A fabric having a procedure map which enables identification, by a machine or by a person, of one or more of the fabric characteristics, e.g. the straight of grain, true bias, up-down direction, decorative pattern characteristic, distance from a selvedge or distance along a selvedge. The procedure map facilitates accurate measuring, marking, and cuffing of fabric e.g. for furniture upholstery, garments, draperies, linens and quilts.

Accurate measuring, marking, and cutting of fabric is important for many applications, including upholstery of furniture and the fabrication of garments, draperies linens and quilts. Factors which need to be considered include the grain of the fabric (lines parallel to the selvedge being referred to as lengthwise straight of grain, and lines at right angles to the selvedge being referred to as crosswise straight of grain), and, in appropriate fabrics, the position and repeat of decorative patterns, and the up-down direction, particularly the nap direction.
Modern garment cutting patterns are generally supplied with instructions, e.g. directional arrows on the pattern, how the cutting pattern should be positioned on the fabric, for example relative to the straight of grain. In present practice, in order to identify the straight of grain at any point on a conventional fabric, one must either reference the selvedge, and measure and mark the straight of grain at that point, or, if there is no selvedge, find another way of determining the straight-of-grain. Identification of other fabric characteristics, e.g. a nap or lay direction, or the position and repeat of a decorative pattern, similarly requires careful and repetitive work. As a result, a significant percentage of sewn items arrive on the market with visible problems resulting from failure to correctly account for fabric characteristics such as grain, nap, decorative pattern and repeat of decorative pattern.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,869,726 (Linda et al) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,839,971 (Schafer et al) describe attempts to mitigate the problems outlined above.


A wideband band bus in a base station of a wireless communication system includes consecutively interconnected slots and may be automatically configured into one or more sections that perform application specific cell processing operations, without requiring hardware or software changes to the base station. A section of the wideband bus includes a group of the consecutively connected slots containing digital signal processing modules which implement a cell processing application. The modules included in the slots of a section and the interconnections among the slots provide for diversity reception, expandable cell capacity and cell operations in accordance with wireless communication protocol standards.

Wireless communication typically involves the transmission of information between a mobile station, such as a cellular telephone or pager, and a fixed base station, such as, for example, a wideband digital base station which may accommodate multiple air standards simultaneously or MiniCell.TM.. The base station manages a communication link with a first mobile station to enable the transfer of communication data between the first mobile station and a second mobile station or a telephone network, such as a publicly switched local carrier or long distance exchange carrier.
Currently, a base station typically performs cell processing activities associated with initiating and maintaining a communication link to a mobile station using application specific digital signal processing and data transfer modules that operate in conjunction with a wideband data transfer bus. The wideband bus is ordinarily included in the base station as part of a general purpose telecommunication bus, and constructed with fixed and dedicated hardwired interconnections to modules on the backplane of a base station chassis. The modules interconnected with the wideband bus are organized as wideband data path cells that convert received analog radio frequency (RF) signals associated with communication links to digitized received communication data, such as telephone or voice data. The received communication data is suitably processed and routed to an indicated destination, such as a mobile station or a public telephone network. Further, the modules in a cell may operate in conjunction with the wideband bus to convert digitized communication data into a form suitable for RF transmission to a mobile station. The processing and routing of the communication data at the wideband bus of a base station and the associated modules may be performed in accordance with standard wireless protocols, such as, for example, TDMA or CDMA.
The typical wideband bus provides for management of several cells, each of which may establish and maintain communication links with several mobile stations which may be transferring communication data at different frequencies, respectively. In some circumstances, different cells on the wideband bus operate in accordance with distinct and unrelated air interface protocol standards.
Often, a base station already in operation cannot provide newly desired wireless services, such as establishing additional communication links for an existing cell or performing processing operations in accordance with newly developed-protocols. For example, the wideband bus design and interconnection arrangement of an existing base station may not have sufficient capacity to allow addition of another mobile station to an existing cell or may not have the capability to perform different processing operations associated with a new protocol feature, without requiring expensive and time-consuming hardware reconfiguration of the wideband bus and software reconfiguration of the base station. In such circumstances, the newly desired services may be obtained only by adding a new high cost base station to the wireless system, which may entail costly and time-consuming installation and configuration of the new base station along with reconfiguration of the existing base station for maintaining operating compatibility between the former and the latter.


An intellectual property management facility for proactively creating, developing and managing an intellectual property portfolio includes: determining available resource capacity for an intellectual property activity in a tracking system; assigning technical attributes to the activity in the tracking system; apportioning resource capacity for the activity by technical attribute based on the value assigned to each of the technical attributes and based on available resource capacity; obtaining actual resource usage by technical attribute from the tracking system; and managing resource allocation for the intellectual property activity by determining the difference between the actual resource usage and the resource allocation by technical attribute.

The term "intellectual property" refers to patents, trademarks, service marks, copyrights and proprietary technology such as trade secrets or know-how. Intellectual property is a special classification of intangible property, and is unique because the owner of intellectual property is protected by law from unauthorized exploitation of it by others. Computer software is considered intellectual property because it can be subject to patent, trade secret or copyright protection.
Intellectual property is a central resource for creating and maintaining commercial power. Creating, developing and managing of strategic intellectual property to ensure future licensing revenue has become an important goal in almost all industries.
Current intellectual property portfolios are most often developed tactically as the result of solving day-to-day technical problems associated with manufacturing, development, etc. The problem with this approach, however, is that portfolios are inherently the result of a reactive managing of resources; for example, in view of the day-today technical problems solved by inventors within the company.

Intellectual property management method and apparatus

International Business Machines Corporation


Embodiments of hybrid microfluidic assemblies comprise at least one microstructure that is formed of transparent material and is substantially free of non-transparent material and further comprise at least one microstructure that is formed of non-transparent material and is substantially free of transparent material.

The present disclosure is generally directed to microfluidic assemblies comprising fluidic microstructures, and, more specifically, to hybrid microfluidic assemblies comprising at least one microstructure that is formed of transparent material and is substantially free of non-transparent material and comprising at least one microstructure that is formed of non-transparent material and is substantially free of transparent material.


A method for resolving overlaps in the cell placement (placement legalization) during the physical design phase of an integrated chip design is described. This problem arises in several contexts within the physical design automation area including global and detailed placement, physical synthesis, and ECO (Engineering Change Order) mode for timing/design closure The method involves capturing a view of a given placement, solving a global two-dimensional area migration model and locally perturbing the cells to resolve the overlaps with minimal changes to the given placement. The method first captures a two-dimensional view of the placement including blockage-space, free-space and the given location of cells by defining physical regions. The desired global area migration across the physical regions of the placement image is determined such that it satisfies area capacity-demand constraints. The method also provides moving the cells between physical regions along previously computed directions of migration to minimize the movement cost. Also provided is an approximate method to model the movement of multi-row high cells.

This invention is generally related to the field of Electronic Design Automation as it applies to the design of semiconductor chips and, more generally, to a method for placing cells in a VLSI chip and legalizing the process with a minimal amount of disturbance to the cell placement.
Typical stages in an integrated circuit (i.e., IC's or VLSI chips) design flow include logic synthesis, floorplanning, placement, routing and timing analysis steps. The placement phase of physical design is of paramount importance given the impact of placement solution on design metrics like area, routability and timing. The cell placement problem is among the most fundamental in VLSI physical design and has been extensively researched over the past two decades. In the context of standard cells, the classical wire-length driven formulation can be stated as follows: given a netlist of standard cells, each component is assigned to a row and to an x-position in that row such that no two cells overlap and that the estimated wire length is minimized.
Placement techniques can be broadly classified as:    1) partitioning-based methods as described, e.g., in the article "Min-cut Placement" by M. A. Breuer, published in the Proc. of IEEE Design Automation and Fault-Tolerant Computing, pp. 343–382, October 1977, and in the article "Efficient network flow based min cut balanced partitioning," H. Yang and D. F. Wong, published in the Proceedings of the IEEE/ACM Int. Conf. Computer-Aided Design, pp. 50–55, 1994.    (2) analytical placement methods, as described in the article "Generic Global Placement and Floorplanning," by H. Eisenmann and F. M. Johannes, published in the Proceedings of IEEE/ACM Design Automation Conference, pp. 269–274, 1998; and    (3) annealing-based methods, as described in the article "Efficient and Effective Placement for Very Large Circuits," by W-J. Sun and C. Sechen, published in the IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design, pp. 349–359, 1995.
Most top-down large-scale placement techniques (like partitioning and analytical methods) divide the placement stage into global and detailed placement phases. The global placement phase assigns cells to global bins in a grid imposed over the layout area, and thereby decides the global ordering of cells. The detailed placement phase determines the exact cell locations through local perturbations to minimize a desired objective function.
Placement legalization specifically involves resolving overlaps in cell placement during the physical design phase. In general, placement legalization is a required step in several placement approaches to arrive at a valid overlap-free placement that satisfies design rule constraints. The input to the legalization phase is an overlapping placement configuration and the desired output is an overlap-free placement with minimal perturbation to cell locations. Overlap-removal techniques can be used within the context of both global and detailed placement algorithms that generate intermediate overlapping cell placement solutions requiring coarse or fine legal assignment.
Placement legalization is also vital in the context of physical synthesis, wherein the logic/netlist is changed to correct timing violations that invariably result in cell overlaps. In this scenario, it is desirable that any given cell does not move a large distance from the current location to find a legal placement slot, thereby minimizing the impact on the final timing results. The strength of the overall approach to correct timing through synthesis and placement transforms depends on the placement legalization technique that can effectively realize the solutions with minimal placement changes. Other physical design applications requiring an Engineering Change Order (ECO) facility from placement tools also benefit from such techniques that legalize the placement.
The method presented in the invention directly addresses such overlap-removal techniques.
Terminology:
Some standard terminology and definitions from literature are presented for clarity of content and to be utilized hereinafter:
Graph: A graph G=(V, E) consists of a set of objects V={ν1, ν2 . . . } called vertices (or nodes), and another set E={e1, e2 . . . }, whose elements are called edges, such that each edge ek is identified with an unordered pair (νi, νj) of vertices. The vertices νi, νj associated with edge ek are called the end vertices of ek. The most common representation of a graph is a diagram, in which the vertices are represented as points and each edge as a line segment joining its end vertices.
Details on the use of graphs may be found in the textbook Graph Theory with Applications to Engineering and Computer Science. Narsingh Deo, Prentice-Hall Publications, 1974.
Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG): A directed graph G consists of a set of vertices V={ν1, ν2 . . . }, a set of edges E={e1, e2 . . . }, and a mapping that maps every edge onto some ordered pair of vertices (vi, vj)].
Shortest Path: In the simplest form, a shortest path is referred to as the path from a given source vertex to a given destination vertex having the least distance (cost).
Depth First Search: As quoted from the aforementioned reference by Narsingh Deo, a depth-first search is a systematic traversal of the edges of a given graph such that every edge is traversed exactly once and each vertex is visited at least once.
Topological Order: The vertices of a directed graph G are said to be in topological order if they are labeled 1, 2, 3, . . . ,n such that every edge in G leads from a smaller numbered vertex to a larger one.
Maximum Flow Problem: Given a network with capacities on edge flows, the maximum flow problem seeks to find a solution to send as much flow as possible between two points in the network while honoring the edge flow capacities. Further details may be found in the textbook "Network Flows: Theory, Algorithms, and Applications", R. K. Ahuja, T. L. Magnanti, J. B. Orlin, Prentice-Hall Publications, 1993.
Minimum Cost Flow: Given a cost per unit flow on a network edge in addition to edge capacities, the minimum cost flow problem solves for the units of flow to be sent from one point in the network (the source) to one or more points in the network (sink) with minimum cost while honoring the edge flow capacity.
Area Migration: In the context of the present invention, area migration refers to the movement of standard cell area units from one region to another of a VLSI layout.
Manhattan Distance: The distance between two points measured along axes at right angles. In a plane with point p1 at (x1, y1) and point p2 at (x2, y2), the manhattan distance is given by |x1−x2|+|y1−y2|.
The need for placement legalization arises in almost all physical design flows. Several legalization approaches have been adopted in prior works that generally suffer from the following drawbacks: (a) typically use local search heuristics that does not have a global placement view; (b) disturb the given placement (order) significantly leading to inferior placement solution; and (c) do not behave well under difficult instances that have several cell overlaps in the same proximity or fail to legalize under these circumstances.
Among the notable overlap removal methods proposed in the prior art is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,943,243 which proposes a row level legalization approach, wherein cells are reassigned from over-capacitated regions to free-spaces between fixed-blocks. However, their method attempts a cell-by-cell legalization scheme with restricted local search and does not incorporate a global view of free-space contention, thereby, resulting in large movement of some cells to find a legal placement.
In another approach, described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,619,419, an analytical placement algorithm incorporating overlap removal through repulsive forces to spread cells apart is presented. Such a recursive approach to eliminate cell overlaps is often applied in many top-down placement algorithms but do not lend them for a post-placement legalization scheme.
There also exists some reference to overlap-removal techniques found in the literature, notably: modeling a detailed placement algorithm as a transportation problem which is solved using network flow techniques, as described in the article "Accurate net models for placement improvements by network flow methods," by K. Doll, F. M. Johannes, and G. Sigl, published in the Proc. IEEE/ACM Int. Conf. on Computer-Aided Design, pp. 594–597, 1992. Although this approach maintains non-overlapping placement, it does not explicitly address placement legalization issues since the input placement is assumed to be overlap-free. In addition, the aforementioned approach does not globally explore the available free-space in the layout area for cell placement assignment. A detailed placement algorithm using a network-flow based approach to migrate cells from overpopulated regions to free-space with minimal perturbation is described in "Algorithms for Detailed Placement of Standard Cells," Jens Vygen, published in the Proc. of Design Automation and Test in Europe (DATE), pp. 321–324, 1998. However, this modeling restricts the flow (movement) of cells to only the vertical direction across rows of regions and does not account for the horizontal movement of cells while satisfying global capacity and demand constraints. A legalization scheme that uses gain-graph model to ripple move cells to an overlap-free position in the context of detailed placement is presented in "Mongrel: Hybrid Techniques for Standard Cell Placement," S. Hur and J. Lillis, published in the Proc. IEEE/ACM International Conference on Computer-Aided Design, pp. 165–170, 2000. This method is applicable for resolving single-source overlaps caused by individual cell moves during placement refinement but does not handle multiple regions with overlaps simultaneously.
The approaches presented in the prior art either do not directly address the post-placement legalization problem or they fail to capture the global-view of the problem or they do not account for all the degrees of cell movement in the global-view context. The present invention proposes a two-dimensional model of the given placement instance as a global area migration problem where both horizontal and vertical movement of cells (area units) is effectively captured. Furthermore, efficient techniques to move cells to satisfy the desired area migration across regions with minimal perturbation from the given placement are also disclosed. The proposed approach provides a robust solution to legalize cell placement without compromising on the placement quality.

Method for legalizing the placement of cells in an integrated circuit layout


A solid state porous rubber overlayment friction course is formed from recycled rubber, plastic and/or other products, and facilitates drainage of standing water from the road surface. The overlayment may have holes running through its surface to expedite water drainage, and also may have grooves on its undersurface.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to pavement material, pavement construction, and both devices and methods for forming such pavement material and pavement constructions. More particularly, this invention concerns the recycling of asphalt and concrete, and the construction of environmentally sound and safe roads.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 is a cross-section of a region of a conventional asphalt pavement. Large aggregate 1 is mixed with small aggregate (or sand) 2, and these components are bound by tar 3. The top of the asphalt pavement 4 is exposed to traffic, while the bottom of the asphalt pavement rests on existing sub-base soil 5.
The top of the asphalt pavement 4 is exposed to the elements, and so is subjected to ultraviolet light from the sun, rain, snow, freezing during winter and thaw during spring. The pavement also experiences frictional wear due to vehicular traffic thereon.
Over time, these environmental and service factors cause the asphalt pavement to deteriorate. As a result, particles of asphalt 4, large aggregate 1, and small aggregate or sand 2 coated with tar 3 may be swept into drainage systems such as pipes and storm inlets. These drainage systems typically discharge into lakes, rivers, streams or oceans. As will be explained hereafter, such pavement particles contribute to water pollution.
The specific gravity of the tar particles 3 is very close to that of water, which has a specific gravity of one. Accordingly, when rainwater, sleet, and melting snow drain from the asphalt pavement, the tar particles 3 float and are swept into the bodies of water, such as lakes, rivers, streams and oceans, which receive the water discharge.
Tar particles 3 that are attached to small aggregates such as sand 2 are usually carried off into drainage systems such as pipes, culverts and storm inlets, where they settle to the bottom, since the tar and aggregate together have a specific gravity greater than that of the water.
Over time, as the asphalt pavement continues to deteriorate, a considerable quantity of aggregates 1 and 2 coated with tar 3 accumulates at the bottom of bodies of water, thereby depleting the oxygen in the water, and reducing the amount of aquatic life. In addition, the tar may contain heavy metals, which have already been shown to have other adverse effects. The results of such pollution are well-known, and it can markedly affect the health of wildlife and humans.
The continued degradation of asphalt pavement often results in pot-holes, which are major structural failures of the asphalt pavement. Asphalt material breaking away from these potholes also causes accelerated pollution of water resources in the manner already discussed.
A substantial amount of the water pollution which enters ground water, whether in aquifers, streams, rivers, bays or oceans, therefore originates as runoff from asphalt and concrete roads and parking lots. Wherever there are asphalt or concrete roads, driveways, or parking lots, pavement-based pollutants are likely to be introduced into the water runoff.
These water pollutants include hydrocarbons, which are inherently present in asphalt pavement. Asphalt pavement is composed of tar, sand and rock aggregates. The tar component of an asphalt road functions as a binder which holds the aggregate particles together. Tar is a thermo-plastic material, and it deteriorates when exposed to heat and/or ultraviolet energy. Since any asphalt used outside is continually exposed to heat and ultraviolet energy from the sun, that asphalt eventually degrades. Furthermore, vehicle traffic also wears down the asphalt road surface. As a result of both the thermal/ultraviolet degradation and physical wear, components of the asphalt road are released. As previously explained, these components are carried by storm water runoff into roadside waters and ditches which lead through stormwater systems to large bodies of water such as lakes, rivers, bays or oceans, and from there, into drinking water aquifers.
Still other sources of pavement degradation are the freeze-thaw cycles experienced during winter seasons, and the pumping action produced by vehicle traffic. Both of these phenomena physically flex the roadways and so cause pavement degradation, which further undermines both asphalt and concrete pavement.
Both asphalt and concrete roads also contain oil drippings which have fallen from passing vehicles. These oil drippings, which are eventually flushed into water outfalls, are a further source of water pollution.
Thus, tars, pavement particles, and vehicular oil drippings, whether on asphalt or concrete pavement, all of which are polluting substances, are carried into stormwater systems such as sewers, ditches, culverts, etc., from where they are ultimately deposited into streams, lakes, rivers, bays and oceans, so that they can enter the drinking water or food supplies. Using retention ponds to store stormwater is of no benefit; such ponds grow polluted and they become another source of ground water polluted by hydrocarbons and heavy metals.
It has been determined that hydrocarbon pollutants entering the water supply create serious health problems for both humans and wildlife. Such hydrocarbons are particularly detrimental when they enter the drinking water supply, since many water treatment plants add chorine to the water to kill bacteria. Chlorination of the drinking water creates conditions which lead to the production of chlorinated hydrocarbons. Chlorinated hydrocarbons are carcinogenic, so the presence of such cancer-causing chemicals is clearly undesirable.
Water treatment plants are not usually equipped to remove hydrocarbons, sulfur or dissolved metals from drinking water. Accordingly, by eliminating or at least reducing the amount of hydrocarbons, sulfur and heavy metals emanating from asphalt roads, adverse effects on drinking water can be reduced.
Still another reason why asphalt roads contribute to water pollution is because road tar contains heavy and light metals and sulfur. Heavy metals (i.e., copper, lead and mercury) and light metals (i.e., aluminum and arsenic) have been shown to be detrimental to the health of man and wildlife, especially if they enter the food chain. Sulfur, when combined with rainwater, acidifies the water, and the acidic runoff in turn acidifies lakes, rivers, streams, bays and even oceans. While the presence of such acids in water has been attributed to acid carrying clouds, which produce "acid rain," asphalt roads also contain sulfur which can be flushed out and contribute to acidic runoff. This acidic runoff, flushed from parking lots, streets and highways, is another source of acid water, which is perceived as the phenomenon "acid rain".
It is therefore essential that the tar in asphalt roads be rendered environmentally safe as a binding element. One way to do this would be to recycle the road material into an environmental non-polluting porous pavement.
Even non-polluting water runoff can be troublesome, because of the flooding which can result. This is a particular concern in newly-developed areas, where the construction of residential and business sub-divisions, shopping centers and roads may lead to increased water runoff. If the runoff exceeds the area's drainage capacity, flooding can occur.
A further concern in the design of roadways is the need to avoid having standing water on the roadway. It has been determined that the majority of skidding accidents occur because water has accumulated on the roadway. When a vehicle passes over such standing water, the water may accumulate under one or more of the vehicle's tires. This causes hydroplaning, which is a situation where the vehicle tire loses contact with the road surface, and "floats" on a film of water. Needless to say, hydroplaning is quite dangerous, since the ensuing skidding can cause a loss of control
Thus, there is a substantial need to provide roads which do not allow standing water to form thereon.
Still another concern in designing roads arises because conventional asphalt and concrete roads are composed of stone aggregates and sand which become polished by vehicle traffic. This polishing reduces the coefficient of friction between vehicles tires and the road, making skidding more likely.
Moreover, asphalt roads contain oils, which further reduces the coefficient of friction between tires and the asphalt roadbed. In addition, oil drippings which accumulate on the surface of either asphalt or concrete roads also can cause skidding
Accordingly, it is highly desirable to provide roads in which there is a high coefficient of friction between the road surface and the tires of passing vehicles.
Another aspect of this invention relates to improving the types of trucks which are used to process road paving material as it is shipped to the location where it will be formed into pavement. Conventional bulk mixing machines, which are known as transit mix trucks, are designed to mix conventional concrete. These machines are designed to mix relatively high slump materials, high meaning slumps ranging from 1-4. Lower slumps of concrete, i.e., concrete containing lower water-cement ratios, are difficult to produce using transit mix trucks, since such trucks contain angularly positioned rotatable drums with fixed internal blades that mix the concrete as it flows over the blades of the rotating drums. If one tries to produce low slump low moisture concrete in these machines, one ends up producing inhomogenous balls of concrete which have undergone little or no mixing. Furthermore, transit mix trucks are not designed to handle polymeric admixtures, as described throughout this application. Since such admixtures would render the mixing machines "sticky", the addition of such admixtures would cause cement to adhere to the inside surface of the truck's drum, rendering it virtually impossible to clean, and possibly even damaging the transit-mix truck.
Another conventional concrete mixing machine is known as a mobile mixer. Mobile mixers carry dry sand, stone aggregates, water and admixtures in separate compartments which are arranged on a truck bed. When the mobile mixer arrives at a construction site, the materials are batched mechanically, usually through a series of gates and valves. Mixing is performed by a mixing augur provided at the rear of the machine. One disadvantage to using these mobile mixers is that the augur must rotate continuously, and can never stop during processing, because the augur must rotate in order to achieve a homogenous mix. This, however, is nearly impossible to achieve, since whenever the machine is moved to different job sites, the augur must be stopped so that concrete will not pour out from the truck during relocation. Accordingly, the mobile mixer, while superior to the transit mix truck for batching low slump mixes, nevertheless suffers from the same disadvantages that were discussed previously with regard to the mobile mixers, namely, when the machine is stopped for transport, dry and non-homogenous concrete results.
While there are other types of mixing machines commercially available on the market, such machines are of quite limited mobility, or they otherwise suffer from at least some of the shortcomings of the transit mix truck and/or the mobile mixer.
Still another disadvantage of both the transit mix truck and the mobile mixer is that, once they have run out of concrete, they usually must be returned to a batch plant to be replenished with a fresh supply of material. These machines are therefore not well-suited for on-site batching and mixing.
Furthermore, the batching and mixing of recycled asphaltic products ("RAP") are not easily accomplished using currently available equipment.

Environmental porous overlayer and process of making the same


There is provided a method of forming a component package. The method includes the steps of providing the die pad or heat sink, forming an isolation layer on the rear surface of the die pad or heat sink and encapsulating the die pad with encapsulating material in a mold cavity after forming the isolation layer on the rear of the die pad or heat sink.

Component packages typically comprise a die pad or heat sink which supports the component, for example, in the form of a semiconductor chip. The die pad or heat sink and components are encapsulated in a resin material. This is generally achieved by locating the die pad and components within a mold cavity, and injecting or introducing resin material into the mold cavity. By surrounding the die pad or heat sink with resin material, an isolation layer is formed on the rear surface of the die pad.
The problem with this known method is that the die pad or heat sink may move within the mold cavity during injection of the encapsulating material, and accordingly it becomes difficult to reproduce a highly accurate isolation layer thickness on the rear of the heat sink. To try and overcome this problem, it has been proposed to maintain the position of the die pad or heat sink within the mold cavity, for example, using one or more pins which hold the die pad or heat sink in position. In one example, the pins are retractable, such that these are removed during the molding process. However, such retractable pins are liable to wear, and therefore regularly need replacing. Further, the retraction of the pins must be carefully controlled to ensure that the encapsulating material fills the spaces from which the pins were retracted. The difficulty in accurately timing the retraction of the pins may result in a highly inconsistent outcome of the product. Where the pins are fixed, it is necessary to remove the pins after initial molding, and to then fill the hole left by the pins. Typically, the material used to fill these holes is not the same as the mold compound, leading to a possible material mismatch.


An improved technique for establishing the position, dimensions and orientation of a vessel which is essentially free of internal acoustic discontinuities involves scanning the vessel with a beam of ultrasonic energy and, from the ultrasonic echoes received in the A-mode lines of sight of the ultrasonic beam, establishing a B-mode image of the vessel. An angle marker, in the form of a short line segment, is established, using the B-mode image, on or near a straight axis of the vessel. The length of the angle marker is divided into a number of sub-sectors, each of which receives approximately the same number of A-mode lines of sight of the ultrasonic beam. An average A-mode signal is obtained for each sub-sector. Comparison of the average A-mode signals provides information about the orientation of the angle marker relative to the axis of the vessel. Combining the average A-mode signals to obtain a composite signal and performing edge-detection analysis of the composite signal enables the edges of the vessel to be established with precision, and the diameter of the vessel to be determined accurately. A single computer can programmed to perform the analysis and re-position the angle markers (if necessary) on to the axis of the vessel. Using information obtained from this technique, accurate values of the flow rate of a fluid moving within the vessel can be obtained when Doppler frequency shift measurements are made.

It is now well known that ultrasonic echoscopy techniques can be used to provide information about an object that is not visible to the eye. The basic technique of ultrasonic echoscopy involves directing a short pulse of ultrasonic energy, typically in the frequency range from 1 MHz to 30 MHz, into the region of the object that is being examined, and observing the energy that is reflected, as an echo, from each acoustic impedance discontinuity in that region. Each echo received is converted into an electrical signal and displayed as either a blip or an intensified spot on a single trace of a cathode ray tube or television screen. Such a display of the echoes is known as an "A-mode" echograph or echogram, and is useful in a number of diagnostic techniques to locate the boundaries of the object or to provide other information about the region into which the pulse of ultrasonic energy has been directed.
If a series of adjacent A-mode displays are obtained (for example, by physically or electrically moving the transmitting transducer which produces the pulses of ultrasonic energy, or by scanning the direction of transmission of the pulses of ultrasonic energy), a two-dimensional image of the object under examination may be displayed on the cathode ray tube or television screen. Such an image or display of acoustic discontinuities is known as a "B-mode" image or display.
The use of the Doppler frequency shift in the ultrasonic examination of flowing liquids and moving objects is also well known. Many echoscopes which perform the B-mode imaging examination described above can also perform Doppler frequency shift measurements in respect of echoes returned from moving objects within the region receiving ultrasonic energy from the echoscope When the object under examination is a blood vessel, measurement of the Doppler shift of echoes from the blood cells within the vessel permits the velocity of those blood cells to be estimated. As pointed out by R W Gill, in his article entitled "Measurement of Blood Flow by Ultrasound: Accuracy and Sources of Error", which was published in Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology, Volume 11 (1985), pages 625 to 641, it is possible to measure the total volume of flow per unit time using an ultrasonic examination technique which includes the measurement of frequency changes due to the Doppler effect.
In ultrasonic examinations including Doppler frequency shift measurements, it is necessary to obtain echoes from a limited volume of the flowing liquid which is within the vessel being examined. This is achieved by fixing the line of sight of the ultrasonic transducer and, in the most commonly used version of Doppler measurement known as "pulsed Doppler", analysing the echoes obtained from the sample volume for a limited range of time delays. The Doppler shift in the received echoes is averaged in order to calculate the average speed of scatterers in the flowing liquid.
In current applications of the pulsed Doppler technique, a small sample volume within the vessel is selected by the operator of the echoscope, who moves a graphical representation of the sample volume over a B-mode image of the vessel. In this way, the B-mode imaging equipment is used to steer the ultrasonic beam and adjust the sample volume delay so that the actual sample volume position corresponds to that part of the vessel which is to be the subject of the Doppler shift measurement. The orientation of the vessel has to be known, so that the velocity of the liquid within the vessel may be calculated from the well-known Doppler equation: ##EQU1## where f.sub.D is the Doppler shift frequency, f.sub.o is the transmitted frequency, v is the blood velocity, c is the speed of sound and .theta. is the angle between the line of sight of the ultrasonic beam and the direction of flow of the liquid. In current implementations of this technique, the orientation of the vessel is obtained from observations of the graphical representation of the sample volume in the B-mode ultrasonic image.
In the volumetric measurement of flow, a larger sample volume is placed to encompass the entire vessel, and the total flow is calculated using the relationship: ##EQU2## where d is the vessel diameter and f.sub.D is the mean Doppler shift in frequency. When applying this formula, the diameter of the vessel is estimated by the operator, who identifies the positions of the two internal vessel walls on the B-mode image and places cursors on their images. The diameter of the vessel is taken as the distance between the cursor positions. This is a difficult measurement, and because the flow is directly proportional to the square of the diameter in the expression for flow, errors in the diameter measurement translate into greater errors when the flow values are estimated.
Another factor affecting the accuracy of blood flow measurements is the fact that, in humans and animals, the diameter of most vessels varies during the cardiac cycle. This is particularly so in the case of arteries. Hence, for greatest accuracy, the instantaneous values of f.sub.D and d should be obtained repeatedly and the expression in equation (2) should be averaged over several cardiac cycles.

Ultrasonic method and apparaus for determination of vessel location and size

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation


The transmyocardial implant for establishing blood flow through the myocardium between a heart chamber and a lumen of a coronary vasculature includes a hollow rigid conduit extending between the lumen and the heart chamber. The conduit is formed of a rigid material to resist deformation in response to contraction of the myocardium and the conduit is resistant to thrombus. A tissue growth-inducing material is secured to an exterior of the conduit. The tissue growth-inducing material is positioned to discourage tissue growth over openings of the implant.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to an implant for directing blood flow directly between a chamber of the heart and a coronary vasculature. More particularly, this invention pertains to such an implant with an enhanced design for securing placement of the implant.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/882,397 filed Jun. 25, 1997, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Performing Coronary Bypass Surgery", and filed in the name of inventors Mark B. Knudson and William L. Giese, teaches an implant for defining a blood flow conduit directly from a chamber of the heart to a lumen of a coronary vasculature. An embodiment disclosed in the aforementioned application teaches an L-shaped implant in the form of a rigid conduit having one leg sized to be received within a lumen of a coronary artery and a second leg sized to pass through the myocardium and extend into the left ventricle of the heart. As disclosed in the above-referenced application, the conduit is rigid and remains open for blood flow to pass through the conduit during both systole and diastole. The conduit penetrates into the left ventricle in order to prevent tissue growth and occlusions over an opening of the conduit.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved transmyocardial implant with enhanced fixation structure.


A connector utilized to electrically connect together conductive pads disposed on different substrates includes a flexible substrate having a plurality of conductive through-holes therein. A conductive line formed in the flexible substrate extends between at least two of the conductive through-holes. A plurality of contacts are mounted in the conductive through-holes of the flexible substrate. Each contact includes a post connected to a base of a crown-shaped head having a plurality of projections around the periphery of the base that extend away from the base in the direction opposite the post. The post of each contact is soldered into one of the plurality of conductive through-holes. A compression mat positioned on a side of the flexible substrate opposite the crown-shaped heads includes a plurality of resilient cylinders that extend away from a resilient base. Each resilient cylinder has a distal end alignable in registration with a distal end of the post of one of the plurality of contacts. A compression fitting is positionable adjacent the resilient base of the compression mat. The compression fitting co-acts with one of the substrates to apply a clamping force therebetween that urges a projection of each contact into electrical contact with one of the conductive pads.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electrical connectors and, more particularly, to high density electrical connectors utilized to electrically connect electronic devices disposed on two or more printed circuit boards.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Increased integration of electronic devices has created an interconnection problem for printed circuit boards receiving these devices. Specifically, the number of interconnections required to electrically connect together two or more printed circuit boards receiving these electronic devices has exceeded the connection densities of prior art pin-in-socket connectors. Moreover, these prior art pin-in-socket connectors typically have relatively long and unshielded lengths which have uncontrolled impedances resulting in less than desired electrical performance.
A high contact density connector utilizable for electrically connecting together electronic devices received on two or more printed circuit boards and overcoming the foregoing problems is disclosed in an article entitled "A High Density Edge Connector" by J. Campbell et al., Copyright 1995 IEEE. This article discloses a flex circuit formed of a 2 mil thick polyimide film having 3 mil wide copper lines plated onto one side thereof and 25 mil round contact pads plated on the side of the film opposite the circuit lines and along both edges of the film 4 mil diameter plated through-holes, or vias, extend between the contact pads on one side of the film and the circuit lines on the other side. Palladium dendrites, or spires, are electro-deposited on surfaces of each contact pad. These dendrites straddle dust or fibers and puncture oils or films present on each contact pad prior to connector mating and produce on each contact pad a multitude of conductive connections. The connector includes a molded plastic force block to which elastomeric cylinders are molded These cylinders act as springs which provide force, when compressed during assembly, to make and maintain an electrical connection between the contact pads on the film and the pads on a printed circuit board. One cylinder is provided for each contact and compensates for any variation in planarity and tolerance accumulation. Conical alignment pins are utilized to mate alignment holes in the flex circuit with alignment holes in the printed circuit board during assembly, thereby ensuring proper registration between the contact pads on the film and the pads on the printed circuit board.
Another flexible circuit connector for connecting a daughter card and a mother board is disclosed in an article entitled "A High Density Pad-On-Pad Connector Utilizing A Flexible Circuit" by R. S. Pokrzywa, Copyright 1993 IEEE. This connector utilizes a two-sided flex circuit having plated, spherical contacts contacting flat printed circuit pads on the daughter card and on the mother board. The spherical contacts on the flex circuit are 5 mils in diameter and have a copper base metal overplated with nickel and gold. Alignment pins are utilized to align the flex circuit, the daughter card and the mother board so that each spherical contact mates with a desired printed circuit pad. Precipitation hardened stainless steel curved beams provide contact force for reliable connection between the spherical contacts and the printed circuit pads. During actuation, the curved beam is flattened to produce a uniform load across the contact area. An elastomeric pad is positioned between the beam and the contact area to accommodate local discrepancies in load across the contact area and to focus the connector forces. In one embodiment, the elastomeric pad has a plurality of elastomeric cylinders utilized to back-up the spherical contacts. In another embodiment, where size does not permit molding individual cylinders for each spherical contact, an elastomeric rib is utilized to back a row of spherical contacts.
A problem with spherical contact pads and electro-deposited dendrites on contact pads is that they inconsistently break through contaminants, such as oxides, films or foreign materials, that may be present thereon or on the contact pad of a printed circuit board. Hence, inadequate electrical contact or, in some instances, no electrical contact is made between the contact pad of the flexible circuit and the contact pad of the printed circuit board. Moreover, the formation of dendrites on the contacts of the flexible circuit increases the cost of such connectors.
It is therefore an object the present invention to provide a connector which overcomes these drawbacks of the prior art connectors. It is an object of the present invention to provide a compression connector contact that promotes electrical contact with a conductive pad of a printed circuit board. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for making a connector that utilizes the provided compression connector contact. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of making a flexible circuit connector that is less costly to manufacture than the prior art flex circuit connectors.

East Pennsboro Township, Cumberland County


A pizza box and blank having a unique cover-locking structure comprising (a) a tab extending from a front end edge of a panel of a side wall assembly and (b) a tab engaging edge disposed in or on a cover assembly. A main advantage is a cover-locking structure that provides ease of use and secure cover closure, along with possible material savings.

Each year thousands of pizza businesses sell millions of hot pizzas for delivery and carry-out. The success of these businesses depends to an extent on the cost and functionality of the boxes used for packaging the product. Ideally, these boxes should be cost-effective and easy to use.
To achieve cost-effective, easy to use packaging, it would be desirable to have a cover-locking structure that requires only a minimal amount of extra material to incorporate into a box blank and also is easy to operate and maintains a reasonably tight cover closure after repeated opening-and-closings of the box. This is particularly the case with the D-type pizza box presently used by Domino's Pizza.
Information relevant to attempts to address these problems and achieve this type of pizza packaging can be found in Philips et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,702,054 granted Dec. 30, 1997 and Keefe, Jr. et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,749,106 B2 granted Jun. 15, 2004.
Philips et al. discloses a cover-locking structure comprising a tab at opposing ends of a cover front flap with the projections engaging with slits at opposing ends of the front wall assembly. The height of the cover front flap is substantially the same height as that of the front wall of the box. This cover-locking structure is relatively material-efficient and easy to use. This cover-locking structure is presently in use on the Domino's Pizza pizza box.
Keefe, Jr. et al. discloses a relatively complex cover-locking structure consisting of a tab extending from a front end edge of each of a pair of diagonal corner panels attached to a front end of side wall panels. Further, the front wall of the box contains openings for receiving the tabs. The engagement of the tabs with these openings serves to hold the corner panels and attached side wall panels in upright or vertical position. Still further, there is a flap attached to the top edge of the front wall. Finally, there are cover diagonal flaps attached to front diagonal edges of the cover panel. These cover flaps wrap around the ends of the front wall flap when the box is closed and, thereby, hold the cover in closed disposition.
In conclusion, it would be highly desirable to provide a pizza box and blank that satisfies the need for cost-effectiveness and ease of use, particularly as applies to the D-style pizza box presently used by Domino's Pizza.


The invention relates to a flexible pipe for transportation of fluids and gasses, e.g. useful in water transportation, and in offshore transportation of crude oil e.g. from seabed to an installation or between installations. The flexible pipe of the invention comprises a new type of armouring layers which is made from a combination of one or more profiled wires and one or more metal strips. A folded strip is an endless unit with at least one fold and a width which in unfolded condition is at least 6 times its thickness, such as at least 10, such as at least 15, such as at least 25 times its thickness or even up to 100 or 500 times its thickness. A profile is a preshaped non-folded cross sectional profile. The profile may preferably have a width of less than 6 times its thickness. The term ‘endless’ is used to indicate that the tapes and profiles are very long compared to their other dimensions.

The flexible pipes for offshore use are often unbonded pipes. The term "unbonded" means in this text that at least two of the layers of the pipe are not bonded to each other. Often unbonded flexible pipes comprise an internal sheath which forms a barrier against the outflow of the fluid which is conveyed through the pipe, and one or more armouring layers on the outer side of the internal sheath (outer armouring layer(s)). The flexible pipe may comprise additional layers such as a carcass which is an inner armouring layer to prevent the collapse of the internal sheath. An outer sheath may be provided with the object of forming a barrier against the ingress of fluids from the pipe surroundings to the armouring layers. In practice the pipe will normally comprise at least two armouring layers, which are not bonded to each other directly or indirectly via other layers along the pipe. Thereby the pipe becomes bendable and sufficiently flexible to roll up for transportation.
Typical unbonded flexible pipes are e.g. disclosed in WO0161232A1, U.S. Pat. No. 6,123,114 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,085,799.
The above-mentioned type of flexible pipes is used, among other things, for off-shore as well as some on-shore applications for the transport of fluids and gases. Flexible pipes can e.g. be used for the transportation of fluids where very high or varying water pressure exists along the longitudinal axis of the pipe, such as riser pipes which extend from the seabed up to an installation on or near the surface of the sea, pipes for transportation of liquid and gases between installations, pipes which are located at great depths on the seabed, or between installations near the surface of the sea.
In traditional flexible pipes, the one or more armouring layers are most often in the form of helically wound steel wires e.g. shaped as profiles, where the individual layers may be wound at different winding angle relative to the pipe axis. Inner armouring layers are often made from folded interlocked steel strips, e.g  folded strips, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,415,825.
In order to avoid formation of undesired gabs between the helically wound wires of the armouring layer, and in particular armouring layer adjacent to a internal sheath, the armouring layer are formed from interlocked profiled wires. A number of prior art documents disclosing such armouring layers formed from interlocked profiled wires. U.S. Pat. No. 6,065,501 discloses an armouring layer formed from interlocked T profiled wires or formed from alternating T and U profiled wires interlocked into each other. U.S. Pat. No. 6,415,825 discloses an armouring layer formed from interlocked Z profiled wires. U.S. Pat. No. 6,354,333 discloses I or H profiled wires interlocked a U profiled wires. U.S. Pat. No. 6,235,793 disclosed an armouring layer formed from X profiled wirers interlocked by a U profiled wires.
The object of the invention is provide a flexible pipe with an alternative armouring layer, which is simple to produce and has the necessary strength for use as armouring layers, such as pressure armouring layer and carcass.
This object has been achieved by the invention as claimed.


The present invention provides a light-emitting apparatus and a method by which a crowd-based display is created wherein each light-emitting apparatus represents one of many independently moving pixels in the crowd-based display. This invention also provides methods, both internal and external to the light-emitting apparatus, by which the visual display sequence is controlled to provide various forms of colorful illumination. This invention discloses a shock wave method, a time-synchronized playback method, and a laser-based actuation method for creating the visual displays of illumination.

Many forms of crowd-unifying entertainment take place at sporting events, concerts, or other like stadium events with large crowds. Such activities include "the wave" phenomenon, flashing colored display cards, and the like. "The wave" refers to a spontaneous, concerted motion of attendees located in a stadium. This concerted motion, "the wave," occurs when persons in one section of the stadium quickly stand up in unison, throwing their arms up into the air, and quickly, in unison, sit back down in their seats. The next adjacent seating section of the stadium, usually in a clockwise circulating direction, then quickly repeats the same collective body action behavior. This collective human behavior continues in one direction around the stadium and may continue for several revolutions around the entire stadium seating area. The effect of this collective human behavior creates the visual appearance of a waveform pattern.
Some stadium events also include colored display cards in each patron's seat. The display card is colored, decorated, or unique in some manner, and is used in concerted motion at a particular point, such as a sporting event halftime show, or an opening ceremony, to provide a crowd-based visual display, visible from great distances. This display, through the use of differing colors amongst the cardholders, presents some visually pleasing image to views on the opposite side of the stadium or to a television audience, for example, such as from an airplane, helicopter, blimp, or the like.
Both "the wave" and the use of colored display cards are visible from great distances. Whether viewers in an aircraft or viewers at opposite ends of a stadium, all should be able to observe the crowd-based display. Such events or activities are provided, or spontaneously happen, to entertain both participants and observers in a context that only large groups of people in a stadium seating arrangement can provide.
Unfortunately, these traditional crowd-based displays suffer from a number of deficiencies. For example, such displays are usually static in terms of content. During "the wave," in which a person is either seated or standing, the person remains in the same seat location within the stadium. During a display card stadium event, a display card is either visibly shown or stowed under the stadium seat. The participant does not walk about freely in the stadium holding the display card. Additionally, an event such as "the wave" occurs only a few times during an event, and the display card exercise usually occurs only once, such as at a sporting event halftime show or an opening ceremony.
It is therefore desirable to have an apparatus and method by which crowd-based displays are created, wherein a stationary or mobile patron's hand-held light-emitting apparatus comprises one of many independently-moving pixels in the display. Furthermore, it is desirable to have methods and control sources by which the display sequence of colored lights is controlled.
Known in the art are devices that incorporate the use of LEDs, or light-emitting diodes, in their construction to provide a hand-held colorful light display. An LED is a semiconductor device that emits incoherent narrow-spectrum light. Known LED products in the marketplace that provide a hand-held colorful light display include a spinner ball LED wand (http://www.clubthings.com/product1069.html), a laser pointer and multi-color LED wand (http://www.yoyostore.com/laspoinmulco.html), an LED message wand to display any one of eight pre-programmed or custom light up messages (http://www.lightgod.com/store/product.asp?catid=1&subcatid=962&id=3608), a lighted LED wand, comprised of a multi-color nine-inch lighted flashing wand, (http://www.windycitynovelties.com/EPaysoft/Cart/product.asp?ITEM_ID=7372&CatID=0), and a strober wand (http://www.technomoves.com/strober.html).
Patent applications known in the art that include the use of LEDs for colorful visual displays or that include LEDs in a hand-held device, such as a flashlight or medical instrument include, for example, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0007672, filed by Benson et al. and published on Jan. 12, 2006, disclosing a user-wearable LED display. A user wearable display apparatus contains a light source that emits light and is positioned so as to illuminate a design on the surface of the display apparatus and attract viewers. The display apparatus also contains a power supply that provides power to the light source.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0040773, filed by Lebens et al. on Feb. 24, 2005, discloses a method and apparatus for hand-held portable LED illumination. The illumination source includes a plurality of LEDs, and an electrical circuit that selectively applies power from the DC voltage source to the LED units, wherein the illumination source is suitable for hand-held portable operation. In some embodiments, the electrical circuit further includes a control circuit for changing a proportion of light output having the first characteristic color spectrum output to that having the second characteristic color spectrum output, and that drives the LEDs with electrical pulses at a frequency high enough that light produced has an appearance to a human user of being continuous rather than pulsed. Still another aspect provides an illumination source including a housing including one or more LEDs; and a control circuit that selectively applies power from a source of electric power to the LEDs, thus controlling a light output color spectrum of the LEDs.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0057919, filed by Wong et al. on Mar. 17, 2005, discloses a method and apparatus for illuminating lighting elements in one or more predetermined patterns. A preferred frequency controlled lighting system implementing this method includes a motion switch, a controller, and lighting elements. The motion switch creates an activation signal in response to movement of the motion switch, the activation signal indicating at least one of duration of electrical engagement or frequency of electrical engagement within the motion switch. The controller detects the activation signal generation and uses a signal analysis system to analyze the activation signal. Preferably, a short signal circuit within the signal analysis system detects when the duration of electrical engagement is less than or equal to a predetermined duration level, a long duration circuit within the signal analysis system detects when the duration of electrical engagement is greater than the predetermined duration level, and a fast frequency circuit detects when the frequency of electrical engagement is greater than a predetermined frequency threshold. In response to properties of the activation signal, the signal analysis system commands a pattern generator to illuminate the lighting elements in one or more predetermined patterns.
While these and other devices and methods have attempted to solve the above mentioned problems, none have provided for a light-emitting apparatus and a method by which a crowd-based display is created wherein each light-emitting apparatus comprises one of many independently-moving pixels in the crowd-based display. Therefore, a need exists for such a device and associated methods of manufacture and use.

Apparatus and method for creating a crowd-based visual display with pixels that move independently


A decoding method, a memory storage device and a memory control circuit unit are provided. The decoding method includes: sending a read command sequence for reading multiple memory cells so as to obtain multiple first bits; determining whether the first bits have a first error; if the first bits have the first error, executing a first iteration decoding procedure on the first bits so as to obtain multiple second bits, and recording first bit flipping information of the first iteration decoding procedure; determining whether the second bits have a second error; and If the second bits have the at least one second error, executing a second iteration decoding procedure on the second bits according to the first bit flipping information so as to obtain multiple third bits.

Technology Field
The present invention relates to a decoding method and more particularly, to a decoding method, a memory storage device and a memory control circuit unit for a rewritable non-volatile memory module.
Description of Related Art
The markets of digital cameras, cellular phones, and MP3 players have expanded rapidly in recent years, resulting in escalated demand for storage media by consumers. Due to having characteristics, such as data non-volatility, low power consumption, compact size and no mechanical structure, the rewritable non-volatile memory module is suitable for being built in the aforementioned portable multi-media devices listed for example.
Generally speaking, in order to ensure data integrity, data to be written into a rewritable non-volatile memory module is encoded. The encoded data is then written into the rewritable non-volatile memory module. The data read from the rewritable non-volatile memory module is decoded by means of a decode procedure. Among a variety of decoding algorithms, a bit flipping decoding algorithm is less complex. However, the bit flipping decoding algorithm also has relatively low rate of decoding success.
Nothing herein should be construed as an admission of knowledge in the prior art of any portion of the present invention. Furthermore, citation or identification of any document in this application is not an admission that such document is available as prior art to the present invention, or that any reference forms a part of the common general knowledge in the art.

Decoding method, memory storage device and memory control circuit unit


An ink container, adapted to supply an ink composition to an ink jet recording apparatus including a recording head for discharging the ink composition, includes an ink chamber containing the ink composition, the ink chamber including a wall defining the ink chamber and a support connected to an inside of the wall to support the wall; and an ink pouring port through which the ink composition is poured into the ink chamber, in which, in a use state of the ink container, in a case where the ink chamber is filled with the ink up to 50% of the volume thereof, an area of the support in contact with the ink composition is larger than an area of the support in contact with atmosphere.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an ink container which is mounted on an ink jet recording apparatus and is capable of supplementing an ink composition.
2. Related Art
In the related art, there has been known an ink jet recording apparatus which records images or the like on a recording medium with minute ink droplets discharged from nozzles of a recording head for ink jet recording. The ink jet recording apparatus includes an ink container (for example, an ink cartridge) for supplying an ink composition to the recording head.
As such an ink container, there has been known a refill (pouring) type ink container (a so-called continuous supply type ink container) in which a continuous supply type ink container is refilled with an ink composition instead of replacing the ink container, as well as a replaceable ink container (a so-called ink cartridge) in which the ink container itself is replaced, when an ink composition in the ink container is equal to or less than a predetermined amount. For example, in JP-A-2012-148511, there is disclosed an ink jet recording apparatus which supplies ink from a continuous supply type ink tank to an ink jet head through an ink supply tube, and the ink tank has an ink-refillable structure.
In the continuous supply type ink tank as disclosed in JP-A-2012-148511, an ink chamber for housing the ink composition is provided therein. In such an ink chamber, a support (such as a rib) is provided in order to hold the shape of the ink container and to improve the strength or rigidity thereof in some cases.
The continuous supply type ink container as disclosed in JP-A-2012-148511 is a so-called atmosphere open type container in which an ink chamber is opened to the atmosphere. Thus, an interface (gas-liquid interface) between the air present in the upper side of the ink chamber and the ink is generated in the ink chamber.
Here, when the ink in the ink chamber is consumed, the ink attached to the support is dried by coming into contact with air present in the upper side of the ink chamber and thus it is easy to form a thin film. The formed thin film is easily peeled and the peeled thin film forms aggregates in the ink in some cases. As a result, the aggregates are supplied to the head and then it results in clogging the head (nozzle).
Meanwhile, there is a case where a filter for capturing foreign substances such as aggregates is provided in a flow path of the ink container. In a case where an ink cartridge type ink container which is replaceable instead of ink refill is used, even though the aggregates are captured by the filter, the ink container is replaced before the captured aggregates interfere with the ink supply in many cases. Thus, the clogging of the filter occurred less frequently. However, since the continuous supply type ink container which can be refilled with ink has a very long period of use compared to the ink cartridge type ink container, inconveniences such as ink supply failure due to the aggregates captured by the filter become apparent easily.


A management apparatus includes a processor coupled to a memory. The processor is configured to identify, in a case that a first file is updated or deleted, a second file that has a reference relation with the first file by referring to correspondence information indicating a correspondence between a referred-to-by file and a referred-to file, and check consistency between the second file and the first file.

In some cases, a definition or information of a document includes a relation among a plurality of files. For example, in the case of extensible markup language (XML) files, a relation between files is defined by describing an Xlink indicating a linked-to file in a linked-from file.
When a content of an XML file is updated, an information management system that manages XML files exclusively locks all files related to the XML file to be updated, and the information management system analyzes all exclusively locked files to check consistency between the file to be updated and the related files. If the check indicates good consistency, the information management system updates the content of the file. More detailed information about this technique may be found, for example, in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2006-107215.
However, the processing load in checking the consistency between the file to be updated and related files increases with the total number of related files. That is, because the information management system analyzes all related files to check the consistency between the file to be updated and the related files, the processing load of checking the consistency increases with the number of files.
Note that not only when a file is updated, but when a file is deleted, a similar problem may occur.

Management apparatus and management method


A computer-implemented method for improving the efficiency of computing an activation function in a neural network system includes initializing, by a controller, weights in a weight vector associated with the neural network system. Further, the method includes receiving, by the controller, an input vector of input values for computing a dot product with the weight vector for the activation function, which determines an output value of a node in the neural network system. The method further includes predicting, by a rectifier linear unit (ReLU), which computes the activation function, that the output value of the node will be negative based on computing an intermediate value for computing the dot product, and based on a magnitude of the intermediate value exceeding a precomputed threshold value. Further, the method includes, in response to the prediction, terminating, by the ReLU, the computation of the dot product, and outputting a 0 as the output value.

The present invention relates generally to computing technology, and particularly to improved efficiency of neural network computations by facilitating an efficient dot-product computation using predictive zero-skipping during activation function computations.
Deep learning has led to state-of-the-art improvements in the accuracy of many artificial intelligence tasks such as large-category image classification and recognition; speech recognition, and nature language processing. Neural networks have demonstrated an ability to learn such skills as face recognition, reading, and the detection of simple grammatical structure. More particularly, neural networks can be considered to be models defining a multivariate function or a distribution over a set of discrete classes. In some instances, neural network models can be associated with a particular learning method or learning rule. The deep learning architecture can involve complex and many-layered neural networks (e.g., deep neural networks (DNN)) that can require intense computation for training and/or evaluation.
The ability to train increasingly deep networks has been due, in part, to the development of pre-training algorithms and forms of random initialization, as well as the availability of faster computers.

Activation function computation for neural networks


Method of making a fuel assembly lattice member and the lattice member made by such method. The method includes placing a plurality of elongate metal straps on a computer controlled conveyor which successively conveys the straps into alignment with each of a plurality of computer controlled piercing and drawing dies belonging to a progressive die machine. The dies are selectively actuated by the computer to form such elements as curved deflector vanes and spring members on each strap member. After the piercing and drawing operations are completed, the straps are joined by welding to form a lattice member of hexagonal cross section, the lattice member defining a plurality of rhombic-shaped fuel rod cells and a plurality of generally rhombic-shaped guide tube thimble cells therethrough. The rod cells are capable of receiving respective ones of a plurality of fuel rods and the thimble cells are capable of receiving respective ones of a plurality of thimble tubes. The rhombic shape of the rod cells cooperate with the deflector vanes to deflect a component of a fluid stream about the longitudinal center axis of each fuel rod for maintaining liquid substantially single-phase fluid flow over the surface of each fuel rod in order to avoid Departure from Nucleate Boiling (DNB) on the surface of the fuel rods.

This invention generally relates to fuel assembly spacer grids and more particularly relates to a method of making a fuel assembly lattice member and the lattice member made by such method.
Fuel assembly spacer grids are known. One such spacer grid is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,281,327 titled "Nuclear Fuel Assemblies" issued Oct. 5, 1966 in the name of John Webb, et al. This patent discloses a spacer grid comprising a support member in the form of an outer metal sleeve of regular hexagonal cross-section. This patent also discloses that the spacer grid has a parallel array of spacer diaphragms adapted to be penetrated by fuel elements. According to this patent, the spacer diaphragms act as deflector vanes imparting to a main flow stream a component of flow transversely of the fuel elements. Although the Webb, et al. patent discloses a fuel assembly spacer grid comprising a support member in the form of an outer metal sleeve of regular hexagonal cross-section, the Webb et al. patent does not appear to disclose a method of making a fuel assembly lattice member and the lattice member made by such method, as described and claimed hereinbelow.
Another fuel assembly spacer grid is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,547,335 titled "Fuel Rod Support Grid" issued Oct. 15, 1985 in the name of Robert E. Downs et al. This patent discloses a support grid for triangular arrays of nuclear fuel rods associated with hexagonal fuel assemblies. Although the Downs, et al. patent discloses a support grid for hexagonal fuel assemblies, the Downs et al. patent does not appear to disclose a method of making a fuel assembly lattice member and the lattice member made by such method, as described and claimed hereinbelow.
Although the above recited patents disclose fuel assembly spacer grids, these patents do not appear to disclose a method of making a fuel assembly lattice member and the lattice member made by such method, as described and claimed hereinbelow.
Therefore, what is needed is a suitable method of making a fuel assembly lattice member and the lattice member made by such method.


The present invention provides a method of diagnosing the existence of a kidney disorder in a feline comprising measuring the level of expression of one or more biomarkers selected from the group consisting of lumican; collagen alpha 1 (111) chain, variant 12; decorin; secreted frizzled-related protein 2; retinol binding protein 5; MMP-2; MMP-7; and MMP-19, in a biological sample from the feline, wherein differences in expression of the one or more biomarkers in the sample relative to a control value for expression in a sample from a normal animal indicate the existence of a kidney disorder; a method of treating a feline so diagnosed; and compositions, reagents and kits for carrying out the specified methods.

Nephritis is a general term for inflammation of the kidney, which may be a focal or diffuse proliferative or destructive disease involving the glomerulus, renal tubule or the kidney interstitial (or connective) tissue. Nephritis may progress through a number of stages ending in end-stage kidney disease or end-stage renal failure. The most common form of nephritis is glomerulonephritis.
Glomerulonephritis or glomerular nephritis ("GN") is a condition characterized by inflammation of the glomeruli or capillary loops of the kidney. The condition occurs in acute, sub-acute and chronic forms and may be idiopathic, or secondary to an infection, disease or exposure to a toxin.
Renal failure is the inability of the kidney to maintain its normal functions. As a result, metabolic waste products and metabolites accumulate in the blood. These waste products and metabolites may adversely affect most bodily systems. Disturbances in the maintenance of fluid and electrolyte balances are characteristic of renal failure.
Acute renal failure may occur suddenly due to trauma, infection, inflammation or exposure to nephrotoxic substances. This condition may result in dehydration, hypotension and circulatory collapse. Acute renal failure is frequently segregated into three categories: (1) pre-renal failure, which is associated with decreased renal blood flow; (2) intra-renal failure, which is associated with ischemia and toxins; and (3) post-renal failure, which results from obstruction of urine flow.
Chronic renal failure involves a progressive loss of kidney function that may eventually progress to end-stage renal disease or failure. At inception, chronic renal failure begins as a diminishing kidney function, without appreciable accumulation of metabolic waste products in the blood. As the glomerular filtration rate slows due to inflammation, waste products begin to accumulate. The disease progresses to uremia due to low kidney function, and high levels of protein end products start to accumulate and impair bodily functions. Common causes of chronic renal failure include: inflammation, infection, urinary tract obstruction and certain systemic diseases and toxicities, including hypercalcemia, lupus erythematosus, diabetes mellitus and hypertension.
End-stage renal disease is marked by irreversible chronic renal failure. Serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen levels continue to rise and the resulting uremia impairs all bodily systems. The kidney can suffer permanent and almost complete loss of function, on the order of 10% or less of normal kidney function. One cause of end-stage kidney disease is glomerulonephritis. Other causes include those mentioned for chronic renal failure.
Glomeruli are one of the structural components of the nephron of the kidney and are composed of small blood vessels frequently described as a capillary tuft or cluster. The nephron is the basic structural and functional unit of the kidney, which is also comprised of a structure known as a malpighian, or Bowman's, capsule, as well as comprising arterioles and tubules. Bowman's capsule contains the glomeruli loops and the renal tubule. Glomeruli are very small capillaries, hence the blood flow through these vessels is very slow and molecules in the blood can become easily deposited on the walls of these tiny capillaries. Renal tubules are comprised of a basement membrane and epithelial lining and serve to secrete, collect and conduct urine.
The glomerulus functions as a filter within the nephron. Water and small molecules in the blood flow through the glomerulus and are filtered through a structure referred to as the basement membrane, which is formed by the glomerulus and Bowman's capsule. The filtrate comprising water and small molecules passes through the renal tubule to be absorbed and reabsorbed before finally being converted to urine. The basement membrane is comprised of pores of various sizes which serve to filter small molecules and to prevent the passage through the basement membrane of larger molecules. The specific function of the nephron is to remove from the plasma certain end products of metabolism such as uric acid, urea and creatinine as well as excess electrolytes, e.g. sodium, chloride and potassium ions. By reabsorbing water and electrolytes, the nephron plays an important role in maintaining normal fluid balance in the body.
Creatinine is a nitrogenous compound formed as a result of creatine metabolism. Creatine, in turn, is a non-proteinaceous substance that is synthesized in the body from three amino acids, arginine, glycine and methionine. The molecule is found in muscle in small amounts and, when combined with phosphate as phosphocreatine, serves as a storage form of high energy phosphate used in various metabolic processes. Creatinine is absorbed into the blood and ultimately is excreted in the urine. Thus, a simple laboratory test for measuring creatinine in the blood can be used to determine kidney function. The test is frequently referred to as a creatinine clearance test, which measures the amount of creatinine cleared from plasma in a given time interval. Because creatinine is formed from phosphocreatine in relatively constant amounts, a rise in creatinine levels in the blood is indicative of a kidney malfunction, i.e., loss of kidney function.
Glomerulonephritis may arise as a result of a biological insult to the immune system. Foreign substances may adhere to the basement membrane and cause an immune response resulting in the production of antibodies. These antibodies may combine with the foreign substances to cause immune complexes that become deposited on the walls of the tiny glomerular capillaries, resulting in damage to the nephron. Alternatively, in some individuals the immune system can create autoantibodies which are immunoglobulins that may attack kidney cells resulting in a so-called autoimmune response. If proteins in the body are altered, an autoantibody response may ensue because the autoantibodies recognize the altered proteins as non-self. These autoantibody-protein complexes may likewise be deposited on the basement membrane of the glomerulus causing a disruption of the functioning of the nephron.
Glomerulonephritis is a common cause of proteinuria in felines and may be either the idiopathic or secondary form of the condition. In the latter situation, the condition may develop secondary to neoplasia, inflammatory diseases, endocrine malfunctions, infections or familial nephropathies. As in humans, glomerulonephritis in felines is often mediated immunologically, involving immunoglobulins and complement factors in the body of the animal. Injury occurs within the glomeruli of the kidney resulting in morphological changes to the glomeruli. Eventually the injury is irreversible and leads to malfunction of the nephrons.
Glomerulonephritis is characterized in the scientific literature in a number of different forms based on the histopathological changes taking place. Membranous glomerulonephritis involves thickening of the glomerular basement membrane. Proliferative or mesangioproliferative glomerulonephritis is characterized by proliferation of cells in the mesangial matrix. Membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis involves a combination of the foregoing changes. Glomerulosclerosis is characterized by increased matrix formation and scarring. In some cases there are minimal changes to the glomeruli and only slight increases in mesangial cell proliferation.
A number of methods have been developed for studying differential gene expression, e.g., DNA microarrays, expressed tag sequencing (EST), serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE), subtractive hybridization, subtractive cloning and differential display (DD) for mRNA, RNA-arbitrarily primed PCR (RAP-PCR), real-time PCR (RT-PCR), representational difference analysis (RDA), two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, mass spectrometry, and protein microarray based antibody-binding for proteins.
Due to the complexity of the biological pathways implicated in renal disease and the inherent molecular interactions and intercellular signaling processes, it is highly desirable to understand at a genetic level the interactions that are taking place. Detection of dysregulated genes in the early stages of loss of renal function in felines is helpful in understanding the biology of renal disease, especially glomerulonephritis on a genome-wide basis. The fact that gene dysregulation may be detected at an early stage of disease development in animals subjected to repeated ischemic injury is helpful in designing methods for diagnosing of, and devising and monitoring a treatment plan for, an abnormal loss of kidney function, renal failure, reduced glomerular filtration rate or glomerulonephritis, in a feline.
A more detailed understanding of the biological pathways involved through gene expression profiling will aid in the development of diagnostic procedures, reagents and test kits as well as salutary pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and nutritional (dietary) interventions in the disease pathways. These approaches may enable early detection and potentially prevention or treatment of the underlying kidney disorder, particularly glomerulonephritis, as well as in monitoring the prognosis of early stage renal failure and glomerulonephritis, especially in felines. Dysregulated genes involved in the pathology of such disorders may serve as important biomarkers for diagnosis and potentially prevention or treatment of the disorder and to optimize selection of appropriate pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and nutritional (dietary) interventions.
The level of gene expression and/or the determination of the level of functioning of an expressed gene product in a feline may be used to select an appropriate agent for therapeutic or prophylactic use. This data may be employed by the skilled worker in selecting appropriate drugs as agents for the prevention or treatment of renal diseases in felines through gene expression profiling. Gene expression data and analysis may also be used to select nutritional compositions, dietary supplements, and nutraceuticals having a salutary effect on kidney performance by utilizing biomarkers indicative of a healthy state of kidney functioning.
Only very limited work has been done to date in screening the feline genome for gene expression profiles in connection with the diagnosis of diseases in felines. Studies in healthy populations of felines versus populations having a disease such as kidney disease and loss of kidney function as described in this specification have not been extensively conducted. Little data is available with respect to the expression profile of the feline genome, especially with respect to the development of renal diseases in felines over time.
Kidney failure is a leading cause of death in felines. To effectively treat kidney disease, it is important to address the problem early, before the kidney is seriously damaged. By the time the subject is showing signs of kidney failure, the damage may well be irreversible. This presents a challenge, because kidney disease in its early stages may not have any overt symptoms. Accordingly, there is a need for better methods to identify animals in the early stage of kidney disease, so that they can be treated appropriately, for example by giving them appropriate diets in the case of idiopathic conditions, and/or treating conditions such as infection or autoimmune disease which may be contributing to the problem in order to help reverse or at least delay and inhibit the progression of the condition.

Compositions and methods for diagnosing and treating kidney disorders in a feline


The present invention features a method of reducing tactile dysfunction or anxiety in a subject diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Rett Syndrome, or Fragile X syndrome by administering a GABAA agent having reduced blood brain barrier or by expressing a nucleic acid encoding an exogenous alpha or beta subunit of a GABAA receptor in dorsal root ganglion neurons in the subject using a vector.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a highly prevalent class of neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by impairments in social communication and interactions, as well as restricted and repetitive behaviors. 95% of individuals with ASD also exhibit aberrant reactivity to sensory stimuli, including tactile stimuli. A majority of ASD patients (60.9%) report altered tactile sensitivity in both glabrous (smooth) and hairy skin, and increased sensitivity to vibration and thermal pain. As with idiopathic or non-syndromic ASD, pervasive developmental disorders that cause syndromic forms of ASD are also associated with altered somatosensation. For example, tactile hypersensitivity is common in patients with Rett Syndrome, which is caused by mutations in the X-linked methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (Mecp2) gene. Similarly, abnormalities in tactile perception are observed in patients with Fragile X syndrome, which is highly associated with ASD and caused by mutations in Fmr1. There is an inverse correlation between the presence of ASD traits in human subjects and their neural responses to C-low-threshold mechanoreceptor (LTMR)-targeted affective touch.

Methods and compositions for reducing tactile dysfunction and anxiety associated with autism spectrum disorder, Rett syndrome, and Fragile X syndrome

President and Fellows of Harvard College


The present invention generally relates to energy storage devices, and to metal sulfide energy storage devices in particular. Some aspects of the invention relate to energy storage devices comprising at least one flowable electrode, wherein the flowable electrode comprises an electroactive metal sulfide material suspended and/or dissolved in a carrier fluid. In some embodiments, the flowable electrode further comprises a plurality of electronically conductive particles suspended and/or dissolved in the carrier fluid, wherein the electronically conductive particles form a percolating conductive network. An energy storage device comprising a flowable electrode comprising a metal sulfide electroactive material and a percolating conductive network may advantageously exhibit, upon reversible cycling, higher energy densities and specific capacities than conventional energy storage devices.

A battery stores electrochemical energy by separating an ion source and an ion sink at differing ion electrochemical potentials. A difference in electrochemical potential produces a voltage difference between the positive and negative electrodes; this voltage difference will produce an electric current if the electrodes are connected by a conductive element. In a battery, the negative electrode and positive electrode are connected by two conductive elements in parallel. Generally, the external element conducts electrons, and the internal element (electrolyte) conducts ions. Because a charge imbalance cannot be sustained between the negative electrode and positive electrode, these two flow streams supply ions and electrons at the same rate. In operation, the electronic current can be used to drive an external device. A rechargeable battery can be recharged by application of an opposing voltage difference that drives electronic current and ionic current in an opposite direction as that of a discharging battery in service. Thus, the active materials of rechargeable batteries need to be able to accept and provide ions.
Redox flow batteries are energy storage devices in which the positive and negative electrode active materials are soluble metal ions in liquid solution that are oxidized or reduced during the operation of the cell. A redox flow battery typically has tanks for separately storing the positive and negative electrode active materials, along with a current-extracting stack that comprises at least positive and negative electrode compartments separated by an ionically conductive membrane, and positive and negative current collectors that facilitate the transfer of electrons to the external circuit but do not participate in the redox reaction (i.e., the current collector materials themselves do not undergo Faradaic activity). In a redox flow battery, the total stored energy may be increased by simply increasing the size of the tanks holding the electrode active materials without increasing the amount of other components such as the separator, current collectors, and the like. However, while conventional redox flow batteries possess many attractive features, such as scalability and the ability to decouple stored energy (tanks) from power (stack), they typically have relatively low energy densities. Thus, there is a need for improved, high-energy-density energy storage devices.

Metal sulfide electrodes and energy storage devices thereof