data.

Abstract: The invention describes a method for normalizing a cardiac inotropic irregularity, via administering an effective amount of 12(R)HETE. Also described are therapeutic compositions which combine a cardiac glycoside and 12(R)HETE.

Abstract: The present invention relates to animal feed preservative compositions containing a binary blend of formic acid and propionic acid, the amount of propionic acid in the blend being from 1-25% w/w of the total blend. Surprisingly, the proposed blend is more effective at controlling salmonella, especially in poultry, than formic acid when used alone.

Abstract: A handheld firearm such as a standard revolver adapted to dispense a debilitating chemical substance through the butt end, whereby in the shank there is a fixed or detachably mounted butt end comprising a reservoir of the debilitating chemical, such as Chemical Mace or teargas, under pressure. Valve means for dispensing the repellant is actuated by depression of a button located on the detachably mounted butt end portion of the shank, below and out of the way of the hand grip, for operation by the last digit. The presence of the reservoir of the repellant as the mounted butt end of the shank portion of the gun allows for operation without interference with a strong hand grip, avoids accidental lethal firing of the weapon, when detachably mounted permits fast recharging in the event the reservoir is depleted or in the event that there is a mechanical failure of the discharge system.

Abstract: The invention described relates to a method for the manufacture of resinous formed articles which are color tinted with dyestuffs which are normally considered to be incompatible therewith. These dyestuffs, such as certified F.D. and C Yellow No. 5, are accepted non-toxic colorants for foods, drugs and cosmetics but by themselves are normally incompatible with oils, waxes and resins. By first complexing these water soluble, resin insoluble dyestuffs with a polyhydric alcohol, such as glycerine, and subsequently the higher fatty acid ester decaglycerol tetraoleate in the presence of heat, it is possible to prepare a uniformly colored resin solution or paste which can be further cured to form a color tinted transparent plastic film or sheet useful in the packaging of foods, drugs and cosmetics.