A control device is applied to an engine having a supercharger and a control value. The supercharger contains an opening-area control member that changes an opening-area of an approach zone to a turbine of the supercharger so as to change an amount of energy of the exhaust gas entering into the supercharger. The control valve changes a valve-opening degree so as to change an amount of energy of the exhaust gas entering into the supercharger. At a certain instruction time point, the control device gives an instruction to the control valve so as to change the valve-opening degree by a target difference. At this time point, the control device gives an instruction to the opening-area control member, based on the target difference and a parameter relating to a response-time length of the control valve, so as to change the opening-area of the approach zone.

An internal combustion engine having a supercharger (exhaust-type supercharger with variable nozzle) is conventionally known. This supercharger includes a turbine, a variable nozzle and a compressor. This turbine is provided on an exhaust gas passage of the internal combustion engine and driven by energy of the exhaust gas. The variable nozzle can change an opening-area of an approach zone through which the exhaust gas entered into the turbine. The compressor is provided on an intake air passage of the internal combustion engine and driven when the turbine is driven. A bypass passage and a control valve are furthermore provided to the exhaust gas passage of this internal combustion engine. The bypass passage is a branched passage from the exhaust gas passage and by-passes the turbine. The control valve is provided on the bypass passage and can change an opening-area of the bypass passage. The internal combustion engine is hereinafter simply referred to as "engine."
The compressor noted above compresses air flew into the compressor and discharges the compressed air so as to be entered into a combustion chamber of the engine. That is, a supercharging is performed. More specifically, the supercharger adjusts the opening-area of the bypass passage by controlling the control valve based on operating condition of the engine and changes the opening-area of the approach zone by controlling the variable nozzle based on the operating condition of the engine. The amount of the energy of the exhaust gas entered into the turbine (hereinafter referred to as "energy entered into the turbine") is controlled by the control valve and the variable nozzle. Pressure of air entered into the combustion chamber of the engine (supercharging pressure) is thereby matched to a value appropriate to the operating condition of the engine.
One of the conventional control devices provided for the internal combustion engines (hereinafter referred to as "conventional device") controls the energy entered into the turbine by adjusting the control valve and the variable nozzle based on engine rotation speed. The conventional device thereby controls the supercharging pressure (for example, see JP2005-146906A).

Control device for internal combustion engine


Methods of forming electrospray ionization emitter tips are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, an end portion of a capillary tube can be immersed into an etchant, wherein the etchant forms a concave meniscus on the outer surface of the capillary. Variable etching rates in the meniscus can cause an external taper to form. While etching the outer surface of the capillary wall, a fluid can be flowed through the interior of the capillary tube. Etching continues until the immersed portion of the capillary tube is completely etched away.

Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), especially at nanospray flow rates, has become very valuable for biological research because of its sensitivity and the ease with which it can be coupled with separation techniques such as liquid chromatography (LC). Typically, generating a stable electrospray at nanospray flow rates requires emitter tips with very small orifice diameters.
When fabricating the tips, both the inner and outer diameters can contribute significantly to the performance of the emitter tip at obtaining a stable nano-electrospray. Traditional methods for forming emitter tips can be associated with inner diameters that decrease along the length of the tip and/or with large outer diameters (i.e., blunt and/or thick walls) at the orifice. Thick walls at the orifice can adversely affect nanospray performance, and tapered inner diameters can contribute to clogging. Furthermore, many of the existing methods for forming emitter tips lack reproducibility and/or simplicity. Therefore, a need exists for a reproducible method of producing robust ESI emitter tips that are capable of nanospray and that resist clogging.

Method of making tapered capillary tips with constant inner diameters


According to one embodiment, an electronic device includes a housing including a connector configured to connect to an external device, a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter communicates with a sink device via the connector. The receiver communicates with a source device via the connector. If the connector is set as an output port for outputting a video signal, the transmitter is connected to the connector via first, second and third switching circuits. If the connector is set as an input port for inputting a video signal, the receiver is connected to the connector via the first, second and third switching circuits.

In recent years, various portable electronic devices such as notebook personal computers and tablet computers have been developed. These electronic devices comprise a connector for outputting video signals, such as a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) output port. The electronic devices can transmit video signals to external devices (for example, monitors) connected to the connector.
In order to add the function to input video signals from an external device to such an electronic device, it is usually necessary to provide, in addition to the connector for outputting video signals, a separate additional connector for inputting video signals, on the electronic device.
However, for notebook personal computers, tablet computers and the like, there is only limited connector mounting space. For this reason, the structure which provides a total of two connectors for a video signal interface, one for outputting video signals and another for inputting video signals may not necessarily be appropriate.

Electronic device with connector for video signal interface


A method of image processing includes receiving camera data representative of an object, implementing, with a processor, a convolution operation on the camera data to generate filtered data representative of the object, the convolution operation being configured with singular value decomposition (SVD) kernel data, and storing the filtered data in a memory. Implementing the convolution operation includes applying the SVD kernel data in parallel to a plurality of subsets of the camera data.

The present embodiments relate to image processing.
Image convolution is an operator used in digital image processing. Convolution is useful in, for example, image smoothing, edge detection, and correlation. Convolution may be represented as follows:
            I      out                  (              x        ,        y            )        =            ∑              i        =        0            m                          ∑                  j          =          0                n                                                I                          i                                                                                n                                                      (                                          x                -                                  n                  /                  2                                +                j                            ,                              y                -                                  m                  /                  2                                +                i                                      )                                            K                                (                          i              ,              j                        )                              where Iin, Iout, and K are the input, convolved and kernel images, respectively, where m and n are the dimensions of the kernel image. The algorithm complexity of a direct implementation of the image convolution operator using a moving window is in the order of m×n×l×o, where l and o denote the dimensions of the input and convolved images. To reduce the computation cost, techniques such as multi-thread programming are employed, when the dimension of the image or the kernel is large.
For a separable kernel, defined as K(x,y)=KH(x)KV(y), the two-dimensional image convolution operation may be efficiently implemented by applying the horizontal kernel, KH(x), and the vertical kernel, KV(y), separately. The one-dimensional horizontal kernel is applied to each row of the image and the result is a row-smoothed image Ih. The one-dimensional vertical kernel is then applied to each column of the row-smoothed image Ih. The algorithm complexity for separable kernels is thus simpler, and on the order of m×l×n+m×n×o. The dimension complexity is greatly reduced relative to direct implementation using a moving two-dimensional window.
Unfortunately, not all two-dimensional kernels are separable.

Parallel image convolution processing with SVD kernel data


A set of slides for vehicle seats including two slide locks actuated by a cross-bar assembly pivotally mounted on the two slides by means of bearings. The bearings each include an indentation and the ends of the cross-bar assembly each include a tooth enabling nesting of the cross-bar assembly in the bearing parallel to the pivot axis. The tooth retains the end of the cross-bar assembly in the bearing.

The document US2009/0314916 describes one example of such a slide.
Slides of this type have the drawback that if the vehicle in which the seat is installed suffers a violet impact the two slides may in some cases tend to separate from each other, in which event the cross-bar assembly may be demounted from the slides and thrown off, with the risk of injuring an occupant of the vehicle.

Set of slides for vehicle seats and vehicle seat including such a set of slides


In a method and apparatus for defense against missiles that have explosive substances and piezoelectric detonators, the detonator of the missile is excited by ultrasonic radiation, causing it to oscillate and thus be triggered in flight.

This application claims the priority of German patent document 102006004517.3-15, filed Feb. 1, 2006, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for defense against missiles that have explosive substances with piezoelectric detonators.
Piezoelectric sensors are frequently used as percussion detonators for triggering explosive payloads in unguided missiles, (for example, rockets or shells). One such missile is the Russian RPG-7 anti-tank grenade, shown in FIG. 1.
This weapon, which is widely used, is responsible for a large number of casualties in the present-day asymmetrical war scenarios. The main defense against such weapons is armor. However, armor is not always effective against the powerful plasma beam generated by a shaped charge.
Active defense systems that attempt to shoot down the missile in flight have been proposed. These are, however, very expensive, have only a low hit probability, and cannot be used where the missile is launched close to the target. Defense systems based on microwave energy are not suitable because the rocket housing forms a shield against the electromagnetic radiation that can be overcome only by extreme power levels.
German patent document DE 22 50 630 B2 discloses a remote triggering systems that uses ultrasonic signals to detonate explosive charges underwater. An ultrasonic receiver, which is assigned to an explosive charge, receives the ultrasonic signal, converts it to an electrical signal and subjects it to further processing. The output signal of the ultrasonic receiver is applied to an electrical detonator to trigger the detonation.
One object of the present invention is to provide a method and a system that enables a very reliable defense against missiles.
These and other objects and advantages are achieved by the method and apparatus according to the invention, in which ultrasonic radiation is emitted to counter the incoming missile. Such radiation causes the piezoelectric detonator of the incoming missile to oscillate and thus triggers the detonator that was activated after the launch of the missile. The explosive payload is thus triggered far from the target during the approach of the missile.
The emitted ultrasonic radiation, which can be directed or undirected can penetrate the metal casing of the missile with only slight attenuation. Directed emission of ultrasonic energy is preferably in the form of a high-energy beam with a small angle of aperture. For this purpose, an array of several ultrasonic transducers is preferred, which permits the emitted energy to be aligned by appropriate phase control of the signals of the individual ultrasonic transducers (phased-array technique). Alignment is therefore by purely electronic means without moving mechanical parts.
Alternatively, however, mechanical control of the alignment, such as is used with radar systems, can be provided. For example, the ultrasonic generator may be mounted on a turntable that can be adjusted in azimuth and elevation.
A combination of electronic and mechanical alignment is also possible. For example, a turntable may be used for the azimuth alignment, while alignment in elevation is carried out electronically by means of an array (or in its simplest form by means of a line) of ultrasonic generators.
The frequency of the ultrasonic radiation is preferably chosen so that the piezoelectric detonator of the incoming missile is excited at its natural resonant frequency or a harmonic or subharmonic thereof.
To compensate for tolerances in the known resonant frequency of the detonator or uncertainties with regard to the precise value of the resonant frequency of the detonator, the emitted ultrasonic frequency can be varied over a certain frequency range, e.g., by linear frequency modulation.
Furthermore the Doppler shift that occurs due to the relative speeds of the missile and the platform transmitting the ultrasonic radiation can also be advantageously taken into account in the choice of emitted ultrasonic frequency. Also in this connection, the frequency of the ultrasonic radiation can be varied to compensate for uncertainties with respect to the exact value of the Doppler frequency.
With the method according to the invention, a reliable and cost-effective defense against missiles is realized. Direct hits by the missiles, and thus the formation of destructive plasma jets in the direct vicinity of the target, can be avoided.
The method according to the invention is suitable for defense against all guided and unguided missiles, e.g., rockets or shells.
A system for implementing the method according to the invention includes the following main components.
a) A missile warning sensor for detecting the launch of the enemy missile. Known missile warning sensors based on IR, UV or radar sensors can be used for this purpose. The software of the warning sensor is advantageously tuned to the specific signature of the relevant missile.
b) A tracking sensor for tracking the incoming missile. This may be either the same sensor as the missile warning sensor or an additional sensor. For instance, a passive electro-optical sensor based on a UV sensor can be used. Because of the limited burn time of the missile, the use of an IR sensor is preferred. An active radar sensor is quite particularly suitable because the method according to the invention can be most effectively implemented on the basis of range information.
c) A positioning device or aligning the ultrasonic beam on the incoming missile. The alignment takes place in such a way that the travel time of the ultrasonic beam to the target is allowed for.
A rotating turntable that enables the radiation to be mechanically set in azimuth and elevation can be used for this purpose, for example. The alignment can also take place by purely electronic means in that the phases of the individual ultrasonic generators of a two-dimensional array are suitably controlled. Electronically controlled acoustic arrays such as are known for example from sonar systems for underwater applications can be used for this purpose.
d) A device for generating ultrasonic waves. Devices that are suitable for generating a high-energy, narrowly focused ultrasonic beam with a high energy density are preferred for this purpose. Two-dimensional arrays consisting of single acoustic radiators are especially suited to this purpose. Their frequency is, for example, set to the resonant frequency of the piezoelectric detonator of the RPG-7 anti-tank grenade. The alignment of the emitted ultrasonic energy in azimuth and elevation takes place (as already explained in item (c) above, electronically or mechanically, or by a combination of electronic and mechanical means.
The described method can be carried on aircraft or on land vehicles. Stationary on-ground applications are also possible. A particular advantage of the system according to the invention is its very short reaction time, which is particularly important when under close-range bombardment.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


In the vacuum filtering of coal slurries, dewatering of the filter cake is achieved by contacting the coal with a C.sub.8 to C.sub.20 aliphatic carboxylic acid or a derivative thereof, especially sodium oleate. Reductions in moisture levels are thereby achieved in a cost-effective manner.

Coal processing, particularly the treatment of metallurgical coal, usually incorporates washing steps as part of the beneficiation scheme. Coal washing is primarily to remove undesirable gangue minerals from the coal, usually by froth flotation. The water used in the coal cleaning process must be removed for a number of reasons. Firstly, there are usually moisture-limit specifications on coal sold to industry by the coal producers. Moisture in coal results in increased freight costs and reduced thermal-energy value. Secondly, in many parts of the world, shipment of wet coal in winter results in problems in freezing of the coal in rail cars. Thirdly, refuse coal must be dewatered prior to disposal.
The coal-cleaning process produces coal with a broad range of particle sizes. Coarse coal (i.e., >600 micron) and fine coal are treated differently to dewater effectively. Water is usually removed from coarse coal by screen drainage or centrifugation and from fine coal (i.e., flotation concentrates or refuse) by centrifugation or vacuum filtration. In some cases, thermal drying of fine coal is employed as a necessary step to achieve target moistures. Depending upon the mining operation, the type of coal treated and normal swings in process operations in the plant, the moisture levels in the cleaned coal can vary quite widely. Typical moisture levels in coarse coal range from 2-12%, while fine coal moistures can range from 15-30%.
Coal processing plants often have considerable trouble meeting target moisture levels in the product coal they sell. As a result of new mining methods employed in long-wall operations, the proportion of fine coal reporting to the prep plants has increased significantly. Fine coal is much more difficult and costly to dewater than coarse coal. One method often employed by coal prep plants to achieve moisture specifications is to blend high-moisture fine coal with low-moisture coarse coal in proportions necessary to just meet target moisture. While, in many cases, it would be much more cost effective for a coal prep plant to simply discard the fines and mine more coarse coal, for reasons of resource management/utilisation/conservation it is more prudent to treat the fines.
Vacuum filtration is the most commonly used means of mechanical treatment to dewater fine coal. Fine coal, in slurry form, reports to the filtration operation where the water is removed. Vacuum disc filters are the principal type used by the coal industry to filter fine coal, although vacuum belt filters are being utilised on an increasing basis. To assist in the efficient operation of vacuum filters, reagents are often added to the feed slurry.
The coal industry has been using anionic flocculants and cationic coagulants in the vacuum filtration of fine coal for a long time. These reagents are necessary to `thicken` the slurry as it is fed to the vacuum filter to ensure the proper formation of a filter cake. It is thought that the reagents function by binding the very fine coal particles to larger coal particles in a typical flocculation/coagulation process, thus producing a more uniform particle size distribution in the filter cake. This results in better permeability of the filter cake and less `blinding` of the filter cloth by the very fine coal particles.
Both anionic flocculants (usually high molecular weight acrylamide/acrylate co-polymers) and cationic coagulants (usually low molecular weight polyamines) are used, individually or in combination, to control filter cake formation. These reagents are always added to the slurry feeding the vacuum filters (i.e., slurry pre-treatment) in a manner typical of flocculant/coagulant addition in the minerals industry.
There has also been considerable interest by the coal industry in the use of surfactants, in combination with flocculants/coagulants, to enhance the dewatering of fine coal. Although many studies have been conducted and reported, there are widely varying results/conclusions. Some studies have shown that surfactants do not significantly affect residual cake moisture, while others show they do. Other studies conclude that surfactants can be effective for certain types of coal but not for others.
One of the most significant reasons for the variation in the performance of dewatering aids for fine coal is the variable chemistry of coal itself. Unlike all other minerals, coal is an organic material. Coals vary widely in bulk/surface composition, depending upon a multiplicity of factors such as location of the deposit, rank and mineral (inorganic) matter, degree of weathering, internal structure/porosity, etc. Therefore, depending upon the specific coal treated, dewatering aid performance can be expected to vary widely since both the adsorption (a surface chemical property) and absorption (a bulk chemical property) characteristics of coals with respect to drainage aid interaction will vary widely.
Regardless of the conclusions in the various studies related to the performance of dewatering aids, virtually every published fine-coal filtration study has concluded that surfactant utilisation to improve fine-coal dewatering is uneconomical. Surprisingly, most of the studies reported have limited the surfactants examined as dewatering aids for fine coal to detergents such as ethoxylated alcohols, alkyl sulfosuccinates, and alkyl sulfates. These are the most commonly used surfactants as drainage aids by the minerals industry but they are expensive and adsorb strongly onto coal surfaces. Surfactant adsorption increases reagent demand and is usually the most significant cause of cost inefficiency of dewatering aids for mineral filtration. United States patent specification U.S. Pat. No. 4,447,344 (Roe-assigned to Nalco Chemical Company) discloses that a blend of a nonionic with a hydrotrope (i.e., sodium xylene sulfonate) eliminates the problem of surfactant loss to the coal surfaces, in practise the technique does not achieve the objects of the present invention and excessively high reagent dosages are required.
United States patent specification U.S. Pat. No. 4,231,868 (Wang et al assigned to American Cyanamid Company) discloses surfactant and/or surfactant compositions specifically "designed" for improved coal dewatering.
However, despite the claims made as to the cost efectiveness of the reagents disclosed, one of these patents (U.S. Pat. No. 4,231,868) specifically recognises the need for improved (e.g., less costly) reagents.
It has been described in European Patent Application EP-A-0,417,360 that the dewatering of alumina trihydrate obtained by the Bayer process is improved by treating the alumina trihydrate with the product of mixing an alkaline liquor and a C.sub.8 -C.sub.20 fatty acid or fatty acid precursor. As an example at least 5 grams/tonne of alumina trihydrate filtered of oleic acid is used. In this reference there is no indication or suggestion to use this system for coal dewatering and also the physico-chemical properties of alumina trihydrate particles are different from those of coal particles.
In American Patent U.S. Pat. No. 4,410,431 (Nalco Chemical Comp.) it has been proposed to alter the water function characteristics of coal particles by the application of a mixture of a surfactant material having an HLB number of 6.0-12.0 and a surfactant adsorption inhibitory amount (10-65 wt % of the mixture) of a fatty acid, like tall oil fatty acid. There is no indication or suggestion that in the absence of a surfactant excellent results may be obtained.
In East German Patent DD-A-0,120,801 (Koch et. al.) it has been proposed to use saturated or unsaturated fatty acids to improve the filtration of suspensions. The active agent can be added to the suspension and/or the washing water. As an example the filtration of sodium bicarbonate has been mentioned, but nowhere the use in coal filtration has been mentioned or suggested.
Finally, it has been proposed in Japanese Patent Application JP-A-56-072,083 (Nippon Oils & Fats KK) to separate water from a coal-water slurry in a two-stage process. In the first stage 10-3000 ppm of an anionic surface active agent, e.g. fatty acid soap, is added to a coal-water slurry with at most 80% by weight of coal particles having a particle size of at most 5 mm, after which the mixture is filtered or centrifuged. In order to remove sufficient water, however, a second treatment of the coal with a hydrocarbon, like kerosine, is required.
It is the object of this invention to provide a method and a dewatering aid to provide effective and economical coal dewatering treatment using inexpensive fatty acids or their derivatives without the need for expensive surfactants and/or emulsifiers. Fatty acids themselves are not considered to be surfactants because of their extremely low aqueous solubility.


A telescoping pole and blade to form a snow rake. The pole has a plurality of segments selectively axially movable relative to one another. The pole segments are keyed to one another to prevent relative rotation between adjacent pole segments. A lock device is associated with adjacent pairs of pole segments to selectively fix the relative axial positions of the pairs of pole segments.

Snow rakes for use in removing snow from a roof or the like are known in the art. They typically comprise a blade connected to a pole. There may also be braces connected to and extending between the blade and the pole to help the blade resist bending under load. The poles are typically of a multi-segment type that requires assembly by connecting the segments together to obtain a desired pole length for use of the rake. While effective, such pole segments are typically aluminum for weight and price considerations, and will have thin walls that are easily permanently deformed rendering them non-usable. Even a minor distance drop onto a hard surface can deform a pole segment. Means to secure the segments together are needed. One form is a so called snap pin. A snap pin includes a pin mounted on a flexible arm usually secured in the interior of a first pole segment with the pin extending through a hole in the first pole segment. The pin arrangement acts as a detent. A second pole segment has a portion that slides over the first pole segment and a hole in it is aligned with the pin which then protrudes therethrough releasably locking the segments together. While effective in locking, this can be difficult to accomplish while wearing gloves in cold weather. It is similarly difficult to decouple the pole segments. Another problem with this type of multi segment type of pole is that the length of the assembly is fixed at certain increments of length. However, such a construction positively prevents relative longitudinal and rotational movement between pole segments.
Some snow rakes have a telescoping pole assembly attached to the blade. The pole segments, though, are selectively fixed relative to one another by friction as with a split collet and threaded tapered locking ring. This is true of both axial position and rotational position. The surface area of frictional contact is fixed by the shape of the two engaging surfaces, round and smooth. To increase the frictional force, increased compression is needed which then requires either increased tube wall thickness and/or increasing surface roughness of either or both of the engaging surfaces. Typically these are not very effective devices because of the difficulty in obtaining enough friction to prevent relative movement between pole segments, either longitudinally or rotationally. Experience with a split collet type friction device indicates these are not typically effective and difficult to use, particularly when wearing gloves and when the axial force to be applied to pull a load is large.
There is thus a need for an improved snow rake with a telescoping pole.


A method is provided for cache flushing in a computer system having a processor, a cache, a synchronization primitive detector, and a cache flush engine. The method includes providing a synchronization primitive from the processor into the computer system; detecting the synchronization primitive in the synchronization primitive detector; providing a trigger signal from the synchronization primitive detector in response to detection of the synchronization primitive; providing cache information from the recall unit into the computer system in response to the trigger signal; and flushing the cache in response to the cache information in the computer system.

The present invention relates generally to multi-processor computer systems and more particularly to cache-coherent systems.
High performance, multi-processor computer systems with a large number of microprocessors are built by interconnecting a number of node structures, each node containing a subset of the processors and memory in the system. While the memory in the system is distributed, several of these systems support a shared memory abstraction where all the memory in the system appears as a large memory common to all processors in the system. To support high-performance, these systems typically allow processors to maintain copies of portions of memory data in their local caches where the data is most quickly available. However, for safety, it is desirable, after caching new data, to send the new data down to the memory in the system because it is a safer environment with a large range of tools for recovering any lost data.
Since multiple processors can cache the same data, these systems must incorporate a cache coherence mechanism to keep the copies coherent, or up-to-date.
In some cache-coherent systems, each memory block (typically a portion of memory tens of bytes in size) is assigned a xe2x80x9chome nodexe2x80x9d, which maintains all necessary global information for that memory block, manages the sharing of that memory block, and guarantees its coherence. The home node maintains a directory, which identifies the nodes that possess a copy of the memory block. When a node processor requires a copy of the memory block, it requests the memory block from its local cache. If the data is found, the memory access is to the local cache. Alternatively, if the data is not found, a remote memory access may be performed to the home node. The home node supplies the data from memory if its memory has the latest data. If another node has the latest copy of the data, the home node directs this node to forward the data to the requesting node. The data is then stored in the local cache of the requesting node or returned to the home memory and then sent to the requesting node.
In cache-coherent systems, multiple copies of the same memory block can exist in different nodes. These copies must be read-only and are called xe2x80x9ccleanxe2x80x9d copies in a xe2x80x9csharedxe2x80x9d state.
When a processor updates its local cache copy, it must ensure that all other copies are invalidated. The processor sends a request to the home memory for the memory block to be owned only by that processor. In response, other processors, which have clean, shared copies of the memory block in their caches, must be sent a memory block recall command.
In current systems, once all processors have responded that the memory block is no longer contained in their caches, the home memory sends a message back to the updating processor that it is now the sole xe2x80x9cownerxe2x80x9d of the memory block. Consequently, the processor has an xe2x80x9cexclusivexe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cmodifiedxe2x80x9d data copy, which holds the most recent value of the data. The other copies of the memory block are invalid and the copy in the home memory is xe2x80x9cstalexe2x80x9d.
A System Control Unit (SCU) provides the control and the path for data transactions among the following sources and destinations within the node: the processors within the node; the local (node) portion of the memory system; the network connecting all of the nodes of the multi-processor computer system; and the input/output (I/O) system of the local node.
A serious problem in the state-of-art cache-coherent shared-memory multiprocessor system designs is that the memory copy is stale after the crash of the owner node. In other words, the most recent value of a memory block is lost when the cache content is irretrievable at a failed owner node.
In many situations, the software may demand a selective cache-flushing scheme in order to define a synchronization point, at which the most recent value of a memory block is reflected at the home memory by flushing the owner cache.
In today""s processor designs, cache flushing is normally implemented as an expensive flushing operation, which may result in wiping out the entire cache rather than the desired cache blocks alone. This flushing of the entire cache of a node is problematic in that it takes considerable computer time to restore a cache. Some systems try to flush a single line of the caches to obtain faster operation, but specific hardware is required and only the operating system can access the hardware so the faster operation is costly. Also although some processors provide selective cache-flushing instructions, there are no guarantees of the correctness unless the cache-flushing instruction has system-wide semantics, which is extremely expensive.
Thus, a system has been long sought and long eluded those skilled in the art, which would provide an efficient implementation of transactional memory and be transparent to the application programs.
The present invention provides a method for cache flushing in a computer system having a processor, a cache, a synchronization primitive detector, and a cache flush engine. The method includes providing a synchronization primitive from the processor into the computer system; detecting the synchronization primitive in the synchronization primitive detector; providing a trigger signal from the synchronization primitive detector in response to detection of the synchronization primitive; providing cache information from the cache flushing engine into the computer system in response to the trigger signal; and flushing the cache in response to the cache information in the computer system. This results in improved fault tolerance and system performance.
The above and additional advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from a reading of the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Multi-processor computer system with lock driven cache-flushing system

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


In a method of determining a regression model, and a method of predicting a component concentration of a test mixture using the regression model, the method of determining the regression model includes selecting a regression model, generating a plurality of observation points, each one of the plurality of observation points having a prediction target value and a measured value, determining a weight of the prediction target value and the measured value at each one of the plurality of observation points, and obtaining a calculation amount by reflecting the weights in differences between predicted values acquired by applying the measured values to the regression model and the prediction target values, and determining coefficients of the regression model to minimize the calculation amount.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of determining a weighted regression model and a method of predicting a component concentration of a mixture using the weighted regression model. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of determining a leverage weighted regression model and a method of predicting a component concentration of a mixture using the leverage weighted regression model.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a linear regression method is used to predict concentrations of specific components dissolved in a mixture from a spectrum of the mixture. This method is different from a method of measuring the concentrations using reagents reacting with the components to be measured, and can be applied to non-reagent measurement of blood components or non-invasive measurement of blood components.
A simple regression model, which is used to predict dependent variables from independent variables, is generally based on the following assumptions. First, it is assumed that the relationship between an independent variable, x, e.g., a measured spectrum data, and a dependent variable, y, , e.g., a component concentration to be measured, can be expressed by the following equation (1), in which μy.x indicates an expected value y at a given value of x, as expressed in equation (1):μy.x=β0+β1xi  (1),where xi is a value of an i-th measured x, and β0 and β1 are regression coefficients of a population, respectively.
Second, it is assumed that y has a normal distribution curve at a given value of x, and an average value of y varies with a variation of x, but a variance value of y is constant regardless of the variation of x.
Under these assumptions, the simple regression model may be expressed by the following equation (2):yi=β0+β1xi+εi  (2),where yi is the i-th estimated value, εi is an error term of the i-th measured y.
In the second assumption, the equivalent variance of the error term εi is assumed regardless of a variation of y, i.e., Var(εi)=σ2, where σ is variance. However, such an assumption of equivalent variance may not be established, and particularly, in a reference measurement device for a training set for obtaining a regression vector as the value of y increases, the greater the increase in the measurement error. Further, the least square method usually used for forming a regression model may be greatly influenced by abnormal measured values, thereby causing distortion of the regression model by a small number of outliers, which may also cause a normal measured value to be judged as an outlier. FIGS. 1A and 1B are graphs illustrating predicted values using a regression model, where FIG. 1A shows a normal regression model 2 in accordance with normal measured data 1, and FIG. 1B shows a distorted regression model 4 due to outliers 3.
Generally, a training set is required for forming a regression model, and all observation points belonging to the training set equally contribute to the regression model. However, it cannot be said that the quantity and quality of data required for forming the regression model should be equally given to all observation points. For example, since an error of the reference measurement device decreases when y decreases, it can be said that an observation point having a smaller y is more reliable than an observation point having a larger y. Further, because they are highly likely to have wrong data, observation points having independent variable x as an outlier should have relatively less importance in the regression equation than the other observation points.

Method of determining a weighted regression model and method of predicting a component concentration of mixture using the weighted regression model


A simple, but intelligent watchdog circuit uses an up/down counter for its delay element. A watchdog event will occur if the counter is allowed to over flow or under flow its boundaries (in either direction). The system objective is to keep the counter within its boundaries by controlling the direction of the count. The count direction is simply a function of the Most Significant Bit (MSB) of the counter. Thus, the system must simply monitor the counters MSB and perform a little intelligent to determine the desired count direction.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to microprocessor controlled circuits, and more specifically to watchdog timer circuits. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to an intelligent watchdog timer circuit design.
2. Description of the Related Art
The use of watchdog circuits to monitor the operation of and reset the microprocessors in the event of aberrant operation (e.g., program abnormal execution/termination or an operation within an infinite loop) is well known. The watchdog circuits provided the reset command necessary to ensure that the microprocessor returns to a known reference state after a failure, in order to resume a designated operation.
The watchdog circuit comprises a counter that receives a clock input as a count source and outputs an overflow signal when its count reaches a predetermined number. The overflow signal is supplied into a system reset terminal as a reset signal of the microcomputer. The counter is reset cyclically by the program, and the reset operation of counter by the program is carried out at a time when the count value of the counter does not overflow. Those skilled in the art are familiar with the occurrence of overflow conditions and the resulting reset of the counter and system (e.g., microprocessor) that occurs.
Conventional watchdog circuits are implemented around a delay element. This delay element is occasionally implemented using an RC circuit if the timing requirement is under a second. Typical watchdog circuits are implemented digitally and with precision, using a simple count-up (i.e., incremental) counter for its delay element. With this system configuration, the system must reset the counter before the counter overflows.
FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a conventional watchdog timer connected to a host system. As shown in FIG. 1, watchdog circuit 101 is coupled to host system 110 via two signal paths, watchdog overflow signal 108 and restart watchdog signal 106. Watchdog circuit 101 comprises counter 105, which receives a clock input from a known source such as a system clock (not shown).
FIG. 2 illustrates state diagram representations of watchdog circuit 101 and system 110. State diagram of watchdog circuit 101 includes five states, with a transition from states one through five based on inputs received from system 110. State one 202 represents the initial power on state at which the watchdog circuit initializes watchdog counter to zero (block 204). State two 206 represents a decision input of the clock time to the counter. From state two 206, the circuit moves to either state five 208 or to a delay element 212. The delay element 212 represents a single delay loop within/associated with state two 206 until the clock time changes.
At state five 208, the circuit determines whether a toggle signal was received/detected from the system. When a toggle signal is detected, the circuit returns to block 204 at which the watchdog counter is initialized to zero. If no signal is detected, the counter is incremented (block 210) and then the circuit passes to state three 214 at which the circuit determines whether the counter is at an overflow state. When the counter is not at an overflow state, control is returned to state two 206 via delay element 212. When an overflow condition is registered, control passes to state four 216 at which the system is reset. Also, at block 218, the system may either log the occurrence of the fault (overflow) before the watchdog function is reactivated or alternatively the system may decide not to enable the watchdog after the occurrence of the fault.
From the system perspective, only two states are relevant. At state one 220 a determination is made whether the time to toggle the watchdog has arrived. When the time to toggle the watchdog circuit has not arrived, control is returned to state one 220 via delay element 224. When the time to toggle the watchdog circuit has arrived, control passes to state two 222, at which the watchdog signal is pulsed.
A large number of watchdog timers are reset by simple transitions detected from their host system. For example, if a typical five minute watchdog timer sees any transition within the time-out period (i.e., five minutes), the watchdog timer will treat this transition as a valid keep-a-live signal from the host system and the watchdog timer will restart its timers/counter. One drawback to this approach however, is that in some faults, a hung system may produce sufficient random keep-a-live pulses that would keep the watchdog from performing its desired monitoring/signaling task.
Some improvements and other alternative designs of watchdog timers have been proposed. Included among these are:
U.S. Pat. No. 6,385,274 provides a watchdog circuit that prevents unexpected signals being created before the watchdog issues a reset. However, this patent does not prevent false refreshes;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,864,663 provides a watchdog circuit that issues an overflow signal that can be used as a reset signal for the system;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,099,153 describes a watchdog circuit that counts down until a condition is met; and
European patent 025163A2 provides a watchdog timer circuit that utilizes a charging/discharging capacitor as its timer instead of a counter with a clock input.
Notably, none of the above methods intelligently addresses the problem of false keep-alive pulses while a system is in a hung state. Again, random keep-a-live signals prevents the above conventional watchdog designs from reliably performing its required task. One approach to implement a more intelligent watchdog circuit requires the use of a small microcontroller, but this approach is expensive, and thus cost prohibitive. The present invention addresses the desirability of having a more intelligent but easier-to-implement solution for watchdog timers.

International Business Machines Corporation


A ballast circuit for a gaseous discharge lamp, particularly a neon light, includes a diode bridge rectifier for producing a d-c voltage from an a-c input and a transformer with a secondary winding connected to the lamp and a primary winding connected to the rectifier. A switching circuit is connected to the transformer primary winding for controlling a flow of current therethrough from the rectifier. The switching circuit includes at least one MOSFET having a drain terminal connected to the transformer primary winding and a grounded source terminal. A control circuit is connected to a gate terminal of the MOSFET for controlling the on and off times thereof, the control circuit including a pulse generator for producing a train of pulse-width-modulated rectangular pulses of substantially a single frequency fed to the MOSFET's gate terminal. The pulse generator includes circuitry for changing the width of the rectangular pulses to enable a gradual energization of the gaseous discharge lamp from one end thereof towards an opposite end to create a writing effect of selectively different speeds in the gaseous discharge lamp. The circuitry in the pulse generator for changing the pulse width can be used to control the widths of the pulses so that the pulses are a train of square waves having a common duration equal to an interpulse period, whereby striations are generated in the gaseous discharge lamp.

This invention relates to a ballast circuit for a gaseous discharge lamp. More particularly, this invention relates to such a circuit for generating special decorative effects in the illumination or energization of gaseous discharge lamps such as neon lights.
The power supplies and electronic drive circuitry that are currently being used to operate high-voltage neon tubes genrally consist of a high-voltage transformer and high-power solid state electrical devices. These power units are frequently very bulky, costly and inefficient, particularly if any type of display variations are incorporated into the design. Moreover, the high voltages present in the devices result in a potentially dangerous situation if a tube is accidentally damaged or broken.
With respect to possible display variations, it is known to control the energization of a neon light to produce a "writing" effect wherein the illuminated portion of the neon tube gradually increases in length from one end of the tube towards the other end thereof. Other special decorative effects which are achievable in neon lighting include flashing or blinking, a "bubbling" or striation effect, and a dimming or light modulation effect.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,440,488 to Skirvin discloses a circuit connectable to a gas-filled luminescent tube for illuminating progressive portions of the tube, i.e., for achieving a "writing" effect. The increase in the length of the illuminated portion of a gas-filled luminescent tube is achieved by varying the voltage, current and/or frequency of the input excitation signal. A resonant tank circuit including a capacitor and the primary winding of a transformer operatively connected to the flourescent tube is fed a polarized waveform having a frequency which is increased as power input to the waveform generating circuit (comprising a silicon controlled rectifier) is increased. The power supplied to the waveform generating circuit is increased by increasing the "on" time of another silicon controlled rectifier via a light source and a light sensitive potentiometer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,682,082 to MacAskill et al. relates to an electronic energization circuit for illuminating a gas discharge lamp and includes a transformer with a rectangular hysteresis loop. A secondary winding of the transformer is connected to the gas discharge lamp, while at least one primary winding of the transformer is connected to a transistor in turn tied to input terminals of the energization circuit. The transistor is controlled to have unequal on and off periods to eliminate striations in the gas plasma of the discharge lamp.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,415,839 to Lesea describes and illustrates an electronic ballast circuit with two series connected MOSFETs having a common output connected to a gaseous discharge lamp via a voltage-conditioning and current-limiting network. The MOSFETs are also connected to a d-c power supply and to a pulse generating circuit which turns the MOSFETs alternately on and off in response to feedback signals from the load and from a source terminal of one of the MOSFETs. In one embodiment of the ballast circuit, the signal on the common output of the two MOSFETs is a series of alternating positive and negative pulses varying in frequency and duration. In another embodiment of the ballast circuit, the load is driven by a triangular wave signal which is amplitude modulated in response to a feedback signal.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,087,722 to Hancock involves a circuit for energizing a gaseous discharge tube. The energization circuit includes a subcircuit for generating a square wave signal of varying pulse width to vary the output intensity of the gaseous discharge tube in accordance with ambient light conditions. The subcircuit is provided with photoresistors which change their resistance in response to the ambient light and thereby alter the trigger times of a pair of silicon controlled rectifiers. A flashing effect in the gaseous discharge tube is implemented by a transistor which grounds trigger inputs of the silicon controlled rectifiers under the control of a timing circuit.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,704,563 to Hussey discloses a fluorescent lamp operating circuit with a system for intensity control. At the center of the intensity control system are two transistors connected in a half-bridge arrangement and switched by high frequency signals produced by a pulse width modulation controller. The controller is triggered if two successive binary codes are detected on a power line by a receiver circuit. The output of the two transistors is fed to the primary winding of a transformer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,492,899 to Martin is directed to a solid state regulated power supply for a cold cathode luminous tube, wherein the repetition rate of power pulses to the luminous tube is varied to compensate for temperature and load changes. The tube is connected to a secondary winding of a transformer having a primary winding connected on one side to a power source and on an opposite side to a transistor switch. The frequency of a control signal fed to the base of the transistor changes in response to variations in a feedback signal originating at an auxiliary secondary winding of the transformer. The power supply includes several potentiometers for setting power, pulse width and temperature zeros or norms.

Ballast circuit for gaseous discharge lamp


A dissolved composition containing (A) one or more of [benzo-1,2,4-thiadiazine]-1,1-dioxide derivatives, (B) dimethyl sulfoxide, benzyl alcohol, or the mixture thereof; (C) water; and (D) one or more anionic surfactants and/or surfactants, other than anionic surfactants, having a nitrogen atom in the molecule thereof, or (D') n-decylmethyl sulfoxide, or (D") (i) one or more ampholytic surfactants and/or nonioni-cationic-polar surfactants and (ii) one or more nonionic surfactants having a nitrogen atom in the molecule thereof and, optionally, (E) isopropyl alcohol and (F) a pH controller.. This dissolved composition is effective as an ingredient for a hair germination and hair growth promoting agent.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a [benzo-1,2,4-thiadiazine]-1,1-dioxide dissolved composition and a hair germination and hair growth promoting agent containing the same as an effective ingredient. More specifically, it relates to a dissolved composition comprising (A) one or more of [benzo-1,2,4-thiadiazine]-1,1-dioxide derivatives (hereinafter called "the dioxide"); (B) dimethyl sulfoxide (hereinafter called "DMSO"); and/or benzyl alcohol (hereinafter called "BA"); (C) water; and (D) one or more anionic surfactants and/or one or more surfactants, other than anionic surfactants, having a nitrogen atom in the molecule thereof, or (D') n-decylmethyl sulfoxide (hereinafter called "n-DeMeSO"), or (D") (i) one or more ampholytic surfactants and/or nonionic-cationic-polar surfactants and (ii) one or more nonionic surfactants, having a nitrogen atom in the molecule thereof.
Furthermore, the present invention concerns a hair germination, hair growth promoting agent containing the dissolved composition as an effective ingredient. This dissolved composition can be utilized in the field of pharmaceuticals or the field of cosmetics.
2. Description of the Related Art
Dioxide has been used in the prior art as a therapeutical agent for hypertension, by injection, and as a therapeutical agent for hypoglycemia due to excessive secretion of insulin, by oral administration, but the generation of hypertrichosis has been reported as a side effect thereof (see: The Journal of Pediatrics, Vol. 71, No. 4, pp. 494-505, 1967).
On the basis of the above, an invention using dioxide as the hair germination, hair growth promoting agent by external application was disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 56-65811 and in Japanese Patent Application No. 60-256167.
In these inventions, as a main solvent for the dioxide, DMSO is used in the former and BA is used in the latter. However, the hair germination and hair growth promoting effects thereof are not satisfactory and, therefore, there is still a demand for hair treatment agents having greater hair germination and hair growth promoting effects.

Dissolved composition of [benzo-1,2,4-thiadiazine]-1,1-dioxide


An apparatus and method for transferring data messages between a sending station and a receiving station through a photonic multi-stage interconnect network (MIN). The MIN has a plurality of switches in each stage and has a plurality of inputs and outputs. Each output of each switch is connected to one of the inputs on each switch in the next succeeding stage of the interconnect device. The sending station or terminal selects a plurality of routing messages, one routing signal for each stage of the MIN, and also sends a data message or signal to a selected receiving terminal. Each routing message is sacrificial and thus ends at the stage of the MIN where it actually operates on a switch. After all routing messages are sent, one for each stage of the MIN, a path exists to the receiving station and the data message or signal is transferred.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to transfers of data between data origination stations and data reception stations through a network such as a multi-stage interconnect network and more particularly relates to transfers of data which may utilize a fiber optic transmission medium.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It has been known for some time to transfer digital data messages between a data origination or sending station and any one of a plurality of message receiving terminals through a message routing device. Those of skill in the art will be familiar with a number of systems which use electrical modes of data transfer. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,975,906 and 5,144,622, issued to Takiyasu et al. discuss a local area network (LAN) approach. Somewhat more recently, optical media have been employed for the transmission of digital information.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,710,348, issued to Craft, discusses the design and use of standardized interconnect modules. Each of the modules provides circuitry for the conversion of signals to and from external transmission lines and to and from internal logic levels. The modules utilize internal storage arrays for buffering of data and provide circuitry for handling control signals which are transmitted separately from the data signals. Additional circuits are used to provide parity generation and checking features.
The major problems associated with the Craft technique result in relatively slow communication between the sender and receiver even though the standardized interface may yield some system level advantages. U.S. Pat. No. 5,168,572, issued to Perkins, gives the promise of greater speed by employing a technique suitable for use with optical media. The buffering feature is eliminated with the general purpose switching elements providing optical paths for multiple levels of switching. However, separate paths are required for control of the switching elements. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,731,878, issued to Vaidya teaches the need for separate electrical control circuitry to route optical data streams.
An alternative approach is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,175,777, issued to Boettle. With this technique, the data signals are transmitted over shared pathways using wavelength division multiplexing. However, separate signal paths are required for control signals with the implication that these paths are electrical in nature, which is similar to the Vaidya approach. The control and data information are packed into the same packets in the electrical system of U.S. Pat. No. 4,771,419, issued to Graves et al. Unfortunately, by packing the control and data information together, the entire message must be buffered within each of the switch elements to permit the switch element to unpack the routing information. This introduces significant delays into the transmission process and necessitates substantially more hardware to implement. U.S. Pat. No. 4,701,913, issued to Nelson, similarly requires buffering of the message.

Self-routing multi-stage photonic interconnect


In a reproduction system for use in reproducing a still image from a sequence of predictive error signals which is read out of a memory and which is preliminarily processed into a sequence of preliminary processed signals, an intermediate circuit interrupts the preliminary processed signals in response to an external command signal. In the intermediate circuit, the external command signal is resampled by a sequence of frame pulses in a resampling circuit into a resampled signal so as to close a gate circuit. No predictive error signal is sent to an adder circuit during absence of the gate circuit. An identical error signal is repeatedly produced as a sequence of reproduced signals to reproduce the still image.

This invention relates to a reproduction system for use in reproducing a sequence of image signals subjected to redundancy reduction coding.
Attempts have been directed to create a reproduction system comprising a read-only memory which is formed by a compact disk (referred to hereinafter as a CD-ROM). The reproduction system might be available for purposes of amusement and education. Such a CD-ROM is used as an image source in the reproduction system. For convenience of description, the CD-ROM may be called a main image recording medium.
In this event, a succession of images should be memorized in the form of a sequence of image signals in the CD-ROM along with a voice signal accompanying the images. Herein, it is to be noted that such a CD-ROM has a memory capacity which is in the order of 540 megabytes. On the other hand, a usual color image has an amount of information of 500 kilobytes at every frame and should be transmitted at a transmission rate of about 18 megabytes per second.
As a result, when such images are stored in the CD-ROM without any redundancy reduction, the image signals stored in the CD-ROM are reproduced only as, for example, a time period of thirty seconds. This makes practical use of the reproduction system difficult because a requirement in market is directed to a long-term reproduction time in the order of one hour.
In order to respond to such a requirement, an image must be inevitably subjected to redundancy reduction coding or efficient coding. Otherwise, the above-mentioned long-term reproduction can not be realized by the use of such a CD-ROM. More particularly, each image signal for a single frame should be compressed or reduced in redundancy into a compressed image signal of about 5 kilobytes in average. This means that the image signal should be compressed at a compression rate of 1/120.
Recently, it has been proposed that a standard audio signal recording CD-ROM be used as a color image recording CD-ROM which realizes reproduction time of as long as one hour. In this case, an image signal for each frame is recorded on the color image recording CD-ROM in the form of a predictive error signal appearing as a result of efficient coding carried out in a manner to be described later. At any rate, the predictive error signal is subjected to redundancy reduction or compression and may be referred to as a redundancy compression signal. Such efficient coding may be, for example, interframe coding. When the interframe coding is used to code an image including a still portion and a moving portion having a small area in comparison with the still portion, it is possible to reduce an amount of significant information at the still portion.
The above-mentioned reproduction system is very effective and convenient for continuously reproducing, from a CD-ROM, a sequence of predictive error signals. However, it is to be noted here that no consideration is made at all about reproducing a still image from the predictive error signal sequence which might be continuously read out of the CD-ROM. Such a reproduction of a still image will be called a still image reproduction hereinunder and is not simply carried out on reproducing the predictive error signal sequence.
In order to reproduce a still image from a sequence of predictive error signals, consideration might be made about a circuit arrangement which may be a combination of a reproduction system as mentioned above and an image memory connected to the reproduction system. Specifically, a sequence of reproduced or decoded image signals is reproduced by the reproduction system and is once successively stored in the image memory prior to a visual display on a display device, such as a cathode ray tube. With this structure, it is possible to visually reproduce not only a moving image but also a still image. The still image reproduction is possible by repeatedly reading the same reproduced image signal out of the image memory. However, the connection or arrangement of the image memory makes the circuit arrangement intricate in structure. Moreover, it takes a long time for the circuit arrangement to switch from a moving image reproduction to a still image reproduction because the reproduced image signals are visually displayed through the image memory.

Reproduction system capable of reproducing a still image by interrupting a sequence of recorded signals


A heat pump or air conditioning system includes a process for calculating on a real time basis the capacity contribution of each of a number of heating or cooling stages. The calculated contribution is utilized to determine the number of stages that need to be activated at any point in time in the heat pump or air conditioning system.

This invention relates generally to air conditioning and heat pump systems and more particularly to method and apparatus for controlling the amount of heating or cooling capacity of these systems.
Air conditioning and heat pump systems are commonly driven by a plurality of heating or cooling stages that are selectively activated by a control system in order to achieve a desired amount of heating or cooling capacity. One approach to achieving desired heating or cooling capacity has been to sequentially activate stages until a desired temperature is achieved in the space to be heated or cooled. Another approach has been to selectively activate stages according to which stage has been idle for the longest period of time. Still another approach has been to first calculate the number of stages that will be needed to heat or cool an area to a desired temperature and then only activate that number of stages. This latter approach has been heretofore premised on providing the control system in advance with a predetermined gain value for each stage within the system. This gain value represents the nominal rise or drop in temperature that a given stage will contribute to the total rise or drop in temperature of the media to be heated or cooled. The control system calculates the differential in temperature between the current and desired temperature of the media to be heated or cooled. The control system thereafter proceeds to divide this differential by the aforementioned gain value per each stage. The result is the number of stages that need to be activated to achieve the desired temperature.
It is to be appreciated that the aforementioned calculation of number of stages to be activated is premised on the gain per stage value not varying significantly. This premise cannot be assured under certain circumstances. Specifically, this gain value will vary as a function of the temperature changes or air flow experienced by the condenser or the evaporator within the air conditioning or heat pump system in which the stages are operating. These changes in temperature will in turn affect the pressure differential across a compressor in each activated stage. This may produce a significantly different contribution by each stage to the total system gain than had been previously assumed.

System for controlling heating or cooling capacity in heating or air conditioning systems


The invention relates to a device for processing datastreams in a communications unit with two mutually-separate data-processing regions, which provide at least two separate message paths. The message paths are connected respectively to a message transmitter and a message receiver, wherein, in each message path, an encoding module is provided, which is connected both to a first data-processing region and also to a second data-processing region. Furthermore, in the second data-processing region, a distribution unit is provided, which is connected to the message paths of the first data-processing region and to all encoding modules of the corresponding message paths in order to distribute given messages in a targeted manner.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device and a method for processing datastreams in a communications unit.
2. Related Technology
A communications network is known from DE 10 2005 050 174 A1, which provides integrated central devices, wherein, for security-relevant reasons, one part of the device-internal data processing is done with encoded data and also with encoded service-quality data.
With this communications network, it is disadvantageous that the infrastructure provided therein meets only a single, defined standard, and the participating devices are conventional 1-line devices, which process a single radio communication method.

Device and method for processing datastreams


A novel compound has pharmacological activities comparable to those of Nahlsgen and is storable excellently stably. The compound can be produced by a method according to the present invention for producing an optically active 2-amino-phosphonoalkanoic acid salt. In the method, a starting material DL-2-amino-phosphonoalkanoic acid represented by Formula (1) or a hydrate thereof is reacted with an optically active basic compound other than an optically active lysine, to give a diastereomeric salt mixture including a first salt (including a hydrate salt) between a D-2-amino-phosphonoalkanoic acid represented by Formula (1-1) and the optically active basic compound, and a second salt (including a hydrate salt) between an L-2-amino-phosphonoalkanoic acid represented by Formula (1-2) and the optically active basic compound. The diastereomeric salt mixture is fractionally crystallized to isolate one of the first and second diastereomeric salts.

Nahlsgen (registered trademark) or GGsTop (generic name: DL-2-amino-4-[(RSp)-(3-carboxymethylphenoxy)(methoxy)phosphoryl]butanoic acid) is known as an excellent gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) inhibitor (for example, Patent Literature (PTL) 1).
Unfortunately, Nahlsgen is not crystallized, but is in an oily state at room temperature; and an amorphous powdery solid, which is finally obtained through lyophilization, is deliquescent and is liable to decompose at room temperature. This causes Nahlsgen to be stored as refrigerated or frozen and to be very difficult to handle.

Optically-active 2-amino-phosphonoalkane acid, optically-active 2-amino-phosphonoalkane acid salt, and hydrates of these


A process for preparing high modulus, high tenacity fibers of aromatic polyamide wherein a first constant tension within 40-95% of the fiber breaking load is applied to washed fibers at a temperature of less than 50.degree. C. for a duration of greater than 5 seconds, and drying the fibers at a second constant tension which is from 10-100% of the first constant tension and at a temperature of more than the temperature of the first constant tension and less than 350.degree. C. until the fibers have a moisture content of about 2 to 10%.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,767,756 describes a process for spinning para-aramids to provide fibers having excellent as-spun tenacity, modulus and breaking elongation. The p-aramid fibers obtained by the above-referenced spinning process have excellent properties but even further improvement in tenacity and modulus is often desired. U.S. Pat. No. 3,869,429 teaches that drying para-aramid fibers obtained using such processes under tensions less than about 0.3 gpd is preferred; but, that drying the fibers above 0.3 gpd reduces the breaking elongation of the fibers while increasing the modulus.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application (Kokai) Ser. No. 98,415/78 discloses a post spinning drying treatment of para-aramid fibers wherein the fibers are subjected to a single-step drying under a constant draw-ratio of about 20-90% of ultimate fiber elongation at a temperature of less than about 200.degree. C.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 11763/80 discloses a post-spinning fiber treatment of para-aramid fibers wherein the fibers: are drawn about 20-80% of maximum elongation at a temperature of less than 100.degree. C. while retaining residual spinning solvent in an amount of 100% of the weight of the dry fiber; are washed to remove the residual spinning solvent; and are dried and heat treated at a temperature greater than 300.degree. C. under tension which would provide constant length.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 11764/80 discloses a post-spinning fiber treatment of para-aramid fibers wherein the fibers: are washed in water; are drawn about 20-90% of maximum elongation while wet and in saturated steam at a temperature of greater than 100.degree. C., and are dried and heat treated at a temperature greater than 300.degree. C. under tension which would provide constant length.
Japanese Laid-Open patent application (Kokai) Ser. No. 88,117/85 discloses a post-spinning drying treatment of para-aramid fibers wherein the fibers, with greater than 50% water, are subjected to a stretching step through application of tension of 1-10 gpd and are then subjected to a drying step wherein the same length as with the tension applied is maintained all at a temperature of less than 200.degree. C.
Japanese Laid-Open patent application (Kokai) Ser. No. 167,015/86 discloses a post-spinning drying treatment of para-aramid fibers wherein the fibers are subjected to a tensionless preliminary dewatering to reduce the water content to about 20-80% and are then subjected to a single-step drying under a constant tension of 5-15 gpd and at a temperature of 50.degree.-150.degree. C.


Razors comprising a shaving aid comprising a soap base and a pyrithione source.

Providing soap mounted on a razor handle or cartridge is known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,584,690 describes a razor that carries a shaving preparation, e.g., in the form of a solid cake of soap that surrounds the cartridge. Further 2-in-1 razors are not new and have also been marketed under the Venus Breeze® line of razors and the Schick® Intuition® line of razors. See also US Patent Publ Nos. 2006/225285A and 2006/080837A, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,811,553.
Addition of pyrithione sources, such as zinc pyrithione, into soap bars for antibacterial purposes has been described. See e.g. US 2008/0249136 A1. The zinc pyrithione ("ZPT") can be added in the form of small or fine particles. Antibacterial bar soap including ZPT are often used because the surfactancy of the soap is believed to help in removal of microbial entities or microbials on the skin, while the antimicrobial agent such as the ZPT can deposit onto skin to provide residual protection against subsequent invasion.
One problem with the introduction of pyrithione source into soap bars is that during manufacturing, handling or storage of a bar soap, various metallic parts of the manufacturing equipment, for example pipes, nozzles may be contacted with the bar soap. In some situation, such contact can maintain a long time (e.g. overnight to 24 hours), and at a relatively elevated temperature. Such contact has the potential of causing a color change of the bar soap, so called "discoloration", which is from a colored precipitate. A number of solutions toward this pyrithione discoloration problem have been described. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,161,526, JP Patent Publication 2001-278863A, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,482,715, 4,957,658 and 4,818,436.
Although the addition of pyrithione sources into bar soaps is believed to provide antibacterial benefits in a washing context, the use of bar soaps in a shaving context has encountered other complexities. In particular, when skin is shaved with a razor cartridge, the razor blades can remove most if not all items present on the skin, such as, removing hairs, surface skin cells, shaving preparations, soap residue, skin care actives and any other ingredients or actives present on the skin before contacting the blades. As such, there remains a need to deliver antibacterial benefits such as those from antibacterial soaps in a shaving context, and preferably while avoiding discoloration issues.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Razor comprising a molded shaving aid composition comprising a pyrithione source


Provided is a semiconductor substrate and a method for manufacturing the same. The semiconductor substrate includes a substrate, a discontinuously formed hemispheric metal layer on the substrate, and a semiconductor layer on the hemispheric metal layer. A plurality of voids on the interface of the substrate and discontinuous hemisphere are formed to absorb or relax the stain of interface. Accordingly, even if a subsequent layer is relatively thickly formed on the substrate, substrate bow or warpage can be minimized.

A semiconductor device is one of electronic components that realize electronic devices (such as a power device, a light emitting device, a light receiving device, and so forth) on a predetermined substrate through semiconductor process techniques. For example, in the power device, a transistor, a Metal-Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (MOSFET), an Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT), or the Schottky diode is realized on a substrate. In the light receiving device, a photovoltaic cell or a photo sensor is realized on a substrate.
Especially, because of excellent physical and chemical characteristics, a III-V nitride semiconductor such as GaN receives great attention as a core material of a light emitting device such as a light emitting diode (LED) or a laser diode (LD). The LED or LD using the III-V nitride semiconductor is mainly used for a light emitting device in order to provide light in a blue or green wavelength range. The light emitting device is now applied to light sources of various products such as a scoreboard, and a lighting device. The III-V nitride semiconductor is typically formed of GaN-based material having an empirical formula of InXAlYGa1-X—YN (0<X, X+Y<1).
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a typical nitride light emitting device.
Referring to FIG. 1, the nitride light emitting device includes a GaN buffer layer 110, an n-type clad layer 120, an active layer 130 having a single quantum well (SQW) structure of InGaN or a multi-quantum well (MQW) structure of InGaN, and p-type clad layer 140, which are sequentially stacked on a sapphire substrate 100 (i.e., light transmitting substrate). At this point, a portion of the p-type clad layer 140 and the active layer 130 is removed through mesa etching, such that the top portion of the n-type clad layer 120 is partially exposed. Additionally, an n-type electrode 170 is formed on the exposed top portion of the n-type clad layer 120, and a transparent conductive layer 150 formed of ITO and a p-type electrode 160 are sequentially stacked on the p-type clad layer 140. Additionally, the GaN buffer layer 110 is generally formed with a thickness of several nm.
However, disadvantages such as stress and crystal defect caused by a difference of crystal lattice in each layer cannot be resolved in a typical heterogeneous substrate. Due to this, an electronic device (esp. a light emitting device)'s characteristics such as ElectroStatic Discharge (ESD), breakdown voltage, leakage current are deteriorated, which results in a decrease in the reliability of product yield and life time.
Additionally, when a nitride semiconductor device typically includes a nitride semi-conductor layer having a thickness of 5 μm or more on a heterogeneous substrate, substrate bow or warpage occurs severely. This makes it difficult to perform subsequent manufacturing processes such as substrate alignment, a photolithography process, and an etching process.

Semiconductor substrate and method for manufacturing the same


Non-psychoactive derivatives of .DELTA..sup.6 -THC-7-oic acid are described which have analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties.

.DELTA..sup.1 -Tetrahydrocannabinol [THC], depicted in Formula I under alternate numbering systems, is the major psychoactive constituent of marijuana. ##STR1## In addition to mood-altering effects, THC has been reported to exhibit other activities, some of which may have therapeutic value. The potential therapeutic value of THC has led to a search for related compounds which, while devoid of psychoactive effects, retain the activities of potential medicinal value.
Previous work with .DELTA..sup.6 -Tetrahydrocannabinol [(3R,4R) 6a,7,10,10a-tetrahydro-6,6,9-trimethyl-3-pentyl-6H-dibenzo[b,d]pyran-1-ol, hereinafter referred to as .DELTA..sup.6 -THC], has indicated that derivatives of this compound may prove clinically useful. The 7-carboxy derivative of .DELTA..sup.6 -THC [.DELTA..sup.6 -THC-7-oic acid] has been reported to be a non-psychoactive, potent antagonist to endogenous platelet activating factor and, thus, a useful treatment for PAF-induced disorders, such as asthma, systemic anaphylaxis, and septic shock. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,973,603, issued Nov. 27, 1990 to Sumner Burstein). Another derivative, (3S,4S)-7-hydroxy-.DELTA..sup.6 -THC-1,1-dimethylheptyl, has been reported to possess analgesic and anti-emetic activities. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,876,276).

(3R,4R)-.DELTA..sup.6 -tetrahydrocannabinol-7-oic acids useful as antiinflammatory agents and analgesics


A polishing device includes a processing vessel into which workpieces are charged, a fluidizing unit that fluidizes the workpieces in the processing vessel, an abrasive-feeding unit that feeds an abrasive into the workpieces, and a suction unit that generates an air flow in a direction in which the abrasive passes through the processing vessel, and recovers the abrasive by suction. The abrasive fed from the abrasive-feeding unit is allowed to pass between the workpieces charged into the processing vessel by the air flow generated from the suction unit while coming into contact with the workpieces. Accordingly, the workpieces are polished.

Processing, which is performed by an air blast device, is widely used as the polishing of workpieces. The air blast device is a device that performs polishing, such as the deburring of surfaces of workpieces, the adjustment of surface roughness, rounding, and the removal of a surface layer, by injecting an abrasive from a nozzle together with compressed air so that the abrasive collides with workpieces.
The size of a workpiece is not particularly limited in the polishing that is performed by a blast device, but a demand for the polishing of small workpieces has increased in recent years. For example, when the workpieces are electronic components, a demand for the polishing of small workpieces has further increased due to the spread of smart phones or tablet terminals.
Since a lot of workpieces can be polished at a time in the polishing performed by an air blast device, the processability of the polishing performed by an air blast device is good. However, since the abrasive is blown to the workpieces together with compressed air as a solid-gas two-phase flow, workpieces having a certain size or weight are scattered. A polishing device and a polishing method, which polish small workpieces, are disclosed in Patent Literature 1. In Patent Literature 1, as illustrated in FIG. 11, auxiliary tumblers into which workpieces are charged are put in a tumbler of a tumbler-type blast device commercially-supplied for general use and blasting is performed during polishing. Accordingly, polishing can be efficiently performed. However, since the auxiliary tumblers are used, the amount of workpieces to be processed is small in regard to the volume of the tumbler. For this reason, a polishing device having higher productivity is required.
Further, there is a case in which workpieces cannot be polished well by a polishing method known in the related art depending on the shape of the workpiece as in cases in which workpieces are very small, are flat, and include grooves. For example, when workpieces including narrow grooves are polished by barrel polishing, polishing media do not easily enter the grooves. For this reason, the workpieces cannot be polished well.


A computer-implemented method for safely migrating to virtualized platforms may include (1) identifying a virtual machine that is a target of a physical-to-virtual conversion from a physical server, (2) determining that the physical-to-virtual conversion includes at least one future step before the physical-to-virtual conversion is complete, (3) based on determining that the physical-to-virtual conversion includes the future step, creating a snapshot of the virtual machine before the future step, and (4) reverting the virtual machine to the snapshot before the future step. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.

In the digital age, organizations increasingly rely on complex computing infrastructures to store and process data. In some scenarios, an organization may wish to perform a physical-to-virtual conversion (e.g., to migrate and/or clone applications and data on a physical server to a virtual machine). Virtualization of physical servers may provide any of a variety of benefits to an organization, such as improved utilization of resources, increased administrative flexibility, and/or disaster recovery.
In some cases, physical-to-virtual conversions may span a length of time during which a target virtual machine is incrementally synchronized with a source physical server. Unfortunately, changes to the target virtual machine during this time may disrupt the synchronization between the source physical server and the target virtual machine and render the target virtual machine unusable. For example, if a user initiates the target virtual machine in between incremental synchronization jobs, the physical-to-virtual conversion may be corrupted. Accordingly, the instant disclosure identifies and addresses a need for additional and improved systems and methods for safely migrating to virtualized platforms.

Systems and methods for protecting virtual machines during physical-to-virtual conversions


A wireline cable length measuring apparatus tracks the length and other parameters of a wireline cable in a well bore. The apparatus has three major components: a rotational distance measuring assembly; a rotation-to-length (rotation:length) calibration assembly; and a processor unit. The rotational distance measuring assembly engages the wireline cable in a manner similar to a standard wireline count wheel, typically receiving the cable from a draw works or a wireline service truck. The rotational distance measuring assembly has a rotation sensor which generates a rotation signal in response to the paying-out and reeling-in of the cable over the count wheel. The rotation:length calibration assembly also engages the wireline cable. However, the rotation:length calibration assembly only intermittently engages the wireline cable, and therefore is subject to substantially less wear than the counter wheel. The rotation:length calibration assembly has a length sensor which generates a length calibration signal in response to the length of the cable in passing through the rotation:length calibration assembly. The length calibration signal is used by the processor to convert rotations of the counter wheel into calibrated length measurements. The processor component receives and processes the sensor signals generated by the other components of the apparatus and provides processor output signals relating to the length and other parameters of the cable passing through the apparatus and into the well bore. The processor unit includes a CPU which accomplishes the processing function of the present apparatus.

The present invention is in the field of geometrical instruments with a central processing unit for making measurements in a well borehole environment. More specifically, the present invention relates to, measurement apparatuses having a rolling contact borne on by a flexible material being measured, the contact caused to rotate by the relative movement between the contact and the material; and having a CPU system for performing the geometric calculation to yield a corrected length measurement.
Logging operations in oil and gas wells require accurate determination of the location of the logging tool in the borehole of the well. Various strategies have been developed to accomplish the accurate location determination of the logging tool during logging operations. One of these strategies involves monitoring the length of the cable or wireline supporting the logging tool payed into or reeled out of the well bore by the cable draw works. Then the downhole length of the cable is used to determine the location of the logging tool in the borehole during the logging operation. xe2x80x9cCount wheelxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9ccounter wheelxe2x80x9d systems are an example of a technology using this strategy to monitor the length of cable payed into a well bore from a logging tool draw works.
A specific example of a counter wheel type depth measurement system for wireline is disclosed in Kerr, U.S. Pat. No. 5,351,531. Counter wheel systems similar to that disclosed in Kerr typically rely on the use of at least one specifically calibrated count wheel which is matched precisely to the diameter of the wireline or cable loaded onto the cable drum/reel of the draw works to generate a distance of travel signal for the length of cable payed out or reeled in. However, if the operator of the draw works is required to change the cable supply reel or otherwise alter the size/diameter of the cable or wireline used in the draw works, the counter wheel must also be changed out to provide a counter wheel matched to the specific size/diameter of changed cable. Additionally, counter wheels are precision components and subject to replacement upon excess wear, as wearing of the counter wheel will adversely affect the accuracy of the cable length measurement. The matched counter wheel is required in such systems as Kerr because the distance of travel signal in Kerr relates to the length of the surface of the cable engaged with the count wheel, which mathematically is a function of the radius of the count wheel to its wheel surface. However, the distance of travel signal indicating count wheel surface travel does not relate to the true (or mean) length of the cable passing through the device. To relate to the true length of the cable passing through a count wheel type measuring assembly, the count wheel""s distance of travel signal must be corrected for the diameter of the specific cable engaged in the measuring assembly. Previously in the field, this correction was provided by using a count wheel matched to the size of cable/wireline loaded into the draw works. However, having to match the count wheel to the cable necessitates changing the count wheel whenever the size of the cable is changed.
Although the measurement system of Kerr and related devices may be useful for their intended purpose, it would be beneficial in the field to have an alternative measurement apparatus that did not require changing out the count wheel whenever the diameter of the cable was changed. Additionally, in wireline measurement systems like that of Kerr, where a full loop of the cable is engaged on the count wheel, the count wheel is always in use, causing continuous wear on a component of the system which directly impacts the system""s measurement accuracy. It would be further beneficial to the field to have an alternative measurement apparatus in which the high precision measurement component could be readily disengaged from the cable without otherwise interfering with operation of the draw works.
The present invention is an apparatus useful for determining the length of a cable downhole in a well bore, e.g., a wireline cable used in a hydrocarbon well logging operation. The present downhole cable length measuring apparatus can be practiced with standard wireline cable draw works as are typically used on drilling rigs for well logging operations. The downhole cable length measuring apparatus is disposed between the cable drum or reel of the draw works and the well bore.
The downhole cable length measuring apparatus comprises three major components: a rotational distance measuring assembly; a rotation-to-length (rotation:length) calibration assembly; and a processor unit.
The rotational distance measuring assembly component is disposed in engagement with the wireline cable, and typically receives the cable from a draw works or a wireline service truck. The rotational distance measuring assembly has a rotation sensor which generates a rotational distance signal in response to movement (the paying-out and reeling-in) of the wireline cable.
The rotation:length calibration assembly component also engages the wireline or cable, typically more proximate the well bore relative to the length measuring assembly. However, the rotation:length calibration assembly only intermittently engages the wireline cable, and therefore is subject to substantially less wear than the counter wheel. The rotation:length calibration assembly has a length sensor which generates a length calibration signal in response to the length of the cable in passing through the rotation:length calibration assembly.
The processor component receives and processes the sensor signals generated by the other components of the apparatus to provide at least one processor output signal relating the length of wireline cable passing through the apparatus and downhole in the well bore. The processor unit includes a CPU which accomplishes the processing function of the present apparatus.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a downhole cable length measuring apparatus wherein the cable length measurement can be determined independent of the apparatus"" counter wheel circumference or the diameter of the cable or wireline engaged in the apparatus.

Downhole cable length measuring apparatus