Abstract: A building-construction panel includes a tongue on one edge and a groove on an opposite edge that receives the tongue of an adjacent panel. A shoulder on the tongue-side edge defines an abutted surface that is contacted by an abutting surface on the groove-side edge to limit panel travel during installation and maintain a gap between upper edge portions of the adjacent panels. A bottom transition is formed on the groove-side edge so that the groove-side abutting surface is smaller than the tongue-side shoulder abutted surface. In this way, the relatively smaller groove-side abutting surface structurally maintains the gap but also minimizes frictional interpanel contact area to minimize squeaking. And the relatively larger tongue-side shoulder abutted surface helps keep the shoulder from being collapsed into the groove from overdriving the panels together during installation. In typical embodiments, the panel is a high-performance structural wood subflooring panel.

Abstract: A composite engineered wood panel comprising a top surface layer and a bottom surface layer. The layers comprise amounts of lignocellulosic material with particular densities. The bottom layer comprises more lignocellulosic material and lignocellulosic material moisture in amounts effective to produce an essentially symmetrical vertical density profile through the panel upon consolidation of a formed panel. The panel can further comprise at least one core layer. The top surface layer preferably comprises primarily softwood, and the other layers preferably comprise primarily hardwood. Also disclosed is a method of making the panel.

Abstract: The present invention provides virtual mapping of system resource identifiers in use by a software application for the purpose of making the running state of an application node independent. By adding a layer of indirection between the application and the resource, new system resources are reallocated and then can be mapped to the application's existing resource requirements while it is running, without the application detecting a failure or change in resource handles. This layer of indirection makes the application's system resource identifier (system RID) transparent to the application. RID's are usually numeric in form, but can also be alphanumeric. RID's are unique to a machine, and can be reused once all claims to a specific RID have been given up.

Abstract: A system and method for applying brine solution to food pieces, such as potato chips, allows application of brine solution to a continuous stream of food pieces in a brine bath, while maintaining a continuously refreshed supply of brine solution in the brine bath, but without requiring that the used brine be discharged as effluent. Food pieces are washed in a water bath and then deposited, with an amount of surface water carried on the washed slices, into a brine bath tank. The brine bath tank has a predetermined volume of brine solution at a predetermined concentration of brining substance in the solution. The food pieces are marinated in the brine bath so as to thoroughly wet the pieces and are then removed from the brine bath tank with an amount of surface solution carried on the slices. The amount of surface solution carried on the marinated slices is greater than the amount of surface water carried on the washed, pre-marinated slices.

Abstract: Potato chips having hardbite texture and flavor characteristics of kettle-fried potato chips are produced in an apparatus comprising a fry kettle with cooking oil circulation and heat transfer means. Production efficiency is greatly increased over conventional batch preparation of kettle-style chips; batch size is significantly increased and total fry time is advantageously decreased. In certain embodiments the batchwise preparation process includes the step of selecting texture-setting potato slice dehydration rate conditions for at least a segment of the frying time, which ends before the moisture content of the slices is reduced to about 45% by weight or less. Selecting appropriate dehydration rate conditions enables the production of potato chips of a variety of textural characteristics over varying cooking oil time/temperature profiles.