Abstract: A procurement system is disclosed to make a category behave like a specific product that can be chosen and requested through the procurement system. A catalog is easily constructed which: includes all categories of products and services that an organization may procure; inserts specific pertinent products and services that the organization may want to maintain under each category; productizes categories that the organization may allow a user to request; and hides the categories and products that the organization may not allow users in certain positions to view. A procurement system with productized categories accommodates both novice and expert users. Broad product and service requests can be forwarded to designated experts for order assistance. Expert requesters and purchases can refine requests to provide detailed and specific product descriptions.

Abstract: A user interface system is disclosed which is useful for applying decision values to objects defined in terms of attributes, incorporating the concepts of inheritance, adoption, and rebel values. This invention addresses a group of objects that retain the same set of attributes and applies decision values to the selected groups of objects using a value inheritance system analogous to that of an ancestral tree. This invention employs novel methods for constructing a virtual single hierarchical system out of any multiple attributes system, inheriting decision values along family tree lines, and displaying the user's assignment decisions.

Abstract: The present invention provides a multistage process for the removal of tar, water and particulate contaminants from a hot product gas resulting from the in-situ gasification of an underground coal deposit, which comprises passing the hot product gas through a first heat exchange zone in indirect heat exchange relationship with a gasification gas to thereby sufficiently reduce the temperature of the product gas so as to separate the tar present in the product gas and provide a substantially tar-free product gas. Thereafter, the tar-free product gas is withdrawn from the first heat exchange zone and passed through at least one subsequent heat exchange zone in indirect or direct heat exchange relationship with a heat exchange material which has a lower temperature than the product gas. A major portion of the water originally present in the hot product gas is removed in the subsequent heat exchange zone.