A system and method for allocating credit for an advertising conversion among various advertising touchpoints encounter by the consumer is provided. The system and method comprise receiving data pertaining to touchpoints and conversions of an advertising campaign across multiple channels. Users are correlated across the channels and the various conversions, touchpoints, and touchpoint attributes are identified. Each touchpoint attribute and touchpoint attribute value is assigned a weight. An attribution algorithm is selected, and coefficients are calculated using the assigned weights. The algorithm is executed and true scores corresponding to the touchpoints encountered by each converting user are computed.

Advertising, the practice of promoting a product or service to a particular audience or to the public at large, has changed significantly over the years. Initially, advertising consisted of little more than simple posters or crude messages scrawled on public posting walls. As technology has evolved, however, so too has advertising. The advent of radio and television has allowed advertisers to develop creative messages comprising sound, video, and rich media that can be delivered to consumers as they sit in the privacy of their own homes. The emergence of the Internet has enabled the delivery of interactive advertising that can be presented on multiple platforms and the response to which can be immediately and definitively determined. Perhaps more significantly, the diversification of advertising into private spaces and multiple mediums of communication has allowed advertisers to craft messages that are tailored to a particular medium and audience.
This has also presented advertisers with the task of determining how advertising money and resources should be allocated. Companies often prefer to place advertisements for the same product, service, or brand across multiple mediums of communication (i.e., channels). Because different media outlets have different effectiveness in delivering different types of messages, an advertisement for the same product may generate a bigger response in one channel than another. The effectiveness of an advertisement may further depend on additional factors such as the time of day during which it appeared, the day of the week on which it appeared, and even the weather. Given limited resources and budgets, advertisers must make intelligent decisions about which forms of advertising to focus on and how the advertisements should be placed.
Thus, what is needed is a technique for identifying the various advertisements encountered by potential consumers and assigning credit for a purchase in a manner that accounts for each advertisement's influence on the consumer's purchasing decision. As will be shown, the embodiments disclosed herein provide such a technique in an elegant manner.

Method and system for determining touchpoint attribution


Delay-locked loop arrangement comprising a steering unit and a delay-locked loop circuit. The steering unit is configured to generate a reference clock signal and a main clock signal wherein the reference clock signal and the main clock signal feature a first frequency during a performance mode of operation. The reference clock signal and the main clock signal feature a second frequency being lower than the first frequency and a phase delay with respect to each other during a sleep mode of operation. The delay-locked loop circuit is configured to generate an error signal depending on a comparison of the reference clock signal and a feedback signal. Furthermore, the delay-locked loop circuit generates the feedback signal depending on the error signal and on the main clock signal.

The invention relates to a delay-locked loop arrangement and to a method for operating a delay-locked loop circuit.
A delay-locked loop circuit is an electronic circuit used to generate multiple output signals, being in particular output clock signals, characterized by the same frequency and phase differences between the individual output signals. To this end a main clock signal is delayed several times and a phase for example of one of the resulting output signals is compared to a phase of a reference clock signal. In this way, phase relations of the output signals are synchronized with respect to the reference clock signal.
In order to save power, it would be desirable to power down the delay-locked loop circuit for example when it is not in use, for example during a stalled mode of operation of an electronic component that is supplied by the delay-locked loop circuit. However, there may be a requirement for a short response time, for example for a response time in the order of several nanoseconds, for the delay-locked loop circuit to get back to a normal operation. This is a major drawback for a solution including powering down the delay-locked loop circuit completely. Furthermore, later errors due to leakage within the delay-locked loop circuit may increase with the time the circuit is powered down.

Delay-locked loop arrangement and method for operating a delay-locked loop circuit


Method and an optical computation device for obtaining an indication about the existence of a feasible solution for a bounded instance of a problem that belongs to the non-deterministic polynomial class of problems, using parallel optical computations employing a multitude of light rays simultaneously propagating along paths in an optical arrangement. An optical arrangement that can implement a universal non deterministic Turing Machine that can solve bounded instances of problems of the class is determined. An initial incoming ray is directed to a point in the optical arrangement, that represents the initial configuration of the universal non deterministic Turing Machine, such that the initial configuration corresponds to the bounded instance. Each incoming ray is split within the optical arrangement into two or more outgoing rays at pre-determined locations in the optical arrangement. Each incoming ray and/or outgoing rays is amplified, such that each of the outgoing rays has at least the same power as the initial incoming ray. The position, measured in two or more dimensions, of the rays, on the components of the optical arrangement, is used to represent intermediate and/or final computation results, and whenever an outgoing ray is detected within a predetermined time at a position in the optical arrangement that represents a final state of the universal non deterministic Turing Machine, this position is converted to that indication.

Optical computing is viewed as a promising computational model. The classic deterministic Turing Machine model is the base for the computation complexity classes, since any (electronic) computer can be viewed as a version of a Turing Machine. The definition of the classical Turing Machine has been extended to the case of a non-deterministic Turing Machine [M. R. Garey and D. S. Johnson, Computers and Intractability: A Guide to the Theory of NP-Completeness, W. Freeman Company, 1990], where the choice of the next state is chosen arbitrarily; in fact, all possible choices should be examined in order to reject the input. The definition of non-deterministic Turing Machine classifies many very important classic problems, such as the traveling salesman problem, as problems that can be solved in polynomial time by the non-deterministic Turing Machine.
A model for implementing a deterministic Turing Machine based on optical ray tracing is presented in [J. H. Reif, D. Tygar, and A. Yoshida, "Computability and Complexity of Ray Tracing", Discrete and Computational Geometry 11 (1994), pp. 265–297]. It would be very desirable to extend this model to the case of non-determinism and even more desirable to provide a device capable of carrying out this model.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a model of an optical computation device that can implement non-deterministic Turing Machines up to a bounded input length.
Further purposes and advantages of this invention will appear as the description proceeds.

Optical implementation of bounded non-deterministic Turing Machines


An offset frequency estimation method includes receiving an input signal comprised of complex samples, detecting phases of the complex samples, estimating a temporary offset frequency and an initial phase from the detected phases of the complex samples using a linear regression analysis method, and estimating a final offset frequency by skipping error samples detected using the temporary offset frequency and the initial phase.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an offset frequency estimation method and apparatus, and more particularly, to an offset frequency estimation method and apparatus for preventing incorrect offset frequency estimation by using adaptive skipping of error samples.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In general, in systems using a modulation method, such as phase shift keying (PSK) or minimum shift keying (MSK), correct estimation of a carrier frequency offset is important.
A conventional offset frequency estimation apparatus receives an input signal comprised of complex samples. The received samples may contain noise generated in a transmission/reception process.
A reference sample is a signal that does not contain a noise component and can be obtained by equalizing and filtering the received samples. The reference sample or the received samples can be conjugated. A signal pre-set in transmission and reception systems can also be used as the reference sample.
For the convenience of description, it is assumed that the reference sample is conjugated. Conventionally, the offset frequency estimation apparatus multiplies the received samples by a conjugate value of the reference sample. However, when the received samples are conjugated, the offset frequency estimation apparatus multiplies the reference sample by a conjugate value of the received samples.
Phases of the received samples varying with time are detected from the result obtained by multiplying the received samples by the conjugate value of the reference sample. The detected phases of the received samples can be converted to an offset frequency using a least squares method.
Equations 1 through 4 show a conventional offset frequency estimation process.R=S*ejωt  (1)
Here, R denotes a received sample ejωt denotes a noise component generated in a signal transmission/reception process, and S denotes the reference sample, which does not contain the noise component.
                                                        X              =                              R                *                                  S                  *                                                                                =                              S                *                                  ⅇ                                      jω                                                                                t                                                  *                                  S                  *                                                                                =                              A                *                                  ⅇ                                      jω                                                                                t                                                                                =                              A                *                                  (                                                            cos                                                                                ω                                                                                t                                        +                                          j                                                                                sin                                                                                ω                                                                                t                                                        )                                                                                (        2        )
Equation 2 shows the case where the reference sample is conjugated.ωt+φ+ε=arctan(sin ωt/cos ωt)  (3)
                              (                                    ω                                                                                t                        +            φ            +            ɛ                    )                                  →          LS                                  (                      ω            ^                    )                                    (        4        )
In the conventional offset frequency estimation process described above, an error may be generated due to error samples in the offset frequency estimation process. Incorrect offset frequency estimation can result in incorrect detection of a reception frequency.

Offset frequency estimation method and apparatus


The invention provides a method of treating a subject afflicted with a drug-induced movement disorder including levodopa-induced dyskinesia comprising periodically administering to the subject in need thereof an amount of pridopidine effective to treat the subject. The invention further provides a method of treating a subject at risk of developing a drug-induced movement disorder, including levodopa-induced dyskinesia. The invention also provides pharmaceutical compositions suitable for carrying out these methods and packages containing such pharmaceutical compositions.

Drug Induced Dyskinesias
Dyskinesias are abnormal, involuntary movements which may appear as jerking, twisting or writhing of parts of the body. There are several different types of dyskinesias, which can be categorized as chorea, dystonia, myoclonus, tremor and paroxysmal tardive (late-onset type). Drug-induced movement disorders (DIMDs) may be elicited by different pharmaceutical agents, which modulate dopamine neurotransmission as well as other neurotransmission in the central nervous system such as serotonin, adrenaline and acetylcholine neurotransmission. The major groups of drugs responsible for DIMDs include antidepressants, antipsychotics, antiepileptics, antimicrobials, antiarrhythmics, mood stabilisers and gastrointestinal drugs, among others. These movement disorders include, without limitation, parkinsonism, tardive dyskinesia, chorea, dystonia, tremor, akathisia, athetosis, myoclonus or tics.
Parkinson's Disease and Levodopa-Induced Dyskinesias
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a degenerative disorder characterized by the loss of substantia nigra pars compacta dopaminergic neurons and the subsequent loss of dopaminergic input to the striatum. As the degenerative process evolves, dopamine replacement therapy becomes necessary to help alleviate motor dysfunction.
Dyskinesias are common in Parkinson's disease (PD) and can be separated into a) dyskinesias resulting from the disease process itself, and b) dyskinesias that are the side-effect of levodopa medication given to treat symptoms of PD (Levodopa-Induced Dyskinesia, LID) (Cubo 2001).
Levodopa (L-DOPA), the most effective agent to alleviate motor dysfunction in Parkinson's disease patients, is associated with the development of dyskinesias with chronic use. L-DOPA Induced Dyskinesia (LID) is a major complication of dopamine-replacement therapy in PD ("PD-LID"; Kumar 2005, Manson 2012, Poewe 2009). Other dopamine agonist therapies may induce dyskinesia in PD patients.
The levodopa-induced dyskinesias occur in the majority of the PD patients and initially are mild, progressing to a complex and severe disorder that interferes with motor function, speech, coordination and social activity. LID can adversely affect the quality of life for Parkinson's disease patients.
Peak-dose dyskinesias are the most prevalent type of dyskinesia. They occur during peaks of levodopa-derived dopamine in the brain, when the patient is otherwise experiencing a beneficial response (the 'on' state). Peak dose dyskinesias worsen with increases in dopaminergic therapy and lessen with reductions in dopaminergic therapy. Some patients exhibit diphasic dyskinesia, which occurs when levodopa-derived dopamine concentrations are increasing or decreasing and the patient is shifting between 'on' and 'off" states.
The therapeutic and preventative strategies for LID include using a lower dosage of levodopa, employing other dopamine agonists as initial therapy in Parkinson's disease, amantadine, atypical neuroleptics, and neurosurgery.
The potential of pridopidine to reduce motor complications of L-DOPA in PD was reported using the 6-OHDA-lesioned rat model (Ponten 2013). The data from that rat 6-OHDA study suggests that low doses of pridopidine, up to about 67.5 mg bid may be efficacious against PD-LID.
Tedroff, 2004, reported an open label, uncontrolled, self-assessed, pilot study of once a day low-dose pridopidine (20-100 mg once a day; average dose 57 mg/day) in seven advanced stage Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. Tedroff provides no guidance for treating LID in PD patients. Since that study was disclosed with no mention of what the "regular antiparkinsonias medication" is, no controlled study has been performed to objectively assess the effect of pridopidine for treating LID in PD patients.
Pridopidine
Pridopidine (formerly ACR16, Huntexil®, TV-7820) is a drug in development for the treatment of patients with Huntington's disease. The chemical name of pridopidine base is 4-(3-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl)-1-propylpiperidine, and its Chemical Registry Number is CAS 346688-38-8 (CSID:7971505, 2016). The Chemical Registry number of pridopidine hydrochloride is 882737-42-0 (CSID:25948790 2016).
Pridopidine demonstrates a complex binding profile with high affinity binding to the sigma-1 receptor (σ1R, or S1R) (Internal studies; Sahlholm 2013,) and low affinity binding to several other CNS targets, including receptors for dopamine, serotonin, 5-HT1A, 5-HT2A and 5-HT7; adrenergic alpha-1, adrenergic alpha-2A and alpha-2C receptors, dopamine D3 and dopamine D2 (D2R) receptors; and muscarinic M2 and histamine H3 receptors (Internal studies, Ponten 2013).
Pridopidine has been shown to modulate motor activity by either suppressing hyperactivity or enhancing hypoactivity. The neuroprotective properties of pridopidine are suggested to be attributed to its high affinity to the S1R, while the motor activity of pridopidine may be mediated primarily by its moderate-affinity targets, including antagonistic activity at the dopamine D2 receptor (Ponten 2010, Sahlholm 2015).
The S1R is an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) chaperone protein which is implicated in cellular differentiation, neuroplasticity, neuroprotection and cognitive function in the brain. Recently, transcriptomic analysis of rat striatum showed that pridopidine treatment activates expression of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), dopamine receptor 1 (D1R), glucocorticoid receptor (GR), and the serine-threonine kinase protein kinase B (Akt)/phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) pathways, known to promote neuronal plasticity and survival and to be impaired in HD. Pridopidine was shown to enhance secretion of the neuroprotective BDNF in a neuroblastoma cell line, in a S1R-dependent manner (Geva 2016).
Effective treatments for LID and other drug induced movement disorders (DIMD), including drug-induced dyskinesias, remain a significant unmet need.

Pridopidine for treating drug induced dyskinesias


A method for preparing ceramic green compacts for ceramic assemblies, especially ceramic multilayer assemblies. First, a dispersing agent solution is prepared by homogenizing a dispersing agent in a solvent mixture. Then, a binder solution is prepared by homogenizing a solvent mixture, a binder made of acrylatemethacrylate polymer and a softener. After preparing a first dispersion by homogenizing a ceramic powder and the dispersing agent solution and subsequent deagglomerization, a second dispersion is prepared by homogenizing the first dispersion and the binder solution, and subsequently removing air and highly volatile solvent components from the second dispersion.

A crucial point in ceramic production technology is the development of new methods for producing green compacts. Examples of this are ceramic die-casting, gel-casting or near-net shape technology. All processes require the use of large quantities of organic processing aids, such as binders, lubricants or stabilizers which have to be removed from the green parts before or during the sintering process. This debindering process is, first of all, time and cost intensive, and secondly, it gives rise to environmental stresses because of the decomposition products created, that are in part injurious to health.
Binder systems for ceramic green compacts based on polyacrylates and polymethacrylates are available, and are used, for example, in the capacitor industry. In this connection, usually aqueous dispersions of polyacrylates are used for the very thin capacitor foils (2-20 μm). For layer thicknesses beginning at about 100 μm, aqueous systems are no longer economical, because of the long drying times. To the extent that formulations using acrylate resins are used in this connection, they derive from polyvinylbutyral (PVB) formulations, and one uses correspondingly known dispersing agents such as fish oil or phosphoric acid ester, and solvent mixtures such as ethanol/toluene.
Ceramic, especially piezoceramic components include several, especially many layers (many-layer components or multilayer components), and are usable, for example, as actors (add-on components)in piezostacks, in that by voltage control an inertia-poor mechanical deflection of comparatively high force is achieved, or are usable as a flexural element, in that the voltage control brings about a great deflection of lesser force, or they permit the generation of high electrical voltages or are used in appropriate devices for the detection of mechanical vibrations or the generation of acoustical vibrations.
Technical solutions up to now are predominantly based on ceramic masses of the structural type of perovskite of the general formula ABO3, the piezoelectrical properties coming into effect in the ferroelectric state. Lead zirconate-titanate ceramics Pb(Zr1-xTix)O3 (PZT), modified by certain additives, have proven especially advantageous. Between ceramic layers produced according to typical methods of ceramic foil technology there are noble metal internal electrodes that are applied using silk screen printing. The noble metal electrodes permit thermally eliminating the dispersing agents and binders used, as well as the additional organic additives and also the organic components of the silk screen printing metal paste from the multilayer stacks into the air, using depolymerization and oxidation, so that, subsequently, sintering compacting at ca. 1100 to 1150° C. is made possible without reduction effects, possibly caused by remaining carbon residues, become effective, which would negatively influence the properties of the ceramics as a result of reduction reactions.
German patent document no. 100 62 672 A1 refers to piezoelectric components in monolithic multilayer construction, having a stack of at least two ceramic layers and an electrode layer, situated between two ceramic layers, in which the electrode layer contains copper. Using these copper-containing internal electrodes, a practically complete debindering succeeds before the application of the sintering compacting under inert conditions in that one supplies plenty of steam to the inert atmosphere during debindering, and permits only a certain partial pressure of oxygen that leaves the copper-containing internal electrode undamaged. This creates the supposition that, in the process of the subsequent sintering compacting, piezoactors having optimal property values of the ceramics are obtained, that are not second to, or even surpass a piezoceramic layer of respective composition, separated under analogous conditions from the copper-containing electrode layer or even sintered in air. Polyurethane dispersion is used as binder in German patent document no. 100 62 672 A1.
Formulations for casting slip based on solvent mixtures not having aromatic compounds, such as toluene or xylene and not having chlorinated hydrocarbons such as trichloroethylene are not known up to the present, especially in combination with lead-containing powders (e.g. PZT).

Method for producing ceramic green compacts for ceramic components


A method and an arrangement for temperature compensation at circular resonators with dual mode utilization, which includes a material with a low coefficient of thermal expansion and for which the tensile or compressive forces are transferred to the resonator wall and produce elastic deformations there. The resonator wall is deformed in two mutually perpendicular directions in each case by the same absolute amount at one or more places along the axial e extent, the deformation forces being introduced into the resonator war over at least one flange. This has the advantage that the peripheral shape of the casing of the circular resonator is deformed so that both orthogonal dual modes experience uniform shortening with simultaneous expansion of the material, as a result of which a high compensation effect is achieved.

The invention is based on a method and an arrangement for the temperature compensating at circular resonators with dual mode utilization for microwave filters realizable therefrom.
Circular resonators, which are used in operating environments in which the temperature fluctuates greatly, are equipped with various means for compensating for the thermal expansion caused by temperature fluctuations. A frequently employed principle for counteracting these thermal expansions consists of changing the volume of the circular resonators as a function of the temperature with the help of mechanical means in such a manner, that the transfer properties of the circular resonator are retained. Usually, devices are used for this purpose, which protrude into the interior of the circular resonator (DE 39 35 785) and change their volume there as a function of the temperature, so that the average frequency of the resonator remains constant. A further possibility consists of utilizing the effect of the resonator end faces (EP 0 939 450 A1, WO 87/03745). Compensating elements, which dip more or less into the interior of the resonator, can be adjusted only with difficulty and, because of the nonlinear field distortion, lead to a nonlinear frequency compensation.
In EP 0 939 450 A1, a circular resonator is closed off by an arrangement at the end face, which consists of two plates with different coefficients of thermal expansion, lying rigidly on top of one another. In WO 87/03745, a curved, thin copper plate protrudes at the end face into the interior of the circular resonator. For certain cases of application, for example, if, because of special quality requirements, so-called TE1 1n modes, with n>1, are used as working modes in circular resonators, the effect of end-side compensation becomes constantly less because of the unfavorable relationships between length and diameter. Especially at high frequencies (Ku, Ka or higher) this technique fails, since the necessary deformation of the end-side diaphragms no longer is sufficient. high frequencies (Ku, Ka or higher) this technique fails, since the necessary deformation of the end-side diaphragms no longer is sufficient.
An arrangement, for which the waveguide is clamped in at least one frame, the temperature-dependent expansion of which is less than that of the waveguide, can compensate for large temperature-dependent volume changes (DE 43 19 886). Moreover, at least at two mutually opposite places of its wall, the waveguide is connected non-positively with the frame. The frame and waveguide are connected non-positively over spacers, which transfer compression and tensile forces, resulting from the different thermal expansions of the frame and the waveguide, onto the waveguide wall and cause elastic deformations there. The end faces of the waveguide produce the bulk of the elastic deformation. Moreover, deformation forces may be transferred over spacers, disposed between the frame and the casing of the waveguide, also onto the frame and counteract undesirable buckling of the frame. The disadvantage of this solution consists therein that, at two opposite side walls, ribs are integrally molded as spacers to the spacers of the frame, that is, that the waveguide of the arrangement must be adapted for the temperature compensation, which is associated with additional expense.

Method and device for compensating the temperature of circular resonators


A system for recording and reproducing an extended definition (ED) video signal in/from a track on a magnetic record carrier wherein an ED video signal, such as a PAL-PLUS video signal, includes first lines having a first luminance signal (Y.sub.1) and a chrominance signal (C), and second lines having no chrominance signal but a second luminance signal (Y.sub.2) in the form of a modulated luminance signal with suppressed carrier. The recording device includes a first signal path (11,31,32,16) for processing the first luminance signal, a second signal path (11,18) for processing the chrominance signal and a third signal path (10,30,32,16) for processing the second luminance signal prior to the three signals being combined (22) and recorded on the record carrier. The reproducing device also includes a first (48,50) a second (52,53) and a third signal path (48,73,83) for processing the first luminance signal, the chrominance signal, and the second luminance signal, respectively. Furthermore, a converter is described with which an ED video signal may be converted to a signal that may be recorded by a video recorder and with which a signal read out by a video recorder may be converted to an ED video signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a system for recording and reproducing a standard definition (SD) video signal in/from a track on a magnetic record carrier, comprising a recording device which includes:
an input terminal for receiving the SD video signal,
a separation unit having an input coupled to the input terminal, and first and second outputs, which separation unit is arranged for deriving a luminance signal from the SD video signal and presenting this luminance signal at the first output, and for deriving a chrominance signal and presenting same at the second output,
a first signal path comprising an FM modulator,
a second signal path, comprising a mixer stage,
a signal combining unit having first and second inputs coupled to an output of the respective first and second signal paths, and an output,
writing means having an input coupled to the output of the signal combining unit, the system further including a reproducing device which comprises
reading means having an output,
a separation unit having an input coupled to the output of the reading means, first and second outputs, which separation unit is arranged for deriving an FM-modulated luminance signal from the signal read from the track by the reading means and presenting this luminance signal at the first output, and deriving a frequency-converted chrominance signal and presenting same at the second output,
a first signal path including an FM demodulator,
a second signal path including a mixer stage,
a first output terminal coupled to an output of the first signal path, for presenting the demodulated luminance signal, and
a second output terminal coupled to an output of the second signal path, for applying the frequency-shifted chrominance signal, to a recording device and a reproducing device to be used in the system, to a converter means for converting a PAL-PLUS video signal to a video signal that can be recorded on a video tape recorder, and to a converter means for converting a video signal reproduced by a video tape recorder to a PAL-PLUS video signal.
2. Description of the Related Art
The system of the type mentioned in the opening paragraph is known, for example, from Funkschau, No. 6, 1988, pp. 34 and 35. This publication describes how an SD video signal in the form of a PAL video signal is recorded on the record carrier by means of a VHS video tape recorder and an SVHS video tape recorder. Several years ago it was proposed to realize video pictures having a 16:9 aspect ratio in lieu of video pictures having a 4:3 aspect ratio. Pictures having such a 16:9 aspect ratio form a better link to the world of films and to the properties of the human eye. As long as television sets with 4:3 format picture screens are still used, a television broadcast in the 16:9 format will have to be reverse-compatible. Put in other words: for television signals broadcast in the 16:9 format it must also be possible to be reproduced by a television set having a 4:3 picture screen. Such a reverse compatibility can be realized with an extended definition video signal in the form of the PAL-PLUS television signal. For a description of the PAL-PLUS television signal, reference be made to two publications in Funkschau, No. 15, 1990, pp. 49-51 and No. 23, 1990, pp. 46-47 and Fernseh- und Kino-Technik, No. 8, 1989, pp. 407-410 and No. 10, 1989, pp. 522-526.

System and apparatus for recording and reproducing and extended definition video signal in/from a track on a magnetic carrier


An electronic personal dosimeter (EPD) smart accessory system is described. The system includes a first component configured to be attachable to the EPD and a second component configured to be attachable to safety glasses. The first component includes an ambient light sensor and a first communication module. The ambient light sensor detects light from a light-emitting diode (LED) of the EPD to detect a warning signal from the EPD. The second component includes a feedback mechanism and a second communication module. The first communication module establishes a short range wireless communication connection with the second communication module, and transmits a signal to cause the second component to turn on the feedback mechanism when the warning signal from the EPD is detected.

Nuclear power plants worldwide have a common goal: to protect their workers from unanticipated radiation exposure while workers are performing their duties in a radioactive environment. Devices, such as electronic personal dosimeters (EPDs), are used extensively in the nuclear industry to alert workers that they are approaching the radiation dose limit for a specific task. EPDs may monitor exposure to radiation in real time and emit alarms so that workers can react quickly to back out from their location when the workers have reached a maximum limit of radiation exposure level.
EPDs are required to be worn on the worker's chest in order to detect exposure of the worker's vital organs (which are located near the chest) to gamma radiation. Besides wearing EPDs to protect workers in the radioactive environment, other apparel and equipment, such as a plastic suit, hearing protection, and other such items, are also required to be worn while performing tasks. However, it is a challenge for workers to see visual warning indications (e.g., warning lights from light emitting diodes (LEDs)) from EPDs located on the workers' chest while workers are wearing such apparel and other equipment. Further, workers may fail to be alerted by audible alarms from EPDs in the case where workers are in a noisy environment and are wearing hearing protections.
Thus, solutions to monitor and indicate EPD's status in a timely and accurately manner are desired.

Electronic personal dosimeter smart accessory system


Micellar whey protein obtained by the heat treatment of whey protein having undergone limited hydrolysis by a proteolytic enzyme and containing whey protein molecules having a micellar structure similar to that of casein micelles, the micellar whey protein being characterized in that:. (1) the molecules are in the form of micelles of irregular shape having a molecular weight of not less than 1,000,000 and a molecular size of 30 to 500 nm; PA1 (2) the micellar whey protein is soluble in water and gives a milk-white solution; and PA1 (3) the micelles associate together in a solution having a pH in the acid range of 3 to 6 to form insoluble aggregates.. This micellar whey protein is so stable that it does not undergo gelation even when heated in solution, and can hence be widely utilized in liquid drink compositions, processed foods and the like.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to micellar whey protein comprising casein micelle-like molecular aggregates formed by association. More particularly, this invention relates to micellar whey protein characterized in that it has excellent thermal stability and high solubility and a solution thereof forms a coagulum in the acid pH range without application of heat, a solution containing it, and a powder and coagulum obtained therefrom. They can be widely utilized as food materials. This invention also relates to foods utilizing the protein.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Whey protein is generally defined as milk protein exhibiting water solubility under acidic conditions, and is obtained as a by-product chiefly in the process of manufacturing cheese and casein. In spite of its high nutritive value, whey protein has not been fully utilized in the food industry and most of it is discarded by reason of the fact that it requires heating for purpose of gelation as described later (on the contrary, undesired gelation occurs as a result of heat sterilization or the like). Accordingly, it is very important from the viewpoint of environmental protection and effective utilization of resources to promote the use of whey protein as a food material. Generally, whey protein is denatured by heating to 60.degree. C. or above and undergoes gelation easily under certain conditions, for example, when heated at a pH of 6 or less Mulvihill, D. M. and Kinsella, J. E. (1987) Food Technol., 41(9), 102-111! and when heated in the presence of a salt Schmidt, R. H., Illingworth, B. L., Deng, J. C. and Cornell, J. A. (1979) J. Agric. Food Chem., 27(3), 529!. Such gelation is believed to take place because the higher-order structure of the protein changes in consequence of denaturation by heating, and the resulting increase of hydrophobic regions and of the reactivity of disulfide bonds causes the protein molecules to form a three-dimensional network structure.
Since whey protein has high nutritive value, it is used as a material for highly nutritious foods such as powdered milk for infants. Moreover, since whey protein has various functional properties (e.g., binding and emulsifying properties) in addition to the above-described heat-gelling properties, it is also utilized as a meat binder, fat substitute and the like Morr, C. V. (1989) in Developments in Dairy Chemistry, P. F. Fox (ed.), Vol. 4, p. 323, Elsevier Applied Sci., New York!. Thus, the utilization of whey protein for various purposes has been attempted. However, whey protein requires heat treatment for purposes of gelation and has to be heated under static conditions. Consequently, it is not practical to manufacture a large amount of gel on an industrial scale. Moreover, a long time is required to cause gelation of the central part as a result of heat transfer from the periphery, which may result in scorching or pore formation due to overheating. Furthermore, the utilization of whey protein is also limited by the fact that it cannot be used in non-heat-processed foods. When whey protein is used in drinks and other foods in which gelation should be inhibited, the whey protein may be aggregated as a result of heat sterilization or the like. This makes it difficult to apply whey protein to drinks and the like. Owing to these problems, whey protein is still used only as a supplemental material in a limited field of food processing.
Accordingly, there has been developed a whey-protein-containing solution which does not require heat treatment for purposes of gelation but undergoes gelation by the action of monovalent or divalent salt-derived ions (U.S. Pat. No. 5,217,741). This solution is obtained by heating a whey protein solution having a low salt-derived ion concentration as defined by an ash content of not greater than 1% to increase the degree of hydrophobicity of the whey protein. The salt-induced gel obtained by the addition of salt-derived ions to the solution is a smooth and transparent gel having excellent water-holding properties and enables whey protein to be applied to non-heat-processed foods. However, since this gel is induced by the addition of salt-derived ions, a taste arising from the salt is left. Moreover, the powder obtained by drying the heated whey protein solution shows a marked reduction in processability because its solubility is very low.

Micellar whey protein, solution thereof, powder thereof, and foods utilizing same


A one-way hook and loop fastener system is incorporated on a cinchable belt for providing a cinchable fastener which may be tightened in one direction without disengaging the fastener elements from one another. The natural tension on the belt when tightened engages and locks the fasteners in the opposite direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is generally related to sports belts such as, by way of example, weight lifting belts and the like, and is specifically directed to a sport belt having a cinchable one way hook and loop type fastener system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Sports belts such as weightlifting belts and the like are well known. Typically, the belt includes a support pad for supporting the lower lumbar region of the back, an abdominal pad for providing support on the abdominal wall of the wearer, and a fastener system which allows the belt to be securely tightened around the waist of the wearer.
It is common to provide cinchable fasteners on such belts. A dual fastener system is often used, wherein the belt is placed around the waist of the user and held in position by a first fastener system. The belt is then cinched and tightened by a second fastener system to provide a snug, supporting fit.
Examples of such belts are shown in my earlier patents and co-pending applications, as follows:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,086,488, entitled: Support Device, dated Sep. 9, 1991; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,086,758, entitled: Belt Support Device With Adjustable Hook & Loop-Type Fastener, dated Feb. 11, 1992; PA1 U.S. application Ser. No. 07/728,742, entitled: Support and Utility Belt, filed Jul. 12, 1991, Amendment filed Jul. 21, 1992; and PA1 U.S. application Ser. No. 07/665,980, entitled: Adjustable Hook and Loop-Type Fastener Assembly, filed Mar. 7, 1992, Final Fee Paid Jul. 23, 1992.
Over the years it has become desirable to use hook and loop type fastener systems because of the ease and efficiency of their application. Also, such fasteners are infinitely adjustable, permitting the belt to be used on a variety of users with maximum comfort and fit, providing a great advantage over loop and tongue type fastener systems which are only incrementally adjustable.
One of the problems with hook and loop type fasteners is their tendency to become semi-permanently secured upon contact, making them undesirable for use in cinchable type fastener systems. One way of solving this problem is shown in my earlier U.S. application Ser. No. 07/665,980. As there shown, a removable flap is positioned over the pad on one of the fastener elements, precluding contact between the fastener elements until the belt is properly cinched about the waist. This permits the hook and loop type fastener system to be utilized on a cinchable fastener design.
There remains, however, a need for a hook and loop type fastener which is cinchable in one direction and semipermanently secured in the opposite direction, greatly enhancing the use of hook and loop type fastener elements in cinchable securing systems.

Sports belt with cinchable fastener system


A tool has a housing. A blade bar projects forwards from the housing along a longitudinal axis. An electric drive motor drives the blade bar. At least one battery supplies the drive motor with electrical energy. The blade bar, the drive motor and the battery are mounted on the housing. The tool has a top handle arranged above a center of gravity of the tool, and a rear handle arranged behind the tool center of gravity. The battery is arranged on the housing at least mainly in front of the rear handle.

The present invention relates to a hedge trimmer having a housing, on which a blade bar projects forward from the housing along a longitudinal axis, an electric drive motor for driving the blade bar and at least one electric energy store for supplying the drive motor with electrical energy are mounted, having a top handle arranged above a center of gravity of the hedge trimmer, and having a rear handle arranged behind the hedge-trimmer center of gravity.
Hedge trimmers serve to trim hedges or to cut back bushes or strong stalky plants. Motor-operated hedge trimmers are driven either by an internal combustion engine or by an electric motor. Hedge trimmers driven by electric motor have hitherto normally been mains-operated, and therefore the electrical energy is fed via a cable. This restricts the handling of such hedge trimmers and in addition involves a safety risk, since the cable can be severed inadvertently.
Hedge trimmers having an electric-motor drive and an electric energy store mounted on the housing of the hedge trimmer have likewise been known for years. This type of hedge trimmer has hitherto been problematic with regard to overall weight, with regard to the working time available with one charge, and with regard to handling.
For this reason, such hedge trimmers have hitherto only been used in the hobby sector. In recent years, however, the energy density of available electric energy stores has greatly increased, in particular in the case of lithium-based batteries. For this reason, the aim is also to use hedge trimmers of the generic type in the "professional sector".
DE-C 1 223 443 discloses a hedge trimmer in which a rear part of the housing is designed as a handle which accommodates an interchangeable battery set.
EP 0 599 550 P1 likewise discloses a hedge trimmer of the generic type in which a safety locking mechanism is implemented.
EP 0 374 600 B1 discloses a hedge trimmer driven by a battery that is located beneath the rear handle.
A common feature of these implements, as well as of the implements from the "hobby sector" which are otherwise available on the market, is that the battery is arranged on a rear or bottom section of the housing.
Further, DE 199 26 375 A1 discloses a mains-independent hedge trimmer, the rear handle thereof being pivotably mounted on the housing.


A laminating apparatus (20) for laminating a longitudinal web (19) on a transverse web (28) by maintaining transverse fibrous elements (62) in the transverse direction as much as possible, wherein a skew correction device (39) for correcting the skew of the transverse web in contact with both selvage portions (57, 57) of the transverse web, includes first and second rolls (101, 102) arranged on the side of one selvage portion and the other selvage portion of the transverse web, a common roll (108) arranged on the opposite side of the transverse web with respect to the first and second rolls, and a support means (60) for supporting the first roll, second roll and common roll so as to hold one selvage portion (57) of the transverse web (28) by the first or second roll and an end of the common roll. The travelling speed of at least one selvage portion (57) of the transverse web (28) can be changed.

The laminating machines of the type as referred to above are disclosed, for example, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication Nos. 4-82953 and 4-267149. The attached FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a conventional laminating machine of this kind. In FIG. 7, a longitudinal web 1 is composed of longitudinal fibrous elements 10 and a transverse web 2 is composed of transverse fibrous elements 9. Furthermore, the transverse web 2 is provided with selvage portions 3. The longitudinal web 1 and the transverse web 2 are fed to a laminating roll 5, on which roll the webs are laminated.
FIG. 8 is a side elevation of the laminating machine as shown in FIG. 7. FIG. 9 and FIG. 10 are partial plan views of the above machine. Before the transverse web 2 reach the laminating roll 5, the transverse fibrous elements 9 are liable to slacken down as shown in FIG. 8, so that the width of the transverse web 2 gets narrow with its slackening as shown in FIG. 9. Therefore, the transverse web 2 must be pulled transversely with a pair of cloth guiders 8 that are disposed at the positions just before the feeding points and the transverse web 2 is then introduced onto the laminating roll 5.
Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 7, the longitudinal web 1 having a predetermined width is led onto a guide roll 4 in the first place and it is turned back on the guide roll 4 and it is then put in layers with the transverse web 2 that is already fed onto the laminating roll 5. By this arrangement, the transverse web 2 is pressed against the laminating roll 5 by the longitudinal tension in the longitudinal web 1. There is formed an adhesive layer on at least one of the contact surfaces of the longitudinal web 1 and the transverse web 2. These webs are heated during the shifting on the peripheral surface of the laminating roll 5 and the longitudinal web 1 and the transverse web 2 are bonded together on the outlet roll (nip roll) 6 to provide a product (laminate) 7.
Just before the transverse web 2 being laminated with the longitudinal web 1, the transverse fibrous elements 9 of the web 2 must be disposed in the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal travelling direction as shown in FIG. 9. However, the transverse fibrous elements 9 sometimes become oblique (skew condition) as shown in FIG. 10. This is caused to occur due to the unevenness in the properties of both the selvage portions. In other words, because it is not possible to pull forth the transverse fibrous elements 9, both the selvage portions 3 must be pulled forth in order to feed the web onto the laminating roll 5, so that the selvage portions 3 are subjected to considerably large tension.
In this step, when the cross-sectional area or tensile property of one selvage portion 3 differs from those of the other selvage portion 3, the difference in the degrees of elongation of those selvage portions occurs. Even when such a difference is slight, it will be accumulated with the passage of time. Accordingly, the moving of one side edge which is easily elongated is delayed and the arrangement of transverse fibrous elements 9 becomes oblique. When the degree of the skew state of the transverse fibrous elements 9 increases to some extent, the transverse fibrous elements 9 themselves pull the delayed selvage portion, so that the tensile load to the delayed selvage portion is reduced and the selvage portion is elongated no more and it reaches an equilibrium state. Accordingly, the transverse fibrous elements 9 are transferred as they stands in the inclined state.
If the skew state of transverse fibrous elements 9 is caused, it is not possible to produce a desirable product because the fibrous elements 10 of longitudinal web 1 and the transverse fibrous elements 9 cannot be laid perpendicularly. Therefore, it is necessary to avoid strictly the occurrence of skew state of the transverse fibrous elements 9 and, when it is caused to occur, it must be set right. There is a limit to equalize both the selvage portions 3, so that it is not possible to avoid the occurrence of the skew state by means of the equalization of selvage portions. Therefore, in the conventional art, when the skew state is caused, the production lines must be stopped and it must be then restarted. This operation causes a problem in that the productivity is seriously lowered.
It is, therefore, the object of the present invention to solve the above problem by providing an apparatus for laminating web with which the transverse fibrous elements of transverse web is maintained in the possibly correct transverse direction and a transverse web and a longitudinal web can be laminated in a correct relationship.


A circuit and a method for performing pulse width modulation are provided. A pulse density modulator (PDM) is applied to receive the least N bits of the input data and to generate a pulse density modulation signal. The number of pulse of the pulse density modulation signal in 2^N frames correspond to a value of the least N bits of the input data. An adder is applied to generate a PWM data by adding a value of the most M bits of the input data to a value of the pulse density modulation signal generated by the PDM. A pulse width modulator is applied to generate a PWM signal dithering in 2^N frames according to the PWM data generated by the adder, so as to improve the audio quality of pulse width modulation and the Electro-Magnetic Interference (EMI) phenomenon.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a circuit and a method for performing pulse width modulation, and more particularly, to a circuit and a method for performing pulse width modulation capable of improving the audio quality of pulse width modulation and the Electro-Magnetic Interference (EMI) phenomenon.
2. Description of Related Art
Pulse width modulation (PWM) is a modulation technique most commonly used in the digital circuit for processing audio signals. The so-called PWM technique adjusts a pulse width of the output audio signal by referring to an operating clock cycle that represents a PWM service rate and according to a value of the digitized audio data when generating the audio signal.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of performing pulse width modulation on an audio data with 10 bits resolution. As shown in the diagram, T1 is an operating clock cycle that represents the pulse width modulation service rate, T2 is a frame cycle for PWM, and T3 is a sampling cycle of the audio signal. Since the most significant bit (MSB) of the audio data is commonly used to represent a signed value of the data, the maximum pulse width for transmitting a record of audio data (wherein, its frequency is generally referred as a frame rate for PWM), that is the frame cycle T2 is 2^9 times of T1, i.e. T2=512×T1. The pulse width for physically transmitting data depends on the value of data to be transmitted. For example, if the value of data to be transmitted is 128, the duty cycle of the pulse in a frame is 128/512, and if the value of data to be transmitted is 100, the duty cycle of the pulse in a frame is 100/512.
In addition, in order to improve the quality of transmitting the audio signal, the pulse for each record of audio data are continuously transmitted with a plurality of frames. Therefore, the sampling cycle T3 of the audio signal is integral of the frame cycle T2. Accordingly, the frequency of the operating clock for providing the PWM service rate is directly proportional to the sampling rate of the audio signal, the PWM frame rate, and the resolution of the audio data. For example, if the sampling rate of the audio signal is 12 KHz, the resolution of the audio signal is 10 bits (including a symbol representing a signed value), and the pulse for each record of the audio data are continuously transmitted with 4 frames, i.e. when the PWM frame rate is 12 KHz×4=48 KHz, the frequency of the operating clock is 48 KHz×512=24 MHz. Therefore, the frequency of the operating clock increases along with the improvement of the audio quality, i.e. the increase of the audio data resolution. As a result, the EMI phenomenon is getting worse in such case.

Circuit and method for pulse width modulation


A bit-line sense amplifier is disclosed that includes switching elements to sequentially modify the sense amplifier to a negative feedback differential amplifier, a normal differential amplifier, a positive feedback differential amplifier, and a cross-coupled latch, in that order. The sense amplifier sensing data on a pair of bit-lines in a semiconductor memory; and a transistor is connected between one of the differential amplifiers and a common current source. The transistor has a resistance which is variable depending on a potential of an output of one of the differential amplifiers or remains constant by a different power source.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bit-line sense amplifier for sensing and amplifying data in a semiconductor memory to output them and, more particularly, to a bit-line sense amplifier capable of modifying an amplification method in a sequential manner by using switching elements controlled by switching control signals to compensate an offset voltage of the sense amplifier.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Typically, a bit-line sense amplifier senses and amplifies data on a bit-line to output them on a data bus, and a data bus sense amplifier senses and amplifies the data amplified by the bit-line sense amplifier again to output them to a data output buffer. Usually, a cross-coupled latch type amplifier is used as the bit-line sense amplifier.
Now, operations of the typical bit-line sense amplifier will be described with reference to FIG. 1 as follows. First, transistors Q1 to Q3 are turned on depending on a bit-line precharge signal BLP, so that bit-lines Bit and /Bit are precharged by a precharge voltage (e.g., VBLP). As a result, the bit-line Bit connected to a selected memory cell and a complementary bit-line /Bit are equalized.
A row decoder analyzes a row address input from the external to select a word-line corresponding to the row address. Then, a cell transistor connected to the selected word-line is turned on, so that a potential difference occurs between the bit-line Bit connected to the selected memory cell and the complementary bit-line /Bit, while charge sharing occurs between a cell capacitance and a bit-line capacitance.
At this moment, when a sense amplifier control signals RTO and /S are enabled, a sense amplifier control signal is at a high level. When a sense amplifier control signal /S is at a low level, a bit-line sense amplifier operates to sense the potential difference between the bit-line Bit and the complementary bit-line /Bit and then amplify it.
For example, when the data stored in a selected memory cell corresponds to a low level data, the potential of the bit-line Bit connected to the selected cell comes to be lower than the precharge voltage, and the potential of the bit-line /Bit which is not connected to the selected cell remains at a precharge voltage, thereby generating a potential difference between two bit-lines.
Consequently, in the bit-line sense amplifier corresponding to a cross-coupled latch type amplifier, the transistors Q5 and Q6 are turned on, while the transistors Q4 and Q7 are turned off, so that the bit-line Bit connected to the selected memory cell is at a low level by the sense amplifier control signal /S. On the other hand, the complementary bit-line /Bit is at a low level by the sense amplifier control signal RTO.
Subsequently, a column address is analyzed by a column decoder, and then the data on the bit-line amplified by the bit-line amplifier are sent to a data bus if a column control signal corresponding to the column address is enabled at a high level.
Nevertheless, if such a sense amplifier in a conventional semiconductor memory device operates at a lower voltage, a safe operation cannot be ensured when the data on the bit-line are sensed by the offset voltage between the bit-line and the sense amplifier. Therefore, there have been problems such as excessive time consumption to sufficiently amplify the data on the bit-line.
This is because, if the bit-line sense amplifier operates at a lower voltage, the amount of charges stored in a memory cell can be reduced, so that the potential difference between the bit-line connected to a memory cell and the complementary bit-line is reduced during the charge sharing.
As a consequence, when a bit-line sense amplifier senses a small potential difference between the bit-line connected to the selected memory cell and the complementary bit-line, the sense amplifier can operate slower because the potential difference is almost the same as the offset voltage. Furthermore, data errors can occur because the data can be incorrectly sensed if the difference is smaller than the offset voltage.
FIG. 2 shows a conventional bit-line sense amplifier for solving the above problems, and will be described with reference to FIG. 3.
A time period T0 in FIG. 3 is a preparation stage for driving a sense amplifier. In the time period T0, a precharge signal BLP is enabled at a high level before a semiconductor memory device performs a read or a write operation, so that transistors NM4 and NM5 are turned on. As a result, the bit-lines BL and /BL are precharged by a precharge voltage VBLP.
In addition, in order to eliminate a voltage difference between the bit-lines BL and /BL, an equalization control signal EQ is enabled at a high level, so that a transistor NM1 is turned on and the bit-lines BL and /BL are interconnected to be equalized. At this moment, a sense amplifier control signal /S is also precharged by the precharge voltage VBLP according to the same method.
During the time periods T1 to T4, a sense amplifier 40 is enabled. In addition, the sense amplifier 40 is sequentially modified in each time period depending on the control signals CONA, CONB, and CONC, so as to be a negative feedback differential amplification scheme in a time period T1, a normal differential amplification scheme in a time period T2, a positive feedback differential amplification scheme in a time period T3, and a cross-coupled latch type amplification scheme in a time period T4 in that order.
In the time period T1, the precharge control signal BLP is disabled at a low level and the sense amplifier control signal /S is enabled at a low level, so that the sense amplifier 40 begins to operate. At this moment, since the switching control signals CONA and CONB are at a low level, the PMOS transistor PM3 is turned on, so that the gate of the PMOS transistor PM1 is commonly connected to the drain. As a result, the sense amplifier 40 constitutes a differential amplifier.
In addition, since a switching control signal CONC is at a high level, the NMOS transistor NM13 is turned on, so that the complementary bit-line line /BL corresponding to the inverted input terminal of the sense amplifier 40 is connected to the drain to which the PMOS transistor PM2 corresponding to an output terminal of the sense amplifier 40 and the NMOS transistor NM9 are commonly connected. As a result, the sense amplifier 40 constitutes a negative feedback differential amplifier. Accordingly, the potential of the complementary bit-line /BL is adjusted to a voltage capable of compensating the offset voltage of the sense amplifier 40.
Subsequently, in the time period T2, the switching control signal CONC is at a low level, so that the NMOS transistor NM13 is turned off, and all other switching control signals CONA and CONB remain at a low level. As a result, the sense amplifier 40 constitutes a normal differential amplifier. At this moment, the word-line WL is enabled, so that the data stored in the selected memory cell is loaded on the bit-line BL. Therefore, the data on the bit-line BL are sensed and amplified by the normal differential amplifier.
In the time period T1, because the offset voltage of the. differential amplifier has been compensated, even though a small amount of signal voltage is applied to the bit-line BL, it can be rapidly sensed and amplified by the differential amplifier.
Subsequently, in the time period T3, the switching control signal CONB comes to be a high level, and the NMOS transistor NM11 is turned on, so that the bit-line BL corresponding to the non-inverted input terminal of the sense amplifier 40 is connected to the drain to which the PMOS transistor PM2 corresponding to an output terminal of the sense amplifier 40 and the NMOS transistor NM9 are commonly connected, while other switching control signals CONA and CONC remain at a low level. As a result, the sense amplifier 40 constitutes a positive feedback differential amplifier. For this reason, the data on the bit-line BL is converted to a large intensity of signal by the action of the positive feedback differential amplifier.
Subsequently, in the time period T4, the switching control signal CONA is at a high level, so that the PMOS transistor PM3 is turned off, and the NMOS transistors NM10 and NM12 are turned on. In addition, the switching control signal CONB is at a high level so that the NMOS transistor NM11 is turned on, while the switching control signal CONC remains at a low level so that the NMOS transistor NM13 remains to be turned off. As a result, the sense amplifier 40 constitutes a cross-coupled latch. Therefore, it is possible to rapidly latch the data that have been amplified in the previous stage T3. At this moment, the column selection signal YI is enabled to be at a high level, so that the latched data are output to the data buses DB and /DB.
Among the above processes, the mechanism of the offset voltage compensation in the time period T1 will be described in detail as follows. That is, the bit-line sense amplifier in FIG. 2 is temporarily modified to be a differential amplifier as shown in FIG. 4A, in the time period T1. At this moment, the offset voltage can be compensated by shorting input/output terminals of the differential amplifier for a predetermined time period. The operation of such a differential amplifier will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 4A and 4B.
When an inverted (−) input terminal and the output of the differential amplifier are shorted in an instant, the differential amplifier is modified to operate as a negative feed back differential amplifier and function in such a way that the input offset voltage can be cancelled. If a voltage gain of the differential amplifier is sufficiently large, the differential voltage between the input terminals becomes an input offset voltage of the differential amplifier in a predetermined time after the shorting, so that offset compensation can be achieved and its sensitivity can be improved.
However, as a wafer scaling progresses to improve integrity, the output resistance of the MOSFET is reduced, and the voltage gain of the differential amplifier is also reduced correspondingly.
If the voltage gain A of the differential amplifier is not sufficiently large, the offset compensation effect of the bit-line sense amplifier is significantly affected by the difference between the precharge level (Vin, typically ½ VDD) of a differential input amplifier and the output voltage level Vo of a differential amplifier with no offset.
A residual offset after the offset compensation in the bit-line sense amplifier can be expressed by the following equation;
                              V          offe                =                                            V              off                        +                          V              in                        -                          V              o                                            1            +            A                                              [                  Equation                                                              1                ]
FIG. 5 shows a residual offset voltage according to a voltage gain of the differential amplifier and an output voltage level of the differential amplifier. It is possible to recognize that the residual offset can be considerably large depending on the difference between the output voltage level and the input voltage level. For example, if the voltage gain is set to 10, the difference between the input voltage and the output voltage is set to 200 mV, and an original input offset voltage is set to 50 mV, the residual offset voltage becomes 23 mV, so that 45% of the original offset voltage still remains to be not compensated.
For another example showing the residual offset voltage problem, FIG. 6 is a graph showing bit-line signal components in a variety of configurations and array arrangements. The bit-line signals are composed of an effective read signal A, a residual offset voltage B, and a charge noise C. As seen from FIG. 6, the residual offset voltage based on design conditions is set to about 10 to 20 mV, and the original offset voltage is set to 40 mV, which correspond to 25 to 50% of the bit-line signals.
Accordingly, in order to reduce the residual offset voltage and maximize the offset compensation effect, the output voltage level of the differential amplifier should be designed to correspond with the precharge level of the differential input. However, the output voltage level of the differential amplifier is affected by the threshold voltage variations in the input NMOS transistor or the PMOS transistor, and geometrical variations in the channel length or width, thereby causing inconsistency with the design values. The variation on the output voltage caused by such process variations significantly affects the residual offset voltage of the bit-line sense amplifier.
Such a variation on the output voltage in the differential amplifier will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8 as follows.
The differential amplifier comprises PMOS transistors P1 and P2 and NMOS transistors N1, N2, and N3, which constitute a current mirror. The PMOS transistors P1 and P2 correspond to active resistors, and the NMOS transistor N3 corresponds to a current source. When an identical voltage is applied to the input terminals IN and /IN, in case of an ideal differential amplifier, the current through the NMOS transistor N1 becomes identical to that through the NMOS transistor N2.
The curve C1 in FIG. 8 designates a current driving capability of the PMOS transistor based on design values, and the curve C2 designates a current driving capability of the PMOS transistor based on a practical case. As shown in the graph, the practical current driving capability of the PMOS transistor is lower than that of the design values due to process variations. This causes a variation on the output voltage level. In other words, despite the fact that the output voltage should reach Vo2 according to the design value, the output voltage remains at Vo1 which is lower than Vo2 due to the variation on the current driving capability.

Differential amplifier and bit-line sense amplifier adopting the same


A lithographic system includes a radiation system configured to provide a beam of radiation; an illumination system configured to condition the beam of radiation; a support configured to support a patterning device, the patterning device configured to impart the projection beam with a pattern in its cross-section; a substrate table configured to hold a substrate; a projection system configured to project the patterned beam onto a target portion of the substrate; and transmission adaptor arranged along an optical pathway. The radiation system includes a source configured to generate a beam of radiation. The transmission adaptor adapts an intensity profile as a function of wavelength of the beam of radiation and/or the patterned beam in such a way that the intensity profile equals a predetermined intensity profile.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lithographic system, a method for adapting transmission characteristics of an optical pathway within a lithographic system, a semiconductor device, a method of manufacturing a reflective element for use in a lithographic system, and a reflective element manufactured thereby.
2. Description of the Related Art
A lithographic apparatus is a machine that applies a desired pattern onto a target portion of a substrate. Lithographic apparatus can be used, for example, in the manufacture of integrated circuits (ICs). In that circumstance, a patterning device, which is alternatively referred to as a mask or a reticle, may be used to generate a circuit pattern corresponding to an individual layer of the IC, and this pattern can be imaged onto a target portion (e.g. including part of one or several dies) on a substrate (e.g. a silicon wafer) that has a layer of radiation-sensitive material (resist). In general, a single substrate will contain a network of adjacent target portions that are successively exposed. Known lithographic apparatus include steppers, in which each target portion is irradiated by exposing an entire pattern onto the target portion in one go, and scanners, in which each target portion is irradiated by scanning the pattern through the projection beam in a given direction, i.e. the "scanning" direction, while synchronously scanning the substrate parallel or anti-parallel to this direction.
Lithographic apparatus may soon employ EUV radiation sources, e.g. based on a plasma discharge. As opposed to the radiation sources that are currently used in lithographic apparatus having an extremely small bandwidth, i.e. laser sources, these sources are broad-band light sources, i.e. sources which generate radiation of a wide range of wavelengths. In a lithographic apparatus employing EUV radiation, the spectral distribution of the EUV-light emitted by the source is altered by the apparatus. More specifically, the imaging related spectral effects depend on both the transmission properties of optical elements in the lithographic apparatus as well as on the emitted source spectrum. The current knowledge about the detailed spectrum around a wavelength of EUV-light, i.e. a wavelength within a range of 5-20 nm, for example about 13.5 nm, is limited. The current resolution of the spectrum is in the order of 0.05 nm with a 2% bandwidth. Furthermore the real spectrum of the source seems to change by a change in parameters like input power, electrode configuration of the source, emitting material (Xe, Sn or other suitable material) used and history of electrodes of the source due to changes in the plasma.
Due to the lack of knowledge, it is highly probable that an optical pathway, i.e. an optical trajectory of the radiation between its generation by the source and the projection on the target portion of the substrate, within the lithographic apparatus is not optimized for EUV-radiation. The mismatch between the spectrum emitted by the source, and the spectrum expected by the optical components along the optical pathway will lead to errors, for example a chromatical error seen in the apodization i.e. a distortion in an intensity profile. The first order effect of this error will be a telecentricity error and in a later stage a horizontal-vertical bias, i.e. a difference in intensity at the substrate level between light passing horizontal elements and light passing vertical elements within a pattern structure to be exposed, will increase dramatically as is known to those of ordinary skill in the art.

Lithographic system, method for adapting transmission characteristics of an optical pathway within a lithographic system, semiconductor device, method of manufacturing a reflective element for use in a lithographic system, and reflective element manufactured thereby


An egg sealing unit for an automated biological sample collection system and method of use. The egg sealing unit seals the section of egg from which the shell has been removed. The egg sealing unit includes a sampler, an applicator and an imaging adaptor providing an optical conduit between the surface of an egg and the CAM. The applicator is configured to deliver exogenous material to the CAM, the sampler is configured to collect samples from the CAM and the imaging adaptor allows the CAM to be monitored.

The embryonic chick has been used as an in vivo model for the investigation of a number of biological systems for over a century. It is noted for its simplicity, availability, immune-deficient properties, and for the highly vascularized structure of the Chorioallantoic Membrane (CAM).
Many in vivo systems, particularly model systems for studying human tissues and organs, require transplanting an examined graft into an immune compromised animal, in order to avoid graft rejection. Such animals, for example, Severe Combined Immune Deficient (SCID) mice, are expensive, sickly and hard to maintain.
The avian egg provides a low cost and readily available alternative to in vivo testing upon sentient animals. The avian egg has been used in growth of viruses for vaccine generation, angiogenesis assays, teratogenicity testing, tumor cells and the like.
Such assays may be performed on the embryos, or on microbes, cells and tissues grafted, injected or applied to fertilized avian eggs. For example, the Hen's Egg Test-Chorioallantoic Membrane (HET-CAM) assay is a well-known method for screening the irritancy potential of topically applied compositions such as cosmetics.
However, such procedures are generally performed manually, are labor intensive and are not practical on the large scale. Furthermore, because there is human intervention when handling the eggs as well as in the sampling and analysis of the assays, these procedures are not easily repeatable. It is therefore difficult to produce large numbers of identical eggs and assays to be used for statistical analysis.
It will be appreciated, therefore, that there is a need for an automated process for producing biotechnological assays. The system and method described herein address this need.

Automated biological sample collection system and methods


A computer program product for process allocation is configured to determine a set of two or more processes of a plurality of processes that share at least one resource in a multi-node system, wherein each of the set of two or more processes is running on different nodes of the multi-node system. The program code can be configured to calculate a value based on a weight of the resource and frequency of access of the resource by each process. The program code can be configured to determine a pair of processes of the set of processes having a greatest sum of calculated values by resource. The program code can be configured to allocate a first process of the pair of processes from a first node in the multi-node system to a second node in the multi-node system that hosts a second process of the pair of processes.

Modern computer systems with many processors often have non-uniform memory access (NUMA) properties; that is, the cost of accessing data in memory is dependent on the physical location of the memory in relation to the processor which accesses it. As a result, performance improvements can often be gained by running an application on a limited number of processors and allocating memory which is local to those processors, thereby reducing or eliminating the need for costly remote memory accesses. Similarly, multiple threads which frequently access and modify areas of memory which are shared with other threads can benefit from keeping all users of that memory close together, to reduce the amount of cross-node traffic to obtain cache lines which exist in the cache of a remote processor. These two issues can be referred to as memory affinity and cache affinity.
Placing processes in order to increase the benefits of memory and cache affinity typically conflicts with the more general desire to balance work across all available resources of the whole system; clearly, placing all work onto a single node and allocating all memory locally will increase cache and memory affinity, but in general will not provide good performance for all workloads, due to the increased contention for resources on that node. It is therefore desirable to identify tasks which can benefit from memory and cache affinity and group them together, such that a group of related tasks will tend to run closer together, but that unrelated tasks may be placed across other parts of the system.
There are several existing techniques for identifying this grouping, all of which have drawbacks.
1. Have no automatic grouping of tasks performed by the operating system, but allow the user to group tasks and bind them to specific system resources. This approach relies heavily on the user understanding the behaviour of the workloads and the architecture of the system, and is both time consuming and error prone. Such manual bindings also typically restrict the operating system's load balancing capabilities, thus making it less responsive to changes in load.
2. Have the operating system attempt to group threads of the same process together, but treat processes as separate entities. This can provide significant benefit for some workloads, as threads of the same process will (in most operating systems) share the same address space and are likely to have considerable overlap in the working set of data used by the threads. However, this approach alone does not account for groupings of multiple processes, which means a significant potential benefit is not catered for.
What is required, therefore, is a means to identify groups of processes that can benefit from cache and memory affinity without suffering from these drawbacks.
It should be noted that the term "multiprocessor" as used herein encompasses dual- and multi-core processor devices, as well as multiple hardware thread and multiple CPU systems.
Systems exist which seek to address some of the above issues relates to a method for improving the execution efficiency of frequently communicating processes utilising affinity scheduling by identifying and assigning the frequently communicating processes to the same processor. The system is based on counting "wakeup" requests between two processors: a wakeup request occurs when a first process requiring information from a second process is placed in a sleep state until the second process is able to provide the required information, at which point the first process is awoken. A count of the number of wakeup requests between the pair of processes is maintained and, when a predetermined threshold is reached, the two processes are assigned to the same processor for execution. Whilst this allocation can improve performance, the determination is non-optimal, as will be described below.
It is therefore an object of embodiments of the inventive subject matter to provide a means for providing an improved allocation of processes to processors in a multiprocessor system and, in particular, a means capable of identifying and addressing potential conflict issues before they arise.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Process grouping for improved cache and memory affinity

International Business Machines Corporation


Video is encoded by applying a vertically and horizontally separable transform to provide a block of transform coefficients; and quantizing the transform coefficients. Prior to quantization, a filtering operation is performed on the block of transform coefficients, the filtering operation applying a rotation to pairs of coefficients in the block. Each pair of coefficients may be symmetrically positioned with respect to the leading diagonal of the block.

The present invention relates to picture encoding and decoding. In an important example the pictures form part of a video sequence.
It has long been understood that in lossless encoding, use of a transform such as the Direct Cosine Transform (DCT) can be very effective in permitting coarser quantization of higher spatial frequencies that are less perceptible. The DCT (including approximations and variations) has important advantages. It can be applied separable in horizontal and vertical directions; for this and other reasons it is computationally efficient. Mathematically, it is understood that the DCT (or other separable transforms) falls short of optimum coding efficiency. The Karhunen-Loeve transform (KLT) is often referred to as the optimum transform for coding a signal but the complexity is such that its use in most fields of encoding is wholly impractical.
It would be helpful to improve the efficiency of, for example, the DCT in the context of picture encoding or decoding.


A method of placing compressed insulation material into a container for subsequent removal includes selecting a group of packages of compressed insulation material to be put into the container, attaching a line to the group, where the line is attached substantially at the top of the group so that at least an upper segment of the group can be pulled out of the container by pulling the line and tipping over the upper segment, and placing the group into the container.

The transportation and storage of large or heavy objects is carried out in many instances by placing the objects in a truck, railcar or storage container. Fiberglass insulation batts, for example, are highly compressed and packaged in large packages for shipping from a manufacturing facility to a distribution or storage location. Efforts to reduce transportation costs, particularly for a material such as fiberglass insulation batts, have resulted in increased emphasis on larger and larger packages. For a compressible material such as fiberglass insulation, multiple bags of insulation batts are packaged together into a sleeve package for further compression and resulting shipping and storage economies. The increased bulk and weight of these packages present difficulties in manually handling the units and shipping packages. Sleeve packages of insulation material typically weigh 90 to 100 pounds, and can weigh as much as 150 pounds. It is advantageous to design the units and shipping packages to have generally equal face dimensions (i.e., a generally square face) so that the packages can be manually cartwheeled on the ground at the construction or installation site. This is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,350,063 to Berdan, II.
Some trucks carrying insulation units and shipping packages are unloaded at locations having loading docks, and are unloaded either manually or with the aid of a forklift truck. In some situations, however, trucks and other transportation or storage containers must be unloaded in places where a loading dock is not available. A problem faced by those required to manually unload a semitrailer from the ground is the issue of how to get the first unit or shipping package safely off the truck without climbing up on the potentially unstable load of insulation packages. It is important that the person unloading the truck not be in the path of any of the packages as they tumble to the ground from the truck.
It is known to use a retractable loop on the end of a pole to remove articles from a truck, as evidenced by U.S. Pat. No. 5,538,302 to Travis. The method suggested by this patent includes securing the loop around the article after the article is already positioned inside the truck.
It would be advantageous if a method could be developed to increase the ease with which units and shipping packages of various materials could be effectively removed from a truck or other container without requiring the unloader to climb up on the load of insulation packages. Such a method would also preferably insure that the unloader would be out of the path of the package as the packages tumble to the ground from the truck.

Method for removing objects from a transportation or storage container

Owens Corning Fiberglas Technology, Inc.


An intravascular filter assembly is disclosed for fragmenting a thrombotic or atherosclerotic occlusion and capturing thrombotic or atherosclerotic debris within a blood vessel. The intravascular filter assembly includes an elongate shaft and an expandable filter coupled to the distal region of the elongate shaft. One or more piezoelectric elements are secured to the elongate shaft at a location proximal of the expandable filter. A conducting wire is attached to the one or more piezoelectric elements and extends toward the proximal end of the elongate shaft. The one or more piezoelectric elements are configured to generate ultrasonic waves when subjected to an electrical voltage to fragment a thrombotic or atherosclerotic occlusion within a blood vessel.

Millions of people suffer from thrombotic or atherosclerotic occlusions in blood vessels. Such occlusions restrict the blood flow through the vessel, and if left untreated, these occlusions may lead to a heart attack, or even death. A variety of available medical devices have been manufactured to treat occlusions in a blood vessel within a patient's body. For example, directional atherectomy and percutaneous translumenal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) with or without stent deployment have been found useful in treating patients with coronary occlusions, as well as occlusions of other vessels. Atherectomy uses a device which physically removes plaque by cutting, pulverizing, or shaving in atherosclerotic vessels. Angioplasty utilizes an expandable balloon on a catheter which exerts a mechanical force on the vascular wall to enlarge the luminal diameter of an occluded vessel.
Atherectomy and angioplasty techniques typically include advancing one or more elongate medical devices (e.g., atherectomy cutter or angioplasty balloon catheter) along a guidewire to the site of the occlusion and then performing a therapeutic procedure at the site of the occlusion. During such a procedure, it is often necessary to exchange one medical device for a different medical device, increasing the time required to complete the procedure. Additionally, during a catheter exchange, it may be challenging to maintain the position of the guidewire without compromising guidewire access across the occlusion. In view of the aforementioned, there is an ongoing need to provide alternative apparatus, assemblies, systems and methods of treating an occlusion within a blood vessel of a patient's body.

Intravascular filter device with piezoelectric transducer