A reinhalation system for an anesthetic apparatus includes exhalation and inhalation branches which are directly connected to each other. The inhalation branch comprises a dosing unit capable of supplying a component to said inhalation branch. A control unit controls the dosing unit. A first concentration measuring device measuring the concentration of the component and a flow meter measuring a flow rate of a fluid are provided. The dosing unit supplies at least the component to the inhalation branch at a dosing point located downstream of the first concentration meter. The control unit controls the supply of the component as a function of the concentration of the component measured by the concentration meter and the flow rate of the fluid measured by the flow meter.

In the field of anaesthetics, the trend is towards increasingly refined, and thus expensive, anaesthetics. It has consequently become desirable to reduce the consumption thereof.
One way of reducing the consumption of anaesthetics is to use an anaesthetic system with total or partial re-inhalation. In total re-inhalation, no gas escapes from the system, and the patient is breathing essentially the same gas mixture all the time. The carbon dioxide exhaled by the patient is eliminated in a CO.sub.2 absorber, and oxygen and the anaesthetic are supplied to maintain the concentrations thereof at the desired level. In partial re-inhalation, only part of the exhaled gas mixture is inhaled again, and a certain amount of fresh gas mixture is instead supplied. The gas surplus is discharged during exhalation. If the consumption of anaesthetics is to be minimized, a system with total re-inhalation is the best option.
Controlling the concentration of anaesthetics in anaesthetic systems with re-inhalation is today often performed manually. The anaesthetist sometimes may consult a gas-concentration meter mounted in the anaesthetic system and serving to measure the concentration of the anaesthetic.
It is also known to control the concentration of the anaesthetic automatically by means of a computer.
WO 88/06904 discloses an apparatus for controlling the concentration of a component in a gas mixture given to the patient. The apparatus includes a patient circuit which consists of a circle system for re-inhalation, which has an inhalation branch and an exhalation branch. A gas-concentration meter for measuring the concentration of the component in the gas mixture is provided in the inhalation branch close to the patient and is connected to a computer. A desired-value transducer for setting the desired concentration of the gas component is also connected to the computer. With the aid of signals from the gas-concentration meter and the desired-value transducer, the computer controls a gas-dosing unit which is provided further away from the patient in the inhalation branch, to give the desired concentration of the gas component. Thus, this is a feedback control.
Both in manual and computer-controlled operation it is, however, difficult to rapidly and highly accurately adjust the concentration of the anaesthetic to the desired level.
This is, among other things, due to the fact that there may be a considerable discrepancy between the concentration of anaesthetic in the flow supplied to the breathing system and the concentration of anaesthetic in the gas mixture inhaled by the patient.

Method and apparatus for controlling the concentration of at least one component in a gas mixture in an anaesthetic system


A programmable logic array, where the programmable AND gate array in each block of macrocells conventionally generates a number of product terms to drive the macrocells in that block. Five product terms are assigned to each macrocell and are logically NORed together with two adjacent macrocell signals. The resultant signal drives the D terminal of the flip-flop in the macrocell. Independently, all five product terms are logically NORed together and the resultant signal is provided as an export signal to an adjacent macrocell for an additional product term use. Thirdly, each one of the product terms can be individually set as a separate private product term for use internally in that macrocell to replace the otherwise global provisions of internal macrocell signals such as set, reset, clock, output enable and inversion.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to programmable logic arrays and specifically to a particular macrocell architecture for a programmable logic array.
2. Description of the Related Art
Programmable logic arrays, for instance programmable logic devices (PLDs), typically include a plurality of function blocks interconnected by an interconnect matrix. Each function block includes a programmable array of AND gates as well as a plurality of macrocells which receive product terms from the programmable array. The macrocells are essentially identical prior to programming. An illustrative function block includes 18 macrocells receiving 90 product terms from the programmable array, i.e. five product terms per macrocell.
FIG. 1A shows a generic AND array 10 driving a set of sense amplifiers 14 which in turn provides five product terms 1-5 for a macrocell 16. Note that only a portion of macrocell 16 is shown; each macrocell also includes a flip-flop, output buffer, and other elements which are not shown but are well known to those in the art. See e.g. The Programmable Gate Array Data Book, pp. 3-5 to 3-12, Xilinx, 1994, incorporated by reference herein. In one embodiment, product terms 1-5 are inverted by inverters I1-I5, respectively.
Product terms 1-4 of the macrocell are provided to a conventional NOR gate 20 (shown at the transistor level including transistors Q1-Q4 and Q6), wherein the output signal of NOR gate 20 is provided to the D input terminal of the macrocell flip-flop (not shown) via line D. The product term on line 5 drives the asynchronous active-high programmable reset (or set) input signal to the macrocell flip-flop. Thus, of the five product terms in the prior art, only one product term, i.e. product term 5, sets or resets the flip-flop. A gate level version of NOR gate 20 is shown in FIG. 1B. Therefore, only four product terms are used for the logic function of driving the D (data) input to the macrocell flip-flop. A more flexible structure in terms of use of the product terms would be desirable, but is not available in the prior art.

Macrocell architecture with high speed product terms


The presently disclosed subject matter provides compositions comprising a first substrate-binding domain (a peptide or a polymer) having binding affinity for a tissue or a medical device, a second substrate-binding domain having binding affinity for a target molecule, and the target molecule. In some embodiments, the first and second substrate-binding domains are covalently linked. The first and second substrate-binding domains are covalently coupled to at least one hydrophobic interaction tag, negatively charged interaction tag, or positively charged interaction tag. When the substrate-binding domains are combined and coated onto the tissue or medical device, the hydrophobic interaction tags interact with each other and the charged interaction tags interact with the oppositely charged interaction tags or the oppositely charged substrate binding polymers, to form a macromolecular network of non-covalently coupled substrate-binding domains to load the target molecule onto the tissue or medical device.

To provide an efficacious dose of a therapeutic agent at the site of treatment, systemic administration of the therapeutic can often lead to adverse or toxic side effects to the patient. Local delivery provides smaller total amounts of the therapeutic minimizing adverse side effects and targets the therapeutic to the site of treatment. One way to locally deliver a therapeutic agent to a treatment site is to coat the therapeutic agent onto the surface of an implantable medical device.
Many matrix systems have been developed to deliver a bioactive molecule to a substrate, such as the surface of a medical device. Typically, the bioactive molecule is covalently coupled to the substrate, or more commonly, the substrate is coated with a matrix containing bioactive molecule. The matrix may be composed of a polymer into which is trapped the bioactive molecule, and as the matrix degrades, released is the bioactive molecule. Thus, the efficiency of release of the bioactive molecule from the polymer matrix depends on individual matrix characteristics such as the affinity of the matrix for the bioactive molecule; and the matrix degradation rate, density, and pore size. Typically, materials used in such matrix systems include polymers such as polylactides, polyglycolides, polyanhydrides, polyorthoesters, polylactic and polyglycolic acid copolymers, alginate, poly(ethylene glycol), polyoxyethylene oxide, carboxyvinyl polymer, and poly(vinyl alcohol). Natural matrix proteins/polymers used to encapsulate entrap bioactive molecules for release include collagen, glycosaminoglycans, and hyaluronic acid, which are enzymatically digested in the body.
Recently described are biological coating compositions for medical devices (see, e.g., published patent applications US 20060051395, US 20070160644, co-pending and commonly owned) comprising a biofunctional composition. The biofunctional composition comprises a peptide having binding specificity for a surface material comprising the surface onto which is to be applied the coating composition, and a peptide having binding specificity for a therapeutic agent; wherein covalently coupled are the peptide having binding specificity for a surface material and the peptide having binding specificity for a therapeutic agent. The coating composition may further comprise therapeutic agent non-covalently bound to peptide having binding specificity for the therapeutic agent. Peptide-based biomaterials have gained interest as novel materials for biomedical applications (see Fairman R. Akerfeldt K S. Curr Opin Struct Biol 2005; 15 (4): 453-63 and Rajagopal K, Schneider J P. Curr Opin Struct Biol 2004; 14 (4): 480-6). A large variety of synthetic advantages of peptide-based biomaterials include their programmability, biodegradability, and bioresorbability. In addition, peptides can be isolated that bind to specific therapeutic agents or the surface of biomaterials (Grinstaff et al. U.S. Patent Application 20060263830; Beyer et al. U.S. Patent Application 20060051395).
Certain peptides are able to self assemble into gel like membranes when incubated in the presence of low concentrations of monovalent cations (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,670,483; 6,548,630) or based on the spatial matching of the complementary functional groups (U.S. Pat. No. 7,399,831). Versatile side-chain functional groups and non-covalent interactions of 20 amino acids enable one to design peptides for numerous applications. Most designed peptide-based biomaterials are amphipathic, with both hydrophilic and hydrophobic amino acids in their sequence. The order and repeat of these amino acids in the primary sequence determines the nature of the secondary structure adopted by these peptides and, thereby, the final morphology of the assembled biomaterials. Assembly of these peptides is driven by the non-covalent interactions between the side-chain functional groups and backbone amides, which mostly involve hydrophobic, electrostatic, hydrogen bonding, and π-stacking interactions (Ramachandran, S. Yu, Y. B. Biodrugs 2006; 20 (5): 263-269). Designed proteins offer favorable properties such as precision and tight regulation of self assembly by using environmental cues such as pH, ionic strength and temperature (Whitesides, et al. (1991) Science 254, 1312-1319; Yeates, T. O. & Padilla, J. E. (2002) Curr. Opin. Struct. Biol. 12, 464-470; MacPhee, C. E., Woolfson, D. N. (2004) Curr. Opin. Solid State Mater. 8, 141-149).
Nature forms complex multicomponent three-dimensional structures through spontaneous association of molecules termed "molecular self-assembly" (Whitesides, et al. (1991) Science 254, 1312-1319). The self-assembly process is mediated through weak intermolecular bonds, such as van der waals bonds, electrostatic interactions, hydrogen bonds and stacking interactions. These relatively low energy interactions are combined together to form intact and well-ordered supramolecular structures. The self-assembly of peptide amphiphiles into nanostructures creates a dense hydrocarbon-like microenvironment within an aqueous gel. The environment created locally upon assembly makes peptide amphiphile nanostructures and other self-assembling systems potentially ideal candidates for the delivery of hydrophobic or water-insoluble molecules in vivo (Guler, et al. J Mater Chem 2005,15, 4507-4512). In addition, peptide sequences that bind to cells or other biologics can be attached to self-assembling peptides to generate peptide nanofibers that bind biologics (U.S. Pat. No. 7,399,831; U.S. Patent Application 20050272662; U.S. Patent Application 20050209145).
Within the art, however, there still exists a need to generate self-assembling peptides that both bind a therapeutic agent and to the surface of a medical device. These dual functional, self-assembling peptides could be used for controlled, local deliver of a therapeutic agent from an implanted medical device.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Peptide compositions for coating metal medical devices with vancomycin


A semiconductor device includes a field effect transistor that has a first nitride semiconductor layer and a second nitride semiconductor layer larger in bandgap than the first nitride semiconductor layer formed on a substrate in this order and a gate electrode, a source electrode, and a drain electrode, and uses two-dimensional electron gas formed at the interface between the first and second nitride semiconductor layers as the channel. The field effect transistor further has a p-type nitride semiconductor layer formed between the gate electrode and the drain electrode and electrically connected to the drain electrode.

The present disclosure relates to nitride field effect transistors applicable to power transistors used for power supply circuits of consumer appliances such as air conditioners and light controllers, for example.
Nitride semiconductors are large in bandgap, breakdown electric field, and electron saturated drift velocity compared with Si, GaAs, etc. Also, in an AlGaN/GaN heterostructure formed on a substrate having (0001) plane as its principal surface, two-dimensional electron gas (also expressed as "2DEG") is generated at its heterointerface due to spontaneous polarization and piezoelectric polarization, whereby a sheet carrier concentration of the order of 1×1013 cm−2 is obtained even without doping of any impurity. A high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) using this high-concentration 2DEG as a carrier has recently been attracting attention, and various HEMT structures have been proposed (see S. C. Binari, W. Kruppa, H. B. Dietrich, G. Kelner, A. E. Wickenden, and J. A. Freitas Jr., "Fabrication and Characterization of GaN FETs," Solid State Electronics 41 (1997) 1549-1554).
FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view showing a semiconductor device including a conventional HEMT having an AlGaN/GaN heterostructure. In the conventional field effect transistor shown in FIG. 12, a low-temperature AlN buffer layer 2, an undoped GaN layer 3, and an undoped AlGaN layer 4 are formed in this order on an Si Substrate 1, and a source electrode 5 and a drain electrode 6 are formed to be in contact with the undoped AlGaN layer 4. A gate electrode 7 is formed between the source electrode 5 and the drain electrode 6.
With the above-described structure, two-dimensional electron gas is generated near the interface between the undoped GaN layer 3 and the undoped AlGaN layer 4 due to spontaneous polarization and piezoelectric polarization, and this gas is used as a carrier. When a voltage is applied between the source and the drain, electrons in the channel flow from the source electrode 5 toward the drain electrode 6. At this time, by controlling a voltage applied to the gate electrode 7 to change the thickness of a depletion layer right under the gate electrode 7, the drain current can be controlled.

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.


Inhibitors of KIAA0175 are provided that reduce the expression or biological activities of KIAA0175, p53 and/or p21 in a mammalian cell. KIAA0175 inhibitors include anti-sense molecules, ribozymes, antibodies and antibody fragments, proteins and polypeptides as well as small molecules. KIAA0175 inhibitors find use in compositions and methods for decreasing KIAA0175, p53 and/or p21 gene expression as well as methods for increasing the chemo and/or radiosensitivity of mammalian cells, including tumor cells, methods for decreasing the side effects of cancer therapy and methods for treating neoplastic diseases.

Traditional chemo and radiotherapy for the treatment of tumors is limited in utility by the absence of target specificity. Methodologies employing targeted radiotherapy wherein radioisotopes are conjugated to tumor-seeking agents have been attempted to improve biological specificity. Unfortunately, very few selective agents are available for the many tumor types and where selective agents do exist, the therapeutic advantage has been minimal. Recent methodologies for treating neoplastic diseases attempt to improve specificity by employing a class of molecules called "sensitizers" that increase the sensitivity of treated cells to, for example, chemotherapy and γ-irradiation. For example, administration of drugs such as 5-fluorouracil and wortmannin has been attempted in order to increase cellular radiation sensitivity. Owing to the non-specific nature of these and other currently available "sensitizers," however, normal, non-neoplastic cells are subject to increased chemotherapy and radiation sensitivity thus resulting in a high level of cellular toxicity. What is urgently needed are chemotherapy and radiation sensitizers having improved specificity allowing preferential sensitivity of neoplastic as compared to normal cells. The KIAA0175 inhibitors of the present invention fulfill these and other related needs.

Compositions and methods for treating neoplastic disease using chemotherapy and radiation sensitizers


A method and system are disclosed for detecting memory chip failure in a computer memory system. The method comprises the steps of accessing user data from a set of user data chips, and testing the user data for errors using data from a set of system data chips. This testing is done by generating a sequence of check symbols from the user data, grouping the user data into a sequence of data symbols, and computing a specified sequence of syndromes. If all the syndromes are zero, the user data has no errors. If one of the syndromes is non-zero, then a set of discriminator expressions are computed, and used to determine whether a single or double symbol error has occurred. In the preferred embodiment, less than two full system data chips are used for testing and correcting the user data.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to computer systems, and more specifically, to detecting and correcting errors in data transmitted from a memory of a computer system.
2. Background Art
The small size of computer transistors and capacitors, combined with transient electrical and electromagnetic phenomena, cause occasional errors in stored information in computer memory systems. Therefore, even well designed and generally reliable memory systems are susceptible to memory device failures.
In an effort to minimize the effects of these memory device failures, various error-checking schemes have been developed to detect, and in some cases correct, errors in messages read from memory. The simplest error detection scheme is the parity bit. A parity bit is an extra bit included with a binary data message or data word to make the total number of 1's in the message either odd or even. For "even parity" systems, the parity bit is set to make the total number of 1's in the message even. For "odd parity" systems, the parity bit is set to make the total number of 1's in the message odd. For example, in a system utilizing odd parity, a message having two 1's would have its parity bit set to 1, thereby making the total number of 1's odd. Then, the message including the parity bit is transmitted and subsequently checked at the receiving end for errors. An error results if the parity of the data bits in the message does not correspond to the parity bit transmitted. As a result, single bit errors can be detected. However, since there is no way to detect which particular bit is in error, correction is not possible. Furthermore, if two or any even number of bits are in error, the parity will be correct and no error will be detected. Parity therefore is capable of detecting only odd numbers of errors and is not capable of correcting any bits determined to be in error.
Error correction codes (ECCs) have thus been developed to not only detect but also correct bits determined to be in error. ECCs utilize multiple parity check bits stored with the data message in memory. Each check bit is a parity bit for a group of bits in the data message. When the message is read from memory, the parity of each group, including the check bit, is evaluated. If the parity is correct for all of the groups, it signifies that no detectable error has occurred. If one or more of the newly generated parity values are incorrect, a unique pattern called syndrome results, which may be used to identify the bit in error. Upon detection of the particular bit in error, the error may be corrected by complementing the erroneous bit.
A widely used type of ECC utilized in error control in digital systems is based on the codes devised by R. W. Hamming, and thus take the name "Hamming codes". One particular subclass of Hamming codes includes the single error correcting and double error detecting (SEC-DED) codes. As their name suggests, these codes may be utilized not only to correct any single bit error but also to detect double bit errors.
Another type of well-known ECC is the single symbol correction and double symbol detection (SSC-DSD) codes, which are used to correct single symbol errors and detect double symbol errors. In systems implementing these types of codes, the symbol represents a multiple bit package or chip. Hence, as the name implies, an SSC-DSD code in a system utilizing n bit symbols would be capable of correcting n bits in a single symbol and detecting errors occurring in double symbols.
As memory systems become larger, conventional single symbol error correct, double symbol error detect strategies, are no longer adequate. New strategies are required to deal with entire memory chip failures. Typically, several chips are used to hold user data with one or more additional chips used for check information and other required system data. If each cache line had two redundant chips, which could be used entirely for correction, then, for example, a conventional Reed-Solomon error correction strategy could be used. However frequently the system requires that a portion of the extra chips are allocated for system specific information, and the ECC has less than 2 full chips available for holding check information. Examples of such information are those that would reduce the power of the memory system, or improve the reliability of the memory system.

Error correcting code with chip kill capability and power saving enhancement

International Business Machines Corporation


A system for connecting remote equipment to a sensor device having a connector coupled to at least two terminals located on different portions of the sensor device. The portions of the sensor device may be an anterior portion and a posterior portion with each having at least one terminal. In turn, the terminals are nested on top of one another and at least one terminal is electrically accessible through a window region of the other portion. Further, the terminals are alignable with each other and with a connector by alignment indicators, which may provide a visual alignment indication for the terminals as well as a mechanical alignment of the connector with the sensor device.

Electrocardiogram devices employing twelve or more leads are known. For systems using more than 12 leads, such as 80 lead systems, the electrodes may be deployed as part of a sensor device, such as an electrode vest, which is adhered to a patient. By way of example, one type of electrode vest is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,055,448. These vests are typically made of a flexible material that includes a dielectric substrate upon which are conductive traces that couple sensor electrodes to multiple terminal areas on the device. Remote equipment, such as an electrocardiogram (ECG) base unit, is generally attached to the sensor device with multiple connectors, typically one for each separate terminal area of the electrode vest.
FIG. 1 illustrates a sensor device 100 in the form a vest placed on a human patient 500 for either monitoring bioelectric signals from the patent 500 or delivering stimulus signals to the patent 500. The vest 100 includes an anterior portion 110 for placing onto the front of the patient's torso and a posterior portion 210 for placing on the back of the patient's torso. Anterior portion 110 includes a plurality of electrodes 120 connected by a network of conductive traces 140 to a terminal portion 160. Posterior portion 210 (only partially shown, but understood to be placed on the back and sides of the human patient) also includes a plurality of electrodes connected by a network of conductive traces to a terminal portion 260. As shown in FIG. 1, both anterior terminal portion 160 and posterior terminal portion 260 are positioned generally at the front 510 of the patient.
An anterior connector 170 and a posterior connector 270 are connected to the respective anterior and posterior terminal portions 160, 260. The connectors are further in electronic and/or signal communication with remote equipment, such as the connectors in electronic communication with an electrocardiogram (ECG) base unit (not shown) by electrical or fiber-optic cables 180, 280. The user must take care to correctly configure the connectors 170, 270 and terminal portions 160, 260 to avoid errors, either in monitoring the patient's bioelectric signals or in supplying stimulating signals to the patient.


A digital data system includes a circuit for controlling data transfer between a four byte wide pathway, such as a VME bus, and a byte wide device, such as a SCSI disk drive by way of a byte wide bus (SCSI bus). The control circuit effects selective data transfer of an odd or even data byte, a data short word (two parallel bytes) or a data long word (four parallel bytes). The transfer circuit includes a four byte wide data register connected to the VME bus, four, byte wide, funnel registers connected in parallel to the data register, a byte wide FIFO memory connected between the funnel registers and the SCSI disk drive via a SCSI bus. A DMA controller and funnel controller state machine control transfer of data from the VME bus to the SCSI disk drive either as a data byte, a data short word or a data long word.

This invention relates in general to digital data systems and more particularly to the control of data transfer from a VME bus to a SCSI disk drive.
A need exists to transfer data between a SCSI (Small Computer Systems Interface) device, such as a disk drive, and a VME bus. This requires adapting the SCSI channel, which is a byte-wide data pathway, to the VME bus, which can be either a byte, short word (2 parallel bytes), or long word (4 parallel bytes) pathway. VME bus byte transfers can occur over two sets of data lines, i.e. D0 through D7 or D8 through D15. Short word transfers use data lines D0 through D15. Long word transfers use data lines D0 through D31. Accordingly, the circuit must accommodate each of these pathways, while maintaining the data in the proper sequence regardless of the width of transfer, or of interleaving of the data widths.
The following patents describe several configurations for effecting data transfer which do not satisfy this need due to undue complexity, excessive cost and/or unreliability.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,843,544, issued Jun. 17, 1989, Inventors DuLac et al;
U.S. Pat. No. 4,847,759, issued Jul. 11, 1989, Inventor Oklobdzija.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,097, issued Feb. 14, 1989, Inventor DeSanna;
U.S. Pat. No. 4,864,291, issued Sep. 5, 1989, Inventor Korpi;
U.S. Pat. No. 4,783,705, issued Nov. 8, 1988, Inventors Moon et al.;
U.S. Pat. No. 4,716,525, issued Dec. 29, 1987, Inventors Galanyi et al.

Digital data apparatus for transferring data between a byte-wide digital data bus and a four byte-wide digital data bus


A device for use in a subterranean well can include a component which degrades in the well, the component being at least one of the group comprising: a) an electrical element which conducts electricity in the well, b) a magnetic element which produces a magnetic field in the well, and c) a substrate which structurally supports an electrical circuit. A method of constructing a device for use in a subterranean well can include determining an environmental condition to be experienced by a component of the device in the well, the component being at least one of the group comprising: a) an electrical element which conducts electricity in the well, b) a magnetic element which produces a magnetic field in the well, and c) a substrate which supports an electrical circuit; selecting the component which degrades when exposed to the environmental condition; and incorporating the component into the device.

Devices used in subterranean wells are typically designed to withstand a harsh, hostile wellbore environment. However, in some cases, such devices could hinder well operations, for example, by restricting production, obstructing access, disrupting another device's function, etc. Therefore, it will be appreciated that improvements are continually needed in the art of constructing and utilizing devices for use in subterranean wells.

Degradable devices for use in subterranean wells


A tennis aid for improving the stroke of a tennis player. The aid includes a wrist band for encircling the wrist of a tennis player and an associated elastic cord attached thereto. The cord is attached to the wrist band near its midpoint and at opposite ends thereof may be attached to the head of a tennis racket. When the handle of the racket is properly held by the tennis player tension in the cord will tend to prevent the player from bending or flexing the wrist during a tennis stroke.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to training aids. More specifically, the present invention pertains to a training aid for improving the stroke of a tennis player.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is important, in most tennis strokes, for the wrist to remain unflexed or bent during a complete stroke of the tennis racket. This is one of the most difficult concepts to teach a beginning tennis player.
Many aids have been devised to teach the use of sports equipment or to minimize adverse reactions to the use of such equipment. For example, Hurwitz U.S. Pat. No. 3,858,881 discloses a tennis aid which is designed to prevent development of or to help cure a condition known as "tennis elbow". Tennis elbow apparently results from shock transmitted to the arm by repeated impact of a tennis ball on the tennis racket. The tennis aid of Hurwitz provides an attachment which reduces this shock. A secondary purpose of the apparatus is to provide a tennis aid to help in teaching the novice player how to properly hold and use the racket for best playing results.
In Bickham U.S. Pat. No. 4,720,106 another tennis device is disclosed for reducing vibrations caused by impact of the ball with the strings of a tennis racket. It is indicated that such vibration is believed to cause gout and other arthritic diseases, as well as softening of cartilage in the forearm. Thus, this device is designed to reduce vibration and also for improving strokes of the user.
Both of the patents just mentioned provide tennis aids which are primarily for reducing effects of vibration and resulting adverse effects to the forearm and elbow. Secondarily, they are supposed to improve the stroke of the beginning tennis player. However, neither one of these devices appear to be designed to prevent bending or flexing of the wrist during a stroke of the racket. Furthermore, these devices appear to be unwieldy and impractical. In the Hurwitz patent, a band is placed around the forearm. An elastic band connects the band and the handle of the racket at a midpoint thereof. It appears that it would be difficult to maintain these items in proper position, the arm band and the connection with the handle being subject to sliding from proper position. In the Bickham patent a relatively rigid support member projects from one side of the racket and would appear to interfere with certain movements.


An image plate coated with a photostimulable element and a method of testing a digital device for scanning such plate with respect to various system parameters. A permanent and non-erasable test pattern (23) is applied to the plate for subsequent scanning by the device,

The present invention concerns a photostimulable phosphor-coated film and a method of testing a digital device for scanning such film with respect to various system parameters.
Digital apparatus is being increasingly employed in medical diagnostic radiography. Photostimulable imaging plates are being employed with increasing frequency instead of conventional X-ray film for X-ray imaging. One advantage of such an imaging plate over conventional film is its almost linear reproduction characteristic. An imaging plate is accordingly much more sensitive to too low or too high doses of radiation. Another advantage of imaging plates is that they can be used over and over; that is, images can be erased and others exposed onto the same plate. Still another advantage of an imaging plate is that it can be handled very much like conventional X-ray film. Accessories, such as cassettes for example, that are already employed for loading and unloading X-ray film can extensively be exploited to load imaging plates as well.
One method of handling photostimulable phosphor-coated film in X-ray cassettes is known, for example, from the published U.S. Pat. No. 4,893,011. In this case, an X-ray cassette is loaded with an imaging plate. Information relating to the particular image, such as patient name, date of birth, physician of record, etc., is entered in a semiconductor memory on the cassette at a data-entry station. The X-ray exposure is carried out and a latent image stored in the imaging plate. The cassette is then inserted in a reader wherein the cassette is opened and the plate is removed and stimulated with a digital scanning device. The light emitted by the stimulated elements, such as a phosphor or fluorine, is intercepted by a collector and converted into digital signals. The signals can then be processed in a digital processor.
The present invention concerns the scanning phase of the aforesaid procedure. Scanning involves scanning the pictorial information latent in the imaging plate point by point and converting it into digital picture signals. The plate is generally scanned by sweeping a laser over it line by line. Mechanical irregularities can lead to scanning error, and it is occasionally necessary to test the scanner. A lead "phantom" is usually employed to produce a phantom image on the plate through the cassette. The phantom image is then read and processed in the scanner.
One drawback to this method of testing is that the results depend not only on the digitization unit but also on certain other parameters that cannot be definitely identified or quantified, such as the quality of the phantom image, the quality and position of the imaging plate in the cassette, and the nature and position of the lead phantom in relation to the cassette.

Photostimulable imaging plate and method of testing a digital device for scanning such plate


Lead-containing fluoride glass comprises 50-70 mol % of ZrF.sub.4, 3-5 mol % of LaF.sub.3, 0.1-3 mol % of YF.sub.3, and 2-15 mol % of NaF and/or LiF and/or CsF, where LaF.sub.3 +YF.sub.3 =4.5-6 mol %, and further comprises lead. An optical fiber comprises a core made of the lead-containing fluoride glass and a cladding surrounding the core. A process for producing an optical fiber comprises forming a base material for a core of the lead-containing fluoride glass, forming a base material for a cladding of fluoride glass containing 30-60 mol % of HfF.sub.4, and drawing the base materials into an optical fiber at a drawing temperature of 315.degree.-340.degree. C.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to lead-containing fluoride glass, an optical fiber with a core made thereof, and a process for fabricating the optical fiber, which may be applicable in the field of infrared sensors, optical amplifiers, or optical fiber lasers.
2. Related Background Art
A fluoride fiber is full of promise as an optical fiber for long distance transmission cables, for infrared sensors, or for optical amplifiers. A typical optical fiber is composed of two parts called a core and a cladding, in which the refractive index of the core, through which light propagates, is higher than that of the cladding. A relative refractive index difference is defined as follows: EQU .DELTA.n=(n.sub.1 -n.sub.2)/n.sub.1 .times.100 (%),
where n.sub.1 is the refractive index of the core and n.sub.2 is the refractive index of the cladding.
A fiber for an infrared sensor, etc., may have a greater input-output of light by increasing a numerical aperture (NA), which is a criterion of range for capturing light. Therefore, a larger relative refractive index difference .DELTA.n is more desirable. A fluoride fiber with a core containing a rare earth element such as Nd (neodymium) or Pr (praseodymium) is also promising as a fiber for optical amplifier in 1.3 .mu.m band of wavelength. In this case, a greater difference .DELTA.n can make an optical power confined in the core and is, therefore, effective to increase a degree of amplification of light.
Incidentally, a most typical composition of the fluoride fiber is the ZBLAN series (Zr--Ba--La--Al--Na--F series). In general, the following methods are known to increase the difference .DELTA.n in a fiber of this type.
(1) A method of making concentrations of Al (aluminum) or Na (sodium) in the core lower than those of Al or Na in the cladding.
(2) A method of adding a heavy metal such as Pb (lead) and Bi (bismuth) into the core.
(3) A method of adding Hf (hafnium) into the cladding.
It is found that the most effective method is the method (2). It is stated for example in Japanese Journal of Applied Physics Vol. 20, No. 5, May, 1981, pp. L 337-L 339 that a high refractive index may be obtained by adding PbF.sub.2 into a glass material basically comprising 33BaF.sub.2 --4GdF--63ZrF.sub.4 (mol %).
The addition of a heavy metal such as Bi into the core can increase the refractive index but makes the core possibly colored, which is unfavorable for the core of an optical fiber in respect of transmission loss. In case that the additive is PbF.sub.2, a fused material is likely to crystallize instead of forming glass. Therefore, the fluoride glass containing Pb has such a problem to be solved that the stable of state is greatly affected depending upon the composition of the entire system.
In connection with this, Japanese Laid-open (Kokai) Patent Application No. 1-321406 discloses that the fluoride glass in a composition of 49ZrF.sub.4 --(25--X)BaF.sub.2 --XPbF.sub.2 --3.5LaF.sub.3 --2YF.sub.3 --2.5AlF.sub.3 --18NaF (mol %) may have a difference .DELTA.n=2.8% by adding PbF.sub.2 up to X=12 (mol %) thereinto.
The present inventors tried to make fluoride glasses with various composition rates X of PbF.sub.2 in accordance with the composition as described in the above Japanese Patent Application. The trial showed that transparent glasses could be obtained with X<5 mol %, but no good glass was obtained with X=5-12 mol % due to crystallization.

Lead-containing fluoride glass, optical fiber and process for producing it

Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corporation


The present invention provides a process whereby high quality, well-coalesced spandex can be made by dry-spinning a high-melting thermoplastic polyurethane, bundling the as-spun filaments into a side-by-side relationship, and passing the bundled filaments over or through a guide. The spandex made by this method has high heat-settability, high denier uniformity, good knittability and weavability, and provides fabrics having good surface uniformity.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of preparing a coalesced spandex. More particularly, it relates to a method for dry-spinning a solution of a high-melting thermoplastic polyurethane, bundling the resulting spandex, and fusing the resulting bundle to form the coalesced multifilament spandex by a method which does not employ false-twisting.
2. Description of the Background Art
In the conventional production of a coalesced spandex by dry spinning, a solution of polyurethane or polyurethaneurea is prepared and extruded through spinneret holes into a spinning column. Heat is applied to the inside of the column to drive off the solvent and form filaments. Such filaments are customarily quite small in diameter in order to permit rapid evaporation of solvent. In order to make filaments with larger diameters and to improve the uniformity of the final product, a plurality of filaments are normally bundled together and cohered to each other ("coalesced") along their lengths by passing them through a jet such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,353,344. Such a false twist coalescence method is described in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,094,374. Due to the random distribution of any nonuniformities along the length of individual filaments, such irregularities are effectively cancelled out when a number of filaments are thus coalesced, and the resulting coalesced multifilament spandex has improved uniformity over the individual filaments.
European published Patent Application Number 756026 discloses a method wherein immediately after dry-spinning of segmented polyurethaneureas which are not thermoplastic, the filaments are slightly bonded by passing them through a "thread control element with comb-like shape" immediately after spinning to form a multifilament which can be readily and easily split into single filaments.
Japanese published Patent Application Number 53-139847 describes melt-spinning of a low-melting polyurethane from widely spaced spinneret holes and the bonding of the resulting filaments into a coalesced multifilament spandex by passing them through a guide placed at a selected distance from the face of the spinneret.
Spandex is widely used in various applications such as apparel because it has desirable characteristics including high stretch and recovery. Expanding applications have led to new needs such as high uniformity combined with mechanical properties that are available from, for example, thermoplastic polyurethanes and polyurethaneureas. Spandex with desirable properties such as good heat settability, high elastic recovery, and good resistance to environmental conditions can be be prepared by dry-spinning a high-melting thermoplastic polyurethane to make a spandex such as that disclosed in International Patent Application Number WO95123883. Good heat settability is an advantage, for example, when the spandex is to be used in combination with other fibers such as wool which should not be exposed to the temperatures necessary to heat-set such spandex.
However, spandex uniformity tends to be unsatisfactorily low when filaments of such a polyurethane are dry-spun and coalesced by the conventional false-twist coalescence method, perhaps due to fluctuations in the twisting force. As a result, the combination of good uniformity with the desirable properties of a dry-spun thermoplastic polyurethane is still needed.

Coalesced multifilament spandex and method for its preparation


An embodiment of the invention provides for an assembly for securing equipment to a tank. The assembly comprises a base, a split ring, and a clamp. The base comprises a tank engagement portion, a base aperture, a lip positioned along a perimeter of the base aperture, and a first mating surface. The split ring is arranged to be at least partially positionable within the base. The split ring comprises a split ring aperture and a second mating surface in contact with the first mating surface when the split ring is partially positioned within the base. The clamp is positionable to hold the first mating surface in contact with the second mating surface. The clamp comprises a clamp aperture, a first contact surface, and a second contact surface. When the clamp is positioned to hold the mating surfaces in contact, the first contact surface contacts the base, and the second contact surface contacts the split ring.

Tanks often require that additional equipment, such as sensors and valves, be connected or attached to the tank to help operate the tank or to monitor the activity within the tank. In one example, sterile sealed tanks, such as aseptic tanks, often require sensors, valves, sampling systems, and the like to be connected to the tank to operate and monitor the tank. A connector device is typically required to connect such equipment to tanks. One such connection device is a retaining split ring.
A retaining split ring may utilize a base and a ring. In examples of known retaining split rings, studs and nuts hold the base and ring together. These studs and nuts can be difficult to attach, can become loosened during operation of the tank, and can be easily lost. Additionally, these retaining split rings have a large profile, and it can be difficult to determine if they are properly attached.
Accordingly, there is a need for a retaining split ring that easily attaches the base and ring together, that creates a good seal, does not become loosened during its use, and is not easily lost.
Additional information will be set forth in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description or may be learned by practice of the invention.


An automatic air-carbon arc cutting and gouging torch having a drive for the elongated electrode consisting of opposed wheels biased toward the electrode for frictional contact to drive the electrode by driving one of the wheels. Each wheel can be adjusted about a pivot point to compensate for curvature of the electrode, changes in diameter, or mis-aligned joints in successive electrodes. The torch includes an improved nozzle to conduct both current and process air to the electrode thus lowering the operating temperature of the torch.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to torches and in particular to automatic torches used in the Air-Carbon Arc Cutting and Gouging Process. In the Air-Carbon Arc Cutting and Gouging Process an electrode is used to strike and maintain an arc between a workpiece causing melting of metal underneath the arc. As melting progresses a stream of high pressure air directed along the electrode to the arc causes the molten metal to be forcibly removed from the influence of the arc, thus leaving a groove or gouge, in the surface of the workpiece. The process can be also used to cut completely through the workpiece in the area traversed by the electrode and the arc. Torches for use in the Air-Carbon Arc Cutting and Gouging Process include an automatic torch wherein the torch is mounted on a carriage or other device for movement along on a predetermined path. Automatic torches include means to feed electrodes toward the workpiece at a rate selected to match consumption of the electrode by the electric arc. Most automatic torches include provision for using jointed electrodes so that successive electrodes (lengths) can be mated to, in effect, provide a continuous electrode of indeterminate length.
2. The Prior Art
One type of automatic Air-Carbon Arc Cutting and Gouging Torch is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,317,779. In this patent rollers are used to frictionally engage the electrode and feed it through a nozzle containing a contact shoe which conducts electricity to the electrode. The nozzle has provision for directing air along the electrode to the arc. The patent includes means for pivoting the housing supporting drive rolls having a fixed position relative to each other about an axis to, in effect, change the spacing between the rollers and increase frictional contact with the electrode.
Means for controlling the torch including the spacing of the torch to the workpiece and the feeding of the electrode are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,659,071. The '071 patent is an improved version of an automatic torch and control system.
Jointed electrodes for use in automatic torches are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,131,290.
Lastly, the current state of the art is reflected in the Model N Automatic Air-Carbon Arc Cutting and Gouging Torch manufactured and sold by the Arcair Company of Lancaster, Ohio.
One of the problems with prior art automatic torches is compensating for electrodes that are not perfectly straight, electrodes that vary in diameter for a given nominal size, and poor joint fit of successive lengths of electrode.

Electrode drive and nozzle system for automatic air-carbon arc cutting and gouging torch


System for working with shared memory includes a plurality of contexts, each having executable processes writing and reading data; a ring buffer in the shared memory for writing and reading data by the contexts; a software primitive manages access attempts by the contexts to the ring buffer. Each context, upon writing to the ring buffer, is allocated an amount of space up to a maximum available at that moment. The software primitive guarantees consistency of the data written to the ring buffer. The software primitive permits simultaneous writing into the buffer by multiple contexts. After finishing writing to the buffer, the context updates a state of the buffer by decrementing the count of the active writers and/or by shifting the permitting pointers for communicating with writers and readers. A context can read from the buffer only data is marked as valid for reading by the context that wrote that data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to logging events from different contexts, and more particularly, to maintaining logs of the events occurring in virtual environments, such as Virtual Machines. The present invention is also related to organizing interprocess communication as it relates to concurrent use of physical memory, and more particularly, to managing concurrent threads and processes of virtual machines working in different context, where it is undesirable for these context to block each other. More generally, the present invention is applicable to computer programs that work on multiple-processor or multi-core processor architectures, where different context needs to buffer their data into the same address space at the same time, independent of each other.
2. Description of the Related Art
With Virtual Machine (VM) technology, a user can create and run multiple operating environments on a host server at the same time. Each virtual environment, or Virtual Machine, requires its own operating system (OS) and can run execution contexts independently. The VM software provides a layer between the computing, storage, and networking hardware and the software that runs on it.
Each VM acts as a separate execution environment, which reduces risk and allows developers to quickly re-create different operating system (OS) configurations or compare versions of applications designed for different OS's for as long as the integrity of data used by each of the VMs is provided. Generally, a Virtual Machine is an environment that is launched on a particular processor (a client machine) that is running a host operating system (HOS) and is connected to a data storage located on a server that stores VM data.
Each VM can have several execution contexts with the events that need to be logged. The contexts can be Virtual Machines (VMs) and various applications. Currently, there are a number of conventional methods that relate to event logging. However, in terms of virtualization, logging of the events executed within different contexts presents considerable challenges. Recording the event logs from different contexts can trigger stopping (locking) of the contexts when the logs of the events occurring in different contexts (i.e., in different VMs) are recorded in parallel. Conventionally, a context, which writes data into a common log, needs to receive a notification that a file is available for writes. Writing into a file blocks the context, so the context log cannot be recorded without locking the context. Keeping separate logs within different contexts raises logs synchronization problem, because logs have different addresses within different contexts.
Modern computer architectures experience certain difficulties when it comes to increasing their performance and giving guarantees, using software mechanisms, for optimizing management of concurrently executed threads. Standard synchronization primitives of the processes that are being executed assumes blocking of a resource, when one process addresses a particular memory location or space, or more generally executes some code that requires that particular resource, then other processes are switched to a waiting mode.
Blocking in or itself, is already a form of slowdown of the process being executed. Since the processes need to execute sequentially, waiting for their turn once a particular process "grabs" a resource (for example, by setting a "busy" flag for the right to address a particular memory area), some of the popular primitives used to synchronize are semaphores, mutexes, and monitors. If a computer has a single processor, then a queue of processes with blocking is the only method for ordering the aggression of the memory, if different processes try to execute the access attempt at the same time. If the computer has a multi-core architecture, or has multiple processors, then such a process queue is no longer the optimal solution, since as many processes can execute as there are cores or processors in the system.
Second, the blocking approach is not always possible to apply. For example, when different context compete with each other, this approach is problematic. Thus, if the basic spinlock synchronization primitive is used, then those contexts that compete with the owner of the spinlock have to remain idle, since they also require the spinlock.
Third, the blocking algorithm can sometimes produce deadlock—a form of dead end situation, where each processes of a group awaits an event that only another process from the same group can generate. In this case, when there's a problem with a process that grabs the spinlock, all competing processes "hang".
Fourth, there are difficulties that are particularly relevant to multi-core and multiprocessor architectures. For example, the process running on one core cannot affect or put into a queue a scheduler of another core. The scheduler, in this case, has higher priority. In this event, a likely situation will occur that the scheduler will damage the process of a neighboring core, even if that process used standard synchronization primitives.
With virtual machines, restrictions on the use of standard blocking methods for synchronizing processes are even more strict. The primary reason for this is that virtual machines all work in different context. In a virtual machine, there is a particular problem regarding logs of events, and in particular, a log of events of competing processes generally. Specifically, it is not possible to permit mutual exclusivity by writers of different context upon different context using standard methods since one possibility of a context is the host operating system, the guest operating system, a hypervisor, which might "live" in a separate context), with a possibility of blocked interrupts.
Thus, any algorithm of non-blocked synchronization has to have three levels of guarantees, from the weakest to the strongest in order:
Obstruction-free writing—if a process or thread, launched at any time, given that execution of competing threads is on hold, finish its work in a specified number of steps. Synchronization using mutexes, for example, fails to satisfy even this weakest requirement.
Lock-free operation—for example, a thread can theoretically run in an infinite loop, however, each iteration means that some other thread has completed some discrete action, in other words, the work of the system has not stopped.
Wait-free operation—where each operation is performed in a finite number of steps, which does not depend on other threads. This is the strictest guarantee of progress.
An important aspect of the present invention is guaranteeing that even where the data write procedure by a user of his data into a buffer is spread over time, other users at that time do not need to be idle, but can also write their data into the buffer.
The algorithm for working with competing contexts described in the present application satisfies all these requirements.
An important characteristic of the ring buffer, which is a key ingredient for non-blocking implementation, is the fact that when reaching the last element of the array of memory cells of a buffer, both the writer and the reader, independently of each other, return back to the first element of the array. Most of the practical use of the ring buffer is focused around the situation of a single writer and a single reader. However, these conventional algorithm exclusions cannot be scaled to a situation with multiple writers and/or multiple readers. A number of first in first out (FIFO) solutions exist for buffers located in physical memory. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,925,804 addresses the slowdown of data transmission from one bus to another by accumulating requests in an intermediate FIFO buffer, with a subsequent transmission of all the data for all requests as if it were a single request.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,015,367 describes working with memory given different context, by translating the address space of the context (i.e., of each virtual machine) into the host OS memory, and using a count buffer to store information about the number of entries from each context.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,904,475 contemplates the use of a FIFO buffer to temporarily store a data stream from the IEEE 1394 bus intended for IO devices, and for processing these streams prior to outputting them, based on instructions received in real time from a user application.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,945,761 describes a method and a system for maintaining validity of cached mappings corresponding to virtual addresses in guest page tables. When creating the FIFO buffer, memory mapping is used, where a region in a virtual memory of a virtual machine is made to correspond to a region in a memory of the host.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,117,481 describes a system of concurrent access to by different processes to the same resource, where the processes belong to different domains. In this patent, the semaphore synchronization primitive is used, with mutual blocking of competing processes.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,099,546 describes a mechanism for a lockless ring buffer in an overwrite mode, which includes aligning the addresses in a memory for each page of the ring buffer, in order to perform masking bits in addresses, which are used as a flag representing the state of the page, and using two least significant bits of the addresses to show the state of the flag of the page. The state can be one of three possibilities—header, update and normal. The described method includes a combined action: (a) moving the head page pointer to the head page pointer of the ring buffer, with cropping of the head page and the page being read; (b) changing the state of the flag of the head page into the normal state; (c) changing the state of the flag of the next page, after the head page, to the header state; and (d) moving the head and tail pages of the buffer, which means resetting the flags representing the states of one or more of the pointers of the buffer pages, associated with the head and tail pages.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,127,074 describes a mechanism for a reader page for a ring buffer, where a block of information from storage is separated from ring buffer storage in the form of a page, for a reader of the buffer. The ring buffer is located in physical memory, and the copying is done so that the readers' page becomes part of the ring buffer, and the head page no longer belongs to the buffer.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,271,996 describes a method of event notifications, generated by writers, for those readers who subscribe to the notifications, and without the use of kernel space. Everything is performed in user space by creating a ring buffer in shared memory. Each event can be executed in its own address space.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2009/0204755 describes a multi-reader, multi-writer lock free ring buffer, and also describes a non-blocking algorithm for working with the ring buffer. The algorithm uses indices of writers and readers. Each writer and reader has his own reserved index value and done index value. These represent a cell that is reserved for some action, and a cell upon which the action has already been performed. The algorithm constantly compares them, and based on the comparison, moves the position pointer for writing or reading.
In this publication, the algorithm contemplates only a relatively short time for writing into the buffer by a single writer, therefore, it does not permit writing large amounts of data on each iteration, since this can lead to blocking—where other writers will have to be idle. That means that each successive writer, in this algorithm, waits for the previous writer to finish. What is needed is a more universal algorithm, where a large amount of data being written by one writer does not prevent others from writing as well.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2010/0332755 describes a hardware and software solution to improve synchronization between threads in a system having a multi-core processor. The hardware part includes a first processor and a second processor, and a common ring buffer stored in a memory, for data storage. Also, the memory storage global variables associated with accessing the ring buffer. The first processor core launches a first thread, and has a first cache, associated with it. The first cache stores a first set of local variables associated with the first processor core. The first thread controls writing of the data into the shared ring buffer, using one global variable and a first set of local variables. These second processor core launches a second thread, and has a second cache associated with it. The second cache stores a second set of local variables associated with a second processor core. The second thread controls reading of the data from the shared buffer, using at least one global variable and a second set of local variables.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2011/0131352 describes a method for writing into a limited ring buffer. A network adapter can determine that the data is ready for writing into the ring buffer, and after that, once the network adapter determines that the read index is not equal to the write index, then this data is ready for writing into the buffer. The network of data writes the data into the memory, which is pointed to by the write index on a physical storage medium. The memory that is pointed to by the index have an offset and the memory includes the data itself and a validity bit. The network adapter writes the time of the index entry into the validity bit, and then adds one to the entry after writing the data into the memory.
Accordingly, a method and system for recording common logs of the context events without stopping or slowing down (locking) the context execution is desired.

Method and system for maintaining context event logs without locking in virtual machine


A speech recognition system includes an input device to receive voice sounds, one or more processors, and one or more storage devices storing parameters and program modules including instructions which cause the one or more processors to perform operations. The operations include extracting an acoustic feature sequence from audio waveform data converted from the voice sounds, encoding the acoustic feature sequence into a hidden vector sequence using an encoder network having encoder network parameters, predicting first output label sequence probabilities by feeding the hidden vector sequence to a decoder network having decoder network parameters, predicting second output level sequence probabilities by a hybrid network using character-base language models (LMs) and word-level LMs; and searching, using a label sequence search module, for an output label sequence having a highest sequence probability by combining the first and second output label sequence probabilities provided from the decoder network and the hybrid network.

Automatic speech recognition is currently a mature set of technologies that have been widely deployed, resulting in great success in interface applications such as voice search. However, it is not easy to build a speech recognition system that achieves high recognition accuracy. One problem is that it requires deep linguistic knowledge on the target language that the system accepts. For example, a set of phonemes, a vocabulary, and a pronunciation lexicon are indispensable for building such a system. The phoneme set needs to be carefully defined by linguists of the language. The pronunciation lexicon needs to be created manually by assigning one or more phoneme sequences to each word in the vocabulary including over 100 thousand words. Moreover, some languages do not explicitly have a word boundary and therefore we may need tokenization to create the vocabulary from a text corpus. Consequently, it is quite difficult for non-experts to develop speech recognition systems especially for minor languages. The other problem is that a speech recognition system is factorized into several modules including acoustic, lexicon, and language models, which are optimized separately. This architecture may result in local optima, although each model is trained to match the other models.
End-to-end speech recognition has the goal of simplifying the conventional architecture into a single neural network architecture within a deep learning framework. To address or solve these problems, various techniques have been discussed in some literature. State-of-the-art end-to-end speech recognition systems are designed to predict a character sequence for a given speech input, because predicting word sequences directly from speech without pronunciation lexicon is much more difficult than predicting character sequences. However, the character-based prediction generally under-performs relative to word-based prediction, because of the difficulty of modeling linguistic constraints across long sequences of characters. If we have much more speech data with the corresponding transcripts, we could train a better neural network that predicts word sequences. However, it is very costly to collect such transcribed speech data and train the network with the large data set. Therefore, it is not easy to incorporate word-level prediction in the end-to-end speech recognition to improve recognition accuracy.

Method and apparatus for open-vocabulary end-to-end speech recognition

Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.


Methods for treating, adhering, or sealing biological tissue are provided. The methods include combining solutions containing a polymer component and a dendrimer component capable of reacting with each other, and at least one of the components includes a substituent capable of photoreversible dimerization that can be reversibly dimerized. Drug delivery compositions and kits containing these two components also are provided.

Crosslinking can be accomplished in a variety of ways, including chemically or by energy exposure, which can induce a conformational or internal chemical change in a material. Incorporation of photosensitive groups to a material allows on-demand polymerization with the application of ultraviolet (UV) light. Photosensitive polymers often are used in the fields of printing, inks, coatings, drug delivery, and tissue engineering. The photosensitive groups in the main or pendant chains of a polymer can polymerize or cleave after irradiation with UV light, depending on whether the groups are of a negative or positive type. This photosensitive capability can enhance the precision and control of the crosslinking of the material, whereas other types of polymerization cannot be controlled on demand. Conversely, polymers with o-nitrobenzyl moieties can efficiently transfer electrons upon UV irradiation, which results in the cleavage of the polymeric chains. However, none of these photosensitive materials is reversible, which forces a user to choose between the benefits of photopolymerization or photocleavage, exclusively.
One of the most appealing ways to control the application of materials to a specific site is by applying a material in a pre-state that can flow and integrate into irregular surfaces, increasing the surface area for interaction, and then crosslinking the material to fix it into place. Materials are desired that can reversibly crosslink on command.
There are several biocompatible adhesives that are commercially available. The commercially available adhesives, however, typically are difficult to remove. Healing and adhesion often create a powerful bond between the patient's tissues and the adhesive material, thereby preventing the removal of the adhesive material without disrupting the wound and potentially causing further injury. Therefore, first responders who need to control a wound immediately must decide whether applying the currently available adhesive materials is optimal for long term treatment.
It would be advantageous to have an adhesive or material that can stabilize a wound or serve another purpose, such as drug delivery, and prevent further injury while allowing health care providers to later selectively remove the material, for example, to permit further treatment, or to later activate the material to control drug release.

Controllably degradable compositions and methods


A charge pump driven Linear Voltage Regulator (LVR) system with a cascoded n-type output pass device includes an error amplifier; a voltage feedback network; a dynamically controlled charge pump block that is ON only when required and OFF otherwise; a gate drive system configured to ensure that the charge pump drives only gate of a cascode transistor and no DC or static current load such that a voltage is preserved for a duration; and a filter at the charge pump output to reduce an impact of the switching noise of the charge pump on the regulator output, wherein the filter is outside a main servo loop of the regulator, wherein an n-type pass element and/or cascode element in the cascoded n-type output pass device comprises at least one of a Metal Oxide Semiconductor (MOS) Field Effect Transistor (FET), a bipolar junction transistor, an LDMOS, or a FinFET device.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic block diagram of a generic Linear Voltage Regulator (100), with its main components being the Error Amplifier (101), the Gate Driver (102), the feedback network consisting R2 (103) and R1 (104), the load network consisting of RL (105) and CL (106) and last, but certainly not the least, the pass device MPASS (107). The closed loop operation of the voltage regulator fixes the output voltage VOUT (108) to VOUT=VREF*(1+R2/R1), by forcing the feedback node VFB (111) to be equal to the reference voltage VREF (110). It is interesting to note that the output voltage is independent of the Input Supply VIN (109). Throughout this description, the terms, "power/input supply," "supply," "VIN," and "VIN terminal or node" may be used interchangeably to refer to the power source input to a voltage regulator, which may or may not be a high voltage such as 15V, or even higher.
The reference voltage input to the regulator is usually generated from a band gap circuit. The error amplifier (101) may be a single stage or a multi-stage amplifier. The resistor R2 may be a short circuit, and/or the resistor R1 may be an open circuit in some architectures. The pass device can be an n-type or a p-type Bipolar Transistor, a CMOS transistor, an LDMOS or even a FINFET, as per the manufacturing process and specifications. For CMOS implementations, as far as the pass device is concerned, it is preferred to use an NMOS device instead of a PMOS device for two main reasons, explained in the next paragraph.
First, the size of the pass device for a given drop-out voltage (i.e. voltage difference between VIN (110) and VOUT (108)) and current rating is at least a factor of two-three times smaller than the corresponding PMOS transistor, due to inherently better mobility and so forth. Second, the small signal output impedance of an NMOS device (1/gm) is much lower than a PMOS device (gds). This essentially means improved AC drive capability, especially in presence of larger capacitive loads, which translates to better loop stability for wide ranges of output load capacitors. However, the NMOS transistor requires enough voltage overdrive at its gate to be able to operate as required, and usually, the highest the gate can rise, is dictated by the available input supply (the minimum level that has to be supported) and the amount of voltage headroom needed by the gate driver circuit. Essentially, this translates to a high drop-out voltage for the regulator. Drop-out for a regulator quantifies how close the output can be to the minimum Input Supply. The smaller the drop-out, the more efficient the regulator. It is hence obvious that achieving low drop-out and having an NMOS pass device are conflicting requirements, having to be traded-off against each other. However, it is worthwhile to point out that this is not the case all the time, as there are several applications where the input supply might be much larger, whereas the output has to be kept at a low enough level to support appropriate loads.

Voltage regulator with dynamic charge pump control