New cosmetic raw materials are provided in the form of complexes of pigment materials coupled to small microspheres providing complexes that impart richness and feel, with low oil absorbency while displaying the optical and other properties of the pigment. Improvements in spatial disposition of small pigment particles provide a better dispersion of pigment in and products such as makeups, creams, lipsticks, blushers, nail enamels, and the like. Preferred embodiments include talc, nylon, silica, starches and iron oxide pigments coupled by a liquid titanate coupling agent to microspheres of polyvinylidene chloride copolymer, polyethylene, nylon and silica. Simple methods of manufacture include spraying a liquid titanate in solution on a blended mixture of pigment and microsphere and drying the product while blending, to cure it.

Since prehistoric times, when body paint was first being applied, separation of pigments and other components in paints and dyes has led to inconsistent colors and non-uniform applications of make-up. Separation and settling is a well-known phenomenon in liquid, or fluid-phase systems, that results in diminished shelf-life, non-uniform colors and ineffectual application of make-up. Separation can also take place in powder mixtures with the less dense material tending to concentrate in the upper volume of the mixture.
Advances in the cosmetic arts, and the choice of possible cosmetic formulants, are constrained and delimited by, among others, the following requirements:
compatibility, both physical and chemical, with customary cosmetic formulants and pre-cursor materials which can include both hydrophilic and lipophilic materials; PA1 stability, again both physical and chemical and also biological, in end-product formulations for extended distribution and shelf-life, especially against settling, loss of volume and spoilage; PA1 end-product stability for the consumer after opening; PA1 end-use functionality which, in addition to the more or less subtle ornamental functions required of, for example, lipstick, mascara, face powder and nail polish, includes the more elusive qualities of feel, ease of application as well as an appropriate range of adhesion; and, most importantly, PA1 non-toxicity, non-comedogenicity, hypoallergenicity and the like, in other words, dermatological innocuity. PA1 a) microsphere-material particles having a particle size less than 1000 microns; PA1 b) a plurality of pigment-material particles covalently bonded to said polymeric particles; and PA1 c) a coupling agent residue extending between said pigment materials and said microsphere particles whereby they are covalently bonded;
Many, but not all, of these properties can be related to dispersibility of the pigment materials and the art is replete with proposals for improving pigment dispersibility. Noting that a pigment can be considered as a concentrated particle of colorant or other material providing a useful visual effect, including pigment extending, techniques to improve dispersibility usually comprise grinding or milling pigment materials to a fine particle size and coating the particles.
Milling of course increases the available surface area and visual effect of the pigment, and thus its effectiveness. There are many prior art teachings relating to the coating of pigment materials to improve their dispersibility. Most pigment materials tend to have a hydrophilic surface character making them hard to disperse in organic media, and it is accordingly well-known to treat pigment materials to give them a hydrophobic character and to use surfactants, anti-flocculants and the like to improve the dispersibility of the pigment materials.
The present invention takes a new approach to the improvement of dispersibility, providing striking results of great value to the cosmetics industry. Indeed the invention Succeeds in providing some control over the spatial distribution of particulate pigment materials in subsequent cosmetic formulations.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,604 to M. Schlossman there are described a number of methods to coat pigments and pigment materials with titanate coupling agents including isopropyl triisostearoyl titanate. M. Schlossman provides valuable improvements in the art of pigment material dispersibility.
In a different industry, with different constraints, the plastics industry, materials known as spherical polymeric particulates in powder form and hollow spheres in powder form, either of which materials may be called microspheres, are known as valuable fillers and are prized for their sphericity, controlled particle size and low density, see for example, Ruhno "Handbook of fillers for plastics", edited by H. S. Katz et al , pp. 437-438 Van Nostrand Reinhold (1978).
According to Ruhno, there are major advantages to the plastics industry in the ability of microspheres to act as fillers in composite materials, displacing high-priced polymers with lower density, and better density control than solid mineral fillers. Some end product advantages are uniform shrinkage, improved sandability and increased impact resistance.
A brief review of the history and development of spherical polymeric powders or microspheres, including hollow spheres, sized under 1000 micron, can be found in the Ruhno reference. Inorganic and organic hollow spheres are described and referred to as "microspheres" the term being used for materials which are spherical, small and light, and in the context of this reference, hollow and polymeric. Obviously, the above-described end-product advantages are not of general use in cosmetics.
Native organic polymeric microspheres have been incorporated in cosmetic compositions to impart desirable texture characteristics of smoothness and feel, as well as pourability to powder cosmetics, notably makeup, see for example UK Patent Application GB 2 191 945. An important drawback is high oil absorption causing excessive drying and caking. Another problem is that small round microspheres do not adhere well to the skin.
Inert microspherical materials, especially organic polymeric materials, for example spherical nylon or polyethylene powder, have been employed as a cosmetic raw material, see for example, the Journal of The Society of Cosmetic Chemists, 41, 197-207, May/June 1990 ("Cosm. Chem." hereinafter). Here, hybridized powders are disclosed in which fine-chemical deodorant powders, specifically zinc oxide and aluminum chlorhydrate are mechanically layered on such microspheres by mixing and percussion in a centrifugal ball mill. The active, chemical quenching power of the deodorants is retained and improved physical properties of the deodorant powders result, including better texture and lower coefficients of kinetic friction, the latter correlating with smoothness.
Mechanofusion processes are expensive and difficult to use on a commercial scale for bulk raw materials. A drawback of such cosmetics-containing microspherical particles produced by mechanofusion processes, especially organic polymeric particles, is that they can have too high an oil absorption capacity, giving an unacceptable drying effect to the skin. Furthermore, the mechanical layering technique results in the outer powders being partially buried, reducing their exposed surface area, a drawback for pigment materials. Another difficulty may arise during pulverization when too much heat can cause polymeric microspheres to melt.
Also, while deodorants may be embraced by some interpretations of the term "cosmetic" their properties are obviously not those required for decorative cosmetics as a material used to adorn embellish or beautify the wearer, to enhance the visible appearance of exposed surfaces of the wearer, and they are not usually applied to normally exposed skin surfaces.
The Cosm. Chem. disclosure is silent as to the suitability of small inert spherical powders for inclusion in appearance-enhancing cosmetics, especially for topical application where the oil absorption and light-reflective properties of cosmetics are paramount. Nor is the Cosm. Chem. disclosure relevant to liquid phase dispersions for manual application by spreading. Certain additional properties are vital for appearance-enhancing cosmetics. These properties include not only their appearance and their ability to sustain and develop pigments, but also end-product characteristics such as spreadability.
Additionally, while the physical properties of feel and smoothness that can be contributed by microspheres in some formulations may be desirable out of the container, these are of no value if the product lacks adequate adhesion to remain on the skin. This is a further drawback of microspheres.
Broad usage of microspheres is contraindicated by high cost in addition to technical factors. Formulators may encounter difficulties during processing, for example, blending inconsistencies arising from bulk density differences; pressing problems in which oil can come out, and stability problems because prolonged oil absorption can cause dried cake, cracking, and impair the texture of the product. In addition, smooth, round particles do not adhere well to the skin.

Pigment-material-microsphere complexes and their production


The semiconductor device includes an internal clock generator, a shift signal generator and a first control signal generator. The internal clock generator generates a first internal clock signal and a second internal clock signal in response to an external clock signal. The shift signal generator shifts a clock enable signal in response to the first internal clock signal to generate first and second shift signals, and the shift signal generator shifts the clock enable signal in response to the second internal clock signal to generate third and fourth shift signals. The first control signal generator generates a first control signal in response to the first and third shift signals.

1. Technical Field
Embodiments relate to semiconductor devices and, more particularly, to semiconductor devices operated by internal clock signals.
2. Related Art
Semiconductor devices, for example, dynamic random access memory (DRAM) devices may be designed to operate at a high speed with low power consumption and large cell capacitance. Thus, most semiconductor devices may be designed to have a power-down mode that minimizes a driving current when data is not being accessed. In general, semiconductor devices may be released from the power-down mode if a clock enable signal is enabled and inputted even in the power-down mode.
The semiconductor devices may still communicate with external chip set devices using the clock enable signal even though the semiconductor devices are in the power-down mode. The clock enable signal may act as a reference signal that determines whether a clock signal outputted from the external chip set devices should be applied to internal circuits of the semiconductor devices. The semiconductor devices may transmit the clock signal to the internal circuits thereof only when the clock enable signal is activated. That is, the semiconductor devices typically do not transmit the clock signal to the internal circuits thereof when the clock enable signal is inactivated. The semiconductor devices may execute a data access operation when the clock signal is transmitted to the internal circuits of the semiconductor devices.
Meanwhile, each of the semiconductor devices may generate a plurality of internal clock signals having different phases to operate at a high speed and may input or output data using the plurality of internal clock signals. For example, if at least two internal clock signals are generated in each of the semiconductor devices and are used to receive or output data, the semiconductor devices may operate at a higher speed as compared with other semiconductor devices directly operated using an external clock signal. When a plurality of internal clock signals are used in each semiconductor device, it may be necessary to reset starting points of time and terminating points of time of a plurality of control operations including the power-down mode using the internal clock signals as reference signals.


Various embodiments include a method for diagnosis of a high-pressure sensor of a motor vehicle comprising: measuring a pressure with the high-pressure sensor; feeding the measured pressure to a control unit; evaluating the measured pressure with the control unit and determining a control signal for an amount of fuel to be injected; checking whether a first difference between two successive values of the pressure measurement signal is greater than a calculated maximum difference value; checking whether a second difference between a minimum pressure measurement signal measured within a time segment and a maximum pressure measurement signal measured within the time segment is less than an expected change in the pressure measurement signal; and checking whether a measured pressure gradient is smaller than an expected pressure gradient.

High-pressure sensors are used inter alia in the automotive industry. For example, modern motor vehicles use fuel injection systems that have a high-pressure fuel accumulator (rail), from which fuel under high pressure is injected into a combustion chamber of the respective motor vehicle by using injectors. The fuel pressure in the high-pressure fuel accumulator is controlled using a control loop based on rail pressure signals provided by a rail pressure sensor.
A rail pressure sensor generally generates a rail pressure signal in the form of a signal voltage Vout, which is fed to a control unit. The rail pressure sensor is supplied with voltage from the control unit, which provides the rail pressure sensor with a supply voltage and a ground signal. The signal voltage made available by the rail pressure sensor depends on a preprogrammed transfer function that is stored in an ASIC of the rail pressure sensor. The control unit calculates the rail pressure by evaluating the received signal voltage Vout and a stored sensor calibration.

Method and device for diagnosis of a high-pressure sensor of a motor vehicle


A system for application selection using behavioral propensities includes a computing device configured to identify a negative behavioral propensity associated with a human subject, generate, using category training data including a plurality of applications and a plurality of correlated categories, and using a classification algorithm, an application category classifier, wherein the application category classifier inputs applications and outputs categories of the applications, receive an application to be loaded to a device operated by the human subject, identify, using the application category classifier, a category of the application, wherein identifying the category includes determining, a plurality of application data elements, classifying each application data element of the plurality of application data elements to an application data object of a plurality of application data objects using an object classifier, and inputting the plurality of objects to the application category classifier, and determine an effect of the category on the negative behavioral propensity.

Applications that may be downloaded to computing devices can have a profound impact on user behavior. For those with latent or habitual susceptibility to temptation, some applications can aid in resisting or alleviating such impulses. Other applications can exacerbate matters. Prediction of such impacts, given the multiplicity of channels and creators, has thus far presented insurmountable challenges of data complexity.

Systems and methods for application selection using behavioral propensities


Apparatuses and methods for calibrating adjustable impedances of a semiconductor device are disclosed in the present application. An example apparatus includes a register configured to store impedance calibration information and further includes programmable termination resistances having a programmable impedance. The example apparatus further includes an impedance calibration circuit configured to perform a calibration operation to determine calibration parameters for setting the programmable impedance of the programmable termination resistances. The impedance calibration circuit is further configured to program the impedance calibration information in the register related to the calibration operation.

Semiconductor devices such as microcomputers, memories, gate arrays, among others, include input/output pins and an output circuit for transmitting data to other devices, via a bus, transmission lines formed on a board, and the like. A circuit within the semiconductor device that is responsible for transmitting data includes, for example, output buffers and drivers. For there to be optimum transmission, the impedance of the transmitting device should be matched to the impedance of the transmission network and receiving device.
As operational speeds of electronic devices increase, the swing of transmitted signals decreases. However, as the signal swing width of a transmitted signal decreases, external noise increases. External noise can affect the reflection characteristics of an output signal if there is an impedance mismatch at an interface. Impedance mismatches are caused by external noise or by noise on a power supply voltage, temperature and process variations, among others. If an impedance mismatch arises, the transmission speed of the data decreases, and the data from a semiconductor device may become distorted. Thus, in a case where a semiconductor device receives distorted data, problems can be caused by setup/hold failures or errors in reading received data.
In order to mitigate these adverse scenarios, memory devices may include programmable termination components that may be used to provide adjustable on-die termination and adjustable output driver impedance. The on-die termination may be adjusted to reduce impedance mismatch, for example, when signals (e.g., command, data, etc.) are provided to the memory devices. The programmable termination components have impedance values that can be adjusted as operating conditions change. In some implementations, programmable termination components are calibrated based on voltage measurements made on a circuit node that couples to an external resistance.
In some cases, a limited number of external connections are available for coupling to an external resistance. These external connections may be shared between multiple devices that use the connection for calibration purposes. As a result, contention for use of the external connection may arise when two or more devices attempt to concurrently use the external connection for a calibration operation.
Calibration of the programmable termination components typically occurs in response to a memory command, which is provided to the memory device, for example, at power up, memory device reset, changing a frequency set point for memory device operation, or whenever initiating a calibration process is desired. Following a time period after the initiation of the calibration process, another memory command is provided to the memory device to apply the parameters determined during the calibration process to set the programmable termination components accordingly. The time period may be set by operating specifications for the memory device.
As the number of memory devices that are coupled to a shared external resistance for the calibration increases, it may become more difficult to complete the calibration process for all of the memory devices before the end of the time period. In a system including multiple devices, the calibration operations for all of the devices must be completed before the specified time period has elapsed in order for calibration parameters to be applied when the following memory command is provided. Where multiple devices are coupled to a shared external resistance, calibration operations occur one device at a time in order to avoid contention for using the external resistance. Nonetheless, the total time to perform the calibration operations for all of the multiple devices must be less than the time period. As systems include more and more devices, the total time to complete the calibration operations for all of the devices becomes longer. At some point, it will not be practical for calibration operations for all of the devices of a system to be completed within the specified time period.


An event occurring in a graphics pipeline is detected and counted at the location of its occurrence using an event detector and a local counter. The event count maintained by the local counter is reported asynchronously to a global counter. The global counter is configured to be of higher precision than the local counter and is positioned at a place that is convenient for reporting the events, e.g., at the end of the graphics pipeline.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to event reporting during graphics processing and more specifically to a system and method for using hierarchical multi-precision pipeline counters for event reporting.
2. Description of the Related Art
Graphics application programming interfaces ("APIs") such as DirectX10™ allow the API to poll the graphics hardware to determine how many events of a specified type have occurred since the graphics hardware was last polled for that event type. The process of polling the graphics hardware includes the steps of the API issuing a command to the graphics hardware, and the graphics hardware responding to the command by reading an internal register and storing the value of the internal register into a memory location specified by the API.
Certain event types that can be polled are generated in locations from which it is impractical to report the results. One example is the reporting of the "Z pass pixel count," which represents the number of Z pixels that pass the Z test. Importantly, some of the Z pixels that pass the test are culled near the top of the pipeline and never reach the end of the pipeline, so a counter at the end of the pipeline, where the results can be conveniently communicated to the API, is incapable of counting these Z pixels.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional event reporting mechanism in a programmable graphics processing pipeline 100 that provides a solution to this problem. As shown, the programmable graphics processing pipeline 100 includes execution pipelines 102 and 104 and a crossbar 106. The execution pipeline 102 includes multiple stages, shown here as a first stage 108, a second stage 110, a third stage 112 that includes an event detector 114, a fourth stage 116 and a fifth stage 118. The execution pipeline 104 includes multiple stages, shown here as a first stage 120, a second stage 122, a third stage 124 that includes an event detector 126, a fourth stage 128 and a fifth stage 130. The crossbar 106 includes an event counter 132.
As an instruction is executed in the pipeline stages of the execution pipelines 102, 104, a reportable event may occur in one of the pipeline stages. If a reportable event occurs, the event is detected by an event detector (e.g., event detector 114 or 126) and then communicated to the event counter 132 through a dedicated wire from the corresponding event detector to the event counter. When the API requests reporting of the event count, the value of the event counter 132 is written into a specified memory location.

Hierarchical multi-precision pipeline counters


A damper assembly includes a housing defining at least one or more cavities. A piston is in operable communication with the housing. A rod end is operatively coupled to the piston, the rod end having at least two cartridges.

Exemplary embodiments relate to the art of rotary wing aircraft, and more particularly, to main rotor damper elastomeric rod ends.
Main rotor blade damper rod ends are used on helicopters to connect the moving blade relative to the main rotor hub. Main rotor damper elastomeric rod ends have undesirable stiffness about the damper axes, causing spiral motion inside the damper, and resulting in additional wear out of the damper internal barrel and piston components.


A fitted fabric sheet for a mattress for a crib with vertical rails, the mattress having a top plane surface and vertical sides, has a peripheral edge coinciding with the vertical sides of the mattress, a fabric crib bumper liner with top and bottom edges, and e.g., ties or loops for securing the top edge of the bumper liner to the vertical crib rails. The bottom edge of the liner is secured along its entire length to the peripheral edge of the sheet.

The present invention relates to fitted fabric sheets for mattresses for use in infant cribs that have vertical side rails that extend above the mattress and keep the infant confined within the crib.
The fitted sheet of the invention is particularly useful in conjunction with a protective padded crib bumper that extends along the inside periphery of the crib side and end rails, and rests on the mattress to prevent the infant from bumping against the hard wood or metal rails that form the crib. Commercially available bumpers are ordinarily formed of elongated members, e.g. padded or of foam, secured end to end and arranged in a rectangle within the rails of the crib. Such bumpers are conventionally held in place by strings that extend from the bumper members and are tied to the side rails and occasionally to the head and foot boards or head and foot rails of the crib. The bumpers often are not very securely attached to the crib, and futhermore leave a gap between the bumper and mattress. Infants can therefore slip their limbs or head underneath the bumper and between adjacent rails. Such activity may injure the arms or legs of an infant, and could result in asphyxiation of the infant.
Addressing these problems, Doyle U.S. Pat. No. 3,619,824 describes a crib bumper with elongated members secured to a sheet that extends loosely between the lower edges of bumper. The sheet is preferably positioned beneath the mattress with its marginal areas adjacent to the bumper. In a further embodiment, each bumper element has its own sheet secured to the lower edge of the bumper and folded back on itself between the mattress and the side rails of the crib so as to form a pocket.
It is an objective of the present invention to provide a novel fitted sheet for a mattress for a crib that eliminates the difficulties and dangers noted above by cooperating in such a way with a crib bumper to prevent an infant from inserting its limbs or head between the bumper and mattress.

Fitted safety crib sheet with integral bumper liner


The invention relates to stable parenteral formulations of tigecycline and process of preparation thereof, wherein the formulation comprises an edetate, a pH modifying agent or an antioxidant, such that the formulation remains stable for at least 45 hours.

Tigecycline is the first antibiotic belonging to the glycylcycline class, and the first new tetracycline analogue launched in over 30 years. It acts by binding to the bacterial 30S ribosome and thereby blocking the entry of amino-acyl t-RNA molecules into the A site of ribosome. This ultimately prevents protein synthesis by halting the incorporation of amino acids into peptide chains and thus limits bacterial growth. Chemically, it is known as (4S,4aS,5aR,12aS)-9-[2-(tert-butylamino)acetamido]-4,7-bis(dimethylamino)-1,4,4a,5,5a,6,11,12a-octahydro-3,10,12,12a-tetrahydroxy-1,11-dioxo-2-naphthacene carboxamide and structurally represented as follows:

The U.S. Pat. No. 5,494,903 discloses tigecycline and the pharmaceutically acceptable organic and inorganic salts or metal complexes. U.S. Pat. No. RE 40,086 describes the use of tigecycline in treating and controlling bacterial infections in warm blooded animals. Owing to its poor oral bioavailability, it is advantageous to administer tigecycline parenterally. In India, it is commercialized by Wyeth Limited in strengths of 50 mg/vial as an orange lyophilized powder or cake for intravenous administration under the proprietary name TYGACIL® (tigecycline). It is indicated for treatment of the following infections in adults: (a) complicated skin and skin structure infections, including those with methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and (b) complicated intra-abdominal infections. The standard dosage regimen for tigecycline is an initial dose of 100 mg, followed by 50 mg every 12 hours.
Several documents disclose formulations containing tigecycline and process of formulating thereof. For example, WO 2006/138641 refers to a process for manufacturing a reconstitutable lyophilized composition of tigecycline, wherein the process comprises of admixing tigecycline with water for injection (while reducing the oxygen level and maintaining the reduced oxygen level in the water for injection); lyophilizing the composition containing tigecycline and water for injection and sealing the vials containing lyophilized composition under nitrogen. Another PCT application, WO 2007/075794 describes an oral composition containing tigecycline with at least one enteric coating. It further discloses that calcium binds to tigecycline, resulting in the reduction of its water solubility which in turn may lead to a 30% to 40% loss of tigecycline due to precipitation of the calcium complex at pH 7.4. Thus, calcium binding and subsequent precipitation of the calcium/tigecycline salt may be at least partially responsible for low oral bioavailability. Hence, the disclosed oral compositions may further contain a chelating agent, like EDTA which would help in solving the problem of poor oral bioavailability of tigecycline by chelating any calcium present.
Per the TYGACIL® (tigecycline) Prescribing Information (Wyeth, India), tigecycline lyophilized powder should be reconstituted with 5.3 mL of 0.9% sodium chloride injection, USP, or 5% dextrose injection, USP, to achieve a concentration of 10 mg/mL of tigecycline. The Prescribing Information notes that the reconstituted solution should be discarded if it is not yellow to orange in color. At the concentration of 10 mg/mL, tigecycline degrades in solution and therefore, it becomes essential that these reconstituted solutions are immediately diluted to about 1 mg/mL with saline or other pharmaceutically acceptable carriers into intravenous bags for administration to patients. However, once reconstituted it may be stored at room temperature for up to 6 hours, or refrigerated at 2° C. to 8° C. for up to 24 hours. Hence, the individuals concerned with the reconstitution and administration of tigecycline injection, like doctors, attendants, other hospital staff, need administer the reconstituted formulation of tigecycline immediately to the person in need of the medicament. This makes the whole process of administering tigecycline to a person in need of it, prone to mistakes and extremely inconvenient and patient unfriendly.
The above-discussed oxidative degradations of tigecycline are decreased to a great extent by reducing the pH of tigecycline formulations. This, however lowering the pH affects the stability as it results in epimerization, which is an inherent property of tetracyclines and which is severe in case of tigecycline. Thus degradation by oxidation and/or epimerization is a major drawback while administering tigecycline to a person in need of. The PCT application WO 2006/099258 addresses this problem, and describes a formulation of tigecycline comprising a carbohydrate and an acid or buffer, which does not require immediate use and also helps in providing stability from both oxidation and epimerization for a maximum of 24 hours of admixture/dilution with a suitable carrier. However, in the present case, it has been observed that formulating together tigecycline, an edetate, and a pH-modifying agent or an antioxidant gives a stable parenteral formulation which would provide stability from degradation by oxidation as well as epimerization at least for 45 hours.

Stable parenteral formulations of tigecycline


An on-chip fuse circuit. The circuit includes a fuse capable of being blown during a programming operation, as well as output logic for determining whether the fuse is blown. A protection circuit is provided for protecting the output logic during programming. An evaluation circuit is provided, for evaluating whether the fuse is blown. The evaluation circuit includes a first current source coupled to the fuse, providing a first predetermined current so as to activate the output logic to read out the condition of the fuse during normal operation, as well as a second current source coupled to the fuse, providing a second predetermined current, substantially less than the first predetermined current, so as to activate the output logic to read out the condition of the fuse during an evaluation mode such that a blown condition is indicated by the output logic only if the resistance of the fuse is substantially greater than that required for the output logic to indicate a blown condition during normal operation. According to another aspect of the invention there is provided an on-chip fuse circuit including a first fuse and a second fuse, both being capable of being blown during a programming operation. Output logic is provided for determining whether the fuse is blown, the output logic including first indication logic for indicating whether both of the fuses are blown, during an evaluation mode, and second indication logic for indicating a blown state of the fuse circuit if either of the fuses is blown. A protection circuit is provided for protecting the output logic during programming. An evaluation circuit is provided for evaluating whether the fuse is blown.

In integrated circuit design the provision of adjustment capability, or trimming, is often desirable or even needed. For example, in a computer hard drive ("HDD") read channel integrated circuit, the cutoff frequency of the continuous time low pass filter, the free running center frequency of the time recovery voltage controlled oscillators, and various DC offsets may be advantageously centered by blowing fuses.
Fuses may be used to switch in additional unit capacitances in a capacitor bank as needed based on the particular process run and as determined by functional measurement at wafer probe or during final test. Alternatively, the value of a transconductance can be trimmed to account for the process variation in capacitors. For example, the reference current used in the transconductance control loop can be scaled up or down by means of a fusible digital to analog converter ("DAC") to provide the proper compensation for the deviation in capacitors.
Another application for fuses is in the correction of unavoidable DC offsets, which if allowed to build up can severely degrade the performance of analog cells. In some cases, offset-correction loops or auto-zero techniques are not desirable/possible and a one time offset-correction trim is done instead at wafer probe or final test. Fuses, which control currents in a DAC, can be blown and these currents can be injected into certain nodes of the analog circuit in such a way that they counteract the offset.
The foregoing is a description of exemplary uses for fuses. Those skilled in the art understand that fuses are used for many other purposes beyond those described herein.
The various prior art fuse schemes have limitations and problems that it would be desirable to overcome. For example, as alluded to above, in prior art schemes fuses are typically blown as determined by functional measurement at wafer probe. Subsequent packaging, however, may stress the chip such that optimal fuse compensation may change.
In addition, the supply voltage must be raised to blow fuses, typically, and this puts other low voltage process circuitry at risk of damage. Further, the resistance remaining in a path after a fuse is blown may be lower than desired. After a fuse is blown, a DC current is typically forced through the fuse. With a lower than desired resistance in the fuse power consumption may be unacceptably large during evaluation. To overcome this the resistance requirement placed on a blown fuse may be made quite large, resulting in a high number of rejected parts after attempted fuse blowing.
In addition, the continuous current flow through the fuse may result in regrowth of the fuse, causing the resistance of the fuse to lower still further. This may bring the fuse to the point where the voltage drop across it during operation is at or close to the transition voltage between a blown and un-blown indication. The read state of the fuse may thus fluctuate between blown and un-blown, rendering it unstable in use. In some applications this could be highly objectionable. For example, for fuses used to trim parameters in an HDD read channel a stable, but incorrect fuse reading might be more tolerable than a fuse reading varying between blown and un-blown, since the channel may adapt other parameters during operation to partially compensate for an incorrect fuse state and provide acceptable performance. However, an unstable fuse, changing its read state between blown and un-blown may cause the read channel to continually adapt and re-adapt to the changing channel configuration created by the unstable fuse.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a fuse circuit that permits the blowing of the fuse on-chip, i.e., after packaging. It would be desirable to have a fuse circuit suitable for low voltage processes. It would be desirable to have a fuse circuit that provides protection for other circuitry when the supply voltage is raised to blow the fuses. It would be desirable to have a fuse circuit providing more certainty regarding the remaining resistance after blowing of the fuse. It would be desirable to have a fuse circuit requiring lower power consumption and preventing regrowth of a blown fuse.
The present invention overcomes the foregoing limitations and problems.


A computer-implemented method, apparatus, and computer usable program code are disclosed for migrating a virtual adapter from a source physical adapter to a destination physical adapter in a data processing system where multiple host computer systems share multiple adapters and communicate with those adapters through a PCI switched-fabric bus. The virtual adapter is first caused to stop processing transactions. All in-flight transactions that are associated with the virtual adapter are then captured. The configuration information that defines the virtual adapter is moved from the source physical adapter to the destination physical adapter. The in-flight transactions are then restored to their original locations on the destination virtual adapter. The virtual adapter is then restarted on the destination physical adapter such that the virtual adapter begins processing transactions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to data processing systems and more particularly to a data processing system that includes physical adapters that have been virtualized. Still more specifically, the present invention relates to a computer-implemented method, apparatus, and computer usable program code in a data processing system where multiple host computer systems share multiple adapters and communicate with those adapters through a PCI switched-fabric bus for migrating virtual adapters from source physical adapters to destination physical adapters.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional PCI bus is a local parallel bus that permits expansion cards to be installed within a single computer system, such as a personal computer. PCI-compliant adapter cards can then be coupled to the PCI bus in order to add input/output (I/O) devices, such as disk drives or other devices, to the computer system. A PCI bridge/controller is needed in order to connect the PCI bus to the system bus of the computer system. The PCI bus can communicate, through the PCI bridge/controller with the CPU of the computer system in which the PCI bus is installed. Several PCI bridges may exist within a single computer system. However, these PCI bridges serve to couple multiple PCI buses to the CPU of the computer system in which the PCI buses are installed. If the single computer system includes multiple CPUs, the PCI buses can be utilized by the multiple CPUs of the single computer system.
A PCI Express (PCI-E) bus provides a migration path compatible with the PCI software environment. In addition to offering superior bandwidth, performance, and scalability in both bus width and bus frequency, PCI Express offers other advanced features. These features include QoS (quality of service), aggressive power management, native hot-plug, bandwidth per pin efficiency, error reporting, recovery and correction and innovative form factors, and meet the growing demands for sophisticated capabilities such as peer-to-peer transfers and dynamic reconfiguration. PCI Express also enables low-cost design of products via low pin counts and wires. A linearly scaled 16-lane PCI Express interconnect can provide data transfer rates of more than 8 Gigabytes per second.
The host computer system in a PCI Express computing environment typically has a PCI-to-Host bridging function commonly known as the root complex. The root complex bridges between a CPU bus such as hyper-transport and the PCI-E bus. Other functions may be performed in the root complex like address translation, if necessary. Multiple hosts containing one or more root functions are referred to as a multi-root system.
Today, PCI-E buses do not permit the sharing of PCI adapters among multiple separate computer systems. For example, a PCI adapter cannot be shared by multiple server computer systems. Thus, in existing computer systems that use a PCI bus, the physical I/O adapters cannot be shared by: a) a host operating system or guest operating system which is the sole owner of an I/O device, in the single root environment, or b) a single operating system or guest operating system which is the sole owner of an I/O device, in a multi-root environment. A single I/O device cannot be shared by multiple guest operating systems in the single root environment or by multiple guest operating systems on multiple hosts in the multi-root case.
Further, existing PCI environments do not permit the virtualization of physical I/O adapters. An I/O device cannot currently be virtualized in a standard PCI or a PCI Express data processing system. Because virtual I/O adapters cannot exist in known computer systems, known computer systems also do not permit the migration of a virtual I/O adapter from a source physical adapter to a destination physical adapter.
In known systems that do not utilize a PCI environment, a secondary physical adapter may be designated as a fail-over device for a primary physical adapter. In these systems, when the primary physical adapter fails, the secondary physical adapter is then utilized in place of the primary adapter. These systems, however, do not involve virtual adapters. In these systems, one physical device is used to replace a failed physical device. The entire primary physical adapter is replaced with the secondary physical adapter. There is no migration in these systems. There is a replacement of one device with another. Further, the replacement device, i.e. the secondary physical adapter, completely replaces the entire primary device, i.e. the primary physical adapter.
Therefore, a need exists for a computer-implemented method, apparatus, and computer usable program code for migrating virtual entities, also called virtual adapters, from source physical adapters to destination physical adapters in a data processing system where multiple host computer systems share multiple adapters and communicate with those adapters through a PCI switched-fabric bus.

Method, apparatus, and computer usable program code for migrating virtual adapters from source physical adapters to destination physical adapters

International Business Machines Corporation


Disclosed are electronic gaming machines, methods and systems for gaming device configuration and gaming device software distribution. An electronic gaming machine is configured to detect whether a primary portable storage device is in communication with the electronic gaming machine. The primary portable storage device may be configured to store a boot image. The boot image may include a boot code, an operating system, and a framework application. The framework application may be configured to search and execute a pluggable module according to instructions provided by the pluggable module. The framework application may also include instructions configured to determine whether at least one of the one or more pluggable modules includes a signature and execute the at least one pluggable module when it is determined that the at least one pluggable module includes the signature.

There are a wide variety of associated devices that can be connected to a gaming machine such as a slot machine or video poker machine. Some examples of these devices are lights, ticket printers, card readers, speakers, bill validators, ticket readers, coin acceptors, display panels, key pads, coin hoppers and button pads. Many of these devices are built into the gaming machine or components associated with the gaming machine such as a top box which usually sits on top of the gaming machine.
Typically, utilizing a master gaming controller, the gaming machine controls various combinations of devices that allow a player to play a game on the gaming machine and also encourage game play on the gaming machine. For example, a game played on a gaming machine usually requires a player to input money or indicia of credit into the gaming machine, indicate a wager amount, and initiate a game play. These steps require the gaming machine to control input devices, including bill validators and coin acceptors, to accept money into the gaming machine and recognize user inputs from devices, including key pads and button pads, to determine the wager amount and initiate game play. After game play has been initiated, the gaming machine determines a game outcome, presents the game outcome to the player and may dispense an award of some type depending on the outcome of the game.

System and method for an extensible boot image for electronic gaming machines


The present invention relates to the use of Volasertib or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof or the hydrate thereof for treating myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS).

Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are clonal hematopoietic stem-cell disorders characterized by ineffective hematopoiesis, peripheral-blood cytopenias, and increased tendency to progress to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The age-adjusted incidence of MDS is 3.3 cases per 100,000 people, and this rate appears to be increasing. MDS is primarily a disease of older adults, the median age of patients with MDS is approximately 70 years. This patient population is frequently affected by other comorbid conditions, which often influences treatment decisions. Treatment of MDS is based on prognostic factors that predict survival and progression to AML. Currently, the treatment of patients with MDS is guided by the International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS). This system stratifies patients into four groups: low, intermediate-1, intermediate-2, and high-risk, based on number of cytopenias, percentage of bone marrow blasts, and karyotype. Low risk and intermediate-1 risk are usually grouped together as lower-risk disease, whereas intermediate-2 risk and high risk are grouped together as higher-risk disease. The survival of patients with higher-risk MDS is significantly different than that of patients with lower-risk disease. Without intervention, median survival of higher-risk patients is close to 12 months. Survival of patients with lower-risk disease is more diverse and ranges from a few months (poor-prognosis, lower-risk disease) to more than a decade. Therefore, the objectives of therapy are different in lower-versus higher-risk disease. While in lower-risk MDS, the goal is to relieve symptoms, manage cytopenias, and minimize the need for transfusions [eg: erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESA) and growth factors (GF)], in higher-risk MDS, disease-modifying therapies directed to slowing progression to AML and improving survival are used. These disease modifying therapies include hypomethylating agents (HMA, as e.g. decitabine), intensive chemotherapy, and allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT), with SCT currently being the only known curative modality. Despite these treatment alternatives, the prognosis of patients with higher-risk MDS remains very poor owing to the disappointing activity of standard chemotherapy-based therapies, particularly those with therapy-related MDS, the eventual loss of response to HMA, and the restriction of allogeneic SCT to younger patients with an appropriate donor.
Treatment of higher-risk patients is dependent on whether they are considered to be candidates for intensive therapy (e.g., allogeneic SCT or intensive chemotherapy). Clinical features relevant for this determination include the patient's age, performance status, comorbidities, patient's preference and availability of suitable donor and caregiver. The access to allogeneic SCT is restricted to approximately 8% of patients with MDS, owing to advanced age, concomitant comorbidities and/or donor availability. For higher-risk patients who are not candidates for high-intensity therapy, the use of HMA is considered the standard of care.
Volasertib is a highly potent and selective inhibitor of the serine-threonine Polo like kinase (Plk), a key regulator of cell-cycle progression. Volasertib is a second-generation dihydropteridinone derivative with distinct pharmacokinetic (PK) properties. The problem underlying this invention was to develop a new medication for the treatment of MDS.
Volasertib (I) is known as the compound N-[trans-4-[4-(cyclopropylmethyl)-1-piperazinyl]cyclohexyl]-4-[[(7R)-7-ethyl-5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-5-methyl-8-(1-methylethyl)-6-oxo-2-pteridinyl]amino]-3-methoxy-benzamide,

This compound is disclosed in WO 04/076454. Furthermore, trihydrochloride salt forms and hydrates thereof are known from WO 07/090844. They possess properties which make those forms especially suitable for pharmaceutical use. The above mentioned patent applications further disclose the use of this compound or its monoethanesulfonate salt for the preparation of pharmaceutical compositions intended especially for the treatment of diseases characterized by excessive or abnormal cell proliferation.
Document WO 2006/018182 discloses combinations for the treatment of diseases involving cell proliferation.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A multiphase control system is provided, which is adapted to convert power of an input power source into an output voltage for outputting through an output terminal. The multiphase control system comprises a plurality of control units connected in series to form a loop. Each of the control units receives a sequential input signal from an adjacent control unit connected there before through a multiphase input terminal, and generates a control signal to control power transmission from the input power source to the output terminal when determining that the output voltage is lower than a predetermined voltage value, and generates a sequential output signal at a multiphase output terminal for outputting to an adjacent control unit connected there after.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a multiphase control system and a control unit. Particularly, the invention relates to a multiphase control system and a control unit, wherein the multiphase control system has a plurality of the control units connected in series and operated in a manner that a previous control unit is used to trigger a next control unit.
2. Description of Related Art
As driving voltages of today's electronic devices such as central processors and memories, etc. are gradually decreased, a tolerance range of voltage ripple is accordingly reduced. However, power consumption of the electronic device is not decreased by an equal magnitude, on the contrary, a current required for the operation is increased, and the relatively large current may cause relatively large voltage ripple. In order to resolve the above problem, a multiphase converting circuit structure is developed to separately provide the current through a plurality of converting circuits. Compared to a single-phase converting circuit structure, the multiphase converting circuit structure not only has a good performance in eliminating the voltage ripple, but also has advantages of fast transient response, low outputting ripple current and high heat dissipation, etc.
Referring to FIG. 1, FIG. 1 is a circuit schematic diagram illustrating a conventional direct current (DC)-DC converting circuit. The DC-DC converting circuit includes a controller 10 and three channels 12a-12c. Each of the channels 12a-12c includes two transistor switches connected in series between an input voltage Vin and ground. Drivers in the channels 12a-12c respectively receive pulse width modulation (PWM) signals PWM1-PWM3 from the controller 10 to switch the corresponding transistor switches, so as to provide channel currents Io1-Io3. The channel currents Io1-Io3 are combined to form an output current Io to charge a capacitor C so as to generate an output voltage Vout and accordingly drive a load Load. The controller 10 detects the channel currents Io1-Io3 through pin pairs CSP1 and CSN1, CSP2 and CSP2, and CSP3 and CSN3, and receives a feedback signal FB to adjust duty cycles of the transistor switches in the channels 12a-12c.
The controller 10 adjusts the channel currents Io1-Io3 according to detecting signals of the pin pairs CSP1 and CSN1, CSP2 and CSP2, and CSP3 and CSN3 to average the channel currents Io1-Io3 in order to close current ripples of the channels 12a-12c up. An averaging process of the above channel currents is implemented through sampling and holding the channel currents and computing of the current differences there between, so that circuit complexity and cost are relatively high. Moreover, operation timing of the channels 12a-12c are totally controlled by the controller 10, so that the number of the channels is determined according to a design specification of the controller 10 and cannot be increased or decreased to be fit for an actual application environment, which is lack of utilization flexibility.

Multiphase control system and control unit


A rear suspension for a vehicle includes a sub-frame having projections to a rear and on both ends of the sub-frame, coupling portions are formed on front and rear sides of the projections for connecting the sub-frame to a car body. Front and rear lower links are transversely arranged with respect to the car body and each include a car body side coupling portion coupled to outer end of the sub-frame and a wheel side coupling portion coupled to a knuckle arm rotatably supporting a wheel with respect to the car body. A connecting arm projects upwardly from and has an inner side lower end coupled to the car body and an outer side lower end coupled to the knuckle arm. An upper arm is coupled to an upper end of the connecting arm and cooperates therewith for enabling the wheel to move up and down with respect to the car body. A trailing arm is longitudinally arranged at a front side of the knuckle arm, and has a front end coupling portion including rubber stoppers having different spring characteristics from each other inserted therein and coupled to the car body to achieve a toe control of the wheel when the longitudinal force is applied to the wheel. A rear end coupling portion is coupled to the knuckle arm for enabling the wheel to move up and down on the basis of the front end coupling portion. A strut assembly absorbs an impact caused when the wheel moves up and down.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rear suspension for a vehicle having a sub-frame and more particularly, to a rear independent suspension which is capable of toe-control by a front arm and the sub-frame independently when a transverse and longitudinal force with respect to the vehicle are applied to the wheel, thereby improving ride comfort and handling safety, and at the same time being variably and easily designed.
2. Description of Conventional Art
A suspension for a vehicle connects an axle shaft and a car body to each other, and controls a position of a tire with respect to the car body for its ideal position during running, of a vehicle thereby obtaining optimal handling safety, preventing the axle shaft from directly transmitting an impact or vibration from the road surface to the car body, preventing damage of baggage, and improving the ride comfort.
Accordingly, the connection of the upper and lower portions of the suspension has to be flexible for absorbing the impact from the road surface and be durable to overcome a driving force, a braking force, and a centrifugal force applied to the wheel.
Such suspensions described above can be variably classified according to the characteristics of their structures. The suspension according to the present invention relates to a link type rear suspension, which is provided with a sub-frame and a plurality of control links.
FIGS. 6A and 6B are plan views of the conventional link type suspension comprising a sub-frame mounted on a lower portion of the car body, a plurality of control links for connecting the sub-frame to a wheel supporter, so that each wheel can independently move up and down, and a strut assembly having a lower end fixed to a knuckle arm and an upper end connected to the car body.
More specifically, the sub-frame 50 is coupled to the car body (not shown) by means of coupling portions 52a and 52b formed on a front end of a projection 51 projected in a forward direction on opposing ends of the sub-frame 50.
Inner ends of center and lower links 53 and 54 which are transversely arranged with respect to the car body and spaced from each other by a predetermined distance are respectively connected to a side-rear portion of the sub-frame 50. A knuckle arm 56 is connected to outer-ends of the center and the lower links 53 and 54.
A front end of a trailing arm 57 longitudinally arranged with respect to the car body is coupled to the front end of the projection 51 of the sub-frame 50, and a rear end of the trailing arm 57 is coupled to the knuckle arm 56.
Accordingly, in case a longitudinal force caused by the driving force and the braking force of the vehicle and the transverse force caused by a turning movement of the vehicle are applied to the car body, toe control is achieved by a compliance of a rubber bushing at ends of links 53, and 54 and trailing arm 57 and an arranging state of each element 53, 54, and 57.
That is, in case a longitudinal force is applied to the wheel 55, the sub-frame 50 is designed to be applied with a pulling load F caused by the longitudinal force of the wheel, thereby pulling the front portion of the projection 51 toward the wheel as shown in FIG. 6A, and in case a transverse force is applied to the wheel, the center and rear links 53 and 54 are designed to be applied with a pushing load P toward the car body caused by the transverse force, whereby the rear portion of the projection 51 is deformed as shown in FIG. 6B.
However, in such a conventional suspension, if deformation of the sub-frame is caused by the longitudinal force, the toe change occurs at both wheels of the vehicle, thereby providing a bad effect to the straight ahead position, and if the transverse force is applied to the wheel at the turning movement and the straight ahead position, the toe change occurs in an unstable car body so that the handling safety cannot be obtained.


An electronic dictionary that can perform model sentence searches at high speed and can search through a plurality of dictionaries at the same time is obtained by providing dictionary daa having sub-information comprising translations corresponding to word entries, model sentences and idiomatic phrases relating to the word entries, and translations of the model sentences and idiomatic phrases, in which as least the model sentence data of the sub-information are extracted from the dictionary data and stored as sub-dictionary data. A pointer is provided at a position in the dictionary data where the sub-information is embedded, and associates respective sub-information with sub-dictionary data.

1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a display method for an electronic dictionary for representing information etc. relating to translation and words corresponding to input words in English to Japanese, Japanese to English, Japanese or English etc. to be displayed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in an electronic dictionary for displaying information for translation, parts of speech, and synonyms, model sentences, etc., for input words, first of all, characters are input while looking at a display screen, then an execute button for carrying out a search is pressed to change displayed characters, and information for the translation, etc., of the word is displayed on a display screen.
With this type of dictionary, particularly an English to Japanese dictionary, the fact there is a search for idiomatic phrases, model sentences, etc., is useful, but particularly in the model sentence search there is the problem that it takes a long time to perform a search while picking model sentences within a translation, which means that it is not possible to perform a model sentence search at high speed.
Also, for example, in the case of having a plurality of dictionaries, there is a rule that a necessary search is carried out sequentially for each dictionary, and so there is a problem that it takes time and effort.
The present invention has been conceived in view of the above described problems, and is intended to provide an electronic dictionary that can perform model sentence searches at high speed and that can search through a plurality of dictionaries at the same time.
A first aspect of the present invention for solving the above described problems is an electronic dictionary provided with dictionary data having translations corresponding to word entries and sub-information comprising, model sentences and idiomatic phrases relating to the word entries, and translations of the model sentences and idiomatic phrases, wherein
at least the model sentence data of the sub-information are extracted from the dictionary data itself and are held as sub-dictionary data, and a pointer is provided at a position in the dictionary data itself where the sub-information is embedded, and associates respective sub-information with the sub-dictionary data.
In a second aspect of the present invention, the dictionary data contain a plurality of dictionary data items, and the sub-information data is a single item of data.
A third aspect of the present invention is the electronic dictionary of the first or second aspect, in which the sub-dictionary data is provided with model sentence and idiomatic phrase lists.
A fourth aspect of the present invention is the electronic dictionary of the third aspect, in which the lists are made up of words broken down from the model sentences and idiomatic phrases, and each of these words are sorted in a state where restorable restoration data is affixed to each of the model sentences and idiomatic phrases.
A fifth aspect of the present invention is the electronic dictionary of the third or fourth aspects, provided with keyword search means for searching model sentences and idiomatic phrases using the sub-dictionary data.
With the electronic dictionary of the present invention, data for idiomatic phrases and model sentences are extracted from dictionary data and held, which makes it possible to search idiomatic phrases and model sentences, particularly model sentences, at high speed. Also, by appropriately devising the data structure of the idiomatic phrases and model sentences, it will become possible to further increase the speed, and also to reduce the required memory region considerably. Also, by collecting the idiomatic phrase and model sentence data together in a single item and holding it, it is possible to search through model sentences and idiomatic phrases in a plurality of dictionaries together at high speed.


An image forming apparatus includes an apparatus body, a recording head, a sub tank, a carriage, a main tank, a liquid feed device, a displacement member, a first detector, a second detector, a detection retainer, a liquid consumption amount measuring device, and a supply controller. The measuring device measures a consumption amount of liquid in the sub tank when the displacement member displaces from a first position in a direction in which the consumption amount of liquid in the sub tank decreases. When a detection output of the first detector continues to be, for a predetermined time or number of times, in a detection state in which the first detector detects the displacement member and shifts from the detection state to a non detection state in which the first detector does not detect the displacement member, the measuring device starts measuring the consumption amount of liquid in the sub tank.

1. Technical Field
This disclosure relates to an image forming apparatus, and more specifically to an image forming apparatus including a recording head for ejecting liquid droplets and a sub tank for supplying liquid to the recording head.
2. Description of the Related Art
Image forming apparatuses are used as printers, facsimile machines, copiers, plotters, or multi-functional devices having two or more of the foregoing capabilities. As one type of image forming apparatus employing a liquid-ejection recording method, an inkjet recording apparatus is known that uses a recording head (liquid ejection head or liquid-droplet ejection head) for ejecting droplets of ink or other liquid.
The sub tank may have a negative-pressure forming function (mechanism) to create a negative pressure to prevent ink from exuding or dropping from nozzles of the recording head. The sub tank has a negative-pressure forming unit and an air release unit. The negative-pressure forming unit includes a flexible member (film member) to form one face of an ink storage part to store ink and an elastic member to urge the flexible member outward. The air release unit is openably disposed at the sub tank to release the interior of the ink storage part to the atmosphere. Ink is supplied from the ink storage part to the recording head.
The sub tank has a displacement member (also referred to as detection member or detection feeler) to displace with the displacement of the flexible member. When ink is supplied from the main tank to the sub tank with the air release unit of the sub tank opened, i.e., air release filling is performed, the carriage is moved to a predetermined detection position (ink full position) and a driving device of the air release unit disposed at the apparatus body is activated to release the interior of the sub tank to the atmosphere. In such a state, ink filing is started. When a detector disposed at the apparatus body detects the displacement member, the position of the carriage is determined as the ink full position (see JP-2009-023092-A).
In such a case, to allow ink to be replenished and supplied during printing operation, if the consumption amount of ink during printing is a first threshold value or more and it is determined based on information associated with the amount of ink supplied from the main tank to the sub tank during printing that the amount of ink supplied is a second threshold value or less, ink is supplied from the main tank to the sub tank. By contrast, if the amount of ink supplied is greater than the second threshold value, ink is not supplied from the main tank to the sub tank.
Alternatively, instead of the above-described configuration, the sub tank may be provided with a detector for detecting the amount of ink remaining in the sub tank to allow ink supply during printing operation (see JP-3210326-B1 (JP-06-183027-A)).
For the above-described configuration in which the sub tank has the displacement member displaceable with the remaining amount of ink in the sub tank to allow detection of an ink full state of the sub tank, when ink is supplied from the main tank to the sub tank, the carriage need be moved to the predetermined ink full position. As a result, when the remaining amount of ink in the sub tank decreases below a threshold value during printing, the printing need be temporarily stopped for ink supply operation, thus reducing printing speed.
In such a case, for example, by counting the number of ink droplets ejected from the head, the consumption amount of ink in the sub tank may be calculated to supply ink from the main tank by a supply amount corresponding to the consumption amount. However, for such a configuration, since the ink full position is not accurately detected, insufficient ink supply might cause an excessive negative pressure or excessive ink supply might cause an insufficient negative pressure. For this reason, the carriage need be regularly moved to the ink-full detection position to perform the air release filling. As a result, printing operation need be stopped, thus reducing the printing speed.
In addition, it is conceivable to provide, with the carriage, a detector for detecting the remaining amount of ink in the sub tank, a driving device for driving the air release unit of the sub tank, and a member and/or device to control ink supply to the sub tank. However, such a configuration increases the size and weight of the carriage, thus resulting in an increased size of the entire apparatus.

Image forming apparatus including recording head for ejecting liquid droplets


The battery management system comprises: a battery management unit, configured to receive status information of a battery module and status information of a battery pack, and transmit a control instruction to cell measurement circuits; the cell measurement circuits, configured to collect the status information of the battery module, transmit the status information of the battery module to the battery management unit, receive and execute the control instruction transmitted from the battery management unit; sensing units, configured to collect the status information of the battery pack, and transmit the status information of the battery pack to the battery management unit; wherein a wireless communication unit is disposed in the battery management unit, and a wireless communication unit is disposed in at least a portion of the cell measurement circuits and/or at least a portion of the sensing units.

The battery management system is a system to manage batteries. The battery management system comprises a Battery Management Unit (BMU), a Cell Measurement Circuit (CMC), a sensing device, and some electrically-controlled devices.
At present, the battery management unit is connected to the cell measurement circuit, the sensing device, and the electrically-controlled devices using wiring harnesses for interaction of information and instructions via wiring harnesses. With the development of the battery technology, the battery management system is getting more and more powerful, leading to an increased number of various components (including the cell measurement circuit, the sensing device, and the electrically-controlled devices) in the battery management system; an increased number of the wiring harnesses between the battery management unit and the cell measurement circuit, the sensing device, and the electrically-controlled devices; and a more complicated routing of the wiring harnesses. As a result, a battery pack may have a more complicated installation structure and the installation may be more difficult.

Battery management system with wireless communication unit

Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited


Five-level topology units and inverters based on the five-level inverter units without a boost circuit. Cost is reduced by using only one AC filtering inductor and high efficiency is achieved in the absence of an extra boosting circuit. Leakage current is eliminated substantially by using a half-bridge inverter module. A five-level inverter including a five-level topology unit without a boost circuit to raise the input voltage is able to output the same AC power as a five-level full bridge inverter under the same working condition.

With the increasing threat of global energy and serious environmental problem, the renewable energy has been developing fast. Photovoltaic industry has an extensive future as its resources are plentiful and widespread. It is an important issue to lower cost and improve efficiency for photovoltaic system.
Inverter is used to convert DC from photovoltaic arrays into AC in photovoltaic system. There are two kinds of grid-connected inverters. They are isolated and non-isolated ones. The transformer is used in the former to keep human electrically safe. But because of its power loss and huge volume, it results in many problems, such as low efficiency and power density, and high cost. Therefore, the non-isolated inverter in photovoltaic system is popular. However, there is a common mode loop circuit for the absence of transformer in the non-isolated inverter system. The high frequency and common mode current in the loop circuit leads to electromagnetic interference, and at the same time, it is dangerous to devices and human. So the high frequency and common mode current becomes a critical issue to be solved for the non-isolated inverter system.
There are two kinds of non-isolated inverters in photovoltaic system.
The first kind of inverter is symmetry in topology and it has double AC filtering inductors. Full bridge inverter circuit is usually of this kind. No extra circuit in the full bridge is needed to boost input voltage in many cases since it is enough for half of that of the half-bridge. But it is difficult for the full bridge inverter to cancel substantially the high frequency leakage current because of the parasitic factors within the inverter system. The improvements of conventional H4 full bridge circuit are made to reduce the high frequency leakage current so that it meets the industry standard. However, it costs much because the two AC filtering inductors' magnetic cores are not common for the symmetry mode.
The second kind of inverter is non-symmetry and it has single AC filtering inductor. Half bridge and mid-point clamped inverter circuits are examples of this kind. The terminal of utility grid is connected with the mid-point of DC input voltage. The parasitic capacitor voltage is constant so that the leakage current is eliminated substantially. However, it needs an extra circuit to boost input voltage as it is twice of that of the first kind. The extra circuit lowers efficiency.
So it can be seen that if the second kind of inverter can work normally without the extra boosting circuit, it has obvious advantages over the first kind in low cost and high efficiency.
For the sake of brevity, the term "full bridge inverter" as used herein is intended to refer to the said first kind of inverter and the term "half bridge inverter" is intended to represent the said second kind.
In addition, five-level inverter is becoming popular to improve efficiency.

Five-level topology units and inverter thereof


There is provided a semiconductor structure and a method for manufacturing the same. The semiconductor structure according to the present invention comprises: a semiconductor substrate; a channel region formed on the semiconductor substrate; a gate stack formed on the channel region; and source/drain regions formed on both sides of the channel region and embedded in the semiconductor substrate. The gate stack comprises: a gate dielectric layer formed on the channel region; and a conductive layer positioned on the gate dielectric layer. For an nMOSFET, the conductive layer has a compressive stress to apply a tensile stress to the channel region; and for a pMOSFET, the conductive layer has a tensile stress to apply a compressive stress to the channel region.

With the development of the semiconductor technology, requirements for the feature size and performance of CMOSFET (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor) devices are increasing continuously. The application of the strained channel technology to the MOSFETs can improve device performance. For example, it is possible to enhance the carrier mobility by applying stress to the channel between the source and drain, so as to improve the performance of Integrated Circuits. Specifically, for an nMOSFET, the carriers in the channel are electrons, and a tensile stress across the channel can improve the mobility of the electrons; while for a pMOSFET, the carriers in the channel are holes, and a compressive stress across the channel can improve the mobility of the holes.
However, due to the increased density and reduced pitch of the Integrated Circuits, it is more difficult for the strained channel to provide sufficient stress to satisfy the requirements for device performance.
In view of this, there is a need for a novel semiconductor structure and a method for manufacturing the same to further enhance the channel stress.

Semiconductor structure and method for manufacturing the same

Institute of Microelectronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences


An addressing device and method is provided to enable an electronic system having a less addressing capability to address a memory device having a larger storage space, thereby reducing the manufacture cost of the electronic system. The addressing device includes an address decoder and an address translator. The address decoder receives a first access address belonging to a smaller address space, and determines whether to map the first access address to the larger storage space of the memory device. The address translator is coupled to the address decoder. When the first access address is mapped to the storage space of the memory device, the address translator translates the first access address into a second access address of the larger storage space according to an adjustable base address.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to memory addressing, and more particularly to an addressing device and method which can enable an electronic system having a less addressing capability to address a larger memory.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In an electronic system, when the microcontroller (or the microprocessor) executes a program or data processing task, it needs a memory or register to save data temporarily. In general, the microcontroller has only a limited memory addressing capability which limits the size of the memory that the microcontroller can address. For example, if the memory addressing capability of the microcontroller is just 64K in size, the microcontroller cannot directly address a memory over 64K bytes. Since the function of the electronic system is increasingly complicated, the memory that the microcontroller can afford to address may not be sufficient for use.
However, if a microcontroller having a greater memory addressing capability is used instead, it will cause the manufacture cost of the electronic system to be much higher, which is unfavorable to the price competitiveness of the manufacturer.


Disclosed herein ricin toxin A chain polypeptides having an engineered disulfide bond ((SS)RTA) and compositions thereof. The disclosed (SS)RTA polypeptides retain the immunological epitope of wild type RTA, lack detectable N-glycosidase activity or exhibit reduced N-glycosidase activity as compared to controls, and exhibit increased solubility, thermal stability and a lower tendency to self-aggregate as compared to RTA 198 and/or RTA 1-33/44-198. Also disclosed are immunogenic compositions that may be used to immunize a subject against ricin intoxication. Methods of immunizing against, treating, inhibiting, reducing and/and preventing ricin intoxication are disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to ricin vaccines and methods of making and using thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Ricin is a very toxic protein obtained from the castor bean, Ricinus communis, Euphorbiaceae. Ricin is a heterodimer comprising an A chain and a B chain joined by a disulfide bond. Ricin A chain (RTA) is an N-glycosidase enzyme that irreversibly damages (i.e. hydrolyzes) a specific adenine base from 28S rRNA. Once the rRNA has been damaged, the cell cannot make protein and will inevitably die (cytotoxicity). As RTA exhibits this type of destructive catalytic activity, RTA is commonly referred to as a type II ribosome inactivating protein (RIP). See Lord, et al. (1991) Semin. Cell Biol. 2(1):15-22. RTA has been coupled with a targeting moiety to selectively destroy target cells such as tumor cells. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,80,457; 4,962,188; and 4,689,401; see also Vitetta et al. (1993) Trends Pharmacol. Sci. 14:148-154 and Ghetie & Vitetta (1994) Cancer Drug Delivery 2:191-198.
The toxic consequences of ricin are due to the biological activity of RTA. Ricin B chain (RTB) binds the toxin to cell surface receptors and then RTA is transferred inside the cell where inhibition of ribosome activity occurs. The human lethal dose of ricin toxin is about 1 μg/kg. As highly purified ricin is commercially available, the use of ricin toxin in biological warfare and terrorism is highly possible and probable. Unfortunately, there is no effective antidote for toxic exposure to ricin. Thus, attempts have been made to provide vaccines against ricin intoxication.
Ricin vaccines have been prepared by isolating the natural toxin from castor beans, and treating the toxin with harsh chemicals, typically formaldehyde, to reduce the toxic activity. See Hewetson, et al. (1993) Vaccine 11(7):743-746; Griffiths, et al. (1995) Hum. Exp. Toxicol. 14(2):155-164; Griffiths, et al. (1999) Vaccine 17(20-21):2562-2568; and Yan, et al. (1996) Vaccine 14(11):1031-1038. The first generation vaccines are called "toxoid" vaccines as they are made directly from natural toxin itself. The second generation ricin vaccines comprise wild-type (wt) RTA, but not RTB. The second generation ricin vaccines include deglycosylated RTA (dgRTA) vaccines. The third generation ricin vaccines contain amino acid substitutions in the active site of RTA which result in reduced N-glycosidase activity (e.g Y80A mutations) and/or reduced Vascular Leak Syndrome (VLS) (e.g. Y76M mutations). The fourth generation ricin vaccines contain amino acid deletions and truncations in the RTA which increase the stability of the RTA molecule. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,869,787.
Since RTA vaccines are limited by their propensity to self-aggregate and denature at or near production and storage temperatures (35-40° C.), a need still exists for ricin vaccines that have a reduced ability to self-aggregate and are thermally stable under production and storage conditions, yet remain therapeutically effective.

Ricin vaccine and methods of making thereof

The United States of America as Represented by the Secretary of the Army


A pair of intelligent temperature- and humidity-control visible multi-function eye-care massage glasses, having blinders in which they are equipped with windows and control circuits, and also having heating devices and humidity-control devices equipped at the peripheries of the windows, wherein the control circuits are electrically connected to the heating devices and the humidity-control devices respectively. The beneficial effects of the present invention: it does not press on the eyeballs, so as to avoid causing or aggravating eye diseases; it provides intelligent temperature- and humidity-control devices, which can effectively ameliorate eye discomfort; people can work or recreate as usual when wearing it, which is good for long-term wear so as to achieve a good long-term effect. It also has balloon-like airbags, which can more effectively stimulate the meridian points of the eyes so as to enhance the massage effect.

The present invention relates generally to health care devices, and more particularly, to a pair of temperature- and humidity-control visible multi-function eye-care massage glasses.
With the popularity of computers and mobile electronic devices, people are in contact with electronic screens almost every day. After prolonged use of these devices, it will cause harmful impact on the human eyes; therefore, a variety of eye massage devices have been launched into the current market for consumers to alleviate or ameliorate symptoms arising from the excessive use of their eyes. However, it needs to be noted that the currently available eye heating and pressure massage devices, etc., mainly have the following shortcomings or limitations:
1. The Massage Devices' Directly Pressing Against the Eyeballs is Likely to Aggravate Some Serious Eye Diseases
(1) Dry eye syndrome is a common eye disease. It mainly is shown as eye fatigue, eye dryness, foreign body sensation, eye irritation, photophobia, tearing and other symptoms. If these devices directly press the eyes of such patients for massage, it can bruise the corneal epithelium and aggravate the diseases. Dry eye syndrome commonly causes dotted or flaked deletion or erosion of corneal epithelial cells, so squeezing of the cornea should be prevented.
(2) For patients suffering from dry eye syndrome associated with ocular hypertension, retinal ischemia, or hemorrhagic lesions, such as glaucoma, hypertension, or diabetic retinopathy, the direct press and massage on their eyeballs may aggravate the retinal ischemia or bleeding. That will cause serious consequences.
2. Temperature Effect on the Eyes is not Constant
Most human eyes can tolerate thermotherapy with temperatures ranging from 38 to 45 degrees centigrade. According to some studies in the field of ophthalmology, the temperature of 42 degrees centigrade generates a relatively good effect of thermotherapy on human eyes. It helps the heat penetrate deep into the eyeballs, thus promoting blood circulation and tissue metabolism. It also helps liquefy the meibomian gland lipid so as to provide an anti-dry protective layer of lipid for the cornea. However, the currently available eye heating massage devices all have no thermostats for the eyeballs. The temperatures vary, and are not constant.
3. They Lack Eyeball Humidifying and Moisturizing Devices
As everyone knows, the main role of an eye massage device is to prevent eye fatigue. However, in the field of ophthalmology, most eye fatigues are attributed to dry eye syndrome caused by factors such as watching TV and computers, overusing eyes, failing to rest the eyes well, and suffering from endocrine disorders or senile degeneration. Therefore, humidifying or moisturizing eyeballs can quickly alleviate the symptoms. However, the hot-pack eye massage devices currently available on the market are almost all in short of that function.
4. They Lack Visibility
Nearly all currently available hot pack and massage devices for the eyes on the market have no visual windows, and they all work on the eyes when the eyes are closed. As mentioned above, they will aggravate the eye diseases. Besides, the long-term massage on closed eyes is likely to cause a sense of fear and discomfort after the massage is completed.
5. They are Inconvenient to Carry with
The currently available massage glasses generally have an integrated design. Meanwhile, they need multiple additional modules for integration, thus making the structures relatively large, which is inconvenient for users to carry with in daily life.
Therefore, it is necessary to improve the eye massage devices, which are based on currently available technologies, so as to create eye-care glasses which can not only treat eye diseases but also overcome the current limitations.

Intelligent temperature- and humidity-control visible multi-function eye-care massage glasses


A phase changeable memory element is formed by conformally forming a phase changeable material film in a contact hole on a substrate so as to create a void in the phase changeable material film in the contact hole. The void is at least partially closed by impinging a laser beam on the phase changeable material film sufficiently to reflow the phase changeable material film in the void.

Phase changeable memory elements are well known nonvolatile memory elements. A unit cell of a phase changeable memory element includes a data storage element that is formed of a phase changeable material. The phase changeable material has two stable states. That is, the phase changeable material is either in an amorphous state or in a crystalline state in accordance with the temperature of supplied heat and/or the supply time of the heat. The phase changeable material in the amorphous state generally has a higher resistance than that of the phase changeable material in the crystalline state. Therefore, the amount of current that flows through the phase changeable material generally varies with the state of the phase changeable material. It is possible to determine whether the information stored in the phase changeable memory cell is logic "1" or logic "0" using change in the amount of the current. A compound of Ge, Sb, and Te, GST(Ge—Sb—Te), may be used as a well-known phase changeable material. Other phase changeable materials may be used.
Joule heat is used as the heat supplied to the phase changeable material. In particular, current may be supplied to a heating electrode connected to the phase changeable material to generate Joule heat that is to be supplied to the phase changeable material. It is possible to control the temperature of the heat supplied to the phase changeable material by controlling the amount of the supplied current.
A high temperature generally may be needed in order to change the state of the phase changeable material. For example, heat around the melting point of GST of about 630° C. may need to be supplied in order to make the GST amorphous. Therefore, there may be significant increase in the amount of current supplied for a programming or erasing operation. As a result, the power consumption of a phase changeable memory element may be high. Also, the channel width of the MOS transistor in the phase changeable memory element may increase in order to control a large amount of current, so that it may be difficult to highly integrate the phase changeable memory element.
FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate forming a conventional phase changeable memory element.
Referring to FIG. 1, a lower insulating layer 2 is formed on a semiconductor substrate 1 and a heating electrode 3 is formed on the lower insulating layer 2. An upper insulating layer 4 that covers the heating electrode 3 is formed and the upper insulating layer 4 is patterned to form a contact hole 5 that exposes a predetermined region of the heating electrode 3. A phase changeable material film 6 is formed on the surface of the semiconductor substrate 1 and in the contact hole 5. The phase changeable material film 6 is formed of GST.
As shown in FIG. 2, the phase changeable material film 6 is patterned to form a phase changeable material pattern 6a connected to the heating electrode 3.
According to the above-described conventional phase changeable memory element and the method of forming the same, in order to reduce the amount of current for performing a programming or erasing operation, the width of the contact hole 5 may be reduced. That is, the contact area between the phase changeable material pattern 6a and the heating electrode 3 may be reduced to reduce the amount of current.
However, the aspect ratio of the contact hole 5 generally increases with reduction in the width of the contact hole 5 such that a void 7 may be generated in the contact hole 5. Moreover, since the GST is commonly formed by a sputtering method, the void 7 may be more easily generated. When the phase changeable material pattern 6a is made amorphous (for example, during a programming operation), heat of about 630° C. may be generated at the interface between the phase changeable material pattern 6a and the heating electrode 3. Therefore, Te, whose melting point is about 445° C., may first evaporate from the phase changeable material pattern 6a into the void 7. As a result, the components of the phase changeable material pattern 6a may change (that is, Te is lost). Therefore, the phase changeable material pattern 6a may lose its own characteristics such that the characteristics of the phase changeable memory element may deteriorate.
On the other hand, in order to prevent the void 7 from being generated, after depositing the phase changeable material film 6, the phase changeable material film 6 may be reflowed. A process of reflowing the phase changeable material film 6 may be performed at the temperature around or higher than the melting point of the phase changeable material film 6. A furnace thermal process and/or a rapid thermal process is commonly used as the process of reflowing the phase changeable material film 6.
The rapid thermal process and/or the furnace thermal process may be performed at a temperature no less than about 630° C. for dozens of seconds to several hours. As a result, the void 7 can be filled. However, since the process of reflowing the phase changeable material film 6 is performed for a long time (for dozens of seconds to several hours), Te of the phase changeable material film 6 may evaporate into the void 7 before the void 7 is filled. Therefore, the components of the phase changeable material film 6 in the contact hole 5 may change even after the rapid thermal process and/or the furnace thermal process is performed to reflow the phase changeable material film 6. That is, one part of the phase changeable material film 6 in the contact hole 5 may be heavily concentrated with Te and another part may be lightly concentrated with Te. Also, during the process of reflowing the phase changeable material film 6 in the rapid thermal process and/or the furnace thermal process, Te may evaporate from the top surface of the phase changeable material film 6. Therefore, the components of the phase changeable material film 6 around the top surface may change and the thickness of the phase changeable material film 6 may be reduced. As a result, the characteristics of the phase changeable material pattern 6a may deteriorate such that the characteristics of the phase changeable memory element may deteriorate.

Laser reflowing of phase changeable memory element to close a void therein


A method and an electronic device for selecting deep neural network hyperparameters are provided. In an embodiment of the method, a plurality of testing hyperparameter configurations are sampled from a plurality of hyperparameter ranges of a plurality of hyperparameters. A target neural network model is trained by using a training dataset and the plurality of testing hyperparameter configurations, and a plurality of accuracies corresponding to the plurality of testing hyperparameter configurations are obtained after training for preset epochs. A hyperparameter recommendation operation is performed to predict a plurality of final accuracies of the plurality of testing hyperparameter configurations. A recommended hyperparameter configuration corresponding to the final accuracy having a highest predicted value is selected as a hyperparameter setting for continuing training the target neural network model.

Machine learning of a deep neural network usually involves a large number of free parameters for users to set according to their needs. For example, machine learning experts need to determine the depth of the neural network, select the connection relationship among the layers, select the optimization algorithm, and select the parameters in the optimization library. The parameters that are set before the model starts learning are referred to as hyperparameters (HPs), and the technique of adjusting the hyperparameters or finding suitable configurations of the hyperparameters is referred to as hyperparameter optimization (HPO).
In general, a typical method for performing automatic hyperparameter optimization is the Bayesian optimization (BO) algorithm. However, since the Bayesian optimization algorithm is serial in nature, parallelization would be difficult. Moreover, when the number of different hyperparameters included is excessively large, a curse of dimensionality may occur.

Method and electronic device for selecting deep neural network hyperparameters

Industrial Technology Research Institute