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.

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...

A heating device for the electromagnetic induction heating of a metal strip traveling in a specified direction. The device includes at least one electric coil arranged opposite at least one of the large surfaces of the strip so as to heat the latter by transverse magnetic flux induction, each coil being associated with at least one magnetic circuit. Each circuit is divided into a plurality of magnetically independent bars arranged parallel to the direction of travel of the strip. The bars may mo...

A system for allowing a shoe wearer to lean forwardly beyond his center of gravity by virtue of wearing a specially designed pair of shoes which will engage with a hitch member movably projectable through a stage surface. The shoes have a specially designed heel slot which can be detachably engaged with the hitch member by simply sliding the shoe wearer's foot forward, thereby engaging with the hitch member.