A cold atom gravity gradiometer system includes a laser source that generates a laser beam that propagates along a propagation direction. The system further includes a reflector that reflects a portion of the laser beam and transmits another portion of the laser beam (the transmitted portion). A second reflector spatially separated from the first reflector along the propagation direction reflects the transmitted portion of the laser beam.

Precise gravity or acceleration measurements are important in a wide array of technological fields. For example in the field of inertial navigation, precisely measured acceleration as a function of time may be used to accurately track the trajectory of a moving body such as a ship or aircraft. However, when attempting to precisely measure a pure acceleration, care must be taken to ensure that the measurement is not skewed by a change in the local gravitational field. This is because local accelerations are physically indistinguishable from local gravitational fields. This equivalence, first appreciated by Albert Einstein, and now known as Einstein's equivalence principle plagues any inertial navigation system that requires high precision. However, inertial measurements may be improved through the of a gravity gradiometer to help determine if any large local mass anomalies, such as mountains, are perturbing the local gravitational field and thus systematically affecting the local acceleration measurement.
Precise maps of local gravitational fields may be used to identify subsurface anomalies such as hydrocarbon reservoir or sub-surface bunkers. Such subsurface structures or anomalies may be uniquely identified from a noisy signal by a characterization of their local gravity gradient signatures.
The gravitational force between any two masses is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. Furthermore, the local gravity gradient is defined to be the change in the local gravitational field as a function of distance along the measurement axis of the gradiometer. As shown in FIG. 1A, the local gravitational field generated by the Earth presents a natural gradient along the z axis. To determine a local gravity gradient along the z-direction, e.g., to determine the local gravity gradient of the Earth, two local gravity measurements must be made, for example at a distance z apart. FIG. 1A shows the result of two such measurement denoted by gz1 and gz2. The one dimensional gravity gradient
      ∂          g      z            ∂    z  is determined by subtracting the two measurements and dividing by the distance between them:
            ∂              g        z                    ∂      z        =                    g                  z                                                              2                    -              g                  z                                                              1                      z  Gravity gradient measurements, being inherently differential measurements, are superior to simple acceleration/gravity measurements in noisy systems, especially where common mode noise may be effectively eliminated through the differencing procedure.
Local gravity, or equivalently, local acceleration may be measured in various ways. For example, cold atom interferometers may be used to measure the local acceleration. FIG. 1B shows an example of a known cold atom gradiometer for measuring the local acceleration experienced by pair of cold atom samples. The acceleration measurement is accomplished by exposing a sample of cold atoms to a sequence of optical pulses to cause the atoms to split and travel along two legs of an interferometer, not too dissimilar from what occurs in an optical interferometer. In the optical case, the light is best understood as an electromagnetic wave, while in the case of cold atoms, atoms are best understood as a matter-waves with wavelengths given by λ=h/p, where the wavelength λ of the matter wave is inversely proportional to the momentum of the atom and h is Plank's constant. Such a matter wave interferometer based on cold atoms is disclosed in M. J. Snadden, J. M. McGuirk, P. Bouyer, K. G. Haritos, and M. A. Kasevich, "Measurement of the Earth's Gravity Gradient with an Atom Interferometer-Based Gravity Gradiometer" Physical Review Letters 81, 971 (1998), a portion of which is summarized below in reference to FIG. 1B.
The apparatus of FIG. 1B includes two samples of cold atoms that are trapped and cooled in two separate magneto-optical traps. The magneto optical traps are formed from a frequency stabilized trapping laser beam 119 that is slightly red detuned from a cycling transition in the cloud of cold atoms. Typically, a complex optical system is required to generate the 12 trapping laser beams from the single trapping laser beam 119. The system (not shown) typically requires several beam splitters, mirrors, and polarization elements to generate six pairs of counter propagating trapping laser beams (shown in the drawing as arrows converging at the cold atom samples 106 and 104). The magnetic traps are separated spatially within separate vacuum chambers (not shown). The acceleration measurements are made using a (π/2-π-π/2) pulse sequence of stimulated two-photon Raman laser pulses. The two-photon Raman pulses drive the state of the atoms to oscillate in time between two atomic ground-state hyperfine levels, phenomena known as Rabi oscillations. As is known in the art, the three pulse (π/2-π-π/2) sequence results in an atom interferometer if the two Raman laser beams counter-propagate. In the system shown in FIG. 1B, the counter-propagating Raman laser beams are generated from a dual frequency beam 103 that propagates in free space to the polarizing beam splitter 105. The beams are then spilt by the polarizing beam splitter 105 with the beam having the first frequency ω1 propagating straight through beam splitting cube 105 and, therefore, immediately through both clouds of cold atoms. The beam having the second frequency ω2 is reflected off of beam splitter 105 and beam splitter 107 and then propagates parallel to the first beam to the mirrors 109 and 110 that redirect the second beam through the two clouds of cold atoms in a direction opposite to the propagation direction of the first beam.
The relative acceleration along the direction of the Raman beams of the two cold atom samples are measured by subtracting two atomic phase shifts that are measured using the two atom interferometers at each of the two locations 101 and 103. The atomic phase shifts are derived quantities that are obtained from the measured atom population in the ground state. (As described below, the number of atoms found in the ground state after the Raman pulse varies sinusoidally with the phase difference introduced in one leg of the interferometer due to, e.g., gravitational acceleration or rotation about an axis perpendicular to the plane of the interferometer.) The measured atom population is determined by way of resonance fluorescence. More specifically, a probe beam 117 tuned to resonance with a cycling transition is briefly pulsed on the atoms. Typically the probe beam 117 is a different beam from the Raman beam and is introduced into the system by way of beam splitter 107. Like Raman beam 103, the probe beam 117 is redirected by mirrors 109 and 110 so as to overlap the cold atom samples 106 and 104. The resulting fluorescence from the atoms is picked up by detectors 113 and 115. Using known and validated physical models, the number of atoms in the ground state may then be inferred from the amount of detected fluorescence.
As alluded to above, the number of atoms present in the ground state depends on the measured phase between the interferometer legs and may be found using the relation p=[1−cos Δφ(r)]/2, where P is the probability of an atom to be in the ground state as a function of the acceleration induced phase shift. For atoms accelerating at a rate g(r), Δφ(r)=({right arrow over (k)}1−{right arrow over (k)}2)·{right arrow over (g)}(r)T2, where T is the time between successive Raman beam pulses, and {right arrow over (k)}1 and {right arrow over (k)}2 are the propagation vectors for the Raman beams of frequency ω1 and ω2, respectively. Thus, by measuring the ground state populations, the phase difference Δφ(r), and thereby the projection of g(r) on the measurement axis may be determined. Furthermore, the acceleration gradient can then be determined by dividing the relative acceleration by the distance between the two locations where the acceleration measurements are made.
In view of the above, the gravity gradiometer shown in FIG. 1B is fairly complex. As can be seen in the Figure, several different laser sources are needed to create the 12 magneto-optical beams, the two Raman laser beams, and the fluorescence probe. Furthermore, the system described in FIG. 1B requires each magneto-optical trap to be housed in a separate vacuum chamber 121 and 123.
In addition, an example of inertial measurements based on cold atom interferometry is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/921,519 ("the '519 application"). The interferometer of the '519 application is based on a magneto-optical trap that uses a single pyramidal retro-reflector for absolute acceleration/gravity measurements. The system of the '519 application cannot measure gravity gradients and is additionally sensitive to vibrational noise in the single pyramidal retro-reflector. Due to the equivalence principle any vibrational noise shows up as noise that is indistinguishable from the gravity signal.


A conductive assembly having a conductive terminal, a conductive ribbon, and a clamp structure is disclosed. The clamp structure includes a base plate and a pair of jaws. The jaws extend respectively from two transverse sides of the base plate and form a V-shape opening being opposite to the base plate. An aperture is formed longitudinally in the center of the base plate, wherein the transverse width of the aperture is wider than the opening. The clamp structure stably and firmly holding the conductive terminal and the conductive ribbon.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a conductive assembly having a clamp structure and, in particular, to a clamp structure used for connecting the conductive ribbon and the conductive terminal.
2. Description of Related Art
With an increasing shortage of modern energy, the development of new energy sources—such as the solar cell—has drawn great attention from the international community. The solar cell has a plurality of advantages such as environmental friendliness, energy saving, and a wide application range. Also, the solar cell technology is currently more mature than any other alternative new energy technologies. However, the improvement of solar cell performance is still the common goal in the industry. For example, the junction box is an important part in the solar cell assembly. It is used for gathering and outputting the electricity produced by the solar cell. The solar cell assembly can't output the electricity normally nor work out its electricity generating function without the junction box.
The conductive terminal of the junction box has to be connected to the conductive ribbon of the solar panel. The solar cell assembly must be placed outdoors so that the conductive ribbon disconnected from the terminal easily by the outside influence. In that case, the power output of the solar cell will be interrupted. In the prior art, a clamp structure is used for fixing the conductive ribbon to the conductive terminal of the junction box. Then they are connected by welding or adhering for strengthening the stability of the connection therebetween and ensuring the power delivering normally.
However, in the prior art, when the workers work on the connecting of the conductive ribbon and the terminal, they can hardly observe the junction area inside the clamp structure. What's more, the welding or adhering tool can't be inserted easily into the clamp structure to achieve the connection. These difficulties lead to insufficient connection between the conductive ribbon and the terminal, so that the conductive ribbon disconnected from the terminal easily and the power output of the solar cell will be interrupted. Therefore, it is an important issue to develop a novel clamp structure for the workers to connect the conductive ribbon to the terminal efficiently and conveniently without mistakes.
In view of the above, it is a goal of research and development in the relevant industry to overcome the shortcomings of the clamp structure in the prior art for connecting the conductive terminal and the conductive ribbon with increasing convenience and lower cost.

Conductive assembly having a clamp structure


In invention concerns elastin-like polymer (ELP) delivery compositions and methods for the use thereof. In some aspects ELP compositions may be used to deliver therapeutic nucleic acids, polypeptides of small molecules. In some aspects, in vivo delivery with ELP compositions can directed to specific target sites by the application of local hyperthermia therapy. Compositions and methods for ELP gene therapy are provided.

I. Field of the Invention
The invention generally concerns the fields of medicine and molecular biology. In particular, the invention concerns polypeptides for delivery of therapeutic molecules method for the use thereof.
II. Description of Related Art
In the past, therapeutic compositions have generally been delivered by passive or nonspecific targeting. Passive targeting includes targeting based upon size, ionic state, and biological factors and is limited the ability of the therapeutic to diffuse to its site action and the rate of clearance for the therapeutic. Intravenously injected molecules, for example, may have to traverse a cell membrane to reach a site of action and may be readily processed or degraded by the body, thus limiting the use of many therapeutics. To address this issue, synthetic polymers such as poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (Schild, 1992), poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(caprolactone) copolymers (Kim et al., 2004), poly(ethylene oxide)-poly(propylene oxide) multiblock copolymers (Sosnik and Cohn, 2005), and multiple hydrogen bonding-poly(butylenes terephthalate) (Yamauchi et al., 2004) have been used as monolithic gels to deliver drugs. Unfortunately, synthetic polymers such as these suffer from the effects of polydispersity, lack of architectural control, variable levels of biocompatibility, and complex synthesis schemes.
Thus, on merely a biophysical basis, genetically engineered biopolymers such as elastin-like polymers (ELP) pose an attractive alternative to traditional polymer macromolecules for gene and drug delivery due to their monodispersity, non-immunogenicity, and unparalleled control of architecture and biophysical characteristics ("smart" polymer behaviors, ionization state, hydrophobicity). Genetic engineering confers precise control of the biophysical characteristics of biopolymers, a level of control yet to be realized in synthetic polymer syntheses. Through molecular biology techniques, the pentapeptide sequence, molecular weight, and architecture of the ELP can be precisely controlled for subsequent an purified as a recombinant polypeptide, resulting in monodisperse, non-immunogenic (Urry et al., 1991) ELP biopolymers with variable ionic and hydrophobicity characteristics. Traditional synthetic polymers lack this degree of molecular weight control and viral gene carriers suffer from intrinsic immunogenicity; therefore, there is significant promise for the use of genetically engineered polymers in gene and drug delivery (Kopecek, 2003).
Genetically engineered biopolymers show great promise as macromolecule, gene and drug carriers due to genetic control of composition and monodispersity. Moreover, elastin-like polymers are thermosensitive enabling methods for hyperthermic targeting to specific sites for therapy. The use of ELP-biomacromolecules-ELP biopolymers for the delivery of drugs (Dreher et al., 2003; Herrero-Vanrell et al., 2005) and peptides (Bidwell and Raucher, 2005) has been reported. However, previously there has not been a effective ELP platform that could be used to deliver the array of therapies currently in use in the medical field.


A high temperature conveyor belt is provided having a non-metallic conveying surface which will not scratch, abrade or otherwise mar the surface of a product being carried on the belt through a furnace and which will not contaminate the product. In one embodiment, the conveyor comprises a high temperature fabric belt attached to a metal belt which may be a conventional woven metal conveyor belt. In another embodiment, the conveyor is composed of a non-metallic high temperature strand which is woven or threaded through a metal belt to provide a non-metallic conveying surface. In a further embodiment, the non-metallic product support elements are coupled to roller chains at each side of the furnace chamber and which are cooperative with a drive mechanism to transport the conveyor through the furnace. The roller chains can be located outside of the furnace chamber to avoid exposure to the high temperature of the furnace chamber.

Conveyor belts are widely known and employed for the transport of a work product through a furnace for thermal processing of the work product. Woven metal belts are known for use in high temperature furnaces and for many purposes are acceptable. For some purposes however, metal belts are not suitable due to the tendency of the metal to scratch or mar the surface of some types of product being carried on the belt through the furnace. Panel displays such as used in computer tablets and solar cell wafers have a highly polished surface which is especially prone to scratching and abrasion by contact with a metal belt.
It is also desirable to avoid direct contact of a product surface with the metal conveyor as metal contamination can occur which can be deleterious to the product. For example, in the processing of solar cell wafers, contaminants from the metal can be transferred to the wafer and can be diffused into the wafer under the high temperature conditions of the furnace.
It would be desirable to provide a conveyor belt for use in high temperature furnaces which can carry such products and which will not adversely affect the product or product surface.


Braze materials and processes for using braze materials, such as for use in the manufacturing, coating, repair, and build-up of superalloy components. The braze material contains a plurality of first particles of a metallic material having a melting point, and a plurality of second particles comprising at least one nonmetallic material chosen from the group consisting of oxides, carbides, and nitrides of at least one metal. The nonmetallic material is more susceptible to heating by microwave radiation than the metallic material of the first particles, and the nonmetallic material is present in the braze material in an amount sufficient to enable the first particles to completely melt when the first and second particles are subjected to heating by microwave radiation.

This invention generally relates to braze materials and processes for making and using braze materials, such as for use in the manufacturing, coating, repair, and build-up of superalloy components. More particularly, this invention relates to braze material powders containing melt-modifying constituents, and to processes for producing and using such powders.
Nickel, cobalt, and iron-base superalloys are widely used to form high temperature components of gas turbine engines. While some high-temperature superalloy components can be formed as a single casting, others are preferably or necessarily fabricated by other processes. As an example, brazing can be used to fabricate certain gas turbine components, such as high pressure turbine nozzle assemblies. Brazing is also used to repair cracks and other surface flaws and damage, build up surfaces to restore desired dimensions, and form protective coatings on gas turbine engine components. Brazing techniques of these types encompass heating a braze material, typically in the form of a braze alloy powder, a paste or tape containing a braze alloy powder, or a sintered preform of a braze alloy powder, to a temperature above the melting point of the braze alloy, but sufficiently below the melting point of the material being brazed to avoid damaging and/or reducing desired properties of the material. (As used herein, "melting point" is meant to encompass the incipient melting point for alloys that do not have a true melting point but instead have a melting range.) For example, brazing temperatures are typically limited to avoid grain growth, incipient melting, recrystallization, and/or unfavorable phase formation in the alloy or alloys being brazed.
In situations where a brazement must have a composition and properties similar to the substrate being brazed, the braze alloy will typically have a composition essentially or nearly the same as the substrate, but modified to contain one or more melting point suppressants, such as boron and/or silicon, which form low melting eutectics with the substrate material. In the past, braze alloy powders have been prepared by combining their alloying constituents through such processes as atomization and mechanical alloying to yield a powder whose particles have a uniform composition. For example, EPO456481 reports a process in which a titanium-based braze alloy powder is formed by mechanically alloying powders of each elemental constituent of the braze alloy, including powders of nickel and/or copper as the melting point depressant(s), to create a presumably uniform distribution of the elements in the braze alloy powder.
A difficulty encountered when brazing certain alloys is the tendency for some melting point depressants to form embrittling phases, such as chromium borides that form when brazing chromium-containing superalloys. As a result, brazing is not an appropriate manufacturing or repair process for some applications, particularly many components in the hot gas path of a gas turbine engine. In any case, the amounts of melting point depressants contained in a braze alloy are intentionally limited and sometimes partitioned to minimize their detrimental effects. An example of the latter is the use of a braze alloy system comprising two braze powders, one containing one or more melting point depressants and the other nominally having the same composition as the component being brazed. The higher-melting powder acts as a sink for the excess melting point depressants in the lower-melting powder during and after the brazement is formed. However, segregation of the two powders can occur during the brazing process, with the lower-melting powder taking most of the working volume of the brazement and displacing the higher-melting powder. If this occurs, an excess of melting point depressants will be present in the brazement, which in turn affects the mechanical properties of the brazement.
Microwave brazing is currently been investigated as a potential candidate for eliminating issues associated with conventional brazing techniques, as microwave heating has the potential for localizing heat in selected areas of a component. Two approaches have generally been proposed for microwave brazing. A first entails the use of a susceptor (e.g., SiC enclosure) that is heated when exposed to microwave energy and, in turn, transfers the heat to the component by radiation. Drawbacks to this approach are lack of local heating of the braze alloy only, as an entire region of the component is inevitably heated, and significant heat loss from radiation in directions away from the intended brazement. A second approach entails direct microwave heating of a braze alloy powder, which is more susceptible to absorbing microwave energy than bulk metals, which reflect microwaves. Because typical braze alloy compositions do not couple sufficiently with microwave energy to be fully melted during a microwave treatment, braze powders have been proposed that contain particles that are sufficiently small to be highly susceptible to microwave radiation. This approach is disclosed in commonly-assigned U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 11/564,898, 11/609,473, and 11/469,567. Another approach is to produce a braze powder containing one or more microwave coupling enhancers that are more highly susceptible to microwave radiation than the base alloy composition of the braze powder. For example, commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 7,326,892 to Cretegny et al. discloses the addition to a braze alloy powder of materials capable of behaving as microwave coupling enhancers, such as silicon, germanium, gallium, cobalt, iron, zinc, titanium, carbon (e.g., carbon nano-tubes or fine graphite powder), aluminum, tantalum, niobium, rhenium, hafnium, molybdenum, and silicon carbide (SiC). Powders of the microwave coupling enhancers can be intermixed with a powder of the braze alloy, or the braze alloy can be alloyed to contain one or more microwave coupling enhancers.
Even with the above advancements, there is an ongoing need to further develop braze powders that can be heated by microwave radiation. In particular, it would be desirable if a braze alloy powder contained one or more microwave coupling enhancers in a form that has minimal negative impact on the mechanical properties of the resulting brazement, and allows for broader use of brazing processes and technology, especially in the manufacture and repair of gas turbine engine components.


An advanced extensible interface 4 (AXI4) topology is provided. The topology includes a main entity, parallel sub entities comprising a first sub entity having a first functionality and a second sub entity comprising parallel third sub entities having a second functionality, which is different from the first functionality, and a controllable element in series with the parallel third sub entities and an AXI4 interconnect element serially interposed between the main entity and the parallel sub entities. For a transaction issued by the main entity with an augmented address including first and second addresses, the first address is readable by the AXI4 interconnect element to select one of the first and second sub entities for transaction execution and the second address is readable by the controllable element to select one of the third sub entities for transaction execution.

The present invention relates to AXI4 augmented addressing and, more specifically, to improved logic utilization with AXI4 augmented addressing.
Advanced microcontroller bus architecture (AMBA) is an open-standard, on-chip interconnect specification for the connection and management of functional blocks in system-on-a-chip (SoC) designs. AMBA facilitates development of multi-processor designs with large numbers of controllers and peripherals. Since its inception, the scope of AMBA has, despite its name, gone far beyond micro-controller devices and is now used on a range of application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) and SoC parts including applications processors used in modern portable mobile devices like smartphones.
In greater detail, the first AMBA buses were advanced system buses (ASB) and advanced peripheral buses (APB). In later versions, high-performance buses (AHB), advanced extensible interfaces (AXI) and advanced trace buses (ATB) were added. Most recently, AXI4 has been developed to extend system-wide coherency.
The AXI4 protocol is a commercial standard that allows for the interconnection of design entities and endpoints by way of an interconnect entity. Within the AXI4 protocol, it has been seen that instantiation of multiple endpoints of a same type requires multiple connections to the interconnect entity. These multiple connections, for repeated instantiations of the same entity, results in increased field programmable gate array (FPGA) fabric use, increased data propagation delay and reduced design efficiency.

Logic utilization with AXI4 augmented address


The present invention relates to systems, methods, and computer program products for the analysis of gene expression data, especially data that have been acquired using microarray technologies. The present invention relates to methods for partitioning a set of genes into clusters, based on the similarity of the genes' rates of messenger RNA synthesis. The present invention also relates to methods for annotating clusters with words or phrases that are extracted from documents associated with genes in the clusters. The present invention also relates to methods for evaluating the quality of clustering based on the extend to which documents associated with genes in a cluster collectively distinguish that cluster from all the other clusters, as well as the extent to which some words and phrases, present in documents associated with genes in the cluster, collectively distinguish that cluster from all the other clusters.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of bioinformatics, and specifically to systems, methods, and computer program products that make use of digital signal processing, clustering of data, statistical natural language processing, and machine learning, for purposes of analyzing data acquired using DNA arrays that have been hybridized with cDNA probes.
2. Description of Prior Art
Disease processes, as well as physiological responses to agents such as drugs, are often investigated by measuring the amounts of different messenger RNA (mRNA) species in a tissue specimen or in a cultured cell population. The present invention is concerned with analyzing such data, in particular, data acquired through use of a recently developed tool known as microarrays [DUGGAN et al., Nature Genetics 21, Suppl. 1:10-14 (1999)].
Microarrays consist of hundreds or thousands of spots of different DNA sequences, corresponding to many different genes, arranged in a grid pattern on a glass substrate or nylon membrane. Complementary DNA (cDNA) prepared from the mRNA of a tissue specimen is hydribidized to the microarray, which is then detected by fluorescence or autoradiographic methods. The signal detected at each of the many spots on the microarray is then used as an indication of the relative amount of the corresponding mRNA species in the specimen. Microarray experiments are often performed to compare mRNA levels from tissues under two conditions (e.g., cancerous vs. normal cells; before vs. after administration of a drug), in which case, the ratio of estimated mRNA levels for each microarray spot under the two conditions is also ordinarily calculated. The construction or interpretation of such ratio estimates may benefit from the application of statistical corrections, especially when spot values are close to the threshold of measurement detectability [CHEN et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,245,517 (2001); NEWTON et al. (1999) from the Web site having the following domain name—top level domain=edu, second level domain=wisc, third level domain=stat, fourth level domain=www, path=/˜newton/papers/publications.]
Microarrays have also been used to monitor the time course of mRNA levels in a cell population that had been subjected to an intervention, such as a shift in serum concentration in the growth medium, which alters the concentration of hormones and other factors needed for cell growth [IYER et al. Science 283:83-87 (1999)]. Those microarray measurements are typically made from mRNA collected at short time intervals (on the order of several minutes) immediately after application of the intervention, and longer intervals thereafter (hours). cDNA prepared from each of these mRNA samples is ordinarily hybridized to a separate array. Ratios are then constructed for each time point, as mentioned above, by dividing the measurement at the time point by a measurement corresponding to time-zero. After inspecting the time course of estimated mRNA levels for all the genes on the arrays in those experiments, investigators noted that the mRNA levels for certain groups of genes tend to fluctuate up and down together. Subsequently, computer algorithms were used to group together sets of genes (known as "clusters", produced by a clustering algorithm) according to the similarity of the time-course of their estimated mRNA levels, making the groupings more objective and relieving investigators of the burden of grouping the genes by eye [EISEN et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95:14863-14868 (1998); TAVAZONE et al., Nature Genetics 22:281-285 (1999); TAMAYO et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96:2907-2912 (1999); BEN-DOR et al. J. Computational Biol. 6:281-297 (1999); GETZ et al. (1999), arXiv:physcis/9911038 from the Web site having the following domain name—top level domain=gov, second level domain=lanl, third level domain=xxx; ZHENG et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,263,287 (2001)].
Microarrays have also been used to measure cell responses to several different types of interventions, at a single time point, rather than the response to a single intervention at a series of time points. In those experiments, groups of genes were also observed to exhibit similar mRNA levels in response to the various interventions, and groupings of those genes were also produced automatically by using clustering algorithms [PEROUS et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96:9212-9217 (1999); TIBSHIRANI et al. (1999) from the Web site having the following domain name—top level domain=edu, second level domain=stanford, third level domain=www.-sta, path=/˜tibs/lab/publications.html].
The similarity of estimated mRNA levels—observed among genes in individual clusters—could in some instances be coincidental, but most investigators attribute the similarity of mRNA levels to unknown biological control mechanisms, whereby functionally related genes are transcribed in a coordinated fashion in order to participate stoichiometrically in a biochemical or cell-physiological process. Thus, the clustering of genes on the basis of the similarity of their mRNA levels is viewed by investigators as an initial step in identifying functionally significant biochemical pathways or cell-physiological processes and their mechanisms of transcriptional control. For example, genes involved in mediating progression through the cell cycle may be found in the same cluster [IYER et al., supra]. However, it has also been observed that genes with supposedly similar known functions do not always appear together in the same clusters [TAVAZOIE et al., supra]. This may be due in part to inadequacy of the particular clustering algorithm that was used. If a different clustering algorithm were applied to the data, it would generally produce different clusters and may be more successful at grouping together functionally related genes.
Initially, investigators applied hierarchical clustering algorithms to array data [EISEN et al., supra]. Later investigators used self-organizing maps, to perform clustering [TAMAYO et al., supra]. Other investigators have performed clustering of microarray data using the k-means algorithm [TAVAZOIE et al., supra], a graph theoretical algorithm [BEN-DOR et al., supra], super-parametric clustering [GETZ et al., supra], as well as grid and σ-τ clustering [ZHENG et al., supra]. Variations of these algorithms have also been implemented by using various normalizations and distance measures. Additional clustering algorithms were described for situations in which data are parameterized by two or more variables [TIBSHIRANI et al., supra]. Considering that hundreds of other general-purpose clustering algorithms have been described [KAUFMAN and ROUSSEEUW. Finding Groups in Data: An Introduction to Cluster Analysis, Wiley (1990) and references contained therein; MANNING et al., Chapter 14, "Clustering", in Foundations of Statistical Natural Language Processing, MIT Press (1999)], many of which may eventually be applied to microarray data, and considering that all of these clustering algorithms may group microarray data in different ways, investigators have the problem of deciding which of those algorithms is most useful for analyzing their data.
the inability to group functionally related genes into individual clusters may also be due to factors other than the use of a sub-optimal general-purpose clustering algorithm, for the following reason. It is thought that the similarity of mRNA levels for the various genes in each cluster may be due to co-regulation of those genes by shared transcription factors. In fact, some investigators use an algorithm that simultaneously clusters genes on the basis of the similarity of their estimated mRNA levels, as well as whether those genes exhibit shared DNA binding sites to which the transcription factors can bind [HOLMES et al., Proc. Int. Conf. on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology 8:202-210 (2000)].
When clustering is to be performed, one therefore needs to compare results made with different clustering algorithms, in order to decide which algorithm is most useful for the data under investigation. The comparison may be made first in terms of the statistics of how well members of each cluster resemble their corresponding centroid (i.e., tightness of clustering), or in terms of a figure of merit obtained using a resampling approach [YEUNG et al. (2000) from the Web site having the following domain name—top level domain=edu, second level domain=washington, third level domain=cs, fourth level domain=www, path=/homes/kayee/research.html]. However, such goodness-of-fit comparisons do not assess the quality of clustering in terms of the biological reasonableness of the results, which must be based on the physiological functions of the genes in the clusters.
However, there is little prior art that can assist investigators in evaluating the extent to which genes in clusters are functionally related, which has been taken to be a primary criterion upon which the quality of clustering is judged. The main difficulty in establishing functional relations among genes in clusters lies in the unavailability or incompleteness of factual databases that explicitly link the known functions of genes with one another. TAVAZOIE et al., supra, indexed yeast genes using the 199 functional categories in the Martinsreid Institute of Sciences functional classification scheme database (ribosomal, mitochondrial, TCA pathway, etc.). For each cluster of genes, they then calculated probabilities (P values) of the frequency of observed genes in the various functional categories, to determine whether particular clusters are significantly composed of genes associated with particular functional categories. However, such functional classification databases are available to characterize the genes of only a limited number of organisms, or they may not contain a complete list of known genes. Furthermore, those databases force genes into a predetermined classification scheme that may contain overly-broad or overly-narrow classifications, or classifications that are not mutually exclusive. Possibly for this reason, TAVAZOIE et al. supra, found that genes with supposedly similar known functions—as defined by the Martinsreid Institute of Sciences functional classification scheme database for yeast—do not preferentially appear together in the same cluster.
Consequently, most investigators simply review the lists of clustered genes manually and then offer expert commentary about the functional significance of genes of the various clusters, based on their reading of the literature about those genes. For example, IYER et al., supra, describe one cluster as being enriched for genes "involved in mediating progression through the cell cycle", describe another cluster as containing genes encoding "proteins involved in cellular signaling", and for other clusters they offer no description. At the present state of the art, expert human judgement may well be the best method for evaluating the relatedness of functions of genes in clusters. However, this method is limited by the expertise of its practitioners, as well as by the considerable labor involved in manually reviewing literature concerning the many genes that may be present in the clusters. In fact, even the task of identifying the relevant articles in the scientific literature is arduous.
In the invention, text in the scientific literature is obtained about genes on a microarray (using an original method that is part of the invention), by putting that literature in groups defined by microarray clustering of the corresponding genes; and by then constructing a mathematical model of the text. The purpose of the model is to identify words or phrases that are most uniquely associated with the text corresponding to each cluster, and that also best distinguish each cluster from the others.
An advantage of the present method and system is that it does not presuppose the existence of a structured database of gene annotations, such as the Martinsreid Institute of Sciences functional classification scheme database for yeast, which was mentioned above. A further advantage of the present system is that it automatically generates a list of words or phrases ("annotations") that best describe each cluster and that also best distinguish each cluster from the others. The present method and system produces those words and phrases in a different manner that what was outlined by SHATKAY et al., Internat. Conf. on Intelligent Systems in Molecular Biology 8:317-323 (2000). Unlike the present invention, their method does not make use of information from the clustering of microarray data. Furthermore, they use a semi-automatic—rather than automatic—method that attempts to find literature citations and keywords that are conceptually related to single documents, which must be specified by the user for each gene.
The present method and system also produces words and phrases in a different manner than what was described by MASYS et al., Bioinformatics 17:319-326 (2001). Their method has the disadvantage that the words and phrases it produces are voluminous and generally non-specific, placing a significant burden of interpretation on the investigator, because it links sets of genes to the published literature by way of keyword hierarchies using the entire set of descriptors contained in MeSH and Enzyme Commission nonmenclature.

System, methods, and computer program product for analyzing microarray data


The present invention provides a compound of formula (I):

The broad neuropharmacology elicited from the benzodiazepine class of compounds is generally attributed to their binding to a site on a specific receptor/chloride ion channel complex known as the GABAA receptor. Benzodiazepine-receptor binding potentiates the binding of the inhibitory neurotransmitter γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) to the complex, thereby leading to inhibition of normal neuronal function. In addition to the therapeutic purposes listed above, benzodiazepines have been used widely for anesthesia, particularly as a premedication or as a component in the induction and/or maintenance of anesthesia. See generally, Goodman and Gilman's The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, Eighth Edition; Gilman, A. G.; Rall, T. W.; Nies, A. S.; Taylor, P., Eds.; Pergamon Press: New York, 1990; pp. 303-304, 346-358.
Shorter-acting benzodiazepines that may provide faster recovery profiles have been the subject of recent clinical investigations (W. Hering et al., Anesthesiology 1996, 189, 85 (Suppl.); J. Dingemanse et al., Br. J. Anaesth 1997, 79, 567-574.) Recent patent filings also describe benzodiazepines of interest. (WO 96/23790; WO 96/20941; U.S. Pat. No. 5,665,718). Other publications that describe benzodiazepinones include E. Manghisi and A. Salimbemi, Boll. Chim. Farm. 1974, 113, 642-644), W. A. Khan and P. Singh, Org. Prep. Proc. Int. 1978, 10, 105-111 and J. B. Hester, Jr, et al. J. Med. Chem. 1980, 23, 643-647. Benzodiazepines in present practice, such as diazepam, lorazepam, and midazolam all undergo metabolism by hepatic-dependent processes. Active metabolites, which are often much more slowly metabolized than the parent drug, can be generated by these hepatic mechanisms in effect prolonging the duration of action of many benzodiazepines (T. M. Bauer et al., Lancet 1995, 346, 145-7). Inadvertent oversedation has been associated with the use of benzodiazepines (A. Shafer, Crit Care Med 1998, 26, 947-956), particularly in the ICU, where benzodiazepines, such as midazolam, enjoy frequent use. However, the benzodiazepine compounds of this invention differ from benzodiazepines in present-day clinical practice.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Abstract: wherein all variables are as defined herein, pharmaceutical formulations containing the same, processes for preparing the same and their use therapy.


As memory geometries continue to scale down, current density of magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) make conventional low current reading scheme problematic with regard to performance and reliability. A body-voltage sense circuit (BVSC) short pulse reading (SPR) circuit is described using body connected load transistors and a novel sensing circuit with second stage amplifier which allows for very short read pulses providing much higher read margins, less sensing time, and shorter sensing current pulses. Simulation results (using 65-nm CMOS model SPICE simulations) show that our technique can achieve 550 mV of read margin at 1 ns performance under a 1 V supply voltage, which is greater than reference designs achieve at 5 ns performance.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to resistance-sensing based random access memory (RAM) devices, and more particularly to a short pulse reading (SPR) circuit implementation based on a body-voltage sensing circuit (BVSC).
2. Description of Related Art
Research efforts in the memory industry have continued towards providing a scalable "universal memory". Among many candidates, are (1) phase-change RAM (PC-RAM) which has been shown to be a good replacement for Flash memory; (2) resistive RAM (ReRAM) which is in its initial stage of exploration; (3) magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM); and (4) spin-torque transfer RAM (STT-RAM) which has been regarded as the front runner.
It has been demonstrated that STT-RAM can achieve smaller cell size than static RAM (SRAM), greater performance than dynamic RAM (DRAM), the non-volatility of Flash and improved endurance that is on the order of 1016 read/write cycles. Compared to MRAM, another advantage of STT-RAM is that the switching current of its storage device, a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ), scales with device size due to the nature of spin-torque transfer. As a result, both the CMOS and MTJ devices appear promising for being further scaled down in advanced STT-RAM technology node toward realizing higher memory density and lower power consumption. Although, scaling reduces the critical current density (JC) of the MTJ and increases the variability of both devices, impeding the reading operations from being reliable and high speed.
Existing reading circuit designs typically adopt the low current reading (LCR) scheme, in which a sensing current smaller than the writing current is applied on the selected MTJ to avoid read disturbance. FIG. 1 shows a current-mirror sensing circuit (GMSC). This design adds an equalizer to the current mirror sense amplifier outputs to mitigate the issues of the imbalanced output impedance and the skewed sensing time of reading RP and RAP. FIG. 2 shows a split-path sensing circuit (SPSC). This design implements a double current-mirror based differential amplifier by splitting the sensing current into two paths and mirroring them differentially to improve its output signal swing and read margin (RM). Both of the above designs utilize the LCR scheme.
In the LCR based sensing circuit designs, the sensing current is strictly bounded by the long duration switching current (IC) of the MTJ. Consequently, JC scaling would eventually create difficulty in achieving high reading speed for this sensing scheme. To solve this problem, a short pulse reading (SPR) method has been considered which uses a sensing current similar to the writing current in magnitude, but with a much shorter pulse width, to read the MTJ.
However, no circuit implementations of a short pulse reading (SPR) scheme has been advanced, and no answers have arisen as to the best circuit structure to implement an SPR based high-performance STT-RAM.

Body voltage sensing based short pulse reading circuit

The Regents of the University of California


A cycle life testing machine includes a controller, a clamping device, a driver, and a cycle device. The cycle device includes a servo motor, an actuator, a shaft, and a swing rod. The controller sends a signal to control the driver to trigger working of the servo motor, and the servo motor drives the actuator and the shaft rotate to swing the swing rod in a cycle procedure specified by the controller.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a testing machine, and particular to a cycle life testing machine.
2. Description of the Related Art
Pivotable articles such as pivotable carrying cases for carrying and protecting portable electronic device such as mobile phones or tablet personal computers are usually cycle life tested when manufactured. The pivotable article has a first portion that is hinged to a second portion. During cycle life tests, the first portion of the case is secured in a fixed first position, and the second portion of the case is pivoted towards and away from the first portion along the hinge connecting the first and second portions. However, the testing machine typically is limited to pivot the first and second portions of the case at small angles.
Therefore, there is room for improvement within the art.

Cycle life testing machine for pivotable articles

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd.


A portable wind screen assembly includes a pair of hollow support tubes and a flexible wind barrier that is attached to both support tubes at either end thereof. The first support tube includes a spring-loaded retracting mechanism positioned therein, and the flexible wind barrier is attached to the retracting mechanism so that it may be wound around the retracting mechanism and stored within the first support tube when not in use. The second support tube may be insulated to serve as a drink cooler and/or storage space for canned or bottled drinks may be stacked vertically within the second tube, and includes an access door on a bottom portion thereof for extracting drinks therefrom. The portable wind screen assembly may also include pivoting supports for stability, a rechargeable battery for recharging mobile electronic devices, a wireless speaker, and means for attachment to a beach chair or other additional windscreen assemblies.

Throughout history, people have been drawn to beaches worldwide for rest, relaxation, and recreation. One favorite beach activity is sunbathing, where a person lies down on a towel, beach chair, lawn chair or the like, to relax and work on a suntan. One problem associated with this activity is that wind can create havoc during these activities by blowing sand on sunbathers, blowing pages of their books around, and pushing beach balls, toys and other accessories downwind. It would be desirable, therefore, to provide a portable, lightweight wind screen assembly to block the wind during these and other outdoor activities.
Heretofore, attempts have been made to develop and commercialize portable wind screens and similar devices. The following references disclose various windscreen type mechanisms, and these documents are hereby incorporated herein by reference, in their entireties:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,576,364 Portable Wind Screen
A portable screen of fabric is held upright by a plurality of hollow poles clamped to the fabric by C clamps, preferably one the length of the pole. A stake is telescoped within each hollow pole, and held in an extended position (to adjust the height of the screen) by the friction of a resilient sleeve near the top of the stake, and additionally by a C clamp around the stake adjusted up against the pole. Straps are provided to secure the screen in a rolled up condition, and to carry the rolled up screen.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,685,484 Wind Shelter
An improved wind shelter with an arm mechanism which urges arm segments interconnecting adjacent posts into a horizontal, aligned and opposing position when the wind shelter is in use and which urges such arm segments towards a position in which they are contiguous along their lengths when the wind shelter is collapsed for transportation, the fabric of the wind shelter having parallel pockets for receiving posts and an upper flap portion for removably attaching the fabric to the posts.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,500 Wind Screen Apparatus
A wind screen apparatus is set forth wherein a plural series of screen sections are provided with post members secured therebetween. The screen sections include cylindrical pockets orthogonally aligned relative to the longitudinal extent of each screen section for securely receiving an associated post therein. Each post includes a pointed lowermost end for securement each post into a soil or sand support. The screen organization further includes electrical line and illumination members mounted on each screen section for illumination of each screen section for visibility during periods of limited light condition, such as during the evening hours. Further, a support member with handles mounted on each end thereof is provided for transport of the apparatus when the apparatus is inter-rolled about itself.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,981,152 Portable Foldable Beach Screen
A portable, foldable beach screen provides privacy and protection from wind and blowing sand for a reclining individual. The screen is constructed from a single panel and is foldable into a compact and easily carried configuration. The screen may include a reflective material on one or both major surfaces and can carry advertising messages or other printing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,379,786 Folding Windbreak and Shade Screen System
A folding windbreak and shade screen comprising a plurality of sections attached by means of hinges. The folding windbreak and shade screen is secured in place in the dam configuration by means of ground stakes slidably disposed within lower housings attached to the sections. The ground stakes may be locked into upper housings in order to stack one folding windbreak and shade screen in the dam configuration atop another folding windbreak and shade screen in the dam configuration. The folding windbreak and shade screen may be installed in an arch configuration by means of arch stakes slidably disposed within arch housings, and a variety of guy lines.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,092,792 Portable Environmental Barrier Apparatus
A portable barrier apparatus is disclosed in this specification defining a multi-sectioned barrier for protection against wind and sand in various outdoor environments. Additionally the barrier may assembled and used as a child or pet restraint enclosure, a privacy barrier, or a temporary personal effect storage site. The apparatus includes a connected plurality of flexible barrier panel members which may be supported in an upright manner with a plurality of pole members. The apparatus further includes a protective panel member which generally covers the barrier panel members in an undeployed configuration. The invention provides a compact transport-configured package for user carrying of the barrier.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,575,435 Retractable Barrier System
A retractable barrier system for preventing unsupervised access to dangerous areas by children. The retractable barrier system includes an housing with an elongate perimeter wall, a bottom wall and a top wall which define an interior space; a barrier assembly positionable within the housing and extending through a slot of the housing; a biasing assembly for selectively retracting the barrier assembly into the housing; a receiving housing for selectively coupling to the barrier assembly; and an alarm assembly positioned within the receiving housing to provide an aural warning when the barrier assembly is disconnected from the receiving housing.
U.S. Patent Application No. US20050269046
A portable wind screen is provided, including: a sheet of material having a sheet first end and sheet second end; a first pole coupled with the sheet of material adjacent to the sheet first end; a second pole coupled with the sheet of material adjacent to the sheet second end; a first handle connected to a connection portion of the wind screen; a second handle connected to a second connection portion of the wind screen, and an engagement means configured to selectively engage the first handle and the second handle with each other.
U.S. Patent Application No. US20060131551 Retractable Barrier
A retractable barrier (10) includes an elongate housing (12) having a first end (14), a second end (16), and a slotted opening (18) extending between the first end (14) and the second end (16). A substrate support (20) is rotatably mounted within the housing (12). A barrier substrate (22) is provided of a height substantially equal to a length of the slotted opening (18). The barrier substrate (22) has an attachment end (26) and a free end (24). The barrier substrate (22) is rolled onto the substrate support (20) with the attachment end (26) being attached to the substrate support (20) and the free end (24) extending through the slotted opening (18) of the housing (12) to permit a selected quantity of the barrier substrate (22) to be extended from the housing (12). The barrier substrate (22) is configurable into non-linear configurations by the selectively attaching poles (28) where a change of direction occurs. A crank (32) is provided for rotating the substrate support (20), thereby retracting the barrier substrate (22) back into the housing (12).
U.S. Patent Application No. US20070228349 Portable Privacy Fence Incorporating Ground Secured Posts, Each Including a Mesh Unwinding Section and a Succeeding Supporting Section
An assembly for creating a portable enclosure includes a plurality of individual and elongated ground engaging units, each having an elongated body and an end extending ground engaging portion. A magazine fixedly secures in vertically extending fashion along each of the units, a screen adapted to being withdrawn from the magazine and including hooks defined along a forward withdrawable edge. A plurality of rings extend along a further vertically extending edge associated with each of the units, and which is adapted to receive the hooks associated with a screen withdrawn from a succeeding located unit, in order to construct a barrier between the units.
U.S. Patent Application No. US20090294078 Privacy Screen Assembly
A privacy screen assembly has a first elongated support, a second elongated support, and a privacy screen having a first end operably coupled with the first elongated support and a second end operably coupled to the second elongated support, wherein the first privacy screen is positionable between a retracted position and a deployed position. A support member vertically supports the privacy screen and is positionable between a retracted position, wherein the support member is stored within an interior of one of the first elongated support and the second elongated support in a substantially linear configuration, and a deployed position, wherein a substantial portion of the support member extends from the interior of the elongated support and wherein a substantial portion of the support member exits the interior of the elongated support such that less of the support member is present in the interior of the elongated support.
U.S. Patent Application No. US20100175731 Wind and Sand Barrier
A wind and sand barrier for shielding beach-goers and the like. The barrier comprises an elongated panel of flexible material that is supported a plurality of stakes extending through sleeves on the panel and then into the ground. Each stake is topped by an inverted dish-shaped handle to facilitate pushing the stakes into the ground with the user's hand. A plurality of slits are cut into the panel to define flaps for relieving wind pressure against the panel.
U.S. Patent Application No, US20180238110 Portable, Adjustable, Privacy, Wind and Shade Apparatus
A portable apparatus that provides privacy, wind reduction, and shade to a desired location is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a shade fabric that fits over vertical posts, each post has a ground stake attached to the bottom end. The ground stakes allow for simple placement and securing the unit in desired locations. For additional stability, a horizontal pole fits to the top of a two vertical posts by using connectors that hold the vertical posts in place. The center connecter is adjustable so the apparatus can positioned at various angles. The apparatus can easily be repositioned or relocated throughout the day as the sun moves or the wind shifts. The unit is light weight and can easily be taken apart, the fabric rolled up, and all parts fit into a carry bag for convenient transportation and storing while not in use.
WO2007059603 Retractable Barrier
A retractable barrier (10) includes an elongated housing (12) having a first end (14), a second end (16), and a slotted opening (18) extending between the first end (14) and the second end (16). A substrate support (20) is mounted within the housing (12). Substrate support (20) also includes a slotted opening (18). A barrier substrate (22) is provided of a height substantially equal to a length of the slotted opening (18). The barrier substrate (22) is rolled onto a shaft (73) Shaft (73) is positioned inside substrate support (20). A free end (24) of the barrier substrate (22) extends through the slotted opening (18) of housing (12). An end cap (45) is fixed at the first end (14) of the barrier support (20). The end cap (45) has a plurality of receptacles (46) spaced about a 360 degree circumference. A crank handle (48) is provided on a crank mounted on a rotatable crank support (44). Shaft (73) is attached to crank handle (48) such that turning crank handle (48) rotates shaft (73). The crank handle (48) has an operative position and a locking position. In the locking position, a cam (50) carried by the crank handle (48) engages one of the receptacles (46) on the end cap (45) to non-rotatably fix the substrate support (20) to the housing (12).

Portable wind screen assembly and method