Abstract: An infrared heater for heating a cooking vessel, such as a Chinese wok. The heater includes a block of refractory material, which emits infrared radiation upon heating to an elevated temperature, forming an inverted frustum-shaped cavity or opening. A gas-fired burner having a burner head which produces a laterally directed flame upon ignition of a mixture of a fuel gas and a combustion oxidant supplied to the burner is disposed in the cavity or opening. A planar structure suitable for emitting infrared radiation upon heating to an elevated temperature and forming at least one centralized opening covers the upward oriented base end of the inverted frustum-shaped opening. In accordance with one embodiment, the refractory block is disposed within a cylindrical housing which supports the cooking vessel above the centralized opening during the cooking process.

Abstract: To display content controlled by a portal outside of the portal itself, a user is authenticated to the portal and then permission to access the content authorized. After authentication and authorization, the requested content is returned to the requesting program. The content is returned in the user's preferred language, a using a layout information file to determine how to display the content. A layout strings file storing a layout string in a specific language is also selected, according to the user's preferred languages. The content from a content provider and the layout string are then formatted as specified by the layout information file, and presented to the user or the requesting program.

Abstract: The invention relates to functionalized lignin, rubber compositions which contain functionalized lignin and to products which have at least one component comprised of such rubber composition.

Abstract: A portal server requests a gadget from a gadget server. The gadget server makes a copy of the gadget. The gadget server accesses a value to be assigned to a variable for the portal server. The value can be received as part of the request for the gadget, or can be stored on the gadget server, associated with the portal server. Assuming that a policy permits the variable to be assigned the value, any previous value assigned to the variable is overridden. The copy of the gadget is then delivered to the portal server.

Abstract: An earplug insertion device can include a housing that is configured to hold a first earplug and a second earplug. The device can also include an ejection mechanism that can be configured to respond to a first user force by ejecting the first earplug from the device in a first ejection motion. The ejection mechanism can also being configured to respond to a second user force by ejecting the second earplug from the device in a second ejection motion.

Abstract: An infrared heater for heating a cooking vessel, such as a Chinese wok. The heater includes a block of refractory material, which emits infrared radiation upon heating to an elevated temperature, forming an inverted frustum-shaped cavity or opening. A gas-fired burner having a burner head which produces a laterally directed flame upon ignition of a mixture of a fuel gas and a combustion oxidant supplied to the burner is disposed in the cavity or opening. A planar structure suitable for emitting infrared radiation upon heating to an elevated temperature and forming at least one centralized opening covers the upward oriented base end of the inverted frustum-shaped opening. In accordance with one embodiment, the refractory block is disposed within a cylindrical housing which supports the cooking vessel above the centralized opening during the cooking process.

Abstract: Portal pages and overlays are assigned globally unique identifiers (GUIDs). Users are granted permission to view portal pages and overlays by having their user object in the container hierarchy be associated with the GUIDs. User objects can be directly associated with the GUIDs, or can inherit the GUIDs from a container or group. Once the user object is (directly or indirectly) associated with the GUID assigned to a portal page or overlay, the user can view the portal page or overlay.