An organic light emitting display device capable of displaying an image of uniform brightness. A scan driver drives scan lines and light emitting control lines that are formed parallel to each other. A data driver drives data lines formed at a direction intersecting the scan lines and the light emitting control lines, and pixels are disposed to be coupled with the scan lines, the light emitting control lines, and the data lines. An auxiliary line is formed parallel to the data lines. One side of the auxiliary line is coupled with a reference power supply and another side of the auxiliary line is coupled with a current source. Connectors are disposed at crossing areas of the auxiliary line and the scan lines. A voltage transfer unit is coupled with the connectors and transfers a voltage supplied to the connectors to the data driver.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic light emitting display, and more particularly to an organic light emitting display that can display an image of uniform brightness.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Recently, various flat panel display devices have been developed to substitute for a cathode ray tube (CRT) display because the CRT display is relatively heavy and bulky. Flat panel display devices include liquid crystal displays (LCDs), field emission displays (FEDs), plasma display panels (PDPs), organic light emitting display devices, etc.
An organic light emitting display device is a flat display device that displays an image using an organic light emitting diode that generates light by the recombination of electrons and holes. Such an organic light emitting display device has advantages in that it has a high response speed, and operates with a low power consumption.
FIG. 1 is a view showing a conventional organic light emitting display device. With reference to FIG. 1, the conventional organic light emitting display device includes a display region 30, a scan driver 10, a data driver 20, and a timing controller 50. The display region 30 includes a plurality of pixels 40 coupled with scan lines S1 to Sn and data lines D1 to Dm. The scan driver 10 drives the scan lines S1 to Sn. The data driver 20 drives the data lines D1 to Dm. The timing controller 50 controls the scan driver 10 and the data driver 20.
The timing controller 50 generates a data drive control signal DCS and a scan drive control signal SCS according to externally supplied synchronous signals. The data drive control signal DCS generated by the timing controller 50 is provided to the data driver 20, and the scan drive control signal SCS is provided to the scan driver 10. Furthermore, the timing controller 50 provides externally supplied data Data to the data driver 20.
The scan driver 10 receives the scan drive control signal SCS from the timing controller 50. Upon the receipt of the scan drive control signal SCS, the scan driver generates a scan signal, and sequentially provides the generated scan signal to the scan lines S1 to Sn.
The data driver 20 receives the data drive control signal DCS from the timing controller 50. Upon the receipt of the data drive control signal DCS, the data driver 20 generates a data signal (predetermined voltage), and provides the generated data signal to the data lines D1 to Dm in synchronization with the scan signal.
The display region 30 receives a first power of a first power supply ELVDD and a second power of a second power supply ELVSS from an exterior, and provides them to respective pixels 40. Upon the receipt of the first power of the first power supply ELVDD and the second power of the second power supply ELVSS, each of the pixels 40 controls an amount of current flowing into the second power supply ELVSS from the first power supply ELVDD through an organic light emitting diode corresponding to the data signal, thus generating light corresponding to the data signal.
That is, in the conventional organic light emitting display device, each of the pixels 40 generates light of a predetermined luminance corresponding to the data signal. However, due to non-uniformity of threshold voltages and a deviation of electron mobility of transistors included in each pixel 40, the conventional organic light emitting display device has a problem in that it cannot display an image of a desired (or uniform) luminance. In practice, threshold voltages of transistors included in each of the pixels 40 can be compensated to some degree by controlling a construction of pixel circuits included in the pixels 40, but a deviation of electron mobility cannot be compensated. In order to solve the problem, an electric current (instead of a voltage) can be supplied as a data signal. In practice, when the electric current is supplied as the data signal, although the transistors have non-uniform voltage-current characteristics, the organic light emitting display device can display a uniform image at the display region 30.
However, because the current supplied as the data signal is a minute current, it takes a long time to charge a data line. For example, assuming that a load capacitance of the data line is 30 pF, a time of several ms is required to charge a load of the data line by a data signal ranging from several tens nA to several hundreds nA. Upon considering one (1) horizontal period of several tens μs, a charge time of several ms may be too long. Therefore, an organic light emitting display device capable of displaying uniform brightness with a fast response time is still required.


The present invention provides an improved process for making rare earth doped preforms and fibers by a combination of MCVD technique and solution doping method, said method comprising developing matched or depressed clad structure inside a silica glass substrate tube followed by deposition of unsintered particulate layer containing GeO2 and P2O5 for formation of the core and solution doping by soaking the porous soot layer into an alcoholic/aqueous solution of RE-salts containing co-dopants like AlCl3/Al(NO3)3 in definite proportion, controlling the porosity of the soot, dipping period, strength of the solution and the proportion of the codopants to achieve the desired RE ion concentration in the core and minimize the core clad boundary defects and followed by drying, oxidation, dehydration and sintering of the RE containing porous deposit and collapsing at a high temperature to produce the preform and overcladding with silica tubes of suitable dimensions and fiber drawing to produce fibers.

Not applicable.
Not applicable.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a Process for Making Rare Earth Doped Optical Fiber.
2. Description of the Related Art
Rare-earth (RE) doped optical fibers have shown great potential for a number of applications including amplifiers, fiber lasers and sensors. Oxides of rare earths are doped into the core of such fibers as the active substance. Lasing and amplification have been demonstrated at several wavelengths with the incorporation of various rare-earths but for telecommunication applications erbium doped fiber (EDF) remains the most important since the operating wavelength matches with the third low loss optical window.
Erbium doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) operating around 1.53 xcexcm low loss window is playing the key role in the present day high capacity communication systems. It is able to amplify the optical signal directly independent of modulation format. Optoelectronic repeaters so long used in these systems were 3R devices with the limitations of amplifying the signal in discrete wavelengths. EDFA has the capability to amplify simultaneous optical channels in a single fiber, which has enabled the implementation of WDM (wavelength division multiplexing) technology with the potential of increasing the bandwidth of long distance transmission systems from Gb/s to Tb/s ranges. It thus exhibits high gain, large bandwidth, low noise, polarization insensitive gain, substantially reduced cross talk problems and low insertion losses at the operating wavelengths. The success of future high capacity optical networking and transmission systems will depend significantly on the development of efficient EDFA.
Reference may be made to Townsend J. E., Poole S. B., and Payne D. N., Electronics Letters, Vol. 23 (1987) p-329, xe2x80x98Solution-doping technique for fabrication of rare-earth-doped optical fiberxe2x80x99 wherein, the MCVD process is used to fabricate the preform with a step index profile and desired core-clad structure while solution doping is adopted for incorporation of the active ion. The steps involved in the process are as follows:
i. A conventional cladding doped with P2O5 and F is deposited within a high silica glass substrate tube to develop matched clad or depressed clad type structure.
ii. The core layers of predetermined composition containing index-raising dopant like GeO2 are deposited at a lower temperature to form unsintered porous soot.
iii. The tube with the deposit is immersed into an aqueous solution of the dopant precursor (typical concentration 0.1 M) up to 1 hour. Any soluble form of the dopant ion is suitable for preparation of the solution although rare earth halides have been mostly used.
iv. Following immersion, the tube is rinsed with acetone and remounted on lathe.
v. The core layer containing the RE is dehydrated and sintered to produce a clear glassy layer. Dehydration is carried out a temperature of 600xc2x0 C. by using chlorine. The level of OHxe2x88x92 is reduced below 1 ppm using Cl2/O2 ratio of 5:2 provided the drying time exceeds 30 min.
vi. Collapsing in the usual manner to produce a solid glass rod called preform.
vii. Fiber drawing is conventional.
Reference may also be made to DiGiovanni D. J., SPIE Vol. 1373 (1990) p-2 xe2x80x9cFabrication of rare-earth-doped optical fiberxe2x80x99 wherein the substrate tube with the porous core layer is soaked in an aqueous or alcoholic solution containing a nitrate or chloride of the desired RE ion. The tube is drained, dried and remounted on lathe. The dehydration is carried out by flowing dry chlorine through the tube at about 900xc2x0 C. for an hour. After dehydration, the layer is sintered and the tube is collapsed to be drawn to fiber.
Another reference may be made to Ainslie B. J., Craig S. P., Davey S. T., and Wakefield B., Material Letters, Vol. 6, (1988) p-139, xe2x80x9cThe fabrication, assessment and optical properties of high-concentration Nd3+ and Er3+ doped silica based fibersxe2x80x9d wherein optical fibers based on Al2O3xe2x80x94P2O5. xe2x80x94SiO2 host glass doped with high concentrations of Nd3+ and Er3+ have been fabricated by solution method and quantified. Following the deposition of cladding layers P2O5 doped silica soot is deposited at lower temperature. The prepared tubes are soaked in an alcoholic solution of 1M Al(NO3)3+various concentrations of ErCl3 and NdCl3 for 1 hour. The tubes are subsequently blown dry and collapsed to make preforms in the usual way. Al is said to be a key component in producing high RE concentrations in the core centre without clustering effect. It is further disclosed that Al and RE profile lock together in some way, which retards the volatility of RE ion. The dip at the core centre is observed both for P and GeO2.
Reference may also be made to U.S. Pat. No. 5,005,175 (1991) by Desuvire et al., xe2x80x98Erbium doped fiber amplifierxe2x80x9d wherein the fiber for the optical amplifier comprises a single mode fiber doped with erbium in the core having a distribution profile of the RE ion whose radius is less than 1.9 xcexcm while the radius of the mode of the pump signal exceeds 3 xcexcm. The numerical aperture (NA) of the fibers varies from 0.2 to 0.35 and the core is doped with both Al and Ge oxides to increase the efficiency. As the radius of the Er doped core region is equal to or less than the radius of the pump mode of the fiber it is claimed that each atom of erbium in the core cross section is exposed to substantially equal levels of the high intensity portion of the pump mode. The fiber with such design is reported to have increased gain and lower threshold compared to the conventional Er doped fiber amplifiers where the radius of the Er doped core is large compared to the radius of the pump mode so that the erbium atoms at the edge of the core do not see a sufficient flux of the pump photons to yield a net gain.
According to U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,581 (1996) by G. S. Roba, xe2x80x98Rare earth doped optical fiber amplifiersxe2x80x99 wherein high germania concentration in the core used to enhance the NA of the fiber is reported to result in generation of residual stress at the core-clad interface due to difference in viscosity and thermal expansion coefficient. Residual stress in turn is believed to produce undesirable increase in background loss of the fiber.
According to U.S. Pat. No. 5,778,129 (1998) by Shukunami et. al., xe2x80x98Doped optical fiber having core and clad structure are used for increasing the amplification band of an optical amplifier using the optical fiberxe2x80x99 wherein the porous core layer is deposited after developing the cladding inside a quartz tube by MCVD process and solution doping method is employed to impregnate Er as the active ion into the porous core to be followed by vitrification and collapsing for making the preform. The solution also contains compound of Al, say chlorides, for codoping of the core with Al in order to expand the amplification band. The Er and Al doped glass constitutes first region of the core. Surrounding this are the second and third regions of the core. The third region contains Ge to increase the refractive index. The second region has an impurity concentration lower than both those of first and third regions and consequently low RI also. The second region acts as a barrier to prevent diffusion of the active dopant.
Reference may also be made to U.S. Pat. No. 5,474,588 (1995) by Tanaka, D. et. al., xe2x80x98Solution doping of a silica with erbium, aluminum and phosphorus to form an optical fiberxe2x80x99 wherein a manufacturing method for Er doped silica is described in which silica glass soot is deposited on a seed rod (VAD apparatus) to form a porous soot preform, dipping the said preform into an ethanol solution containing an erbium compound, an aluminum compound and a phosphoric ester, and desiccating said preform to form Er, Al and P containing soot preform. The desiccation is carried out for a period of 24-240 hours at a temperature of 60xc2x0-70xc2x0 C. in an atmosphere of nitrogen gas or inert gas. This desiccated soot preform is heated and dehydrated for a period of 2.5-3.5 hours at a temperature of 950xc2x0-1050xc2x0 C. in an atmosphere of helium gas containing 0.25 to 0.35% chlorine gas and further heated for a period of 3-5 hours at a temperature of 1400xc2x0-1600xc2x0 C. to render it transparent, thereby forming an erbium doped glass preform. The segregation of AlCl3 in the preform formation process is suppressed due to the presence of phosphorus and as a result the doping concentration of Al ions can be set to a high level ( greater than 3 wt %). The dopant concentration and component ratio of Er, Al and P ions are claimed to be extremely accurate and homogeneous in the radial as well as in longitudinal directions.
A few of the drawbacks of the above mentioned processes are as follows:
1. Step like RE distribution profile is obtained in the core resulting to poor overlap between the pump signal and the RE ions which lowers the pump efficiency.
2. Step like RE distribution requires high numerical aperture (NA) of the core or confinement of the RE in the central region (say 50% of the total core area) for increase in pump efficiency which in turn leads to the following disadvantages:
i) Doping of RE only in selected portion of the core is extremely difficult and affects the repeatability of the process due to the sensitivity of the method to process parameters during various stages of processing such as deposition, solution doping, drying and sintering.
ii) Increasing the NA of the fiber with simultaneously reducing the core area requires high germania concentration in a small core which enhances the possibility of formation of the dip at the centre due to evaporation during sintering and collapsing.
iii) For preforms with high NA ( greater than 0.20) high germania concentration in the core lowers the viscosity of the glass and makes the process very sensitive to temperature especially during the stages of porous soot layer deposition and sintering.
iv) Increase in temperature sensitivity during porous soot deposition leads to variation in composition and soot density along the length of the tube.
v) High germania concentration in the core results to generation of residual stress at the core-clad interface due to difference in viscosity and thermal expansion coefficient. Residual stress produces undesirable increase in background loss of the fiber.
vi) Residual stress is believed to introduce polarization mode dispersion (PMD) which results in serious capacity impairments including pulse broadening. Since the magnitude of PMD at a given wavelength is not stable passive compensation becomes impossible.
3. Dehydration and sintering of the RE chloride containing soot layer is critical because it alters the composition by vaporization and also diffusion of the dopant salt as well as GeO2 present in the core.
The main object of the present invention is to provide a process for making Rare Earth doped optical fiber, which obviates the drawbacks as detailed above. Another object of the present invention is to provide fibers possessing controlled distribution of RE, more particularly Erbium in the doped region similar to the pump beam intensity distribution in the fiber with maximum concentration at the centre so that the overlapping between the two is considerably improved.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide fibers in which the pump beam has a radius of distribution equal to or greater than the radius of distribution of RE ions in the core to increase the chances of all the active ions getting exposed to the pump light, consequently increasing the pump conversion efficiency in the fiber.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method of controlling the Gaussian RE distribution profile along the radial direction in the core.
Still another object of the present invention is to achieve high optical gain in the fibers for NA value close to 0.20 only thus avoiding wide variation in composition between the core and cladding glass to eliminate problems like residual stress and PMD.
Yet another object of the present invention is to develop erbium doped fibers suitable for amplification of the input signal with NA and mode field diameter not widely different from signal transmitting fiber for ease of splice.
Still another object of the present invention is to reduce the possibility of change in composition of the particulate core layer due to evaporation of the RE salt during drying and sintering.
Yet another object of the present invention is to reduce the quantity of germanium halide required to achieve the desired NA in the fiber.
One more object of the present invention is to provide a process where the numerical aperture of the fiber is varied from 0.10 to 0.30 maintaining RE concentration in the core between 50 to 6000 ppm along with variation in RE distribution profile in the doped region to produce fibers suitable for application as amplifiers, fiber lasers and sensors for different purposes.
The novelty of the present invention lies in controlling the concentration profile of RE ion in the collapsed preform by minimizing evaporation of the RE salt and also preventing diffusion of the rare earth ion due to subsequent heat treatment. The optimum soot density to achieve this objective is estimated to lie between 0.3 to 0.5 after deposition. The inventive step lies in transformation of the RE salts to oxides by gradually heating the tube to a higher temperature maintaining an oxidizing atmosphere inside, thereby minimizing the possibility of evaporation of RE during subsequent processing as the oxide has a very high melting temperature compared to halide/nitrate salts. This step also helps to remove the solvent trapped within the porous layer. The inventive step also includes increasing the temperature of the RE containing porous layer gradually in steps of 50 to 200xc2x0 C. up to the sintering temperature and above for sintering and further fixing of the RE ions in their desired sites. The steps will depend on the host glass composition and Er/Al concentration of the core layer. The incorporation efficiency of the RE from the solution to the core layer thus increases appreciably making the process more efficient and economic. The RE distribution along the transverse direction in the core will depend on the density of the porous soot layer, dipping period and the processing conditions during oxidation, sintering and collapsing.
The sintering of the porous core layer in GeO2 rich atmosphere along with the addition of oxygen and helium is another inventive step of the process which reduces the quantity of GeCl4 required to achieve the desired NA and adds to the economy of the process. At temperatures between 200xc2x0 to 1400xc2x0 C. during the sintering step pure GeCl4 is supplied with the input oxygen, the quantity of which depends on the NA desired in the fiber. The sintering is continued by gradually raising the temperature till a clear glassy layer is formed.

Process for making rare earth doped optical fiber

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research


A method and apparatus for generating a NLFM signal in real time, and a computer storage medium are disclosed, including: determining a signal parameter of a signal according to a system parameter, the signal parameter includes: a signal bandwidth, a signal pulse width and a PSLR; determining a power spectrum density function according to PSLR; calculating the power spectrum density function to obtain a group delay vector; calculating a frequency axial vector according to a system sampling rate; calculating a time axial vector according to the signal pulse width; performing linear interpolation calculation on the group delay vector to obtain an instantaneous frequency vector; integrating the instantaneous frequency vector to obtain a phase vector; determining a signal time domain discrete vector; and generating a digital signal according to the signal time domain discrete vector, and performing digital-to-analog conversion on the digital signal to obtain the NLFM signal.

A Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) can observe the earth in all day-and-night, all weathers and all over the globe, and is applied widely. At present, a Linear Frequency Modulation (LFM) signal have a transmitting waveform that is most commonly used in an SAR system. For a response function generated by such a waveform via matched filtering, a Peak Side Lobe Ratio (PSLR) after normalization is −13 decibels (dBs). In order to suppress a height of a side lobe, a weighted window function, an adaptive filtering algorithm and an optimization algorithm are often used. However, these methods will make a matched filter unmatched and reduce the Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) of the output.
Compared with the LFM signal, a very small PSLR may be obtained by a pulse compression of an NLFM signal, and the SNR of the output is not reduced in this process. From relevant experiments, the NLFM signal may reduce a loss of the SNR by 1-2 dB, which means that 25% of transmitted power of an antenna is saved. For the energy starved radar system, the system performance may be improved by using the NLFM signal as the transmitting waveform.
Presently, a common technical method for producing the NLFM signal includes the following operations: a discrete value of the signal is obtained by a calculation process at ground, and then stored in a Read-Only Memory (ROM) of a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). In use, discrete data stored in the ROM is read, and subjected to digital-to-analog conversion to generate the NLFM signal. For such a method, the signal needs to be collected and stored first and then invoked and converted to generate the NLFM signal. The method is restricted by a limited storage space of the ROM. Due to the storage mode, the NLFM signal can only be used in a scientific experiment, and cannot be promoted in engineering.
Therefore, how to decrease time for generating the NLFM signal so as to generate the NLFM signal in real-time is a problem to be solved urgently at present.

Method and apparatus for generating non-linear frequency modulation signal in real time and computer storage medium

Institute of Electronics Chinese Academy of Sciences


The triazole nucleosides 1-(5'-O-sulfamoyl-.beta.-D-ribofuranosyl)[1,2,4]triazole-3-carboxamide, 1-(5'-O-sulfamoyl-.beta.-D-ribofuranosyl)[1,2,4]triazole-3-thiocarboxamide and 1-(5'-O-sulfamoyl-.beta.-D-ribofuranosyl)[1,2,4]triazole-3-carbonitrile ar e prepared and used as antiparasitic agents.

This invention is directed to triazole nucleosides and to their use as antiparasitic agent particularly the triazole nucleosides 1-(5'-0-sulfamoyl-.beta.-D-ribofuranosyl)[1,2,4]triazole-3-carboxamide, 1-(5'-0-sulfamoyl-.beta.-D-ribofuranosyl)[1,2,4]triazole-3-thiocarboxamide and 1-(5'-O-sulfamoyl-.beta.-D-ribofuranosyl)[1,2,4]triazole-3-carbonitrile.
Parasitic diseases are a scourge of essentially all higher organisms. The protozoa and other pathogens which cause these diseases are wide spread and cause much pain, suffering and economic loss world wide. Control of certain of these pathogens is difficult because of the life cycle of the parasite is divided between a vector and a further host or hosts. Invertebrates can often serve as the vector as, for instance, in the various forms of trypanosomiasis and leishmaniasis. In other of there parasitic disease, e.g. trichomoniasis, the parasite can be spread directly within a species often times between the sexes of that species and in further parasitic diseases such as giardiasis spread is from one species to a different species.
Certain nucleosides have been shown to exhibit antiparasitic properties. The first chemical synthesis of a sulfamoyl nucleoside, 5'-O-sulfamoyl adenosine, was reported by D. A. Shuman, M. J. Robins and R. K. Robins, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1969, 91, 3434 (1969). Unfortunately while 5'-sulfamoyl adenosine was active in-vitro against certain parasites, it was also found to be extremely toxic.
1-(.beta.-D-Ribofuranosyl)[1,2,4]triazole-3-carboxamide (Ribavirin), is a relatively non-toxic broad spectrum antiviral agent. It has also been shown to be a substrate for adenosine kinase in certain human cell lines in-vitro. It however does not have antiparasitic activity.


The claimed subject matter relates to a network-accessible, online data archival service with a data store for archiving data for clients of the archival service. The archival service can include an architecture that can facilitate perpetual sustainability and accessibility of data by conforming to a model. In particular, the model can describe or define a minimum set of extensible or pluggable components or modules needed to facilitate and guarantee sustainability of and accessibility to the data in perpetuity.

Since the launch of the computer revolution decades ago, data has been steadily migrated or been duplicated to exist in electronic or digital form. Today, a very significant portion of personal or other information about many individuals or other entities exists in this form, and those individuals or entities have come to rely on the utility and convenience of computer-based data storage, since these data stores can be accessed by way of computer networks.
Given this growth and the convenience of computer-based archival of data, numerous data storage services have entered the marketplace. These data storage services typically host or maintain the data associated with the user in exchange for a service fee. However, no prior system or service has been able to offer or guarantee that a client entity's data will be digitally stored and available to the client in perpetuity.


An image encoding method includes: obtaining imaging information determined during a process of capturing an image; generating metadata for determining a compression strength of the image based on the imaging information; determining the compression strength of the image based on the metadata; and encoding the image based on the determined compression strength.

Apparatuses for encoding an image may compress the image to perform encoding as a method of efficiently decoding the image. A quantization process may be included in such a compression process. When quantization is performed, although deterioration in image quality may occur relative to an original image, image compression may be efficiently performed by performing compression based on whether a user may largely recognize deterioration in image quality. That is, a technology for performing high-efficiency compression without subjective deterioration in image quality has been proposed by performing relatively more compression on portions that are difficult to visually recognize by analyzing an image itself.

Method and device for compressing image on basis of photography information


A calibration device for an auditory prosthesis, such as a hearing aid, and an auditory prosthesis which contains such a calibration device. The calibration device comprises memory in which is stored information which is characteristic of information intrinsic to the invididual auditory prosthesis, the information being either information which represents a sufficient set of adjustment parameters required to calculate the transfer function of the auditory prosthesis or manufcturing information and a mechanism by which this information may be utilized by the auditory prosthesis or by the programming system of such auditory prosthesis.

The present invention relates generally to auditory prostheses and more particularly to auditory prostheses which are adjustable by a programming system.
Auditory prostheses have been utilized to modify the auditory characteristics of sound received by a user of that auditory prosthesis. Usually the intent of the prosthesis is, at least partially, to compensate for a hearing impairment of the user or wearer. Hearing aids which provide an acoustic signal in the audible range to a wearer have been well known and are an example of an auditory prosthesis. More recently, cochlear implants which stimulate the auditory nerve with an electrical stimulus signal have been used to improve the hearing of a wearer. Other examples of auditory prostheses are implanted hearing aids which stimulate the auditory response of the wearer by a mechanical stimulation of the middle ear and prostheses which otherwise electromechanically stimulate the user.
Hearing impairments are quite variable from one individual to another individual. An auditory prosthesis which compensates for the hearing impairment of one individual may not be beneficial or may be disruptive to another individual. Thus, auditory prostheses must be adjustable to serve the needs of an individual user or patient.
The process by which an individual auditory prosthesis is adjusted to be of optimum benefit to the user or patient is typically called "fitting". Stated another way, the auditory prosthesis must be "fit" to the individual user of that auditory prosthesis in order to provide a maximum benefit to that user, or patient. The "fitting" of the auditory prosthesis provides the auditory prosthesis with the appropriate auditory characteristics to be of benefit to the user.
This fitting process involves measuring the auditory characteristics of the individual's hearing, calculating the nature of the acoustic characteristics, e.g., acoustic amplification in specified frequency bands, needed to compensate for the particular auditory deficiency measured, adjusting the auditory characteristics of the auditory prosthesis to enable the prosthesis to deliver the appropriate acoustic characteristic, e.g., acoustic amplification in specified frequency bands, and verifying that this particular auditory characteristic does compensate for the hearing deficiency found by operating the auditory prosthesis in conjunction with the individual. In practice with conventional hearing aids, the adjustment of the auditory characteristics is accomplished by selection of components during the manufacturing process, so called "custom" hearing aids, or by adjusting potentiometers available to the fitter, typically an audiologist, hearing aid dispenser, otologist, otolaryngologist or other doctor or medical specialist.
Some hearing aids are programmable in addition to being adjustable. Programmable hearing aids store adjustment parameters in a memory which the hearing aid can utilize to provide a particular auditory characteristic. Typically the memory will be an electronic memory, such as a register or randomly addressable memory, but may also be other types of memories such as programmed cards, switch settings or other alterable mechanisms having retention capability. An example of a programmable hearing aid which utilizes an electronic memory, in fact a plurality of memories, is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,425,481, Mangold et al. With a programmable hearing aid which utilizes electronic memory, a new auditory characteristic, or a new set of adjustment parameters, may be provided to the hearing aid by a host programming device which includes a mechanism for communicating with the hearing aid being programmed.
Such programmable hearing aids may be programmed specifically to provide an auditory characteristic which, it is hoped, will compensate for the measured hearing impairment of the user. However, while the programming of such hearing aids may be digital, and thus very precise, the actual signal processing circuitry of the hearing aid may very well be analog. Because there are variations between individual analog components, at least in part due to semiconductor process variation, the actual auditory characteristic provided by a given individual hearing aid may be somewhat different than that actually "prescribed" by the programming system. Further, other characteristics of the individual hearing aid, such as model number, revision number, manufacturing date code, serial number and optional features actually contained in the hearing aid, may be important to the programming system of the hearing aid and need to be manually input by the programming system into the fitting process. Such manual input is not only inconvenient but also is a source of error which could cause a less than optimum fitting to be obtained.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,548,082, Engebretson et al, Hearing Aids, Signal Processing Systems For Compensating Hearing Deficiencies, and Methods, discloses the use of "calibration" information, which may be stored in the memory of the hearing aid, in the programming of a digital hearing aid (column 16, lines 13-22). The "calibration" information contemplated by Engebretson et al are transfer functions (column 24, line 57 through column 25, line 6) which provide a factory estimate of the hearing aid/probe microphone/ear canal interface referred in the context of "ear volume" (column 14, line 28 through column 16, line 12). In order to make this data usable it must be adjusted to take into account the actual hearing aid/patient interface data instead of the factory data using the "standard coupler" (column 16, lines 23-36). Engebretson et al stores a sufficient transfer function, i.e., a sufficient set of the acoustic relationship from the input to the output of the hearing aid, taken at four different frequencies. Since the sufficient transfer function data encompasses a large volume of data, data for only four distinct frequencies can be stored. The acoustic relationship of input and output must then be interpolated from this data.

Calibration device and auditory prosthesis having calibration information

Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company


Embodiments of apparatus and methods for providing recommendations based on environmental data and associated contextual information are described. In embodiments, an apparatus may include a data collector to receive environmental data and an analysis module to identify a behavioral model of the first user based at least in part on the environmental data associated contextual information of the first user. The apparatus may further include a recommendation module to provide a recommendation to the first user based at least in part on the behavioral model of the first user and/or environmental data for a second user. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art or suggestions of the prior art, by inclusion in this section.
A living organism is interdependent with its environment. For example, the living organism may have chemical interactions with its environment based on biophysical factors, e.g., by exchanging mass, energy, or other properties. Pollution in the air, water, and land on Earth will likely harm us. On the other hand, humans' activities may pollute nature and disrupt the dynamic equilibrium of the balance of nature.
Our environment is also at least partially man-made, e.g., the buildings providing shelter for people, the streets leading people from one place to another, or the city hosting a social environment for people to interact with each other and their institutions.
Various environmental parameters may be measured by their respective suitable sensors. A sensor is an instrument to measure a physical property, e.g., an acoustic, chemical, electrical, or optical property of an object in our environment, and convert the measurement to a signal, e.g., an electrical or optical signal, which may be read by an observer or another instrument. Sensors become ubiquitous at least due to their ever-shrinking size. Sensors may be manufactured on a microscopic scale as microsensors, such as by using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology, or on a nano-scale as nanosensors, such as by using nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) technology and/or nanotechnology.

Apparatus and methods for providing recommendations based on environmental data


Matrix-dyed textiles of cellulose acetate, cellulose triacetate, silk, wool, flax, nylon, acrylic, polyethylene terephthalate, cotton, and rayon are stripped of their dyes in a dye stripping system comprising a reducing agent in an aqueous bath produced by the reaction of a bisulfite with about 0.35% or less of a borohydride by weight of the textile. The borohydride may be added to an aqueous bath already containing the bisulfite and the textile or the borohydride and bisulfite may be mixed in an add tank and the mixture added to the aqueous bath. Chelating agents, sequestering agents, fire retardants, and odor scavengers are not needed. Reclaimed textiles having superior receptivity of a new dye are provided.

The stripping of organic dye molecules from textiles (e.g., woven, non-woven, and knitted cloth, and yarn) is performed when, for example, a first dyeing is unlevel and the dye house operator wishes to remove it preparatory to a second dyeing. The dye does not merely cling to the surfaces of the textile fibers but is held in the amorphous regions of fiber matrices by ionic and covalent bonds as well as by van der Waal forces and hydrogen bonding. Sodium dithionite and thiourea dioxide (also known as form amidine sulfonic acid or FAS) are the leading dye stripping agents in the textile industry. Sodium dithionite (also known as sodium hydrosulfite or "hydro") is the most popular one and is most often used as a powder containing 70% by weight of the active material along with sodium carbonate as a fire retardant, a chelating agent such as EDTA or a sequestering agent such as STPP. The textile industry still suffers from many spontaneous fires and the concomitant emission of sulfur dioxide when the dithionite powder comes into contact with moisture. Although use of an aqueous solution of the dithionite is growing because of the health, flammability, storage, and handling problems involved with the use of the powder, the solution must be stored under an inert atmosphere in dedicated insulated tanks that must be refrigerated for long term storage. Despite those problems and the recognition that the dithionite powder is inefficient and unreliable, it has retained its standing as the preferred stripping and reducing agent.
In conventional practice, the textile is placed in an aqueous bath, the pH of the bath is adjusted according to the requirements of the particular kind of textile to be stripped (i.e., below 7.5 for acetate and from a minimum of 10.2 to about 12.3 for cotton), and the bath is then heated to about 90-160.degree. F. before the dithionite powder is added. The stripping bath is then heated to 212.degree. F. ("the boil") or as high as about 230.degree. F. when a pressurized vessel is used. The stripping is continued at temperature for about 30 minutes or more, the bath is dropped, and the stripped textile is rinsed twice. Oftentimes, the procedure must be repeated to achieve the necessary dye stripping and color removal.
It is clear, therefore, that the industry needs a more efficient and more reliable stripping system that gives satisfactory color removal even when the temperature is below the boil and the stripping time is much less than the conventional 30 minutes.


A power system includes a plurality of DC/DC converters and a DC/AC inverter. The plurality of DC/DC converters having outputs electrically connected in parallel for supplying a DC voltage bus to an input of the DC/AC inverter. The plurality of DC/DC converters each include a maximum power point tracker (MPPT). Various DC/DC converters and DC/AC inverters suitable for use in this system and others are also disclosed.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Photovoltaic (PV) devices convert sunlight to electricity. A PV device may consist of a single panel, multiple panels, rigid panels, flexible panels, serial panels, parallel panels, etc. The output of a PV device is typically unregulated (i.e. the output varies with changes in sunlight intensity, temperature, etc.). Further, the output of one PV device may differ from the output of another PV device due to manufacturing variations, different operating temperatures, unequal ageing, different positioning and/or mounting angles, different shading from trees, structures or clouds, different amounts of dirt or debris on the respective PV devices, etc.

Converters and inverters for photovoltaic power systems


There is provided herein, systems, devices and methods for determining a risk of recurrence of cancer following a cancer therapy of a patient by determining genomic instability of a tumour. There is further provided systems, devices and methods for categorizing a patient into a prognostic cancer sub-group by using copy number alterations.

Prostate cancer (CaP) is the most common non-cutaneous malignancy in men and remains the second most common cause of male cancer deaths in North America. More than 90% of approximately 260,000 incident cases in North America present as localized disease. The prognosis of these cancers is stratified based on relative prostate-cancer specific mortality (PCSM) (e.g. low, intermediate and high-risk groups with hazard ratios for PCSM of approximately 1, 5 and 14, respectively) (D'Amico et al., 2003). These groupings are based on the levels of pre-treatment prostate-specific antigen (PSA), biopsy-based pathologic Gleason scores and UICC-TNM local and systemic staging descriptors. Many low risk patients can be offered active surveillance, sparing them the toxicities of radical treatment. High-risk patients often receive both local and systemic treatment in intensified protocols using radical prostatectomy (RadP) and/or image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT) combined with adjuvant androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) to offset the adverse impact of local failure and systemic occult metastases.
In contrast, the optimal treatment of the close to 75,000 North American men who present with non-indolent, intermediate-risk disease (e.g. highly similar Gleason scores of 6 or 7, PSA under 20 ng/mL and T1-T2N0M0) is an ongoing clinical dilemma (Shao et al., 2009). Up to one third of these patients undergo biochemical relapse, despite attempts at curative treatment using precision RadP or IGRT (Nichol, Warde, & Bristow, 2005). Furthermore, up to 12,000 (18%) of these patients fail within 18 months of primary therapy, and this heralds occult metastatic disease and increased PCSM (Buyyounouski, Pickles, Kestin, Allison, & Williams, 2012; Freedland et al., 2005; Johnson et al., 2013; Kapadia, Olson, Sandler, Feng, & Hamstra, 2012) As such, despite the use of clinical prognostic factors, intra- and inter-patient heterogeneity leads to clinical imprecision in the determination of which patients need treatment intensification a priori with ADT, chemotherapy or targeted therapies in order to prevent lethal castrate-resistant disease.
At present, no treatment-independent (e.g. useful for both IGRT and RadP patients), genome-wide signature exists to classify patients as potential responders or non-responders derived from initial diagnostic treatment biopsies. A pre-treatment, biopsy-based genomic signature reflecting tumour aggression could triage patients to intensified therapies and justify the additional toxicity to achieve cure in patient subgroups that are currently incurable by local therapy alone. Gene-specific studies have shown that copy number alterations (CNAs) in pre-treatment biopsies of PTEN, NKX3-1, MYC and the AR can associate with adverse prognosis in intermediate risk patients (Locke, Zafarana, Ishkanian, et al., 2012; Locke, Zafarana, Malloff, et al., 2012; Shen & Abate-shen, 2010; Zafarana et al., 2012). RNA-based gene signatures derived based on trans-urethral resections (TURP) or post-radical prostatectomy specimens (e.g. post-treatment) have been published which may differentiate between indolent and non-indolent prostate cancers ((J Cuzick et al., 2012; Jack Cuzick et al., 2011; Markert, Mizuno, Vazquez, & Levine, 2011; Penney et al., 2011; Wu et al., 2013). Surprisingly, and perhaps disappointingly, TMPRSS2:ERG fusion status is not associated with altered prognosis after either RadP (Minner et al., 2011) or IGRT (Dal Pra et al., 2013)). Finally, tumour cells do not exist within a homogenous microenvironment and intratumoural hypoxia has been linked to increased genetic instability, decreased DNA repair, decreased capacity for apoptosis, increased stress adaption including augmented autophagy, increased angiogenesis and increased metastatic potential (Bristow & Hill, 2008; Wouters & Koritzinsky, 2008). Indeed, prostate cancers harbouring hypoxic sub-regions are also aggressive and fail within the first 2 years (early failure) following IGRT or RadP (Milosevic et al., 2012; Turaka et al., 2012; Vergis et al., 2008). To date, there has not been any investigation or exploration of the potential interplay between genomic instability and hypoxia in the same tumour within the context of treatment outcome.
Low and intermediate risk cancers can be distinctly classified into subgroups based on their significant inter-patient genetic and microenvironmental heterogeneity in which some patients are extremely unlikely to fail therapy and others fail rapidly within 2 years of therapy. These translational outcome data, when combined with research findings that show that disparate CNA prognostic signatures can exist within foci of similar Gleason score (Boutros et al., 2013; Cooper, 2013), together sets the stage for aggressive ascertainment of both genomic and microenvironmental data prior to therapy. These novel combinatorial indices can be used to offer patients medical intensification and de-intensification strategies in the context of precision cancer medicine (Chin, Andersen, & Futreal, 2011; Tran et al., 2012).

Biopsy-driven genomic signature for prostate cancer prognosis


A thermal power generation apparatus includes a control circuit that selects a single operation mode from among a plurality of modes including a normal mode and a specific mode on the basis of a voltage in a commercial system. The normal mode is an operation mode in which alternating-current power output from an inverter is adjusted so that a direct-current voltage in a direct-current power line follows a target voltage. The specific mode is an operation mode in which direct-current power absorbed by an electric power absorber and/or the amount of heat per unit time supplied to a heat engine are/is adjusted so that the direct-current voltage follows the target voltage.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a thermal power generation apparatus and a thermal power generation system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a dispersed power source apparatus is interconnected to a commercial system. Japanese Patent No. 4889956 and Grid-interconnection Code (JEAC9701-2012) 2013 revised version 1 describe a technique concerning a dispersed power source apparatus and a commercial system. Japanese Patent No. 4889956 describes use of a thermal power generation apparatus as a dispersed power source apparatus.
In the thermal power generation apparatus of Japanese Patent No. 4889956, a working medium evaporates in a steam generator. An expander generates mechanical power from the working fluid. A power generator generates alternating-current power from the mechanical power. A rectifier converts the alternating-current power into direct-current power. An inverter generates alternating-current power at a predetermined frequency from the direct-current power. The rectifier and the inverter are connected to each other by a direct-current power line. A direct-current voltage in the direct-current power line is kept at a predetermined voltage. According to Japanese Patent No. 4889956, the direct-current voltage in the direct-current power line is kept at the predetermined voltage by adjusting an output alternating current supplied from the inverter to the commercial system.

Thermal power generation apparatus and thermal power generation system

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.


The present disclosure discloses a method for creating a distributed management monitoring system to create a distributed management monitoring system based on a distributed file system. Moreover, the present disclosure further discloses a monitoring method of the distributed management monitoring system, the method includes: updating a file of recording monitoring information regularly and correspondingly updating a device descriptor table by a sub-file system of the distributed management monitoring system; updating the device descriptor table and informing a server to update a file descriptor table by the sub-file system; and finding a device descriptor table corresponding to a designated network element through traversing the file descriptor table and reading a designated file according to the device descriptor table by the server. Accordingly, the present disclosure provides a distributed management monitoring system, the system includes: a server, a file descriptor table and a sub-file system. Therefore, by utilizing the present disclosure, each network element is enabled to monitor itself independently, unnecessary communications among network elements are reduced, and the stability of the distributed management monitoring system is enhanced.

With the increasing demands on network, communication services develop rapidly, communication networks become more and more complicated, and an increasing number of network elements are involved in a communication system. Moreover, the increasing demands of network operators on 40G services, higher-speed services and the like lead to an increasing complexity in networking, therefore, the number of network elements to need to be managed is increasing rapidly to result in an increasing difficulty in the management of network elements.
However, whether each network element is able to run normally and stably is closely related to the vital interests of the users. As a result, a whole monitoring system is required to be capable of reflecting the running condition of a single board in a network element more rapidly while running normally, and realizing real-time report and real-time monitoring. However, there is a lack of monitoring means for network elements at present, and existing monitoring systems also have some deficiencies, such as, the system for monitoring the communication subsystems in and among the network elements of a Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) device is a centralized monitoring system, which still focuses on centralized report. The monitoring system has the problems of slow performance inquiry, untimely alarm report, no uniform log management, discrete monitoring results, heavy communications among network elements and the like, which not only reduces the efficiency of system maintenance, but also results in instability in the monitoring system. In addition, existing monitoring systems also are incapable of performing an inter-platform monitoring, and existing network element monitoring methods have been far from meeting current demands.

Distributed management monitoring system, monitoring method and creating method thereof


An examination apparatus 1 for microorganisms for measuring an amount of microorganisms in a sample solution, the apparatus including stirring and mixing means 7 for stirring and mixing the sample solution into which a sample and a fluorescent staining reagent are added, in a sample container 5 formed of a material allowing light to pass through, an excitation light source 10 including a light source that irradiates an irradiation target surface of the sample container 5 with excitation light while the sample solution is being stirred by the stirring and mixing means 7, light receiving means 14 for detecting light and converting the light resulting from a fluorescent emission caused by excitation light from the excitation light source 10, into an electric signal, and control means 23 for detecting the number of emissions based on the electric signal from the light receiving means 14 and calculating the amount of the microorganisms contained in the sample in the sample container 5 based on the number of emissions.

A ship that is not carrying cargo sails while being loaded with ballast water in order to stabilize the ship, and discharges the ballast water in a marine area in which cargo is loaded on the ship.
The ballast water is normally discharged in a marine area different from the marine area where the cargo is loaded on the ship. Thus, microorganisms such as planktons and bacteria contained in the ballast water may be carried to a marine area different from the native habitat of the microorganisms, disadvantageously posing problems such as disruption of ecosystem.
To deal with such problems, international rules for the regulation of ballast water have been formulated, and the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ship's Ballast Water and Sediments (Ballast Water Management Convention) has been adopted.
In the "Guidelines for Ballast Water Sampling (G2)", "Ballast Water Discharge Standards (D-2)" related to the Ballast Water Management Convention, the allowable population of microorganisms contained and living in the ballast water discharged from the ship is specified for each type of microorganisms based on the minimum size. For example, the allowable population is specified as at most 10/m3 for microorganisms with a minimum size of at least 50 μm (hereinafter referred to as "L size organisms") and as at most 10/mL for microorganisms with a minimum size of at least 10 μm and less than 50 μm (hereinafter referred to as "S size organisms").
As a method for measuring microorganism cells living in water such as ballast water, a method described in Patent Literature 1 has been known.
In the method described in Patent Literature 1, first, a chemical substance reacting with an enzyme or a coenzyme present in living cells of microorganisms to generate a fluorescent substance in the cells is allowed to act on a measurement target sample containing the microorganisms. The chemical substance and the microorganisms are then mixed and contacted with one another for given time, and the sample is irradiated with light with a wavelength needed to excite the fluorescent substance generated in the cells. Furthermore, in this method for measuring the living cells of the microorganism cells, light emitted by the individual microorganisms in the sample is measured as the number of points.
This method significantly reduces measurement time that needs to be 10 hours to several tens of hours in a conventional agar culture method, to at most 10 minutes. Furthermore, since means for optically and electrically detecting and measuring light emitted by viable bacteria as points has been established, the number of viable bacteria can be directly, automatically counted. Thus, advantageously, a sterilization apparatus can be promptly controlled, and product quality can be expeditiously managed.
However, in the method described in Patent Literature 1, measured values may vary depending on the type of water, temperature, the type of a stain, concentration, staining time, and the like.
As other methods, for example, the following are known: an examination apparatus for microorganisms that passes sea water pumped up using a water pump through flow cells and performs image measurement in order to determine whether or not the discharge standards are met when the ballast water is discharged (for example, Patent Literature 2), and an examination apparatus for microorganisms which passes sea water pumped up using a water pump through filter units with different apertures and which allows microorganisms on the filters to emit light to count the number of the microorganisms (for example, Patent Literature 3).
The examination apparatus for microorganisms described in Patent Literature 2 includes a staining section that allows a liquid specimen to flow while staining organisms with living cells present in the specimen, a concentration section that allows the stained specimen to flow while concentrating the specimen so as to increase the concentration of the organisms, an individual measurement section that acquires image information on individuals including the organisms in the concentrated specimen, and control means for measuring the organisms based on the image information on the individuals output by the individual measurement section.
This allows sequential execution of a staining step of staining the organisms in the liquid of the specimen, a step of concentrating the organisms in the liquid, a step of acquiring information on the organisms in the liquid, and the like. Thus, compared to a technique for individually executing schemes, this technique has the following advantages. Waiting time until a part of a specimen on which one step has been executed proceeds to the next step can be drastically reduced or eliminated. Furthermore, information indicating whether the organisms are alive or dead can be acquired, the information being stable in a sense that the condition of staining during the waiting time is prevented from being degraded.
However, the examination apparatus for microorganisms described in Patent Literature 2 sequentially passes sea water pumped up using the water pump through various steps, leading to the need for a large-scale apparatus and increased manufacturing costs. At least several hours may be needed to complete the measurement.
Furthermore, the examination apparatus for microorganisms described in Patent Literature 3 is characterized by including a step of passing sea water though filter units with three types of filters arranged in series and having different apertures, a step of causing the microorganisms collected and living in the filters to perform one of color production, light emission, and fluorescence production, and a step of detecting one of the color production, light emission, and fluorescence production and counting the number of the microorganisms in the ballast water or sea water by means of image analysis.
Thus, the microorganisms can be captured according to the stepwise size thereof, consequently enabling expeditious determination of whether allowable residue standards regulated according to the size of microorganisms are met.
However, as is the case with Patent Literature 1, the examination apparatus for microorganisms described in Patent Literature 3 passes sea water pumped up using the water pump through various steps, possibly leading to the need for a large-scale apparatus and increased manufacturing costs.

Method for examining microorganisms and examination apparatus for microorganisms


A method and computer system for efficiently handling high contention locking in a multiprocessor computer system. The method organizes at least some of the processors in the system into a hierarchy, and processes an interruptible lock in response to the hierarchy. The method utilizes two alternative methods of acquiring the lock, including a conditional lock acquisition primitive and an unconditional lock acquisition primitive, and an unconditional lock release primitive for releasing the lock from a particular processor. In order to prevent races between processors requesting a lock acquisition and a processor releasing the lock, a release flag is utilized. Furthermore, in order to ensure that the a processor utilizing the unconditional lock acquisition primitive is granted the lock, a handoff flag is utilized. Accordingly, efficiency of a computer system may be enhanced with the ability to utilize a locking primitive for an interruptible lock that determines lock selection among processors based upon a hierarchical position of the processor and the primitive utilized for lock selection.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to a method and system for efficiently handling high contention locking in a multiprocessor. More specifically, the processors of the system are organized in a hierarchical manner, wherein granting of an interruptible lock to a processor is based upon the hierarchy.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Multiprocessor systems by definition contain multiple processors, also referred to herein as CPUs, that can execute multiple processes or multiple threads within a single process simultaneously, in a manner known as parallel computing. In general, multiprocessor systems execute multiple processes or threads faster than conventional uniprocessor systems that can execute programs sequentially. The actual performance advantage is a function of a number of factors, including the degree to which parts of a multithreaded process and/or multiple distinct processes can be executed in parallel and the architecture of the particular multiprocessor system at hand. The degree to which processes can be executed in parallel depends, in part, on the extent to which they compete for exclusive access to shared memory resources.
The architecture of shared memory multiprocessor systems may be classified by how their memory is physically organized. In distributed shared memory (DSM) machines, the memory is divided into modules physically placed near one or more processors, typically on a processor node. Although all of the memory modules are globally accessible, a processor can access local memory on its node faster than remote memory on other nodes. Because the memory access time differs based on memory location, such systems are also called non-uniform memory access (NUMA) machines. On the other hand, in centralized shared memory machines the memory is physically in one location. Centralized shared memory computers are called uniform memory access (UMA) machines because the memory is equidistant in time for each of the processors. Both forms of memory organization typically use high-speed caches in conjunction with main memory to reduce execution time.
The use of NUMA architecture to increase performance is not restricted to NUMA machines. A subset of processors in an UMA machine may share a cache. In such an arrangement, even though the memory is equidistant from all processors, data can circulate among the cache- sharing processors faster (i.e., with lower latency) than among the other processors in the machine. Algorithms that enhance the performance of NUMA machines can thus be applied to any multiprocessor system that has a subset of processors with lower latencies. These include not only the noted NUMA and shared-cache machines, but also machines where multiple processors share a set of bus-interface logic as well as machines with interconnects that "fan out" (typically in hierarchical fashion) to the processors.
A significant issue in the design of multiprocessor systems is process synchronization. The degree to which processes can be executed in parallel depends in part on the extent to which they compete for exclusive access to shared memory resources. For example, if two processes A and B are executing in parallel, process B might have to wait for process A to increment a count before process B can access it. Otherwise, a race condition could occur where process B might access the counter before process A had a chance to increment it. To avoid conflicts, process synchronization mechanisms are provided to control the order of process execution. These mechanisms include mutual exclusion locks, condition variables, counting semaphores, and reader-writer locks. A mutual exclusion lock allows only the processor holding the lock to execute an associated action. When a processor requests a mutual exclusion lock, it is granted to that processor exclusively. Other processors desiring the lock must wait until the processor with the lock releases it.
Operating system kernels require efficient locking primitives to enforce serialization. Spin locks and queue locks are two common serialization mechanisms. In addition to scalability and efficiency, interruptability and fairness are desired traits. Because of atomicity requirements, a thread may have to raise its priority level before entering a critical section that manipulates memory. Additionally, enabling the thread to be interrupted while it is waiting for the lock increases the responsiveness of the system to interrupts.
A spin lock is a simple construct that uses the cache coherence mechanism in a multiprocessor system to control access to a critical section. A typical spin lock implementation has two phases. In the spin phase, the waiting computation agents, for example, threads, spin on a cached copy of a single global lock variable. In the compete phase, the waiting computation agents all try to atomically modify the lock variable from the available to the held state. The one computation agent that succeeds in this phase has control of the lock; the others go back to the spin phase. The transition from the spin to the compete phase is initiated when the lock holder releases the lock by marking the lock variable as available.
Spin locks have two main advantages: they require only a few instructions to implement and they are easily designed to be interruptible. The main disadvantage of spin locks is that they do not scale well. The compete phase can cause significant contention on the system buses when a large number of computation agents simultaneously attempt to acquire the lock. Spin locks are thus suitable only for lightly contended locks. In addition, since the lock is not necessarily granted in first in first out (FIFO) order, spin locks are typically not fair.
Accordingly, there is a need for a computer system comprising multiple processors and a method of producing high-performance parallel programs to maintain high degrees of memory locality for the locking primitive and for the data manipulated within the critical sections. Although partitioning increases locality, there is a need for a locking primitive that promotes critical-section data locality without redesign. The novel locking algorithms presented herein promote critical section data locality while producing significant system-level performance benefits.

International Business Machines Corporation


Vacuum tubes that receive output signals from microphone units through grids and with which the signals are output as outputs from cathode followers; FETs in cascade connection with the corresponding vacuum tubes and that define currents flowing in the vacuum tubes; and bias circuits that apply a bias voltage to the grids of the corresponding vacuum tubes are included. Pairs of such vacuum tubes, FETs, and fixed bias circuits are each symmetrically connected so that a balanced signal can be output from two cathode followers, and an adjuster is provided between the pair of fixed bias circuits, the adjuster adjusts currents flowing in the pair of vacuum tubes to achieve a balanced output.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an impedance converter for a microphone and a microphone. More specifically, the present invention relates to an impedance converter for a microphone and a microphone using a vacuum tube as an impedance converting element in which current flowing in a vacuum tube is controlled with a semiconductor device that performs constant current operation to enable an adjustment to achieve a balanced output.
2. Description of the Related Art
Capacitor microphones have small effective capacitance and high output impedance. Thus, for an output signal therefrom, high input impedance is required to assure frequency response at a low frequency band. Upon feeding an output signal from a capacitor microphone to an amplifier through a cable and the like, the output impedance of the capacitor microphone needs to be lowered. Therefore, capacitor microphones incorporate an impedance converter having high input impedance and low output impedance. A field-effect transistor (FET) is widely used as an impedance conversion element incorporated in a capacitor microphone.
A capacitor microphone is known that uses a vacuum tube as an impedance conversion element for higher sound quality and maximum output level (see, for example U.S. Pat. No. 6,453,048). U.S. Pat. No. 6,453,048 discloses, as an embodiment of the invention, an impedance converter including: a grounded plate amplifier tube; and a bias circuit that generates a bias voltage to be applied to the grid of the amplifier tube. The bias circuit includes: a first diode that applies a bias voltage to the grid of the amplifier tube so that a current flows to the grid; a second diode in inverse parallel connection with the first diode; and a third diode provided between the cathode of the amplifier tube and a load resistance so that a current flows from the cathode of the amplifier tube to the load resistance. With a plate current flowing in the amplifier tube, a voltage generated in the third diode is applied to the grid of the amplifier tube as a bias voltage via the first or the second diodes.
By feeding a sound signal as a result of conversion by a capacitor microphone unit to the grid of the amplifier tube, an output signal from the capacitor microphone having high input impedance can be output as a low output impedance sound signal.
The impedance converter disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,453,048 outputs a signal with a triode vacuum tube in cathode follower connection because a cathode follower has high input impedance and low output impedance, and thus an increase in maximum output level can be achieved therewith.
Generally, a sound signal from a microphone is output as a balanced signal consisting of outputs from a hot side and a cold side to prevent noise attributable to an electric field or a magnetic field applied to an output transmission line of the microphone from being generated in the sound signal. To produce a balanced signal, impedances at the hot side and the cold side are required to be identical. Accordingly, an output transformer is widely used having a secondary coil with a center tap at the output circuit of the microphone to make the output impedances at the hot side and the cold side identical. Unfortunately, a transformer in an output circuit changes a tone of sound and thus may not be preferred by a user. Therefore, a microphone is available that has a circuit configuration requiring no output transformer. A conventional impedance converter used in a microphone requiring no output transformer is exemplary described below with reference to FIG. 3.
FIG. 3 illustrates microphone units 11 and 12 that each includes a diaphragm vibrated by sound pressure, and a fixed electrode facing the diaphragm with a certain space therebetween. The diaphragm of each of the microphone units 11 and 12 is connected to the ground (GRD: hereinafter referred to as the "earth"). The fixed electrode of the microphone unit 11 is connected the grid of a first vacuum tube 21 via a capacitor 15, while the fixed electrode of the microphone unit 12 is connected to the grid of a second vacuum tube 22 via a capacitor 25. In this example, the two microphone units 11 and 12 are incorporated in a single unit casing in a back-to-back manner to form a directionality variable unit. The two vacuum tubes 21 and 22 are used as impedance converters, are triodes, and are incorporated in a single glass tube to form a multiple unit tube.
A certain direct voltage needs to be applied between the diaphragm and the fixed electrode of each of the microphone units 11 and 12. In the example illustrated in FIG. 3: a negative voltage is applied to the fixed electrode of the microphone unit 11 from a direct power source 19 via a resistor 20, and diodes 13 and 14 in inverse parallel connection; while a positive voltage is applied to the fixed electrode of the microphone unit 12 from a direct power source 29 via a resistor 30, and diodes 23 and 24 in inverse parallel connection. A high direct power-supply voltage (e.g., 120 V) is applied to the plate of each of the vacuum tubes 21 and 22 from a power supply terminal 5. Via a direct voltage input terminal 4 which is a terminal in connection with the outside a power supply of 6.3 V for heating a heater 51 for the vacuum tubes 21 and 22 is supplied.
A bias circuit of each of the vacuum tubes 21 and 22 is connected as follows for cathode follower output. The cathodes of the vacuum tubes 21 and 22 are earthed via resistors 42 and 44, respectively. The cathode of the vacuum tube 21 is connected to a cold-side output terminal 3 via an electrolytic capacitor 47, while the cathode of the vacuum tube 22 is connected to a hot-side output terminal 2 via an electrolytic capacitor 48 so that a balanced output can be obtained with terminal voltages of the resistors 42 and 44. The high power-supply voltage is divided by dividing resistors 37 and 52 connected in series. In this circuit, the divided voltage is applied to the grid of the vacuum tube 21 via a resistor 38 and further via diodes 17 and 18 in inverse parallel connection. Similarly, the divided voltage is applied to the grid of the vacuum tube 22 via a resistor 39 and further via diodes 27 and 28 in inverse parallel connection. The dividing resistor 52 and the electrolytic capacitor 53 are connected in parallel. Ends of the diodes 13 and 14 in parallel connection and the diodes 17 and 18 in parallel connection are connected in parallel via coupling capacitors 15 and 16. Similarly, ends of the diodes 23 and 24 in parallel connection and the diodes 27 and 28 in parallel connection are connected in parallel via coupling capacitors 25 and 26. An electrolytic capacitor 45 is connected between a connection point between the diodes 17 and 18 and the resistor 38, and the cathode of the vacuum tube 21, while an electrolytic capacitor 46 is connected between a connection point between the diodes 27 and 28 and the resistor 39, and the cathode of the vacuum tube 22. A resistor 49 is connected between the output terminal 3 and the earth, while a resistor 50 is connected between the output terminal 2 and the earth.
As described above, or as clearly illustrated in FIG. 3, the two microphone units 11 and 12 are connected to their impedance converting elements, i.e., the vacuum tubes 21 and 22, respectively in a symmetrical manner. The bias circuit of the vacuum tube 21 includes the first diode 17 that applies a bias voltage to the grid of the corresponding vacuum tube, and the second diode 18 in inverse parallel connection with the first diode 17. The bias circuit of the vacuum tube 22 includes the first diode 27 that applies a bias voltage to the grid of the corresponding vacuum tube, and the second diode 28 in inverse parallel connection with the first diode 27. From the cathodes of the vacuum tube 21 and 22, cold side and hot side signals having opposite phases are output, respectively to achieve a balanced output. With the capacitors 15 and 16 connected on the vacuum tube 21 side, and the capacitors 25 and 26 connected on the vacuum tube 22 side, direct voltages applied to the microphone units 11 and 12 are separated from sound signals as a result of conversions by the microphone units 11 and 12. Thus, only the sound signal is fed to each of the grids of the vacuum tubes 21 and 22.
In the conventional capacitor microphone units and the impedance converters therefor shown in FIG. 3, even if the same bias voltages are applied to the two vacuum tubes 21 and 22, currents flowing in the vacuum tubes 21 and 22 are different. Obviously, variable characteristics of the two vacuum tubes lead to difference in currents. However, the currents are different even if the two vacuum tubes have stable characteristics. If the currents of the vacuum tubes 21 and 22 are different, impedances of output circuits in cathode follower connection therewith are different, resulting in an unbalanced output. Thus, if an electric field or a magnetic field is applied to the output circuit or the microphone cable, noise mixes with a sound signal.
Further, for a cathode follower output, a cathode potential must be controlled because potential difference between the cathodes of the vacuum tubes 21 and 22 and a heater tends to be large to cause insulation failure between the cathodes and the heater leading to production of noise.
The problems of a conventional capacitor microphone unit have been described. Also in the case where a ribbon microphone unit is used, a problem arises. More specifically, ribbon microphone units have extremely low output signals and thus, the output therefrom is generally boosted with a step-up transformer with an extremely large turns ratio of, for example, 1:180. Unfortunately, such a transformer with a large turns ratio makes an output impedance too high, e.g., 13 kΩ. The output impedance may be lowered with the impedance converting circuit as shown in FIG. 3, but there are the technical problems as described above.

Impedance converter for microphone and microphone


The specification describes a method for attaching semiconductor components to a substrate wafer by solder bump bonding using gold tin eutectic solder bumps. The process involves first forming solder stacks by blanket evaporation of a stack layer comprising a first layer of gold, a layer of tin and a second layer of gold, and patterning the stack layer by lift-off to form individual solder stacks. Attachment is effected by reflow of the solder stacks to bump bond the components to the substrate wafer. The quality of the bump bond is improved by annealing the multilayer stack, prior to reflow, to diffuse tin toward the stack surface.

In a typical Optical Sub-Assembly (OSA) a variety of component types, e.g. lasers, photodiodes, are attached to a single platform. The components are typically formed on semiconductor, usually III-V semiconductor, substrates and the platform is also usually a III-V semiconductor so that the thermo-mechanical characteristics of the platform matches those of the component substrates. The component substrates are attached to the platform substrate using solder bumps. The attachment technique should produce a reliable and cost-effective bond. Gold-tin solder is especially well suited for this application, and is the preferred means of attachment.
Several options are available for the solder preparation and solder bump bonding operations. In most gold-tin solder processes, the gold and tin are frequently deposited as separate layers. The preferred approach is to first deposit a gold-tin-gold stack. The gold-tin eutectic forms during reflow of the solder.
Electroplating techniques have been proposed for depositing the gold and tin layers on the substrates. This approach has the advantage of being a low cost, relatively well understood, process, capable of high volumes. However, there are several disadvantages in this approach, e.g., poor purity control of plated materials, high toxicity of the electrolytes, relatively large footprint of electroplating equipment.


A wind power engine including a stator having stator blades, and a rotor having rotor blades. The rotor is positioned inside the hollow area of the stator and is rotationally movable with respect to the stator about an axis of rotation. The stator blades are positioned in such a way that an air flow coming from the outside of the stator is oriented towards the rotor and the rotor blades. The oriented airflow allows the rotor blades to drive the rotor about the axis of rotation. At least certain rotor blades have a concave-shaped profile on one of their faces.

Manufacturers of windmill devices have developed various solutions aimed at producing mechanical energy from the wind with as high an efficiency as possible so that as much mechanical energy as possible can be collected from the air flow driving the rotor.
A device of the type described above achieving such a mechanical energy production is described, for example, in PCT publication WO 98/07981.


A stain separation system of digital pathology images that performs transforming a digital image from a first color domain to an optical domain to form an optical domain image (ODI), identifying a plane containing two or more basis vector which contain the pixels of the ODI, determining a plurality of orthogonal vector within the identified plane, forming a histogram of the digital image represented by the orthogonal vectors and determining one or more final stain vectors by searching for candidate vectors in the plane that minimize a cost function of the histogram.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to pathology image analysis and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for stain separation in digital pathology images.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the area of biology and medicine, understanding cells and their supporting structures in tissues, tracking their structure and distribution changes are very important. Histology, the study of the microscopic anatomy of tissues, is essential in disease diagnosis, medicinal development and many other fields. In histology, the process of examining a thin slice of tissue sample under a light microscope or electron microscope is usually performed. In order to visualize and differentiate the microscopic structure, one common approach is to stain the tissue sample with a combination of several dyes that have selective responses to different biological substances. In doing so, specified biological substances such as nuclei, cytoplasm, membranes, other structures, and specific proteins are visually enhanced.
Multiple stained tissue slides (images) are generally used to find the co-occurrence and co-localization of different bio-markers. Traditionally, the stained histology images are visually checked by a trained pathologist. The screening is based on relative color difference and morphological features of the images. The process is slow and expensive. One proposed approach is hand-picking pure dye spectra. This approach is not ideal since the pure dye area may not exist or may be difficult to locate. A second approach uses non-negative matrix factorization, but is a computationally complex and infeasible method. A third approach is color analysis based, but does not account for stain color spectra overlap and leads to loss of stain co-localization information.
Therefore, there exists a need to provide a method and apparatus for improved stain separation in digital pathology images.

Method and apparatus for stain separation in digital pathology images


A non-planar part has a non-planar surface such as an edge, and may contain an anomaly such as a crack. The non-planar part is inspected using an eddy current technique. The method includes providing the non-planar part having the non-planar surface thereon, driving an eddy current probe at two or more frequencies, measuring an eddy current response signal of the non-planar part at each frequency, and performing a multifrequency phase analysis on the eddy current response signals.

A number of non-destructive inspection techniques are in widespread use. These non-destructive inspection techniques allow a part to be inspected for anomalies without sectioning or etching the part, and without otherwise altering the structure of the part, which procedures in themselves add further anomalies to the part. Examples of non-destructive inspection techniques include ultrasonic testing, surface acoustic techniques, and eddy current inspection techniques. These techniques may be used to inspect new-make parts and parts that have previously been in service.
In the eddy current technique, a high-frequency alternating magnetic field applied at the surface of the part produces a responsive pattern of high-frequency electrical eddy currents within the part. The electrical eddy currents produce their own induced magnetic fields, which can be detected externally. The electrical eddy currents and their associated induced magnetic fields are normally regular in pattern, but the regularity is disrupted by the presence of anomalies in the part. Examples of anomalies include cracks, incipient cracks, inclusions at or near the surface, particles at or near the surface, and the like. By externally detecting the pattern of induced magnetic fields and their irregularities, the presence, size, and other features of the anomalies are deduced.
Eddy current inspection techniques have the important advantage that they allow the near-surface region of the part to be inspected nondestructively. Inspection of the near-surface region is important, because some mechanisms that produce premature failure of the part initiate at the surfaces of the part. In particular, anomalies such as cracks often initiate from surface edges or other non-planar regions of the part, where there are structural irregularities and/or stress concentrations. After surface-edge crack initiation, the cracks propagate into and through the remainder of the part, possibly resulting in a premature failure. Examples of such non-planar surface-edge crack-initiation sites include machined or cast edges between a front and a side of the part, intentionally produced holes such as fastener holes or large bores, intentionally produced cutouts such as the dovetail slots on the periphery of a turbine disk, and openings such as cooling holes.
The eddy current technique is used to detect the presence of the anomalies in as-manufactured (new-make) parts, and also in those parts after they have been in service, by periodic inspections. If no relevant indications of anomalies of a critical size are detected, the part may be placed into, or continued in, service. If anomalies of a critical size or larger are detected, the part is not continued in service, and is either repaired or scrapped.
One of the limitations on the use of the eddy current technique is the ability to discern an anomaly in the midst of background noise, a characteristic often expressed as the signal-to-noise ratio. For an anomaly to be reliably detected by the eddy current technique, the signal-to-noise ratio of the anomaly must be sufficiently high that the anomaly is not confused with the background noise. Too low a signal-to-noise ratio of a particular kind of anomaly means that the anomaly cannot be reliably detected.
Non-planar surfaces of the part are significant sources of noise in the analysis of eddy current output signals. Because these non-planar surfaces are the common locations where cracks or other anomalies may often be found, the noise associated with the non-planar surfaces of the part may mask the embryonic anomalies. The value of the eddy current technique is thereby lessened.
There is a great need for a technique by which eddy current detection of non-planar disturbances in the non-planar regions of parts may be accomplished with an increased signal-to-noise ratio as compared with current approaches, achieving more reliable detection of the anomalies. The present invention fulfills this need, and further provides related advantages.

Inspection of non-planar parts using multifrequency eddy current with phase analysis


A bicycle disc brake device includes a fixed member, an actuation unit and an adjustment structure. The fixed member includes a caliper housing. The actuation unit is coupled to the fixed member. The actuation unit is configured and arranged to move a friction member of the disc brake device from a release position to a braking position. The adjustment structure is operatively arranged to selectively orient the actuation unit relative to the fixed member in a plurality of fixed orientations.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to a bicycle disc brake device. More specifically, the present invention relates to a bicycle disc brake device, which has an actuation unit that is adjustable relative to a fixed member.
2. Background Information
Bicycling is becoming an increasingly more popular form of recreation as well as a means of transportation. Moreover, bicycling has become a very popular competitive sport for both amateurs and professionals. Whether the bicycle is used for recreation, transportation or competition, the bicycle industry is constantly improving the various components of the bicycle. In particular, bicycle braking system components have been extensively redesigned over the years.
There are several types of bicycle brake devices, which are currently available. Examples of some types of common bicycle brake devices include rim brakes and disc brakes. Disc brakes can by hydraulically actuated or mechanically actuated. Rim brakes are typically mechanically actuated. If a brake system with very strong braking force in wet and dry conditions is desired, a disc brake system is typically utilized. Disc brake systems provide a substantial braking power in relationship to the amount of braking force applied to the brake lever. Also, disc brake systems typically provide a high level of consistency in all types of weather and riding conditions.
Conventionally, a disc brake device is composed of a pair of brake pads that are mounted to a caliper housing. The brake pads are pressed against a brake disc or brake rotor that is fixed to the wheel to halt the rotation of the disc, and thus, the rotation of the wheel. At least one of the brake pads is moved toward the disc hydraulically or mechanically (e.g. by a cam mechanism).
Hydraulic disc brake systems provide excellent performance. However, such systems are relatively complicated and expensive to manufacture and/or assemble. Moreover, hydraulic disc brake systems can be relatively heavy.
Mechanical disc brake systems typically use a conventional Bowden type cable coupled to a swinging arm. Movement of the swinging arm causes movement of one or more braking members using an intermediate mechanism such as a cam mechanism. Mechanical disc brake systems are typically less expensive and lighter weight than hydraulic disc brake systems.
In either case, prior disc brake systems utilize a front brake device mounted to the front fork and a rear disc brake device mounted on a rear fork (e.g. rear triangle or rear suspension fork). Depending on the type of frame, the exact mounting locations of the front and rear disc brake devices may vary. Depending on the mounting location, the actuation lines of typical disc brake devices are not always optimally positioned or routed along the bicycle frame. Less than optimal routing of the actuation lines can also lead to an unattractive appearance and/or complicated installation.
In view of the above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the bicycle art from this disclosure that there exists a need for an improved bicycle disc brake device. This invention addresses this need in the bicycle art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the bicycle art from this disclosure.