A phase-change energy storage air duct of an automobile air conditioning system. A phase-change energy storage unit (2) is configured inside an air duct (1) of an air conditioning system. By means of phase-change heat absorption or release, residual heat in the air is absorbed, and the heat is released to air with a lower temperature, so that energy is recycled to achieve energy saving. The temperature of air entering a room or a carriage is kept stable, and thus the user experience is improved. When the air conditioning system fails, the phase-change energy storage unit (2) can still utilize stored cooling capacity or heat to cool down or heat up air in the air duct, so that a supply of air can be kept stable for a period of time, and thus the user experience is improved. The present application also relates to an automobile air conditioning system.

An air duct is the passage for air circulation in an air conditioning system. The cooled or heated air finally enters the interior or the carriage through the air duct and participates in the temperature adjustment within the interior or vehicle; when the cooling or heating effect of the air conditioning system is unstable, the temperature of the air entering the air duct will deviate from a set temperature, resulting in a higher or lower temperature of the air entering the carriage or interior. Furthermore, a sudden change in inlet air temperature affects the user experience.

Phase-change energy storage air duct and automobile air conditioning system


Systems, methods of operating a memory device, and methods of arbitrating access to a memory array in a memory device having an internal processor are provided. In one or more embodiments, conflicts in accessing the memory array are reduced by interfacing an external processor, such as a memory controller, with the internal processor, which could be an embedded ALU, through a control interface. The external processor can control access to the memory array, and the internal processor can send signals to the external processor to request access to the memory array. The signals may also request a particular bank in the memory array. In different embodiments, the external processor and the internal processor communicate via the control interface or a standard memory interface to grant access to the memory array, or to a particular bank in the memory array, for example.

1. Field of Invention
Embodiments of the invention relate generally to memory systems, and more particularly, to memory systems having internal and external processors.
2. Description of Related Art
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present invention, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present invention. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light and not as admissions of prior art.
Electronic systems typically include one or more processors, which may retrieve and execute instructions, and output the results of the executed instruction, such as to store the results to a suitable location. A processor generally includes arithmetic logic unit (ALU) circuitry, which is capable of executing instructions such as arithmetic and logic operations on one or more operands. For example, the ALU circuitry may add, subtract, multiply, or divide one operand from another, or may subject one or more operands to logic operations, such as AND, OR, XOR, and NOT logic functions. The various arithmetic and logic operations may have different degrees of complexity. For example, some operations may be executed by inputting the operand(s) through the ALU circuitry in one cycle, while other operations may utilize multiple clock cycles.
A number of elements in the electronic system may be involved in directing a set of instructions to the ALU for execution. For example, the instructions and any corresponding data (e.g., the operands on which the operations will be executed) may be generated by a controller, or some other suitable processor in the electronic system. As the time or number of clock cycles required for the execution of a set of instructions may vary depending on the type of operation, the controller may write the instructions and data to memory, for example, a memory array, and the ALU may retrieve the information (e.g., the instructions and/or corresponding data) to execute the instructions. Once the ALU has executed an instruction, the results of the executed instruction may be stored back in the memory array.
In some memory systems, the memory array may be external to the ALU. Thus, an external bus may be employed to input the instructions and data from a memory array to an ALU, and to output the completed results back to the memory array or another suitable output. Such external input/outputs may increase power consumption in the system. In other memory systems, a processor may be configured in the same package or embedded on the same silicon chip as a memory component, and may be referred to as a processor-in-memory (PIM). For example, one or more ALUs may be embedded on the same chip as a memory array or with the memory array in the same package, which may eliminate the need for an external bus to transfer information between the memory array and the ALU to conserve power in the electronic device. However, in a PIM system, more than one processor may require access to the memory array. For example, an external processor may write instructions to the memory array, and an internal processor (e.g., the ALU) may read instructions from the memory array; further, the ALU may write the results of the instructions to the memory array, and the external processor may read or control the output of the results from the memory array. As more than one processor may require access to the memory array, conflicts may occur.

Communication between internal and external processors


Stereodefined phosphorothioate oligonucleotides, related nucleoside monomers and methods of synthesis of both are described. The disclosed isobutyryl protected L-LNA-G monomers have following Formula 50 or 51 where R3 is independently CH2ODMTr or CH2OMMTr and R8, when present, is cyanoethyl. The monomers have improved solubility and stability characteristics, resulting in improved efficacy in oligonucleotide synthesis.

Recently, we have discovered that the use of stereodefined phosphorothioate internucleoside linkages in LNA oligonucleotides allow for the optimisation of the pharmacological profile of LNA oligonucleotides. The manufacture of stereodefined phosphorothioate oligonucleotides is at present comparatively inefficient as compared to non stereodefined phosphorothioate oligonucleotides. There is therefore a need to improve the efficiency of synthesis of stereodefined oligonucleotides.
WO2014/010250 discloses nucleoside monomers which when incorporated into an oligonucleotide provide a chirally defined stereocenter at the corresponding phosphorothioate internucleoside linkage position. Whilst LNA monomers are considered, none have been made or tested. The present invention is based upon the surprising observation that guanine monomers (referred to as L-XNA-G monomers) are insoluble and/or unstable in many solvents. The present invention is based upon the provision of L-XNA-G monomers where the exocyclic nitrogen of the guanine residue is protected with an acyl protection group rather than the standard DMF protecting group. Such monomers are remarkable soluble and stable in solution.


A router device is disclosed for use in a communication system having at least two telephone devices in communications with each other for transferring voice information therebetween through a packet switching network. The router device is coupled between one of the telephone devices and the packet switching network for performing one of a plurality of types of compression/decompression (codec) operation on information being transferred between the telephone devices. The router device includes a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) module responsive to an analog telephone signal for carrying a telephone conversation generated from one of the telephone devices and operative to convert the analog telephone signal to a digital telephone signal. The DSP packetizes the digital telephone signal for transmission to a remotely-located router device and switches from using a first type of codec to using a second type of codec upon detection of degradation in the quality of the voice information while a conversation is taking place between the two telephone device yet avoiding substantial disturbance to users of the telephone devices.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to dynamically changing compression techniques used for transmission of voice information over a packet switching environment and for transmission of fax information on a telephone line, in real-time, the telephone line being also used for transmission of voice information over a packet switching network environment and particularly for loading an overlay compression layer during a telephone conversation upon user initiation or automatically.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prior art systems utilize various ways of transmitting voice information. One such way is shown in FIG. 1 wherein a telephone system 10 is shown to include a telephone device 12 coupled to a local telephone exchange, i.e. California AT&T exchange 14 (assuming the telephone device 12 is located in California). The latter is coupled through a PSTN 16 (Public Switching Telephone Network) to another exchange, namely, a New York telephone exchange 18 and finally, the exchange 18 is coupled to communicate voice information to a telephone device 20. This setup has been traditionally employed for communicating voice telephone calls between remotely located users of telephones, such as users of the telephone devices 12 and 20 (not shown in FIG. 1).
In operation, a user of the telephone device 12, located in California, might place a telephone call to a user of the telephone device 20, which may be located in New York. Once the call is initiated, a telephone transmission line establishes a connection between the telephone device 12 and the exchange 14. At the exchange 14, the telephone line might be multiplexed with a number of other physical lines and transmitted over the PSTN 16, which is comprised of switches, to the exchange 18, which is located in New York. The exchange 18 de-multiplexes the telephone line carrying the transmitted call and transfers the de-multiplexed signal to the telephone device 20.
The transmission of information through systems such as that shown in FIG. 1 is costly due to toll charges by telephone companies for placing calls through such systems.
More recently, telephone conversations or modem information has been transmitted using packet switching network environments. An example of such a system is shown in FIG. 2 wherein a prior art telephone system 22 is shown to include a telephone device 24 coupled to an exchange 26, which is in turn coupled to a packet transmission system 36. The packet transmission system 36 is coupled to an exchange 32, which is coupled to a telephone device 34. The packet transmission system 36 is shown to include a California access server 28 and a New York access server 30.
In operation, a telephone call is placed by a user of the telephone device 24 and connected to the exchange 26. In this case, a user of the telephone device is again located in California and therefore the exchange 26 is located locally in California. The exchange 26 couples a multiplexed line with the phone call coupled thereon to the server 28. The server 28 is also locally located, i.e. in California, and operates to converts the voice information, which is received by the server 28 in analog format, to digital format and transforms the same to packets of voice information for transmission through a packet switching network, such as the Internet. The server 28 is a network device that typically includes a router for packetizing and de-packetizing information. Subsequently, the server 30 receives the packetized voice information that was transmitted through the packet switching network and the former de-packetizes (arranges the packets of a telephone call together into a continuous signal) the telephone call information and converts it into analog format for transmission to the exchange 32. The server 30 and the exchange 32 are located remotely from the exchange 26 and server 28. In this example, as the call is being placed between a California user and a New York user, the server 30 and the exchange 32 are located in New York. The server 30 also typically includes a router. The exchange 32 then transmits the voice information, in analog form to the telephone device 34. This type of voice transmission is commonly referred to as voice-over-IP (Internet Protocol). In comparing the prior art systems of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, it should be noted that the PSTN 16 is essentially replaced with the packet transmission system 36. This difference in the two systems is, however, transparent to users of the telephone devices except that use of the system 22 in FIG. 2 is less expensive than that of the system 10 in FIG. 1. The reason for the cost reduction is that, referring to FIG. 2, the transmission of voice information from the telephone device 24 all the way to the server 28 is through local medium, which generates local phone costs. The same holds true for transmissions of voice information between the telephone device 34 and the server 30, as these are local within New York. Therefore, long distance charges are only incurred through the packet switching network, such as the Internet, which is generally a much less expensive medium of transmission relative to the public switching network.
In FIG. 2, the packets of voice information through the packet switching network, such as the Internet, are transmitted using various encoding techniques. In one encoding technique, packets are compressed by the server (for example, server 28) prior to transmission thereof. Consider the case where each packet is 200 bytes in length. A compression technique, such as one in the list provided hereinbelow, may compress each packet to 25 bytes. The goal is to decrease the size of the packets as much as possible while maintaining signal quality. Smaller packet sizes increase system throughput and therefore capacity as more packets can be routed through the network. Generally, undergoing any type of compression results in compromising voice quality. However, the difference in voice quality is not generally noticed by users listening to the voice transmission due to certain insensitivity associated with the human ear beyond certain frequencies. Although in the example provide hereinabove, a constant packet size, i.e. 200 bytes, is used, in practice, different packet sizes may be transmitted through the network.
A problem that arises with respect to prior art systems similar to FIG. 2 is that only one type of compression algorithm is employed for the duration of a phone call. That is, compression algorithms can not be changed during the phone conversation. The use of only one type of compression technique prevents compensation for variable factors, such as varying packet sizes. Therefore, the need arises for the use of dynamically changing compression techniques, either manually or automatically for transmission of voice-over-IP allowing for adjustments to be made in accordance with varying network sage or bandwidth thereby making optimal use of network capacity and throughput.
Compression and decompression are typically referred to as codec and examples of codecs used for compression/decompression of voice information are: G.711, G.723.1 and G729, etc. Typically, DSP devices perform codec functions. Different codecs offer different advantages and disadvantages. For example, the G.711 codec actually performs no compression thereby leading to increased bandwidth. However, the quality of the voice transmission is as good as the original voice. Codecs are typically located in the router within the servers 28 and 30.
In the system of FIG. 2, fax information, as opposed to voice information, may be transmitted. In this respect, a fax machine is employed in place of the telephone device 24 and similarly, a fax machine is employed in place of the telephone device 34. In fax transmissions, a codec is loaded into the DSP followed by 'overlay'. 'overlay' converts the rate of transmissions of fax signals to the appropriate speed necessary for transmission of fax information over IP. When a fax call is initiated, the router within the server 28 detects a fax tone, which indicates that the information is fax information and accordingly places an 'overlay' on top of the already-compressed fax signal. Currently, a user of a telephone/fax device cannot transmit fax information over the same line that the user is utilizing for transmission of voice information. This serves as an inconvenience to the user as the user must place two calls, one for conducting a voice transmission and another for transmission of fax information. Moreover, if the user must fax a document urgently, while on the phone, the user must hang up the voice call, fax the document and then make a third call to resume the voice call. Accordingly, the need arises to transmit fax information, in real-time, over a telephone line that is being used to transmit voice information in a packet switching network environment.
For the foregoing reasons, the need arises for employing dynamically varying compression techniques, either manually or automatically, in packet switching network environments allowing for adjustments to be made by varying the compression technique in accordance to the usage of the network. A further need arises for transmission of fax information, on-the-fly (or in real-time), over the same telephone line that is being used to transmit voice information in a packet switching network.


Disclosed below are representative embodiments of methods, apparatus, and systems for generating test patterns having an increased ability to detect untargeted defects. In one exemplary embodiment, for instance, one or more deterministic test values for testing targeted faults (e.g., stuck-at faults or bridging faults) in an integrated circuit design are determined. Additional test values that increase detectability of one or more untargeted defects during testing are determined. One or more test patterns are created that include at least a portion of the deterministic test values and at least a portion of the additional test values. Computer-readable media comprising computer-executable instructions for causing a computer to perform any of the disclosed methods or comprising test patterns generated by any of the disclosed embodiments are also disclosed.

As integrated circuits are produced with greater and greater levels of circuit density, efficient testing schemes that guarantee high fault coverage while minimizing test costs and chip area overhead have become essential. The number of transistors that can be placed on a chip has been doubling roughly every eighteen months, as predicted by Moore's law. The amount of data required to test such massively complex chips has been increasing even more rapidly. In practical terms, for very large integrated circuits, the test cost is approaching (and may even exceed) the design cost.
Many integrated circuits are tested using structured design-for-testability (DFT) techniques, which employ the general concept of making some or all state variables (e.g., memory elements, such as flip-flops and latches) directly controllable and observable. Preferably, a circuit is treated, as far as testing of combinational faults is concerned, as a combinational or a nearly combinational network. The most-often used DFT methodology assumes that during testing all (or almost all) memory elements are connected to form one or more shift registers termed "scan chains."
A circuit that utilizes scan chains for testing typically has two basic modes of operation: a normal mode and a test (or scan) mode. In the normal mode, the memory elements perform their regular functions. In the scan mode, the memory elements become scan cells that are connected to form a number of scan chains. During a typical test cycle, the scan chains are first operated in the scan mode in order to shift a test pattern into the circuit. The circuit is then operated in normal mode for one or more clock cycles in order to capture the circuit's functional response to the test pattern. Finally, the scan chains are operated in the scan mode in order to shift out the circuit's response to the test patterns. The test response can then be compared to a fault-free response to determine if the circuit-under-test (CUT) works properly.
Scan design methodology has gained widespread adoption by virtue of its simple automatic test pattern generation (ATPG) and silicon debugging capabilities. Today, ATPG software tools are so efficient that it is possible to generate test sets (a collection of test patterns) that guarantee almost complete fault coverage for several types of faults, including stuck-at and transition faults. It is also possible to target other faults, such as path delay and bridging faults.
Typically, when a test pattern is generated by an ATPG tool, only a small number of scan cells (e.g., 2-5%) need to be specified in order to detect the targeted faults. The remaining scan cells in the scan chains can then be filled with random binary values. This results in a test pattern comprising a small portion of deterministically specified test values (also referred to as "deterministic test values") and a large portion of randomly specified test values. Thus, although the test pattern is considered to be fully specified, only a small fraction of the pattern comprises test values used explicitly to test the targeted faults.
In general, an ATPG tool relies on effective fault models to produce test patterns that guarantee coverage of a targeted fault. A fault model typically comprises a logic-level abstraction of circuit behavior in the presence of a circuit fault, such as a physical defect. One of the most widely used fault models for generating test patterns is the single stuck-at-line ("SSL" or "stuck-at") fault model. Although the SSL fault model has been used for many years with proven effectiveness and robustness, it is becoming less effective due to continuously shrinking feature sizes and more complex fabrication processes. Further, the smaller feature sizes and more complex processes create a greater potential for physical defects, such as bridging or bridging-type defects. Existing test patterns generated using the SSL fault model, however, do not adequately cover bridging or bridging-type defects. Such defects can comprise, for example, defects that result in bridges between signal nodes of the circuit (having either low or high resistivity) and physical or design defects that create cross-talk effects between signal nodes of the circuit. It has been shown, for example, that certain test sets having greater than 95% SSL fault coverage produce only 33% coverage of node-to-node bridging faults. Accordingly, there is a need for enhanced test-pattern-generation techniques.

Generating test patterns having enhanced coverage of untargeted defects


A method for welding to a superalloy material without causing cracking of the material. The method includes the steps of depositing a weld strip (18) of a weldable material onto a superalloy substrate material (12) using a spray deposition process (20) and then forming a weldment (26) to the weld strip. None or a controlled amount of the substrate material (12) is melted during the weld in order to maintain the concentration of strengthening elements in the local melt within a zone of weldability. The spray deposition process may be a thermal process such as HVOF or a cold spray process. A groove (16) may be formed in a surface (10) of the superalloy substrate material to receive the weld strip. A diffusion heat treatment step may be used to improve adhesion between the weld strip and the superalloy material.

Nickel-based and cobalt-based superalloy materials are commonly used to provide high mechanical strength for very high temperature applications, such as for the blades or other components of a gas turbine engine. The term "superalloy" is used herein as it is generally understood in the art to refer to alloys that can be used at high temperatures, often in excess of 0.7 of the absolute melting temperature of the material. Creep and oxidation resistance are primary design criteria for such materials. Examples of superalloys are those sold under the trademarks/commercial designations Hastelloy, Inconel, IN939, Haynes-188, MP98T, TMS-63, TMS-71, TMS-75, and CM-247 LC, and those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,011,721; 7,004,992; 6,974,508; 6,936,116; and 6,494,971; among many others.
Superalloy components are very expensive, and thus the repair of a damaged part is preferred over its replacement. However, known weld repair techniques for superalloy materials have met with only limited success, due primarily to the propensity of superalloy materials to develop cracks resulting from low melting temperature grain boundary constituents and the volume changes that occur during cooling due to the precipitation of a gamma prime phase. Some high strength superalloys containing large percentages of gamma prime phase, such as the material sold under the commercial designations Mar-M 247 and CM247LC, are considered almost impossible to weld due to their propensity to form microcracks in the region under the weld bead and in the heat affected zone (HAZ). In addition to such hot cracking of the weld filler metal and heat affected zone, these materials exhibit strain age cracking, which results in cracks extending into the base metal of the component. Strengthening elements used in superalloys include: elements which segregate primarily to the gamma phase for solid solution strengthening (W, Mo, Re, Cr, Co, Fe); elements which segregate primarily to the gamma prime phase (Al, Ti, Nb, Ta, V); and grain boundary strengtheners (C, B, Zr, Hf, Y). FIG. 6 illustrates the known relationship between weldability and the weight percentage of the specific strengthening elements aluminum and titanium. Superalloys are generally readily weldable when the sum of the concentration of aluminum plus one half of the concentration of titanium is less than 3% by weight (w/o). This region of FIG. 6 may be referred to herein as the zone of weldability. If that sum is greater than 3 w/o, the superalloy is generally difficult to weld.
Several techniques have been proposed to improve the weldability of superalloy materials. U.S. Pat. No. 4,336,312 describes a combination of a controlled chemical modification of a cast nickel-based superalloy material along with a pre-weld thermal conditioning cycle. Other known techniques utilize a very high density power source (laser or e-beam) to form a very small weldment in order to limit the amount of melted material. One such technique is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,364,971 which describes a laser welding technique following a pre-conditioning hot isostatic process. U.S. Pat. No. 6,333,484 describes a welding technique wherein the entire weld area is preheated to a maximum ductility temperature range, and this elevated temperature is maintained during the welding and solidification of the weld. U.S. Pat. No. 7,051,435 describes the use of a braze preform for forming a lower temperature brazed joint with a superalloy material. Each of these patents is incorporated by reference herein. Further improvements in the welding of superalloy materials and other difficult-to-weld alloys are desired.

Sprayed weld strip for improved weldability


A system is provided for determining a volume of material milled, or a surface area milled, by a construction machine having a milling drum. The volume of material milled is determined as a function of a cross-sectional area of material to be milled in front of the milling drum and a distance traveled by the construction machine while actively milling. The cross-sectional area is determined in part by direct machine observation of one or more profile characteristics of a ground surface in front of the milling drum. The surface area milled is determined as a function of the width of the area to be milled in front of the milling drum and a distance traveled by the construction machine while actively milling.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to methods and apparatus for determining the volume of material milled or the area milled from a ground surface by a milling machine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When working ground surfaces by means of milling machines, stabilizers or recyclers, and when mining deposits by means of mining machines (surface miners), the milled area and/or the milled volume is usually required as basis for the settlement of the services rendered for the purpose of documenting and settling the services rendered on the construction site. These data are determined or estimated, for example, from data previously known or determined from cartographic material or surveying documents, it being assumed here in a simplifying manner that the actually milled area or the actually milled volume precisely corresponds to the area to be milled or the volume to be milled that was previously stated in the contract.
It is also known to carry out, after completion of the milling operation, a more or less accurate determination of the milled area or the milled volume, respectively, by means of simple measuring instruments (for example, odometer and folding rule).
Lastly, it is also known to determine an approximated value of the currently milled volume and, by integration, establish a daily volume from the travelled distance, which can be read out from or is measured by a machine control system, and a milling depth, assuming that the milling drum width installed corresponds to the effectively milled milling width.
It has become apparent, however, that in practice the actually milled area or the actually milled volume deviates from the geometrical data stipulated in a service contract or from the data derived from surveying documents or maps with, as a general rule, the actually milled volume being the larger. This is therefore of disadvantage to the contracting company as the inaccurate settlement will be to its detriment. One reason for this may be, for example, the three-dimensionality of a course of, for example, a motorway section in a hilly area because the length of a milling trajectory is smaller in the map projection than in the three-dimensional course of the road. Another reason is additional work that was not known or not foreseeable prior to awarding the contract and is thus not reflected in the surveying documents or maps.
Measuring with simple measuring means (odometer, folding rule) is also merely a more or less accurate approximation to the actual service rendered as complex milling geometries are frequently also worked that are not accessible to calculation by way of simple means.
Such methods of settlement are not only inaccurate but also time-consuming.
More recently there has been proposed a system for automatically determining milled areas and/or milled volumes through the use of GPS or other technology to track the trajectory of the machine, and subsequent data-processing to add up milled areas or volumes and to subtract overlapping areas or volumes, as set forth in pending DE102011106139, also pending as PCT/EP2012/060505, the details of which are incorporated herein by reference.
There are, however, a number of difficulties encountered in the use of a GPS based system for tracking machine trajectories. One necessary condition for the use of GPS technology is a sufficiently large viewing angle in the sky. If the viewing angle is too small it will reduce the number of satellites that can be viewed and decrease the accuracy of the system. Also, so-called multi-path effects due for example to reflection of GPS signals off of tall buildings and trees can affect accuracy of the GPS system. As a result of such difficulties, a GPS based system may not be sufficiently accurate, especially in congested residential areas.
Accordingly, there is a continuing need for improved systems for the automatic determination of areas or volumes milled by such milling machines.

Determining milled volume or milled area of a milled surface


A data packet transport arrangement includes a tag-based packet multiplexer and a tag-based packet demultiplexer, that utilizes an identification tag to identify packets to each of the N input channels so as to provide a logical transport channel for each of the N channels through the packet transport arrangement. The data transport arrangement thereby allows aggregating multiple communications channels into a higher bit rate link to increase bandwidth efficiency, without compromising the underlying channelized, guaranteed-bandwidth nature of the individual communication channels.

Wavelength-Division-Multiplexing (WDM) Transmission systems provide scalable capacity by adding additional wavelength channels as capacity demands grow. In addition, well-known multiple protocols like SONET, Fiber Channel, Gigabit Ethernet (GbE), and ESCON can be transmitted over the same fiber by putting each protocol on a separate wavelength. While this method provides flexibility, it does not efficiently use the bandwidth provided by the wavelength. For example, GbE only utilizes 1.25 Gb/s of a 2.5 Gb/s or 10 Gb/s WDM communications channel, and the ESCON even only utilizes 200 Mb/s, one-fiftieth of the bandwidth provided in a 10 Gb/s wavelength.
Three main approaches have emerged that allow aggregating multiple communications channels into a single wavelength to increase bandwidth efficiency, while providing fixed bandwidth guarantees for each of the channels:                Mapping protocols into the SONET hierarchy and using SONET multiplexing to aggregate to the higher bit rate. For example, 100 Mb/s Fast Ethernet can be mapped into an 155 Mbps OC3 circuit, and 16 OC3's can be multiplexed into an 2.5 Gbps OC 48 SONET WDM link.        The new and still evolving Digital Wrapper standard (ITU G.709) can be used for multiplexing almost arbitrary communication channels onto a higher-speed link        Simple TDM (time-division-multiplexing) techniques can be used to aggregate multiple communications channels onto a single wavelength
While the first two methods involve the use of complex SONET or SONET-like framing chips as well as a number of external chips and buffering to map Ethernet into the SONET or Digital Wrapper circuits, the latter method is an easy to implement and low cost solution. A problem with the latter method is that TDM interleaving of packet signals leads to a nonstandard format, making it difficult to interface with existing transport equipment.
There is a continuing need for a data transport arrangement that would allow aggregating multiple communications channels into a higher bit rate link to increase bandwidth efficiency, without compromising the underlying channelized, guaranteed-bandwidth nature of the individual communication channels.

Packet transport arrangement for the transmission of multiplexed channelized packet signals


Embodiments of the invention provide for a biometric system with an optically adaptive interface. In some embodiments, an optically adaptive interface changes optical characteristics in response to the placement of a finger on the optically adaptive interface. In some embodiments, the optically adaptive interface can include an active layer and a surface layer. The active layer and the surface layer can have different optical properties. For example, one layer may be opaque and the other transparent, the two layers may have complementary colors, the two layers may have orthogonal polarization reflectors, one layer may be reflective and the other absorptive, etc. Moreover, the active layer can be a fluid with either high or low viscosity. For example, the viscosity can be such that the active layer fluid is either completely displaced or not displaced in locations corresponding to finger valleys.

"Biometrics" refers generally to the statistical analysis of characteristics of living bodies. One category of biometrics includes "biometric identification," which commonly operates under one of two modes to provide automatic identification of people or to verify purported identities of people. Biometric sensing technologies measure the physical features or behavioral characteristics of a person and compare those features to similar prerecorded measurements to determine whether there is a match. Physical features that are commonly used for biometric identification include faces, irises, hand geometry, vein structure, and fingerprint patterns, which is the most prevalent of all biometric-identification features. Current methods for analyzing collected fingerprints include optical, capacitive, radio-frequency, thermal, ultrasonic, and several other less common techniques.
Most existing fingerprint sensors rely on relatively high-quality contact between the finger and the sensor to obtain images. Obtaining adequate contact is both finicky and time-consuming because of factors related to individual characteristics of users of the sensors, the quality of the skin, and environmental variability. Ease of consistent fingerprint capture limits the effectiveness and scope of applications that utilize fingerprint biometrics for identity management.

Biometric imaging using an optical adaptive interface


A current system allows data-driven hypothesis generation to identify therapeutic candidates for a disease phenotype treatment by identifying drugs and clinical indications associated with lower occurrences of disease-associated phenotype(s) by a drug/drug class. A current system may include a pharmaceutical hierarchical ontology; a phenotype hierarchical ontology; a record database comprising clinical event records; a database mining engine; and a mapping engine. The database mining engine may iteratively progress through a portion of the pharmacological hierarchical ontology and phenotype hierarchical ontology to iteratively select pairs of cohort entries from each ontology; and for each pair of cohort entries, query the clinical record database for matching records. The mapping engine may map each pair of cohort entries into a matrix comprising a drug-event cell for each pair and apply a value thereto representing the number of database records matching items returned by the database mining engine for the corresponding cohort entries.

Pharmacovigilance involves the collection, detection, assessment, monitoring, and prevention of adverse events with pharmaceuticals. The Mayo Clinic reports that up to 70 percent of Americans take prescription drugs, more than half take two prescription drugs, and up to 20 percent of patients take five or more. Polypharmacy plays a central therapeutic role in the treatment of complex, multifactorial disorders but also exposes patients to elevated risks of drug-drug interactions ("DDIs"). Nearly a million injuries or deaths are attributed to adverse events, 30% of which are DDI-related. Novel drug-associated adverse effects may be evident post-approval, leading to patient safety concerns and possibly withdrawal of drugs by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA"). For instance, troglitazone with withdrawn in 2000 due to increased risk of hepatotoxicity, while cerivastatin was withdrawn in 2001 due to increased risk of rhabdomyolysis. These effects may be missed during clinical trials, which stress the importance of post-approval pharmacovigilance. Concomitant drugs may also be inadvertently introduced to patient-drug regimen in response to multiple clinical indications, thereby exacerbating the risk of DDI-associated adverse events. This may occur more often when a patient sees multiple clinicians. Pharmacologic adverse events, therefore, provide a strong incentive for reporting clinical indications, drug exposures, and both short and long-term clinical outcomes.
The FDA and the World Health Organization ("WHO") are two exemplary institutions worldwide that pursue pharmacovigilance and monitor safety standards of approved drugs on the market. The FDA maintains the Adverse Events Reporting System ("FAERS"), which stores manually-reviewed adverse event reports received by the FDA from healthcare professionals, manufacturers, and consumers from the United States and around the world. Each patient report contains one or more demographic details such as age and gender, clinical indications, drugs, adverse events, and outcomes. These reports are made available with the principal goal of identifying of latent risks of approved therapeutics and their combinations. The spontaneous nature of FAERS suggests a likelihood of data redundancies and duplications; however, with a combination of prudent data-cleaning mechanisms, duplication removal, and adoption of variety of data-driven approaches, the FAERS data has shown significant phenome-pharmacome associations capable of generating testable hypotheses.
Existing FAERS-mining web-data resources such as the Drugcite service, the AdverseEvents service, the FDAble service, and the OpenVigil service use standard pharmacovigilance approaches to highlight drug-adverse event associations and are limited to basic queries. Several services make use of a proportional reporting ratio, which is a measure of the frequency with which a particular adverse event is reported for a drug of interest versus the frequency with which the same adverse event is reported for drugs in a comparison group (which may comprise a second particular drug, a class of drugs, etc.). The AERS Spider service provides interactive exploration of drug-adverse event relationships by removing disproportionately distributed mask factors, since the use of a proportional reporting ratio without accounting for these mask factors may lead to inaccurate inferences about drug-adverse event relationships. However, these resources do not provide the capability of ontological aggregations and high-dimensional cohort-based analyses to identify potential risk-augmenting drug interactions in population subgroups. In comparison, AERSMine aggregates FAERS data into mineable matrices from mutually exclusive sets and allows for exploratory and investigative analyses to generate testable hypotheses. Further, AERSMine, unlike other available resources, allows one to conduct large-scale, population subgroup-specific studies across multiple treatments and indication cohorts, to recognize inter-correlations, and to make cross-comparisons for better understandings of therapeutic toxicities associated with pharmacological agents. AERSMine-facilitated hypotheses and safety signals can be further reviewed by consortia such as SONAR, and enable additional AE-specific investigations. Reporting back such findings to the FDA can initiate the process of more closer and systematic scrutiny of drug-related novel AEs, ultimately warranting changes in the drug labels. For instance, safety concerns identified and reported to the FDA by SONAR (such as (a) Reye's syndrome for acetylsalicylic acid; (b) pure red cell aplasia for erythropoietin; and (c) nephrogenic systemic fibrosis for gadodiamide) are accurately detected via AERSMine. The complementary nature of AERSMine and SONAR, and the importance of SONAR clinical review, will be valuable for pharmacovigilance.

System and method for data mining very large drugs and clinical effects databases


A support device is provided that can attach to or be integrated with a baby stroller, that combines a mirror, a charging apparatus, an electronic device support and a remote control system in a manner that allows simultaneous charging of the electronic device, accessing of electronic device content and two way interaction between the user and the baby seated in the forward facing stroller.

The present invention relates generally to an accessory or a modular attachment for use with a baby stroller. More specifically, the present invention relates to an accessory or a modular attachment for a stroller that includes a mirror, an electronic device mount, a charging station and optionally a remote control interface for the electronic device that allows improved interaction between the baby in the stroller, the adult operating the stroller and the electronic device.
Over recent years there has been an upsurge in electronic mobile device usage worldwide. Electronic mobile devices, including cell phones, tablets, electronic readers, and the like are capable of wirelessly displaying text, audio, and video. When using an electronic device, a user is normally required to hold the device in his or her hands which can pose problems if the user is engaged in another activity. Alternatively, the user may place the electronic mobile device on a table, countertop, or another location which may not be suitable for displaying and holding the electronic mobile device at an appropriate angle for viewing.
Further, individuals are often forced to look down at their electronic devices when reading, playing games, and the like thereon. This can cause neck and back pain and can become very uncomfortable after prolonged periods of use. Still further, individuals are required to utilize both hands in order to hold the device and use it at the same time. The device can slip from one's hand and fall on the ground causing damage to the screen and other areas. Accordingly, there exists a need for an electronic device holder that allows a user to remain handsfree while having easy access to their device when needed.
Devices have been disclosed that relate to adjustable electronic device holders. One example is a flexible support apparatus having removable clips adapted to secure the electronics thereon. The apparatus consists of a series of ball and socket connectors interconnected into a flexible chain having the removable clips disposed at one or both ends of the chain. The apparatus is adapted to wrap around and grip an element, such as a pole, while supporting a device such as a camera, flash unit, cell phone, or other item. This arrangement is inconvenient because single arm and socket connectors limit the versatility and usage of the device.
There are also hands-free electronic device holders for holding handheld electronic devices. The hands-free device holder has a flexible adjustable gooseneck and a pocket member that secures to the backside of the handheld electronic device. The pocket member is impractical based on the orientation limitation that is required to secure the mobile electronic device therein. Similar universal mounting assemblies have been devised for quick mounting an object to a stand device. The device comprises a body having a support surface, a front face and an opposed mounting surface configured to mount to the support stand. The universal mounting assembly lacks a flexible arm that can selectively position the attached electronic mobile device.
Most of the known prior art devices have several drawbacks. The devices in the prior art generally relate to adjustable electronic device holders adapted to secure an electronic device therein. However, the devices in the prior art are not adapted to wrap around and grip a fixed object at a first end and a clamp mechanism adapted to secure a mobile electronic device at a second end. Further, the devices fail to provide a clamp mechanism for securing the mobile electronic device and, as a result, are not well suited for enabling a user to operate a mobile electronic device such as a cell phone, tablet, or electronic reader, hands free.
Additional disadvantages include being difficult to use, being unduly complex, being expensive, being limited in motion, being limited in adjustability, being too bulky, being difficult to set up, being cumbersome to use, being limited in use, and failing to couple to other objects/surfaces.
There is, therefore, a need for a unique support device that can attach to or be integrated with a baby stroller, that combines a mirror, a charging apparatus, an electronic device support and a remote control system in a manner that allows simultaneous charging of the electronic device, accessing of electronic device content and two way interaction between the user and the baby seated in the forward facing stroller.


A composite material for the production of a medical device having an antiseptic action includes a matrix of alginate in which the complex of iodopovidone is dispersed. The composite material is used particularly for the production of films, micro-capsules, and suture threads with iodine controlled release.

The present invention relates to a new antiseptic and biodegradable composite material, comprising the complex of povidone-iodine or iodopovidone (hereinbelow, PVPI) and alginate, and to medical devices produced with the use of the above-mentioned composite material.
The povidone-iodine complex is a water-soluble complex of iodine and polyvinylpyrrolidone widely used for its bactericide and fungicide properties. PVPI is known for its iodophor properties, i.e., as a substance acting as a vehicle or solubilizer for iodine and which is able to release into solution small amounts of free iodine, minimizing the toxicity thereof and preserving the moderate germicide activity of that element.
The most common form of the PVPI complex is its aqueous solution containing from 9% to 12% of available iodine (calculated on the anhydrous basis); aqueous solutions of PVPI are directly applied to open wounds or infected regions, a method commonly known as wound irrigation. While the low release of iodine from the PVPI complex into solution minimizes the toxicity of iodine for mammal cells, its quick absorption by open wounds during irrigation may cause severe toxicity problems, thus limiting the surgical applications thereof, particularly for repeated applications.
Besides its wide use as a skin antiseptic, PVPI is also used internally, for example on burns, large wounds, deep tissues, or mucosae.
In the dressing field, products for wound dressings are particularly available, using PVPI as an active ingredient in combination with polymeric substances, such as, for example, polyethylene glycol (PEG), such as, particularly the commercial product "INADINE" by Johnson & Johnson.
However, PEG has the drawback to be a synthetic, non-biodegradable polymer.

Polymeric composite materials with antimicrobial and biodegradable properties and uses thereof

FONDAZIONE ISTITUTO ITALIANO DI TECNOLOGIA


A truck transmission jack includes a wheeled base to allow the jack to be moved in position below a transmission, gear box, or the like. A cradle is supported upon the wheeled base for engaging and supporting the underside of a transmission or gear box. The cradle is supported by three support arms, each being pivotally coupled to the wheeled base at one end of each support arm and pivotally coupled to the cradle at the opposing end of each support arm. All of the support arms are parallel to one another for maintaining the cradle in a relatively horizontal position as the support arms pivot. Two of the support arms are elevating arms having coaxial pivot points and extend from opposing sides of the wheeled base. A hydraulic jack rests upon the wheeled base between the elevating arms and includes a piston rod extendable upwardly for raising a yoke that is pivotally coupled to the elevating arms in order to raise the cradle. Adjustable support bars are provided at each end of the cradle to match the contour of the transmission being supported. A sliding support bar and associated collar are releasably clamped to a side of the cradle to position a locator bolt at a desired location.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to apparatus for lifting and supporting truck transmissions, gear boxes, and differentials during servicing and repairs, and more particularly, to a truck transmission jack with improved safety and maneuverability.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
Truck transmissions, gear boxes, and differential gear assemblies routinely require servicing. In most cases, such servicing is most efficiently performed by removing the transmission, gear box, or the like, from the truck. Such components typically weigh from 350 to 800 pounds on large trucks, and service personnel require the assistance of a jack to support, lower, and raise, such components in order to remove such components from the truck, and to reinstall such components upon the truck.
Some transmission jacks that are already available are incapable of assuming a low profile near the ground even when collapsed. Such jacks are sometimes difficult to use because they are not easily positioned below the truck, particularly for trucks having low ground clearance. In such cases, the mechanic may actually need to elevate the truck in order to create sufficient ground clearance to insert the jack in position below the truck.
Other transmission jacks that are known may be configured in a relatively compact profile when collapsed, but are incapable of being raised very far off the ground. Such jacks may not have sufficient height to reach the transmission, gear box, or other component to be removed, at least not without inserting wood blocks or other spacers atop the jack and below the component to be removed. However, the need to insert such spacers poses an inconvenience, as well as a safety risk if such spacers shift out of position.
Moreover, many transmission jacks which have been made commercially available, and which have sufficient range of elevation, often become unbalanced and/or unstable when the load is supported at an elevated position. In particular, the load may be supported too close to one end of the jack and tip the jack over or, alternatively, the load may twist or rotate while in an elevated position, potentially causing physical injury to the repairman and further damage to the removed component.
Other transmission jacks which are known to the present applicant typically include hydraulic lifting mechanisms which are built into the transmission jack, often extending horizontally in order to lower the profile of the apparatus. If the hydraulic lifting mechanism fails and can not be repaired, the user must go to the expense of replacing the entire truck transmission jack. Moreover, positioning the hydraulic cylinder horizontally accelerates leakage of hydraulic fluid out of the hydraulic lifting mechanism.
Yet another problem with existing truck transmission jacks is that truck transmissions and gear boxes come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, yet many existing truck transmission jacks are not easily adjusted to properly support the load in accordance with the particular contour of a specific truck transmission.
Various forms of mobile lifting jacks have been described in previously issued patents. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,621,891 to Marsh, a mobile jack unit is described including a wheeled base, a scissors jack controlled by a threaded draw screw, and a platform for raising and lowering a rear axle differential housing or other load.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,838,278 to Johnsen discloses a transmission jack and a clamping assembly for use therewith in order to adjust for different sizes and makes of transmission housings.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,940,611 to Burch, an automobile transmission dolly is described for handling truck transmissions. The dolly includes a wheeled base, a pair of lifting arms, a vertical lifting jack for raising the lifting arms, a cradle support, and a cradle for receiving a transmission; a further jacking device is provided for moving the cradle upon the cradle support. The upper end of the vertical jack is coupled to a bridge which is, in turn, coupled to the lifting arms for transmitting a lifting force thereto.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,938,635 to Dyer discloses a wheeled floor jack for removing engines from vehicles. The jack is raised and lowered by operating a handwheel for turning a rotatable screw.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,109,626 to Arnes et al., a truck transmission jack is described including a tubular base supported by casters. A lifting platform is carried by a pair of lifting beams and a pair of parallel links. A lifting screw is mounted to the base and passes through a nut carried by the lifting beams. A handwheel is operated by the user to turn the lifting screw in order to raise and lower the lifting platform. The lack of hydraulics, and the necessity for turning a handwheel mounted well above the ground make operation of such a device difficult.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,136,526 to Wolf discloses one example of a prior art hydraulic jack mechanism for use under a vehicle to remove transmissions and the like. The Wolf apparatus uses two pairs of support arms which generally extend parallel to one another. However, the apparatus disclosed by Wolf positions the hydraulic piston horizontally; while helping to minimize the profile of the jack when collapsed, the horizontally extending piston and cylinder promote hydraulic fluid leakage. In addition, the Wolf hydraulic ram must be attached at both of its ends to the lifting assembly, making replacement of the hydraulic ram inconvenient. While a handle is provided at one end of the jack assembly, the handle obstructs access to the pump lever of the hydraulic ram. Moreover, the relatively flat, planar platform provided by Wolf to support the transmission is not easily adjusted to support a wide variety of transmissions and other components.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,559,981 issued to Abshear, an apparatus is shown for removing differentials from vehicles. The apparatus is supported upon a conventional wheeled floor jack.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,958,793 to Garate also discloses a transmission jack for raising and lowering transmissions and the like. A ratchet mechanism prevents the jack from lowering completely to the ground in the event of an inadvertent release of hydraulic pressure. The hydraulic ram is again mounted horizontally, accelerating leakage of hydraulic fluid. In addition, the hydraulic ram requires a mounting block and mounting bolts for being secured horizontally within the apparatus, making replacement of the hydraulic ram more difficult. Like the Wolf jack assembly, the Garate device is provided with a handle at one end of the jack assembly which generally obstructs access to the pump lever of the hydraulic ram. Further, the Garate device uses a pair of chains below the transmission to form a cradle, and a chain which extends over and around the top of the transmission in order to support the transmission, rather than providing rigid supports for positively supporting the underside of the transmission.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,269,394 issued to Gray also discloses a truck transmission jack assembly. Once again, the hydraulic cylinder disclosed by Gray extends horizontally, rather than vertically, and the hydraulic cylinder must be attached to the lifting linkage. No handles are provided as would assist the user in properly positioning the jack assembly below the truck.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,570,905 to Gerstner, a floor jack assembly for removing auto differentials is disclosed wherein a conventional wheeled floor jack is provided with a platform for supporting differentials. The platform includes a flange which supports a pair of arms each provided with a post adapted to be inserted through a bolt-receiving opening of a differential housing.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,899,985 to Good discloses a castered low profile lift device incorporating a hydraulic bottle jack for raising and lowering a lift head. However, the lift head is raised and lowered by a single lift arm which is subject to lateral sway, as well as tilting at higher elevations.
While many of the jacking devices described above employ pivoting parallelogram structures to maintain the lifting cradle relatively horizontal, the parallel arms which form the parallelogram are typically positioned closely adjacent to one another. Indeed, in many cases, both of the arms forming the parallelogram are pivotally secured to the base at pivot points that are closely adjacent to one end of the base. As the load is raised, the center of gravity of the combined jack and load comes dangerously close to one end of the base. The present applicant has found that greater stability is achieved when the arms forming the pivoting parallelogram are spaced further apart from one another.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a truck transmission jack which is capable of assuming a relatively low profile near the ground when collapsed while being capable of being elevated to an extended height without becoming unbalanced or unstable.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a truck transmission jack which allows a user to safely and easily support truck transmissions, gear boxes, and the like, without fear that the supported component will twist, rotate, and/or fall off of the jack and injure the user.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide such a truck transmission jack that is adapted to use a lifting mechanism for raising and lowering the supporting cradle of the jack, wherein the lifting mechanism is easily replaceable at relatively little cost in the event that the hydraulic lifting mechanism should fail.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide such a truck transmission jack which is easily adjusted to fit and safely support the contour of a wide variety truck transmissions, gear boxes, and the like.
A further object of the present invention is to provide such a transmission jack which is capable of supporting and maintaining the load in an elevated position for servicing without maintaining pressure upon the hydraulic lifting system of the jack.
A yet further object of the present invention is to provide such a transmission jack wherein the supporting arms that support the lifting cradle are spaced sufficiently far apart from one another to evenly distribute the weight of the load across the base and to provide a stable support for the lifting cradle.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide such a truck transmission jack which is strong, sturdy, safe, easily operated, and inexpensive to manufacture.
These and other objects of the present invention will become more apparent to those of skill in the art as the description of the present invention proceeds.


A computing device includes a first motherboard and a second motherboard perpendicularly attached to the first motherboard. The first motherboard includes a first CPU module and a plurality of first peripheral component interconnect (PCI) sockets. The second motherboard includes a second CPU module and a plurality of second PCI sockets. The plurality of first PCI sockets is located perpendicularly to both motherboards. The plurality of second PCI sockets includes at least one PCI socket that is obliquely oriented relative to the first motherboard.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a computing device with one or more motherboards.
2. Description of Related Art
To enhance the performance of a computing device, the computing device requires to use dual central processing units (CPUs). The dual CPUs can deal with multiple applications simultaneously at a quicker rate. However, computing devices typically do not have space for installing more than one motherboard. The dual CPUs take too much space on the motherboard, the motherboard has to be sized larger, and the layout of the motherboard becomes more complicated. Further, the dual CPUs always be working together even if only one of them is needed.
Therefore, there is room for improvement within the art.

Computing device with independent dual CPUs

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


A heat release device is for use with a multilayer board that has an inner layer serving as a power layer. The heat release device includes a heat release member thermally and electrically connected to the power layer, and a heat release board having a heat release layer and a shield layer electrically insulated from each other. The heat release layer is thermally and electrically connected to the heat release member. The shield layer serves to shield against electromagnetic noise radiated from the heat release layer. The shield layer is electrically insulated from the heat release member connected to the heat release layer. The heat release device also includes an electrically conductive member electrically connected to the shield layer and grounded, and an insulator through which the heat release layer is thermally connected to the electrically conductive member.

The present invention relates to a heat release device for use with a printed circuit board on which electrical components are mounted.
There are known various methods for release of heat generated in a printed circuit board on which electric components are mounted. In one example disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-172459, a multilayer printed circuit board or multilayer board having upper, inner and lower conductive layers is housed in a closed casing. Holes are formed through the multilayer board at a position where an electric component is mounted on the board so that the heat generated in the electric component is transferred from the upper conductive layer through the holes to the inner and lower conductive layers of the board. The upper, inner and lower conductive layers of the board are thermally connected to a heat conductive terminal through which the heat is released out of the casing into the surrounding air.
In another example disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2010-103371, a printed circuit board having thereon a heat generating component is housed in a casing. Heat is transferred from the heat generating component to the printed circuit board and then released to the casing through a press fit component that is press fit in the printed circuit board and also in contact with the casing.
There is known a multilayer printed circuit board the inner layer of which serves as a power layer. In such multilayer board, when a large current flows from the power layer to the electric component, for example, for driving an electric motor of a compressor, heat is generated in the power layer. Such heat is difficult to be released because the power layer is the inner layer of the multilayer board. If the heat has any influence on the operation of the electric component, the heat needs to be released out of the multilayer board.
Release of the heat generated in the power layer may be accomplished, for example, by combining two methods disclosed in the above-cited publications No. 2004-172459 and No. 2010-103371. Specifically, electrically connecting the power layer to the heat conductive terminal or to the press fit component provides efficient heat transfer and hence efficient heat release.
In such method, however, electromagnetic noise possibly affecting the operation of the electric component may be emitted from the heat conductive terminal or the press fit component electrically connected to the power layer.
The present invention is directed to providing a heat release device that allows release of the heat generated in the power layer of the multilayer board and also allows shielding the multilayer board against the electromagnetic noise occurring due to the heat release.


An elevator system includes a hoistway having a plurality of hoistway doors. An elevator car and counterweight are provided in the hoistway. A drive motor is drivingly coupled to the elevator car and counterweight, and is located adjacent to either the top or bottom portion of a hoistway door so as to eliminate the need to provide a machine room above the hoistway ceiling.

Considerable expense is involved in the construction of a machine room for an elevator. The expense includes the cost of constructing the machine room, the structure required to support the weight of the machine room and elevator equipment, and the cost of shading adjacent properties from sunlight (e.g., sunshine laws in Japan and elsewhere).
Elevator systems have been developed to avoid the expense of a machine room. These elevator systems are difficult to install and maintain because hoistway access can be difficult or dangerous especially to maintenance people while working in the hoistway on machinery that controls elevator motion.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an elevator system without a machine room which avoids the above-mentioned drawbacks associated with prior elevator systems.

Elevator system having drive motor located adjacent to hoistway door


A method of providing random number streams to a process includes determining two or more program contexts within a process. Each of the program contexts may include code that calls for one or more random numbers. For each of at least two of the program contexts, a random number stream is provided to the process. The random number stream for each program context is based on the determined program context and is distinct from the random number stream for the other program contexts in the process.

1. Field
This disclosure is generally related to parallel computing applications, simulation codes and protocols that use pseudorandom numbers and more specifically to algorithms and methods to generate pseudorandom numbers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many important scientific computing applications, business and finance applications, and complex systems modeling and analysis techniques use pseudorandom number generators ("RNGs"). These applications may take advantage of the availability of thousands of computing cores on heterogeneous systems comprising multi-core processors ("CPUs") and highly parallel general purpose graphics processing units ("GPUs"), provided that suitable parallel pseudorandom number generators ("PRNGs") are available to simultaneously feed thousands of computing streams with high quality random number ("RN") streams with low intra- and inter-stream correlations (inter-stream correlations may be referred to herein as "ISCs").
A parallel or distributed application has the computational task that may be divided into several thousands or millions of subtasks, with each subtask executed by a separate thread or process (henceforth, process). Each process has distinct ID that is usually logically numbered within the context of the application execution.
For an iterative parallel application, each process may execute some of the iterations. For example, for a large lattice structure simulation, each process may simulate the working of a few of the lattice points. Therefore, processes often cycle through computing and communication mode. In the computing mode, a process may use the available data to perform new calculations needed to make progress toward the solution. In the communication mode, a process may send its data or receive other process' data.
It is common to use the single-program multiple data (SPMD) programming method to code parallel applications, in which each of the processes receives the same computer code but has explicit instructions that specify based on the process's ID its portion of the task.
If an SPMD-based parallel application code that uses random numbers is executed, all or some of the processes (spawned for the execution of the application code) request random numbers from the same program locations or contexts.
In some applications, all required processes may be spawned statically at the start of the code execution. In other applications, some of the processes are spawned initially and any additional processes are spawned dynamically by the existing processes based on the application data and the coded algorithm or model. In highly complex simulation codes, the initial processes may need to spawn additional processes, dynamically, during the execution. However, with SPMD programming method, all processes use the same application code with the task for each process specified by conditional statements based on the data and the process ID.
In some systems, to distinguish requests for random numbers from different processes, an application is coded such that each process uses a RN stream identifier to explicitly identify a distinct stream allocated to it. The stream allocated to a process may be initialized by a special function call prior to generating or using any RNs from that stream.
A large application code that uses RNs may be executed by dividing the computing task among multiple processes. Typically, each process is allocated at least one distinct RN stream to provide the RNs needed during its computations. To improve randomness and to improve the reproducibility of results, an application may be coded such that each portion of computing workload, for example, each small subset of the iterations of a large iterative code, may be assigned a distinct RN stream identifier so that each workload may use a distinct RN stream for the necessary RNs in its execution. In such cases, especially for efficiency reasons, each process may be assigned one or more of the computing workloads, and thus, one or more of the distinct RN stream identifiers. It is computationally inefficient, hard to reproduce results, or both to code an application so that an RN stream is shared by multiple processes.
The RN streams to processes may be allocated based on the input data and/or computations allocated to them. For example, if a computational loop is partitioned cyclically among p processes, then iteration i may be executed by process i % p; if each iteration is to use a separate RN stream, then the number of iterations is smaller than the maximum of RN streams and it may be natural to allocate RN streams i,i+p, . . . from the set of all RN streams to process i.
One way to ensure that distinct RN streams are used is to allocate distinct RN stream identifiers and to use a PRNG that ensures that distinct RN stream identifiers result in initialization of distinct RN streams, which for a well-designed PRNG, may have low or undetectable—based on the currently available statistical and other tests—interstream correlations.
If the application requires each process or computational workload to request random numbers from multiple program locations or contexts, then there may be two options. One option is to use the same RN stream for all contexts within a process. The same contexts in two different processes will still use distinct RN streams provided distinct stream identifiers are allocated and initialized for different processes.
A second option is to use multiple distinct streams for multiple contexts in each process, potentially one distinct RN stream for each distinct program context. This second option may be desirable for better randomness properties. In such a case, the application code is explicitly written to manage these multiple streams. If the number of distinct streams needed for an application is not known in advance, the maximum number of streams needed per process is estimated and the same are allocated to each process.
If the estimation is too small, then a program error is generated and execution is halted. In this case, the user needs to revise the estimate for the number of streams needed and resubmit the application for execution.
If the estimation is too large, then the program may run out of distinct RN streams for processes spawned after some point. This is especially true for parallel applications that are tuned and run on large clusters of computers with a large number of processes are run on even larger clusters of computers with even more processes, by a simple change in compile-time or runtime options without application recoding, to take advantage of the additional performance offered by the larger hardware.
To further control the generation of RN streams, an application may provide a single-seed value, typically by a designated master process (usually process 0) to a PRNG. The single-seed value is typically a 32- or 64-bit number, often an integer, specified by the user as part of the application's input data. By keeping all other input data the same and changing only the seed value, the user can run multiple instances of the same scenario, average the results and obtain potential simulation error estimations (also called, confidence intervals in statistics).
The quality of the random numbers used may be crucial for quick and accurate solutions to simulation-based computer solutions and for robust security protocols and security keys used in security protocols. It may be desirable to use distinct parallel RN streams if an application code calls for RNs from multiple distinct locations so that, within a process, multiple calls for RNs from the same location (also called, program context) are satisfied by providing RNs from a specific stream, while the calls for RNs from different locations of the program within the same computing iteration will be satisfied by providing RNs from different streams. Distinct RN streams across different processes may be ensured by the use of distinct RN stream identifiers to initialize the RN streams. To use distinct RN streams for distinct contexts within a process or computational workload, the application has to be coded specifically to use distinct RN stream identifiers for each such program context. Such an approach may, however, provide an unreasonable burden on the application designer and make revisions to application code, which may change the number of program contexts from which RNs are requested, cumbersome and potentially error-prone.
In some parameterized PRNGs, each process is given one RN stream with appropriately parameterized seed or iteration function. Two main approaches to design PRNGs are (a) splitting a sequential RN stream into multiple substreams, with each substream treated as a distinct RN stream for application execution purposes, and (b) parameterization of the initialization (seed) state of an RNG with multiple random number cycles or the parameterization of the iteration function of the initialization of an RNG. The leap-frog technique which splits a sequential RN stream in an interleaved manner—if a sequential stream consisting of x1, x2, x3, . . . needs to be split into k streams, then stream i consists of RNs xi, xk+i, x2k+i, . . . , 1≦i≦k—received extensive attention. But it is inherently not scalable owing to initialization cost—a large multiple of k RNs must be generated first to initialize each processor/process—and potentially increased intra-stream correlations.
The Mersenne twister (MT) is a variant of feedback shift register-based random number generator. The original generator MT19937, which generates a single RN stream with a very long cycle of length 219937 (that is, the sequence of RNs repeats after generating this many RNs), is very popular and is widely implemented in various software packages (including Gnu Scientific Library, gsl package). SFMT19937, a parallel 128-bit version, and MTGP, a GPU version as part of NVIDIA CUDA library, are also available. Using MT to generate multiple parallel RN streams often requires splitting its sequential RN stream. This is largely an ad hoc process since the maximum number of RNs needed in each segment needs to be estimated. This also may compromise the randomness quality since segmenting the stream and using the segments changes the correlations among the RNs used. Direct parallelization by changing the parameters of MT is computationally expensive and may not be suitable for dynamic generation of random number streams in a high-performance simulation code.

Generation of distinct pseudorandom number streams based on program context

Board of Regents of the University of Texas System