This invention pertains to novel fibers made of .alpha.(1.fwdarw.;3) polysaccharides, and a process for their production. The fibers of the invention have “cotton-like” properties but can be produced as continuous filaments on a year-round basis. The fibers are useful in textile applications.

A padded corner bumper comprises an elongated core formed of a cushioning material, an outer decorative cover formed of vinyl-coated fabric, and a backing material formed of polypropylene mesh. The core has a front, a back coextensive with the front, and a continuous side edge extending between the top and bottom. The outer decorative cover and backing material are stitched together to form a casing that completely surrounds the core, the backing being positioned only over the back of the core. …

The invention relates to a plate-type heat exchanger comprising a stack of double-walled heat exchanger plates (30 32) which are permanently interconnected and each include two plate members (33, 34) having a central heat transfer portion (35) and an edge portion (36) bent upwardly with respect to the plane of the central heat transfer portion (35), separate flow passage spaces for at least two heat exchange fluids being defined between the double-walled heat exchanger plates (30 32), the two pl…

Systems and methods for secure multimedia authentication with discrete level tamper localization are described. In these aspects, the term “discrete” means that tamper localization is at the pixel level with respect to an image or video data, or at the sample level with respect to audio data. More particularly, and in one aspect, multimedia is evaluated to determine authenticity of the multimedia. This evaluation is based on data block(s). Responsive to determining that the multimedia is not aut…

The invention provides roller rail clamp apparatus for use in lifting a rail for operations such as replacement of ballast or resurfacing of a railway. The apparatus comprises parallel pairs of spaced-apart lift roller assemblies mounted to a support for positioning a pair of clamping to a rail of the track, each the lift roller assembly comprising at least one pair of rollers, wherein each the roller of a roller pair rotates on an axis in an essentially vertical plane adjacent a rail and the ro…

A three-phase electrical transformer of the core-form type including wye-wye connected primary and secondary windings having grounded neutrals. The magnetic core has three winding legs for the primary and secondary windings, and at least one additional leg. An auxiliary winding is disposed on the additional leg and connected to indicating means which provides a signal when the voltage induced into the auxiliary winding by zero sequence flux flowing through the additional leg reaches a predetermi…

A substrate processing pallet has a top surface and a plurality of side surfaces. The top surface has at least one recess adapted to receive a substrate. The recess includes a support structure adapted to contact a portion of a substrate seated in the recess and a plurality of apertures each adapted to accommodate a lift pin. Lift pins can extend through the apertures initially to support the substrate and retract to deposit the substrate onto the support structure. A side surface includes a pro…

The invention concerns a two-stroke internal combustion engine supplied with gasoline, diesel, fuel, or other conventional fuel comprising a piston (2)-cylinder (1) assembly, said cylinder (1) providing exhaust ports (11), said piston (2)-cylinder (1) assembly providing a head (5) slidable within said cylinder (1) between the Top Dead Centre of the piston (2) stroke and a closure position of the exhaust ports (11), said slidable head (5) providing a transfer valve (9) for fresh air or fresh air-…

We have cloned and expressed the cDNA for human liver mevalonate pyrophosphate decarboxylase, an enzyme of the cholesterol synthesis pathway. This cDNA encodes a 400 amino acid protein (43 kDa) which resembles the coding sequence of an unidentified and incomplete open reading frame adjacent to the COQ2 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We also found an expression sequence tag clone made from human infant brain cDNA to be almost identical to our cDNA sequence.

A vehicle safety system is provided which comprises a seat belt having an inflatable section which is normally maintained in an uninflated state and adapted to be positioned about a wearer when the wearer is seated in a seat within the vehicle, sensing means actuatable in response to the occurrence of a preselected condition of the vehicle, and inflating means responsive to actuation of the sensing means and capable of inflating the inflatable section prior to any substantial forward motion of t…