Abstract: An ATM routing switch for bidirectional transmission of at least two types of cell, one type accepting variable bit rate of transmission and a second type accepting some loss of cells in transmission, includes first reserve buffer capacity for cells of the first type, a second reserve buffer capacity for cells of said second type and control circuitry for generating a flow control signal (FCT) if a predetermined threshold for the first buffer capacity is reached by input of cells of said first type, and discarding input cells of said second type if a predetermined threshold for said second buffer capacity has been reached by input of cells of said second type.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided for separation of liquids of different densities in production fluid streams from underground wells. Methods and apparatus are also provided for separation of gas, oil and water in production fluids, transportation of the separated fluids to the surface, as well as reinjection of separated water from the production fluids into other formations. Other aspects include new separation arrangements which include gas or liquid driven motors, designs for multi-stage hydrocyclone separators and use of beam or rod pumps.

Abstract: An ATM routing switch has a plurality of input and output ports and a buffer for holding a plurality of ATM cells, the cells being held in the buffer as a plurality of queues (F0-F7), each formed as a chained list of addresses with front and back pointers identifying ends of each queue.

Abstract: The present invention demonstrates that M-CSF responsiveness and the M-CSFR expression can be used to discriminate monocytic and granulocytic cells within a population of cells which strongly expresses the CD34 antigen (CD34.sup.hi). Briefly, the method comprises isolating phenotypically and functionally defined CD34.sup.+ subsets, and staining with anti-M-CSFR monoclonal antibodies to measure expression on these primitive progenitors and cells committed to the granulocytic and monocytic lineages, based upon expression of M-CSFR. CD34.sup.hi M-CSFR.sup.hi cells are highly clonogenic and approximately 70% of the colonies are CFU-M (monocytic), whereas less than 20% were CFU-G (granulocytic). In contrast, CD34.sup.hi cells that were positive for the granulo-monocytic marker CD64 and negative for the M-CSFR contained high frequencies of 91% pure CFU-Gs. After 60 h in culture, CD34.sup.hi M-CSFR.sup.hi cells developed into distinct populations of M-CSFR.sup.hi and M-CSFR.sup.lo cells.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided for separation of liquids of different densities in production fluid streams from underground wells. Methods and apparatus are also provided for separation of gas, oil and water in production fluids, transportation of the separated fluids to the surface, as well as reinjection of separated water from the production fluids into other formations. Other aspects include new separation arrangements which include gas or liquid driven motors, designs for multi-stage hydrocyclone separators and use of beam or rod pumps.

Abstract: A system and method is disclosed for compressing and decompressing composite video signals. In one type of operation a composite video signal (e.g., an NTSC signal) is sampled and the samples compressed into 3 or 5 bit composite values, depending on the system mode (PREVIEW or HIGHRES). For the HIGHRES mode the compressed composite values are written into a RAM for at least the four fields associated with the most recent two frames. As needed, the compressed values are transferred to a decoding engine implemented in software. The decoding engine, without any need for phase locked loop circuitry, decompresses the data, and decodes the decompressed digital composite values into YUV and/or RGB values. When the system is in the 5-bit mode, the decoding engine scans and compares all four fields to detect the existence of motion in the image, which could blur the captured image. In regions with motion only a single field of data is used as the source of the image data for those regions.

Abstract: A network of ATM routing switches transmits digital signal cells of a first type requiring integrity of transmission and a second type accepting some loss in transmission, each switch has buffer circuitry. a plurality of output ports each having a plurality of queues of cells awaiting output, each output port having control circuitry to provide in an output frame control bits indicating the type of cell, a path identifier and the existence of flow congestion at the routing switch which it outputting the frame, thereby inhibiting transmission of further frames to that location until a frame is received from that location indicating that the congestion is cleared.

Abstract: An ATM routing switch for bidirectional transmission of digital signal cells some requiring integrity of transmission while others accept some loss of cells in transmission, has a plurality of output ports each handling a plurality of cell queues and control circuitry for decoding control bits in each input cell to determine which output port is to be used, which queue is required and whether flow congestions exists at the source of the input cell.

Abstract: A novel approach to study changes in protein tyrosine phosphorylation during apoptosis, and thereby identify cells committed to apoptosis is presented, methods used to study apoptosis and tyrosine phosphorylation at the single cell level are combined to study directly whether apoptosis in hematopoietic cells is associated with changes in cellular phosphotyrosine levels. The changes in cellular phosphotyrosine content strongly correlated with the appearance of features of cell death such as cell shrinkage, DNA fragmentation and loss of membrane integrity.

Abstract: In a network with switching elements, a transmission path is found in that each destination address at a switching element is allocated a group of outputs via which messages can be transmitted to this destination address. Within this group of outputs, a search is made for a free output and messages are buffered as long as there is no output free within this group. Thus, in the process, there is deliberately no exclusive use of a specific output and each destination address is allocated a plurality of possible outputs. As a result, the probability of a blockage of outputs is reduced and the network throughput is increased.

Abstract: A laser beam machining process and apparatus, applicable to laser beam perforation and cutting, in which a laser beam is directed onto a wall (4) of a component (6) to be machined from one side of the said wall and emerges on the other side thereof following the machining operation. According to the invention, a disk (16) which is opaque to the laser beam is placed on the other side of the wall on the path followed by the laser beam when it emerges and performs a rotary movement, so as to stop the emerging laser beam and in this way protect the walls (8) adjacent to the machined wall against the impacts of the emergent laser beam.

Abstract: A high pressure multi-stage centrifugal pump with an axially split casing (10) and a number of impellers (14) carried by a drive shaft (12) has inter-stage bushings (24) and rings (22) for sealing each side of each impeller. Each bushing (24) or ring (22) is conventionally prevented from rotating by a radial pin protruding from the lower half of the casing (10) into an axial slot in the periphery of the bushing or ring. The pin is necessarily small and is liable to shear, difficult to engage in the slot and, in cases where the bushing (24) or ring (22) is diametrically split, does not allow rotation of the lower half for its removal without lifting the shaft (12). To avoid all these disadvantages, without introducing any risk of leakage, a tangential pin (32) is fitted in a blind hole (34) in the casing (10) so that its exposed end (37) is flush with the joint face (28) of the casing and abuts against a shoulder ( 44) formed by a recess (38) in the periphery of the bushing (24) or ring (22).

Abstract: An arrangement for applying a back pressure to a shaft seal of a mechanism such as a pump comprises a piston slidable in a cylinder one end of which communicates with the fluid being pumped and the other end of which contains oil communicating with a sealed chamber on that side of the seal remote from the fluid. Hitherto, the piston has created a preponderance of the back pressure over the pressure of the fluid by virtue of its weight. This preponderance has been very small, and the rolling diaphragm seal needed on the piston has been easily ruptured if the oil has been lost, thereby allowing possibly hazardous fluids to escape. A greater preponderance of the back pressure, allowing the use of a stronger type of piston seal, is provided by urging the piston towards the other end of the cylinder by a spring as well as by the pressure of the fluid.

Abstract: The system is controlled by a control receiver receiving commands from the external computer across a primary control bus. A captured unit captures digital samples from a composite video signal and transfers them to a memory unit across a capture bus. The memory unit stores samples for two complete frames in four memory banks. The samples are transferred across a data bus to an external computer at addresses given by the computer on an address bus. The computer separates the samples into their luminance, inline and quadrature components, averages the inline component and the quadrature component for an area of two pixels by two pixels. The luminance component and the averaged inline and quadrature component are stored in the memory banks. The samples are stored as 5 luminance bits with 3 inline or quadrature bits for similar addresses in each of the four memory banks. During display all of the luminance and chrominance bits for a given area are latched by the memory unit and read by the display unit.

Abstract: A duct type air conditioning system with a variable capacity blower in which the maximum blower capacity is established at initialization of the system at the optimum blower capacity. The optimum capacity is established by varying the capacity of the blower and measuring the air flow volume and air flow noise. The optimum capacity is inputted into the control system through a central thermostat which has a liquid crystal display associated therewith. The system installer interfaces with the control system by a dialog which occurs through the liquid crystal display. The optimum capacity of the blower is stored in a memory device, and the control system variably controls the capacity of the blower so as not to exceed the optimum capacity.

Abstract: The air conditioning apparatus comprises a heat source apparatus, an air blower, a damper disposed in each of branch duct to regulate warm air or cool air to be supplied to each of rooms, a room thermostat placed in each of the rooms, a heat load measuring means and a damper control means. The heat load measuring means controls the degree of opening of the dampers through the damper control means on the basis of output signals of an established temperature and the current room temperature from the room thermostats. Further, the capacity of the heat source apparatus and the capacity of the air blower are determined in accordance with the value of the heat load, and the pressure and the temperature of the air in the air duct.

Abstract: An air conditioning system provided with a variable capability blower and heat source unit is configured such that individual room dampers 9 and controllers 14 can be subsequently added to a central control device as options to convert from an all room simultaneous air conditioning mode to a variable air volume mode with separate temperature control for each room. The utilization of existing power lines to transmit the various information and control signals simplifies the conversion and reduces its cost.

Abstract: A container comprising two identical rigid molded frame members and an initially flat sheet of flexible material adapted to be received and retained in a channel in the frame member.