In accordance with the exemplary embodiments of the invention there is disclosed at least a method and apparatus for determining a long-term-prediction delay parameter characterizing a long term prediction in a technique using signal modification for digitally encoding a sound signal, the sound signal is divided into a series of successive frames, a feature of the sound signal is located in a previous frame, a corresponding feature of the sound signal is located in a current frame, and the long-term-prediction delay parameter is determined for the current frame while mapping, with the long term prediction, the signal feature of the previous frame with the corresponding signal feature of the current frame. Each divided frame of the sound signal is partitioned into a plurality of signal segments, and at least a part of the signal segments of the frame are warped while constraining the warped signal segments inside the frame.

Demand for efficient digital narrow- and wideband speech coding techniques with a good trade-off between the subjective quality and bit rate is increasing in various application areas such as teleconferencing, multimedia, and wireless communications. Until recently, the telephone bandwidth constrained into a range of 200-3400 Hz has mainly been used in speech coding applications. However, wideband speech applications provide increased intelligibility and naturalness in communication compared to the conventional telephone bandwidth. A bandwidth in the range 50-7000 Hz has been found sufficient for delivering a good quality giving an impression of face-to-face communication. For general audio signals, this bandwidth gives an acceptable subjective quality, but is still lower than the quality of FM radio or CD that operate in ranges of 20-16000 Hz and 20-20000 Hz, respectively.
A speech encoder converts a speech signal into a digital bit stream which is transmitted over a communication channel or stored in a storage medium. The speech signal is digitized, that is sampled and quantized with usually 16-bits per sample. The speech encoder has the role of representing these digital samples with a smaller number of bits while maintaining a good subjective speech quality. The speech decoder or synthesizer operates on the transmitted or stored bit stream and converts it back to a sound signal.
Code-Excited Linear Prediction (CELP) coding is one of the best techniques for achieving a good compromise between the subjective quality and bit rate. This coding technique is a basis of several speech coding standards both in wireless and wire line applications. In CELP coding, the sampled speech signal is processed in successive blocks of N samples usually called frames, where N is a predetermined number corresponding typically to 10-30 ms. A linear prediction (LP) filter is computed and transmitted every frame. The computation of the LP filter typically needs a look ahead, i.e. a 5-10 ms speech segment from the subsequent frame. The N-sample frame is divided into smaller blocks called subframes. Usually the number of subframes is three or four resulting in 4-10 ms subframes. In each subframe, an excitation signal is usually obtained from two components: a past excitation and an innovative, fixed-codebook excitation. The component formed from the past excitation is often referred to as the adaptive codebook or pitch excitation. The parameters characterizing the excitation signal are coded and transmitted to the decoder, where the reconstructed excitation signal is used as the input of the LP filter.
In conventional CELP coding, long term prediction for mapping the past excitation to the present is usually performed on a subframe basis. Long term prediction is characterized by a delay parameter and a pitch gain that are usually computed, coded and transmitted to the decoder for every subframe. At low bit rates, these parameters consume a substantial proportion of the available bit budget. Signal modification techniques [1-7]                [1] W. B. Kleijn, P. Kroon, and D. Nahumi, "The RCELP speech-coding algorithm," European Transactions on Telecommunications, Vol. 4, No. 5, pp. 573-582, 1994.        [2] W. B. Kleijn, R. P. Ramachandran, and P. Kroon, "Interpolation of the pitch-predictor parameters in analysis-by-synthesis speech coders," IEEE Transactions on Speech and Audio Processing, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 42-54, 1994.        [3] Y. Gao, A. Benyassine, J. Thyssen, H. Su, and E. Shlomot, "EX-CELP: A speech coding paradigm," IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP), Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.A., pp. 689-692, 7-11 May 2001.        [4] U.S. Pat. No. 5,704,003, "RCELP coder," Lucent Technologies Inc., (W. B. Kleijn and D. Nahumi), Filing Date: 19 Sep. 1995.        [5] European Patent Application 0 602 826 A2, "Time shifting for analysis-by-synthesis coding," AT&T Corp., (B. Kleijn), Filing Date: 1 Dec. 1993.        [6] Patent Application WO 00/11653, "Speech encoder with continuous warping combined with long term prediction," Conexant Systems Inc., (Y. Gao), Filing Date: 24 Aug. 1999.        [7] Patent Application WO 00/11654, "Speech encoder adaptively applying pitch preprocessing with continuous warping," Conexant Systems. Inc., (H. Su and. Y. Gao), Filing Date: 24 Aug. 1999.improve the performance of long term prediction at low bit rates by adjusting the signal to be coded. This is done by adapting the evolution of the pitch cycles in the speech signal to fit the long term prediction delay, enabling to transmit only one delay parameter per frame. Signal modification is based on the premise that it is possible to render the difference between the modified speech signal and the original speech signal inaudible. The CELP coders utilizing signal modification are often referred to as generalized analysis-by-synthesis or relaxed CELP (RCELP) coders.
Signal modification techniques adjust the pitch of the signal to a predetermined delay contour. Long term prediction then maps the past excitation signal to the present subframe using this delay contour and scaling by a gain parameter. The delay contour is obtained straightforwardly by interpolating between two open-loop pitch estimates, the first obtained in the previous frame and the second in the current frame. Interpolation gives a delay value for every time instant of the frame. After the delay contour is available, the pitch in the subframe to be coded currently is adjusted to follow this artificial contour by warping, i.e. changing the time scale of the signal.
In discontinuous warping [1, 4 and 5]                [1] W. B. Kleijn, P. Kroon, and D. Nahumi, "The RCELP speech-coding algorithm," European Transactions on Telecommunications, Vol. 4, No. 5, pp. 573-582, 1994.        [4] U.S. Pat. No. 5,704,003, "RCELP coder," Lucent Technologies Inc., (W. B. Kleijn and D. Nahumi), Filing Date: 19 Sep. 1995.        [5] European Patent Application 0 602 826 A2, "Time shifting for analysis-by-synthesis coding," AT&T Corp., (B. Kleijn), Filing Date: 1 Dec. 1993.a signal segment is shifted in time without altering the segment length. Discontinuous warping requires a procedure for handling the resulting overlapping or missing signal portions. Continuous warping [2, 3, 6, 7]        [2] W. B. Kleijn, R. P. Ramachandran, and P. Kroon, "Interpolation of the pitch-predictor parameters in analysis-by-synthesis speech coders," IEEE Transactions on Speech and Audio Processing, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 42-54,1994.        [3] Y. Gao, A. Benyassine, J. Thyssen, H. Su, and E. Shlomot, "EX-CELP: A speech coding paradigm," IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP), Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.A., pp. 689-692, 7-11 May 2001.        [6] Patent Application WO 00/11653, "Speech encoder with continuous warping combined with long term prediction," Conexant Systems Inc., (Y. Gao), Filing Date: 24 Aug. 1999.        [7] Patent Application WO 00/11654, "Speech encoder adaptively applying pitch preprocessing with continuous warping," Conexant Systems Inc., (H. Su and Y. Gao), Filing Date 24 Aug. 1999.either contracts or expands a signal segment. This is done using a time continuous approximation for the signal segment and re-sampling it to a desired length with unequal sampling intervals determined based on the delay contour. For reducing artifacts in these operations, the tolerated change in the time scale is kept small. Moreover, warping is typically done using the LP residual signal or the weighted speech signal to reduce the resulting distortions. The use of these signals instead of the speech signal also facilitates detection of pitch pulses and low-power regions in between them, and thus the determination of the signal segments for warping. The actual modified speech signal is generated by inverse filtering.
After the signal modification is done for the current subframe, the coding can proceed in any conventional manner except the adaptive codebook excitation is generated using the predetermined delay contour. Essentially the same signal modification techniques can be used both in narrow- and wideband CELP coding.
Signal modification techniques can also be applied in other types of speech coding methods such as waveform interpolation coding and sinusoidal coding for instance in accordance with [8].                [8] U.S. Pat. No. 6,223,151, "Method and apparatus for pre-processing speech signals prior to coding by transform-based speech coders," Telefon Aktie Bolaget LM Ericsson, (W. B. Kleijn. and T. Eriksson), Filing Date 10 Feb. 1999.

Signal modification method for efficient coding of speech signals


A mobile television receiver includes a TV tuner demodulating an incoming TV signal into a first video signal. A first horizontal sync signal is separated from the first video signal. Detection is made as to a quality of an image represented by the first video signal. A second horizontal sync signal is generated. Detection is made as to a difference between a phase of the first horizontal sync signal and a phase of the second horizontal sync signal. The phase of the second horizontal sync signal is controlled in response to the detected phase difference between the first horizontal sync signal and the second horizontal sync signal so that the second horizontal sync signal will be locked in phase and frequency to the first horizontal sync signal. A memory unit stores the first video signal in response to a memory control signal, and outputs the stored first video signal as a second video signal. The memory control signal is generated in response to the detected image quality. The second video signal is displayed in response to the second horizontal sync signal.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a mobile television receiver or a vehicular television receiver.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some automotive vehicles are equipped with television receivers and related antennas. During the travel of such a vehicle, a received television signal tends to undergo fading. In some cases, fading disturbs images recovered from the received television signal. Usually, a space diversity reception system is effective to suppress such a disturbance in recovered images.
It is known to temporarily store a television signal in a memory frame by frame for the following purpose. In the case where a good receiving condition is replaced by a poor receiving condition, a display screen continues to indicate a frame represented by a television signal available in the good receiving condition rather than frames represented by a television signal available in the poor receiving condition.
Japanese published unexamined patent application 3-205965 discloses a television receiver with a diversity unit. The television receiver of Japanese application 3-205965 is designed to obtain a stable receiving image by providing a synchronizing signal generator for executing quickly phase leading-in of a synchronizing signal at the time of switching an antenna and at the time of switching a receiving channel. In the television receiver of Japanese application 3-205965, the diversity unit switches antennas for obtaining an optimal signal in receiving signals, and outputs an optimum receiving signal and antenna switching information. In addition, a television tuner outputs receiving channel switching information when a receiving channel is switched. Furthermore, a synchronizing signal generator separates a synchronizing signal from a video signal, and outputs a stable synchronizing signal in phase with a desired period part. The synchronizing signal generator increases an operating speed for correctly adjusting the phase of the synchronizing signal in the case where the antenna switching information or the receiving channel switching information is outputted. In such a way, it is possible to obtain an image whose horizontal and vertical synchronizations are stable.
Japanese published unexamined patent application 3-280674 discloses an on-vehicle television receiver designed to improve the quality of an indicated image. In the on-vehicle television receiver of Japanese application 3-280674, the generation of a ghost disturbance is detected. When the generation of a ghost disturbance is detected, an image available before the occurrence of the disturbance is indicated. Specifically, the on-vehicle television receiver of Japanese application 3-280674 includes a synchronizing signal separation circuit for separating a horizontal synchronizing signal from a received video signal, and a ghost fluctuation detection circuit for comparing a phase of the horizontal synchronizing signal with a phase of a reference signal to detect a phase error therebetween and to generate a ghost fluctuation signal representing a fluctuation in a time base of the horizontal synchronizing signal. A control circuit outputs a display control signal to a memory when the ghost fluctuation signal reaches a prescribed threshold level. In the case where the display control signal is outputted to the memory, a video signal which occurs before the outputting of the display control signal is read out from the memory before being fed to a display and being indicated thereon.
Japanese published unexamined patent application 5-328240 discloses a mobile body television receiver. Operation of the mobile body television receiver of Japanese application 5-328240 can be changed between a usual reception mode and a frame feed mode. During the usual reception mode of operation, a received TV signal is indicated on a display as it is. During the frame feed mode of operation, a signal corresponding to one field is repetitively indicated on a display. The mobile body television receiver of Japanese application 5-328240 includes a system control circuit which selects the frame feed mode of operation when a mean value of an electric field strength reaches a prescribed value or when a changing speed of the electric field strength reaches a prescribed speed. During the frame feed mode of operation, a 1-field-corresponding portion of the received TV signal is stored into a memory, and is then repetitively read out from the memory before being indicated on the display. The received TV signal stored in the memory is periodically updated at a frequency lower than the field frequency so that the received TV signal which is indicated on the display is thinned out during the frame feed mode of operation.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A memory capable of suppressing disturbance causing disappearance of data from a nonselected memory cell is provided. This memory applies a second voltage of polarity reverse to that of a first voltage applied to a nonselected memory cell in a read operation to at least the nonselected memory cell in addition to the read operation collectively performed on all memory cells connected to a selected word line.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a memory, and more particularly, it relates to a memory comprising a memory cell array including memory cells holding data.
2. Description of the Background Art
In general, volatile and nonvolatile memories are known as semiconductor memories. A DRAM (dynamic random access memory) is known as the volatile memory, while a flash EEPROM (electrically erasable and programmable read only memory) is known as the nonvolatile memory. The DRAM and the flash EEPROM allowing high integration are widely used.
FIG. 38 is an equivalent circuit diagram showing the structure of each memory cell 103 of a conventional DRAM. FIG. 39 is a sectional view showing a trench-type capacitor employed in the conventional DRAM. Referring to FIG. 38, the memory cell 103 of the DRAM employed as the conventional volatile memory is constituted of a selection transistor 101 and a capacitor 102. The capacitor 102 stores information of the memory cell 103 in the form of charges. In order to read the information from the memory cell 103, a word line WL rises to turn on the selection transistor 101, thereby capacitively coupling a cell capacitance Ccell and a bit line capacitance Cbl with each other. Thus, a bit line potential decided by the quantity of charges stored in the memory cell 103 can be read.
In order to ensure the cell capacitance Ccell of the capacitor 102 in the memory cell 103 of the conventional DRAM having the aforementioned structure also when the DRAM is refined, the trench type capacitor formed by vertically elongating an upper electrode 102a, a lower electrode 102c and a dielectric film 102b constituting the capacitor 102 is employed as shown in FIG. 39. When the conventional DRAM is further refined, however, it is difficult to ensure the cell capacitance Ccell of the capacitor 102 by employing the trench type capacitor shown in FIG. 39. In other words, integration of the DRAM through reduction of the design rule is approaching the limit.
In the flash EEPROM (hereinafter referred to as a flash memory) employed as the nonvolatile memory, a stacked or split gate memory cell of a CHE (channel hot electron) write system is limited in refinement of the channel length. In a memory cell of an FN (Fowler-Nordheim) write system such as a NAND type memory cell, the limit of refinement is equivalent to that of a logic transistor. However, the flash memory requires a high voltage of 15 V to 20 V for operation, and reduction of a power supply voltage for the logic transistor leads to reduction of efficiency for forming the high voltage of 15 V to 20 V from the low power supply voltage. Therefore, power consumption as well as the area of a charge pumping part are increased to disadvantageously inhibit the refinement.
On the other hand, a ferroelectric memory is known as one of recently noted nonvolatile memories, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2001-210795, for example. This ferroelectric memory utilizes pseudo capacitance change responsive to the direction of polarization of a ferroelectric substance as a memory element. This ferroelectric memory, capable of rewriting data at a high speed with a low voltage in principle, is spotlighted as an ideal memory having both of the advantages of the DRAM and the flash memory, i.e., high-speed low-voltage operability and nonvolatility.
Memory cell systems for a ferroelectric memory are roughly classified into three types, i.e., a one-transistor one-capacitor system, a simple matrix system and a one-transistor system. FIG. 40 is an equivalent circuit diagram showing a memory cell 113 of a one-transistor one-capacitor ferroelectric memory. FIG. 41 is an equivalent circuit diagram showing a memory cell array of a simple matrix ferroelectric memory. FIG. 42 is a hysteresis diagram for illustrating operations of the simple matrix ferroelectric memory, and FIG. 43 is a hysteresis diagram for illustrating disturbance in the simple matrix ferroelectric memory. FIG. 44 is an equivalent circuit diagram showing memory cells 131 of a one-transistor ferroelectric memory.
As shown in FIG. 40, the memory cell 113 of the one-transistor one-capacitor ferroelectric memory is constituted of a selection transistor 111 and a dielectric capacitor 112, similarly to the memory cell 103 of the DRAM. The memory cell 113 is different from the memory cell 103 in a point that the same has the ferroelectric capacitor 112. In operation, a word line WL rises to turn on the selection transistor 111, thereby connecting a capacitance Ccell of the ferroelectric capacitor 112 and a bit line capacitance Cbl with each other. Then, a plate line PL is pulse-driven to feed charges to a bit line BL in a quantity varying with the direction of polarization of the ferroelectric capacitor 112. Data is read as the potential difference of the bit line BL, similar to the case of the DRAM.
In this one-transistor one-capacitor ferroelectric memory, the ferroelectric capacitor 112 is limited in refinement due to the structure similar to the memory cell 103 of the DRAM. Therefore, the one-transistor one-capacitor ferroelectric memory is limited in integration similarly to the DRAM.
The simple matrix ferroelectric memory is now described with reference to FIGS. 41 to 43. Each memory cell 121 of the simple matrix ferroelectric memory is constituted of a ferroelectric capacitor 122 consisting of a corresponding word line WL and a corresponding bit line BL extending to intersect with each other and a ferroelectric film (not shown) arranged between the word line WL and the bit line BL. First and second ends of the ferroelectric capacitor 122 are connected to the word line WL and the bit line BL respectively. This simple matrix ferroelectric memory, reading a potential resulting from capacitive coupling between the bit line BL and the ferroelectric capacitor 122, must ensure a capacitance similarly to the DRAM. However, the memory cell 121 is constituted of only the ferroelectric capacitor 122 with no selection transistor, whereby the simple matrix ferroelectric memory can be improved in degree of integration as compared with the one-transistor one-capacitor ferroelectric memory.
Operations of the simple matrix ferroelectric memory are now described with reference to FIGS. 42 and 43. Table 1 shows voltages applied to each memory cell 121 in reading and writing.
TABLE 1StandbyReadWrite "1"Write "0"Selected WL½ VccVcc0VccNonselected WL½ Vcc⅓ Vcc⅔ Vcc⅓ VccSelected BL½ Vcc0 → FIoatingVcc0Nonselected½ Vcc⅔ Vcc⅓ Vcc⅔ VccBL
In a write operation, both ends of each ferroelectric capacitor 122 are at the same potential in a standby state. In order to write data "0" in any memory cell 121, the ferroelectric memory applies Vcc and 0 V to the corresponding word line WL and the corresponding bit line BL respectively. At this time, the ferroelectric memory applies a potential difference Vcc to the ferroelectric capacitor 122. Thus, the ferroelectric memory makes a transition to a point A in FIG. 42. Thereafter the ferroelectric memory sets both ends of the ferroelectric capacitor 122 to the same potential, thereby making a transition to a point "0" in FIG. 42. In order to write data "1", on the other hand, the ferroelectric memory applies 0 V and Vcc to the word line WL and the bit line BL respectively. At this time, the ferroelectric memory applies a potential difference −Vcc to the ferroelectric capacitor 122. Thus, the ferroelectric memory makes a transition to a point B in FIG. 42. Thereafter the ferroelectric memory sets both ends of the ferroelectric capacitor 122 to the same potential, thereby making a transition to a point "1" in FIG. 42.
In a read operation, the ferroelectric memory precharges the corresponding bit line BL to 0 V and thereafter brings the same into a floating state. Then, the ferroelectric memory activates the corresponding word line WL to Vcc. Assuming that CFE and CBL represent the capacitance of the ferroelectric capacitor 122 and the parasitic capacitance of the bit line BL respectively, this potential difference Vcc is capacitively divided by CFE and CBL. The capacitance CFE of the ferroelectric capacitor 122 can be approximated as C0 or C1 depending on the held data. Therefore, the potential of the bit line BL is expressed in the following formula (1) or (2):V0={C0/(C0+CBL)}×Vcc  (1)V1={C1/(C1+CBL)}×Vcc  (2)
The above formula (1) expresses the potential V0 of the bit line BL corresponding to the memory cell 121 holding the data "0", while the above formula (2) expresses the potential V1 of the bit line BL corresponding to the memory cell 121 holding the data "1".
A read amplifier determines the potential difference between the bit line potentials V0 and V1 expressed in the above formulas (1) and (2), thereby reading the data. In this data reading, the data in the memory cell 121 is destroyed. Therefore, the ferroelectric memory performs a write (restore) operation responsive to the read data after the data reading.
In the simple matrix ferroelectric memory, however, data of nonselected memory cells 121 disadvantageously disappear through disturbance. The simple matrix ferroelectric memory applies a potential difference ⅓ Vcc to all nonselected memory cells 121 in writing and reading. As shown in FIG. 43, therefore, the quantity of polarization is reduced due to the hysteretic property of the ferroelectric substance, leading to disappearance of data.
The one-transistor ferroelectric memory is now described with reference to FIGS. 40, 42 and 44. As shown in FIG. 44, each memory cell 131 of the one-transistor ferroelectric memory is formed by connecting a ferroelectric capacitor 132 to the gate of a MOS transistor 133. In this one-transistor ferroelectric memory, the ferroelectric capacitor 132 has first and second ends connected to a corresponding word line WL and the gate of the MOS transistor 133 constituting a cell transistor respectively. In this one-transistor ferroelectric memory, the threshold potential difference of the MOS transistor 133 varies with the direction of polarization of the ferroelectric capacitor 132, to vary a memory cell current. The one-transistor ferroelectric memory determines this variation of the memory cell current, thereby reading data. In the one-transistor ferroelectric memory reading data by detecting the memory cell current, the capacitance of the ferroelectric capacitor 132 may not be increased to some extent in consideration of a bit line capacitance, dissimilarly to the one-transistor one-capacitor ferroelectric memory shown in FIG. 40. Thus, the ferroelectric capacitor 132 can be so reduced in size that the one-transistor ferroelectric memory is suitable for refinement.
Operations of the one-transistor ferroelectric memory are now described. The one-transistor ferroelectric memory exhibits a hysteresis curve similar to that of the aforementioned simple matrix ferroelectric memory, and hence the operations thereof are described with reference to FIG. 42. In a standby state, all word lines WL, all bit line BL and all source lines SL are at 0 V. In order to write data "0" in any memory cell 131 in a write operation, the ferroelectric memory applies a step-up potential difference Vpp to the corresponding word line WL. At this time, the ferroelectric memory applies the potential Vcc capacitively divided with the gate capacitance of the MOS transistor 133 to the ferroelectric capacitor 132. Thus, the ferroelectric memory makes a transition to a point A shown in FIG. 42 despite the initial state. Thereafter the ferroelectric memory returns the word line WL to 0 V, and makes a transition to the data "0" shown in FIG. 42. In order to write data "1" in any memory cell 131, on the other hand, the ferroelectric memory applies 0 V and Vpp to the corresponding word line WL and the corresponding bit line BL respectively. In this case, the ferroelectric memory applies a potential difference −Vcc to the ferroelectric capacitor 132, thereby making a transition to a point B shown in FIG. 42. Thereafter the ferroelectric memory returns the bit line BL to 0 V, to make a transition to the data "1" shown in FIG. 42.
The one-transistor ferroelectric memory performs a read operation by activating the corresponding word line WL to a potential difference Vr causing no polarization inversion. Thus, the gate potential difference of the cell transistor (MOS transistor) 133 varies with the write state. A current flowing through the cell transistor 133 varies with the variation of the gate potential difference of the cell transistor 133, and hence the ferroelectric memory reads the current difference through the bit line BL. In other words, the one-transistor ferroelectric memory may read not the potential difference resulting from capacitive coupling between the capacitances of the ferroelectric capacitor 132 and the bit line BL but the current of the cell transistor 133, to require no polarization inversion in reading. Therefore, the one-transistor ferroelectric memory is capable of nondestructive reading. However, the one-transistor ferroelectric memory also exhibits the problem of disturbance of nonselected memory cells 131, similarly to the aforementioned simple matrix ferroelectric memory.
It is difficult to refine the conventional DRAM and the conventional flash memory as described above, and hence a memory cell system capable of higher integration is required. On the other hand, the highly integrable one-transistor and simple matrix ferroelectric memories have the aforementioned problem of disturbance resulting in disappearance of data from nonselected memory cells. Therefore, it is disadvantageously difficult to put the conventional one-transistor and simple matrix ferroelectric memories into practice.


The present application relates to the field of motor neuron diseases, most particularly to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and spinomuscular atrophy. Provided herein are strategies to improve symptoms and increase survival in patients with these axonopathies by inhibiting signaling mediated by the EphA4 ephrin receptor.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a relentlessly progressive, fatal degenerative disorder mainly, but not exclusively, affecting motor neurons. The disease is characterized by progressive muscle weakness, atrophy and spasticity. Currently, no cure for ALS is available. Most patients suffer from the sporadic form of this disease, while approximately 10% have familial ALS. Mutations in several genes are known to cause this hereditary form. Mutations in superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1), TAR-DNA binding protein (TARDBP) and fused in sarcoma/translated in liposarcoma (FUS/TLS), and hexanucleotide repeat expansions in C9orf72 are the most prevalent.1-5
Due to the word "sclerosis" (literally: "hardening") in the name, it is sometimes confused with multiple sclerosis, although they are very distinct neurological diseases. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory disease of white matter, primarily damaging myelin sheets of neurons. MS affects more women than men, may lead to changes in sensation (hypoesthesia), visual problems and cognitive impairment, and life expectancy for most patients exceeds 20 years.
ALS on the other hand is a grey matter disease caused by the degeneration of neurons located in the anterior horn of the spinal cord and the cortical neurons that provide their afferent input. Sensory function generally is spared, as is cognitive function and oculomotor activity. Most people with ALS die from respiratory failure, usually within three to five years from the onset of symptoms.
Although survival of ALS patients is only three to five years on average, variability of disease duration is quite large, ranging from only a few months to several decades. Even survival of patients with the same mutation in the same gene in the same family is very variable.6, 7 Similarly, age of onset can range from second to ninth decade of life.8 Genetic factors are expected to explain this variability by modifying the phenotype, both in sporadic and familial ALS. The identification of these modifying pathways is of interest, as they are likely to reveal novel targets for intervention. Small animal models, such as flies, worms and zebrafish, are very useful for genetic and compound screening.9-12 To this end, zebrafish models for ALS were previously developed. Overexpressing mutant SOD1 or TDP-43 in zebrafish embryos induces a motor axonopathy, characterized by shorter and aberrantly branched motor axons.13, 14 The identification of the factors underlying variability is of interest, as they may represent targets for therapeutic intervention.

EphA4 is a disease modifier in motor neuron disease

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, K.U. Leuven R&D


A resonator includes: a resonator element including a quartz crystal substrate that includes a first area performing a thickness-shear vibration and a second area with a thickness thinner than the first area and located around the first area; and a base substrate to which the second area of the resonator element on one edge side thereof is attached via a bonding material. The quartz crystal substrate has a major surface that is a surface including an X-axis and a Z′-axis, and has a thickness in a direction along a Y′-axis. The resonator satisfies the relation: 1.5×λ≦Xp where Xp is the maximum length of an area of the second area where the bonding material is bonded along the X-axis in a plan view and λ is the wavelength of a flexural vibration occurring in the quartz crystal substrate.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a resonator, a resonator device, an oscillator, an electronic apparatus, and a moving object.
2. Related Art
Heretofore, resonator elements using quartz crystal have been known. Such resonator elements have excellent frequency-temperature characteristics, and thus are widely used as a reference frequency source, an oscillation source, or the like for various types of electronic apparatuses. Especially a resonator element using a quartz crystal substrate that is cut at a cut angle called the AT cut has frequency-temperature characteristics showing a cubic curve, and thus is widely used also for mobile communication apparatuses and the like such as a mobile phone.
For example, JP-A-2012-199602 discloses a resonator in which a resonator element having a mesa structure is attached to a package via a conductive adhesive.
In the resonator described above, however, a flexural vibration (unwanted vibration) constituting a factor of spurious may occur in the quartz crystal substrate depending on the bonding conditions (e.g., the size of the bonding material, etc.) of the conductive adhesive (bonding material). This may degrade temperature characteristics of the resonance frequency (frequency-temperature characteristics) of the resonator element or increase the equivalent series resistance (CI (Crystal Impedance) value) thereof.

Resonator, resonator device, oscillator, electronic apparatus, and moving object


Disclosed herein are system, method, and computer program product embodiments for populating a hash index and returning a handle to the hash index. An embodiment operates by determining, by at least one processor, during query optimization that a first database query has a query execution plan comprising a sub-query which executes N times a correlated predicate having an operator being one of equal and not equal to a base column. A cost of creating and probing the hash index N times and a cost of fully scanning the base column N times are compared based on the correlated predicate. Based on the comparing, it is determined whether to create on-demand a hash index.

Certain types of database queries include sub-queries where a column may be scanned a large number of times. In situations which involve these sub-queries, the associated database query may suffer from performance degradation. Conventional techniques for reducing a number of column scans include maintaining a plurality of secondary indexes. However, maintenance of these secondary indexes can result in a serious performance impact on write operations because each write operation may need to update all of the secondary indexes. Thus, these conventional techniques burden database writing and are not feasible for use with, for example, a column store database having a row level versioned (RLV) architecture.
In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical or similar elements. Additionally, generally, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the drawing in which the reference number first appears.


A power supply module is configured for converting an AC voltage to a first DC voltage and applying the first DC voltage to a load. The power supply module includes a rectifying and filtering unit, a PFC unit, a voltage transforming unit, an input port, and a switch unit. The rectifying and filtering unit rectifies the AC voltage into a primary DC voltage and filters the primary DC voltage. The PFC unit corrects a power factor of the filtered primary DC voltage. The voltage transforming unit converts the corrected primary DC voltage and generates the first DC voltage for applying the load. The input port receives a first instruction or a second instruction and generates a first signal or a second signal, respectively. The switch unit establishes or disconnects an electrical connection between the voltage transforming unit and the load according to the first signal or the second signal.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to power supplies and, particularly, to a power supply module with power saving mode.
2. Description of Related Art
Electronic devices powered by a power supply module correspond to rated input voltages. The power supply modules are charged by incoming Alternating Current (AC), and generate Direct Current (DC) voltage to power the electronic devices. The power supply module provides a power supply mode and a power saving mode. When the power supply module is in the power supply mode, DC voltage is supplied to the electronic device. When in the power saving mode, the module hibernates. However, even while hibernating, the power supply module still transmits voltage to the load, constituting waste of power.
Therefore, what is needed is to provide a power supply module which can address the problem described above.

Power supply module with power saving mode

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd.


A method for configuring a digital overcurrent relay to provide a plurality of selectable time overcurrent characteristic responses corresponding to a plurality of target curves. According to one embodiment, a template curve is selected from the plurality of target curves, and a scaling factor is generated for each remaining target curve, wherein the relay comprises means for generating approximated curves from a given template curve and a given scaling factor. It is determined whether each approximated curve is within a threshold amount of total error with respect to its corresponding target curve. If any approximated curves are above the threshold amount, then a further template is selected from the plurality of target curves, and scaling factors are again generated and adjusted for the further template curve, until no approximated curves are above the threshold amount.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to digital time overcurrent relay devices, and, in particular, to matching selected overcurrent characteristic curves.
2. Description of the Related Art
Relay devices, commonly referred to as relays, are widely used in many applications, such as providing overcurrent protection for industrial and utility power systems. Typical uses include protection of utility and industrial feeders from phase and ground faults, and short circuit and overload protection for transformers, AC machines, transmission lines, or facilities with medium voltage switchgear. Such relays typically include both overcurrent detection circuitry that generates a trip control signal after overcurrent is detected, and a trip circuit to energize a breaker trip circuit when the trip control signal is generated.
The overcurrent detected may be based on a time or instantaneous overcurrent (known as TOC and IOC, respectively). Thus, for example, whenever a TOC condition or event is detected, the overcurrent detection circuitry generates a trip control signal, which is applied to the trip circuit. When the trip circuit receives the trip control signal, the trip circuit causes an appropriate circuit breaker to trip, thus protecting the device or system in which an overcurrent has been detected.
Relays typically provide several selectable TOC characteristic responses, each of which corresponds to one of a family or plurality of time overcurrent characteristic curves, or TOC curves, which plot time versus current. Each curve of a family of TOC curves is typically an inverse-time characteristic curve. See, e.g., IEEE Standard Inverse-Time Characteristic Equations for Overcurrent Relays, Designation C37.112-1996 (available from the IEEE, 1-800-678-IEEE, 445 Hoes Lane, P.O. Box 1331, Piscataway, N.J. 0885-1331, USA), which defines the inverse-time characteristics of overcurrent relays.
To implement an inverse-time TOC curve, relays typically perform RMS sensing or are provided with the RMS current, and begin to integrate current over time after an initial threshold, or "pick-up," current level is exceeded. For example, after pick-up occurs, the relay may trip if an RMS current of 2 Amps is detected for 1.5 seconds, or, alternatively, if an RMS current of 20 Amps is detected for 0.15 seconds. Thus, a larger average RMS current generally causes the relay to trip, due to a detected TOC condition, in a shorter time.
Many families of pre-established inverse-time TOC curves have been published. It is often desirable for a relay to offer at least one set of selectable TOC characteristic responses that conform to an established set of published TOC curves. A typical TOC curve family comprises eleven TOC curves, for example. Each curve of a TOC curve family typically corresponds to a different "time dial" setting, such as time dial settings 1/2, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. A higher time dial setting slows down the time overcurrent response, and vice-versa. Each curve of the family is plotted in terms of time versus current, where current is specified in multiples of pick-up setting. In practical implementations, each curve is typically plotted from a point just past a unity pick-up multiple setting, e.g. a multiple of 1.5 pick-up settings.
The curves of the family have similar, but not necessarily identical, shapes--for example, curves at the higher time dial settings are typically somewhat more linear than curves at the lower time dial settings. One reason for the difference in curve shapes within a curve family is that in electro-mechanical (analog) relays, physical devices like springs, and other related mechanical aspects of such relays, cause curve shape to change as time dial settings are changed.
There is a need to replace electro-mechanical relays with digital relays that do not require the routine calibration required by electromagnetic relays. Digital relays are also less susceptible to vibration than electro-mechanical relays. It is desirable, therefore, to provide digital relays that provide multiple selectable TOC curves, which conform to an established, or "target," set of TOC curves, for example, a published curve family, or curve family implemented by an existing device or set of devices. Digital relays typically implement the integration function by running an accumulator which accumulates values calculated from sampled RMS current values. If the digital relay provides TOC curves that conform to established set of published or target TOC curves, then existing electro-mechanical relays that may be replaced with digital relays without the necessity of recoordinating the entire system.
Digital relays typically implement a given TOC curve by storing, typically in a ROM look-up table or other type of memory or storage device, a set of data points that approximate the curve. However, for multiple curves of a family of curves, the memory requirements associated with storing data points for all the curves can be prohibitively expensive or otherwise undesirable.

Matching overcurrent characteristic curves


A method of operating a laboratory sample distribution system is presented. The system comprises sample container carriers comprising a magnetically active device and configured to carry a sample container, interconnected transport plane modules configured to support carriers, and electro-magnetic actuators arranged in rows and columns below each transport plane module and configured to move a carrier on top of the transport plane modules by applying a magnetic force to the carrier. The method comprises assigning transport plane modules to a route category. At least two traffic lanes are formed on the route categorized transport plane module. The carriers are moved within each traffic lane in a transport direction. The transport directions are opposite to each other. The method also comprises assigning another transport plane module to a waypoint category. A change from one transport direction to the opposite transport direction is possible on the waypoint categorized transport plane module.

The present disclosure relates to a method of operating a laboratory sample distribution system, a laboratory sample distribution system, and a laboratory automation system.
Laboratory sample distribution systems are used in laboratory automation systems comprising a number of laboratory stations. The laboratory sample distribution system can be used in order to distribute sample containers between the laboratory stations and other equipment.
In a typical laboratory sample distribution system, sample container carriers are moved on a transport plane. A number of electro-magnetic actuators is arranged below the transport plane in order to move the sample container carriers.
However, there is a need for a method of operating a laboratory sample distribution system, a laboratory sample distribution system and a laboratory automation system having a high distribution performance at reduced transport space required

Method of operating a laboratory sample distribution system, laboratory sample distribution system, and laboratory automation system


A system for distributed dual-function radar-communication comprises a plurality of dual-function radar transmitters positioned within a region of interest, each configured to transmit at least one radar waveform, with each transmitter for having a minimum transmit power, a maximum transmit power, and a working transmit power, a plurality of radar receivers positioned within the region of interest, each configured to receive the radar waveforms, at least one controller communicatively connected to at least one connected transmitter of the plurality of dual-function radar transmitters, configured to calculate a vector of transmit power values for the plurality of dual-function radar transmitters. A method of transmitting a radar waveform is also disclosed.

In the past decade, the issue of spectrum sharing has attracted significant attention due to the increasing congestion of spectral resources. Modern wireless communication systems demand the expansion of existing spectral allocations to improve the data rate. In addition, emerging technical innovations, like Internet-of-Things, require new frequency allocations. In this context, great efforts have been made in the field of cognitive radios to efficiently manage spectral utilization. Recently, coexistence of multiple applications within the same frequency band(s) has been proposed to mollify the spectral congestion by simultaneously sharing the same spectrum resources. Dual-function radar-communications (DFRC) is an important example of such a platform which may perform a secondary communication operation in addition to the primary radar function while utilizing the same frequency resources.
In DFRC systems, the transmitted waveform serves both radar and communication functions. The radar operation is considered to be the principal objective of the DFRC system whereas the communication operation is assumed to be the secondary objective. Recent DFRC techniques can be broadly classified into two main categories. The first category comprises waveform diversity-based methods which exploit a dictionary of waveforms capable of performing the radar operation. The communication operation is enabled by selecting the suitable waveform from the waveform dictionary. The second class employs beamforming-based spatial multiplexing techniques in addition to waveform diversity to achieve DFRC operation.
Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar systems with widely distributed antennas are known to offer improved localization capabilities due to enhanced spatial spread. The localization performance of distributed MIMO radars can further be improved by either increasing the number of participating radars or the transmitted energy. Many distributed MIMO radar systems designed to improve the localization accuracy focus on optimized resource allocation based on the Cramer-Rao bound (CRB) minimization or mutual information maximization. Resource-aware designs are very important for the deployment of sensor nodes in the network to reduce the operational cost. In order to enhance the performance of these systems, the participating radars are usually connected with ground stations, fusion centers, or in a distributed fashion using wireless links. Modern distributed systems need to perform the radar sensing as well as communication functions simultaneously while considering the onsite resource constraints. In this context, DFRC approaches have not been considered for the case of distributed MIMO architectures.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a novel resource-aware DFRC architecture for distributed MIMO systems configured to achieve high performance in both target localization and wireless communication. The present disclosure satisfies this need.

System and method for distributed dual-function radar-communication

Temple University—Of The Commonwealth System of Higher Education

Governemnt of the United States, as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force


A method and system for allowing one or more attached devices to access a computer bus. The objects of the method and system are achieved as is now described. At some particular instant in time, prioritized queues are loaded with one or more requests for access from one or more devices whose assigned priority levels correspond to the priority of the queue into which the requests for access are loaded. Requests for access, which are resident within a current queue, are preferentially granted in a sequential fashion until the current queue is emptied, after which at least one request for access from a lower in priority queue relative to the current queue is granted before responding to other requests for access, such that at least one request for access is periodically granted from a lower in priority queue relative to the current queue.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an improved method and system for allowing attached devices to access a computer bus. In particular, the present invention relates to an improved method and system for allowing attached devices to access a computer bus, where such access is granted based upon priority levels assigned to the attached devices. Yet still more particularly, the present invention relates to an improved method and system for allowing attached devices to access a computer bus, where such access is granted based upon priority levels assigned to the attached devices, but where such access is granted in such a fashion that lower priority requests are granted in a fair and consistent manner.
2. Description of the Related Art
The present invention is related to a more efficient way to utilize a computer data bus. A computer data bus generally consists of a set of hardware lines--wires--used for data transfer among the components of a computer system. A computer data bus is essentially a shared highway that connects different parts of the system-including the microprocessor, disk-drive controller, memory, and input/output ports and enables them to transfer information. Buses are characterized by the number of bits they can transfer at a single time (e.g., an 8-bit data bus transfers 8 bits of data in parallel at a time; a 16-bit data bus transfers 16 bits in parallel at a time). The bus is integral to internal data transfer. Bus (computer), Microsoft.RTM. Encarta.RTM. 96 Encyclopedia..COPYRGT. 1993-1995 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
A computer bus is an amalgam of different types of "pure" communication links. Accordingly, prior to discussing a computer data bus it is useful to first discuss generally data communications links.
There are three characteristics that distinguish various data communication links: topology, duplexity, and line discipline. The topology of a data link refers to the logical-physical arrangement of stations on a link (e.g., a point-to-point topology (only two stations on the link), or a multipoint topology (more than two stations on the link). The duplexity of a link refers to the direction and timing of signal flow (e.g., a half-duplex link is similar to a one-lane, two-way bridge, in that stations on a half-duplex link can transmit and receive, but not simultaneously; a full-duplex link is similar to a two-way, two-lane bridge in that two stations can simultaneously send and receive data to and from each other).
Line discipline refers to who can talk when: a station should only transmit when it knows the physical transmission path is clear and when it knows the receiver is prepared to receive. Line discipline varies dependent upon the topology and duplexity of a link (e.g. a half-duplex, multi-point link of bus topology will require more discipline than a full-duplex, point-to-point link). Line discipline usually has three distinct phases: establishment of access to a link; data transfer over the link; and termination of the logical link between transmitter and receiver, which includes relinquishment of access to the link.
A computer bus is an amalgam of the foregoing described "pure" communication links. The computer bus itself is a multi-point half-duplex link of bus topology. That is, a collection of devices all attached to the same transmission medium. Such link requires a great amount of line discipline, since only one device at a time can "transmit over the link." This line discipline for the computer bus is provided by a second data communications link: a point-to-point full-duplex link of hub topology. The following figure will make this more clear.
FIG. 1 illustrates a computer bus. Shown is computer bus 100 to which a number of devices (e.g., device 102, device 104, device 106, device 108, and device 110) are connected. As is illustrated, computer bus 100 is a half-duplex link of bus topology, so only one of the attached devices can be transmitting over the link (computer bus 100) at any one time. Thus, access to the link must be controlled (i.e., there must be some form of line discipline).
The line discipline is provided by a second data communications link of hub topology formed between the attached devices (e.g., device 102, device 104, device 106, device 108, and device 110) and link access control station 112. The second data communications link of hub topology is composed of multiple point-to-point component links. These component links connect the attached devices (e.g., device 102, device 104, device 106, device 108, and device 110) to link access control station 112 and, as is illustrated in FIG. 1, are full-duplex in that there is one line over which each device (e.g., device 102, device 104, device 106, etc.) can send a request for access to the computer data bus (denoted in FIG. 1 as the request bus access (REQ) lines), and in that there is another line over which link access control station 112 can reply to a requesting device that access to computer bus 100 has been granted (denoted in FIG. 1 as the bus access request granted (GNT) lines).
It is common to assign priorities to the differing devices connected to computer bus 100. For example, device 102 and device 106 could be assigned high priority, device 104 medium priority, and device 108 low priority. If link access control station 112 receives a request from high, medium, and low priority devices, then link access control station 112 allows bus access to the high priority devices first, the medium priority devices second, and the low priority devices last. Differing requests for access to computer bus 100 from devices with the same priority are generally granted in same prespecified order.
As an example of how a computer bus operates, assume device 102, device 106, and device 108 wish access to computer bus 100. Accordingly, device 102, device 106, and device 108 all activate and hold their respective request bus access (REQ) signals. Link access control station 112 notices that these respective request bus access (REQ) signals have been activated. In response, link access control station 112 prioritizes the requests dependent upon priorities previously assigned to the devices. Assume for the sake of illustration that device 106 has been assigned a highest priority, device 102 has been assigned a medium priority, and device 108 has been assigned a lowest priority. Accordingly, link access control station 112 determines that when computer bus 100 is free, device 106 (the highest priority requesting device) will be given access to computer bus 100.
When link access control station 112 determines that computer bus 100 is free, link access control station 112 activates and holds device 106's bus access request granted (GNT) signal. Device 106 now knows that it is free to transmit over computer bus 100. When link access control station 112 determines that the requesting device 106 should relinquish control of computer bus 100, link access control station 112 deactivates device 106's request granted signal (GNT), which tells device 106 that when it completes its current operation, it should no longer transmit over computer bus 100.
Subsequent to detecting that its bus access request granted (GNT) signal has been deactivated, device 106 completes any computer bus 100 transmission that it is currently engaged in and then deactivates its request bus access signal (REQ). Once link access control station 112 notes that device 106 has deactivated its request access signal, link access control station 112 knows computer bus 100 is free. Consequently, link access control station 112 issues another bus access request granted (GNT) signal to the highest priority device that is now requesting access to computer bus 100.
If no other devices are requesting access, device 102 (medium priority) will be granted access to the bus. However, if in the interim (i.e., while device 106 was accessing the bus) another highest priority device requested access, then link access control device 112 will grant access to that highest priority device and both device 102 (medium priority) and device 108 (lowest priority) will have to continue to wait.
The problem with the foregoing is that if link access control station 112 keeps receiving requests from highest priority devices, it is completely possible that requests from both the medium and the lowest priority devices could be completely starved out, or could be delayed for a great amount of time. It is clear that a need exists for a method and system which will allow the lower priority devices access to the bus.
However, any solution to such a need must recognize that the priority system exists for a reason: there are devices which need to be given priority access to computer bus 100. On the other hand, it is important that the lower priority requests to the bus be granted, because while these requests are lower in priority they are still essential for the overall functioning of the computing system utilizing computer bus 100.
In light of the foregoing it clear that a need exists for a method and system which will allow attached devices to access a computer bus, and where such access is granted based upon priorities assigned to the attached devices, but where such access is granted in such a fashion that lower priority requests are granted in a fair and consistent manner.

PCI host bridge multi-priority fairness arbiter

International Business Machines Corporation


Information about a time at which a vehicle of public transportation passes an arbitrary point is provided. A timetable generating device includes: an obtaining unit which obtains location information of a specified point which is an arbitrary point along a route and for which a timetable is to be generated; a time identifying unit which identifies a passage time at which a vehicle of public transportation passes the specified point; a timetable generating unit which generates a timetable that includes the identified passage time; and a timetable outputting unit which outputs the generated timetable.

Patent Literature 1 describes a transportation navigation system which searches for a route from a boarding station to an exit station, and gives guidance at a point in time that precedes, by a given length of time, the time of passage of each of the boarding station, an interchange station, and the exit station on the found route.

Timetable generation device, timetable generation method, program, timetable generation system, and user terminal


The sterilization method disclosed includes the steps of                providing a sterilization chamber;        placing the article into the sterilization chamber;        equalizing the temperature of the article and the        sterilization atmosphere;sealing the sterilization chamber;        applying a vacuum of a preselected vacuum pressure to the sterilization chamber;        supplying water vapour to the sterilization chamber under vacuum;        supplying ozone-containing gas to the sterilization chamber;        maintaining the sterilization chamber sealed for a preselected treatment period; and        releasing the vacuum in the sterilization chamber;        whereby a vacuum pressure is used which lowers the boiling temperature of water in the sterilization chamber below the temperature in the sterilization chamber. One or more ventilating cycles can be added to the preferred method for removing the remaining ozone and humidity from the sterilization chamber. Single cycle sterilization with ozone is more efficient and provides for a shorter sterilization cycle than with ETO and requires few changes in user habits. Moreover, the ozone-based process in accordance with the invention is compatible for use with current packaging, such as sterile pouches and rigid containers. The sterilization process is simple and substantially avoids human errors caused by false interpretation and handling. The ozone sterilization method of the invention requires substantially no aeration or cooling down of sterilized instruments so that they can be used immediately following the sterilization cycle. This allows hospitals to reduce the cost of maintaining expensive medical device inventories.

Sterilization is the absolute destruction of any virus, bacteria, fungus or other microorganism, whether in a vegetative or in a dormant spore state. Conventional sterile processing procedures for medical instruments involve high temperature (such as steam and dry heat units) or toxic chemicals (such as ethylene oxide gas, EtO). Steam pressure sterilization has been the time-honoured method of sterilization. It is fast and cost effective. However, the autoclave destroys heat-sensitive instruments. Thus, since more and more heat-sensitive instruments such as arthroscopes and endoscopes are used in medical treatment, other types of sterilization need to be used.
Ethylene oxide sterilization is used to cold sterilize heat-sensitive instruments. Until recently, ethylene oxide sterilization was the state of the art method for cold sterilization. Ethylene oxide sterilizes heat and moisture-sensitive objects and penetrates very well. However, it has been deemed by national health and safety organizations to be carcinogenic and neurotoxic. Additionally, since it is a highly flammable gas, it is normally combined with CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) for safety reasons. However, due to the deleterious effects of CFCs on the ozone layer, their use has been banned by the Montreal protocol in 1996. Moreover, ethylene oxide requires long sterilization and aeration periods, since the molecule clings to the surface of instruments. The total sterilization time is 14 to 36 hours depending upon the materials to be sterilized. This type of sterilization necessitates the use of containment rooms, monitoring systems, and room ventilators.
A more efficient, safer, and less expensive sterilization agent was needed and has been found in the form of ozone O3 which is the fourth most powerful, but overall most desirable oxidizing agent (the three more powerful agents being fluorine derivatives which are too unstable and toxic for safe use in sterilization). Ozone can easily be generated from oxygen, especially hospital grade oxygen. Oxygen is readily available in the hospital environment, usually from a wall or ceiling oxygen source, or, if mobility is required, from a portable "J" cylinder of oxygen.
Ozone is widely used in industry as oxidizing agent to bleach paper pulp, treat drinking water, and sterilize sewage water and food products. Ozone generally acts on chemical compounds in two ways. Either by direct reaction or through hydroxyl radical species formed during the decomposition of ozone (Encyclopaedia Of Chemical Technology, Vol. 17, Ozone page 953 to 964). The amounts (concentrations) of ozone required in the sterilization gas for water purification are low, generally less than 36 mg/l (milligram per liter). However, significantly higher concentrations are required to make ozone gas an effective sterilant of micro-organisms, those high concentrations of ozone gas have to be combined with critical levels of humidity during the entire sterilization cycle. The activity of ozone increases rapidly with increased relative humidity. The resistance of spores to ozone varies from strain to strain, but the differences become comparatively small at high relative humidity (Ishizaki et al., 1986. Inactivation of the Silas spores by gaseous ozone, J. Appl. Bacterial, 60:67–72). A high relative humidity is required for the ozone to penetrate the protective shells of microorganisms. The presence of water often accelerates ozone reactions with organic substances (Langlais et al., (EDS), 1991, Ozone in Water Treatment, Application and Engineering. Louis Publishers: Chelsea, Mich., 569 pages). Sufficient relative humidity is also required in order to enable ozone to penetrate the normally used sterilization packaging. Thus, it is desirable to humidify this ozone gas used for sterilization applications.
Various ways of humidifying ozone-containing gas used for sterilization treatments are known in the field of ozone sterilizers.
The use of a mixture of ozone gas with a very fine water mist in a sealed plastic bag container, which contains an article to be sterilized, is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,719,017. The method disclosed involves repeated evacuation and refilling of the plastic bag with a mixture of ozone gas and a very fine water mist. The air in the bag is exhausted and replaced with a pressurized mixture of ozone and water mist. Upon encountering the much lower pressure within the bag, the water particles from the pressurized mixture explode, forming a water mist. However, this system cannot generate a sufficiently high water vapour concentration to provide and maintain the required high relative humidity.
A review of more recent patents shows that the relative humidity required for successful sterilization is at least 85% throughout the process. U.S. Pat. No. 5,069,880 describes a device capable of generating such a high relative humidity. In the apparatus described, the ozone gas is bubbled through a water bath in an effort to increase the water content of the gas. Although ozone at 85% humidity can kill most micro-organisms, it does not meet the "worst case scenario" stipulated in North American standards. Moreover, the device described is unable to generate humidity levels higher than 85%.
North American standards set by agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration and Heath Canada require sterilizer manufacturers to meet worst-case scenario requirements. A sterilization gas including 85% humidity is insufficient for achieving the targeted results. A minimum relative humidity level of 95% is required to meet the standards imposed.
Water evaporates at 100° C. at atmospheric pressure (1013 mbar). Thus, various prior patents (see Faddis et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,266,275; 5,334,355; and 5,334,622) teach sterilization systems wherein water is heated to above the boiling point to produce steam for injection into the ozone-containing gas produced by an ozone generator. The steam is heated to 120° C. Thus, the vapour/ozone mixture used for sterilization presumably has a temperature close to 100° C. However, since the decomposition of ozone increases exponentially with temperature in the range of 20 to 300° C., injecting the water vapour at a temperature of about 120° C. leads to premature ozone decomposition. As a result, the effective ozone concentration in the gas produced by the ozone generator is reduced, thereby requiring significantly increased treatment times and the generation of much larger amounts of ozone gas for each sterilization cycle. On the other hand, if the temperature in the sterilization chamber is not maintained at above the boiling temperature of water, condensation will occur. However, a layer of condensation on any article to be sterilized will significantly reduce the effectiveness of the ozone sterilization process, if not completely block sterilization of the covered area. This problem should be avoided, but is not recognized in the art.
Moreover, carrying out the sterilization at an elevated temperature and close to 100° C. will require a substantial cooling down period for the sterilized materials, thereby making the sterilization a lengthy and inefficient process. Thus, a more efficient and effective sterilization method and apparatus is desired for the sterilization with ozone at a relative humidity above at least 95%.

Method and apparatus for ozone sterilization


A switching-type voltage regulator of this invention comprises a voltage control section for generating a stabilized voltage by controlling a voltage supply period from input side to output side, and a protective device. The protective device monitors the temperature of a certain component part or parts of the voltage control section and convert the temperature into a voltage to compare with the reference voltage generated by a reference voltage source, and brings the output of the voltage control section to a halt in accordance with the result of comparison. The output of the voltage control section is brought to a halt regardless of the presence of output abnormalcy when the temperature of the component part or parts monitored exceeds a certain level. As the monitoring means, it is preferable to utilize the electrical characteristic of semiconductor p-n junction changing with temperature, and a semiconductor diode is more preferable. A preferable halting means is a 2-input AND circuit where a signal representing the result of the comparing means are inputted into one of the input terminals, and a switching control signal to the other to control a switching element. Preferably, a latching means is installed between the comparing means and halting means to maintain a halted condition.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a switching voltage regulator having a protective device of a switching element for controlling the output thereof from thermal breakdown.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 1 shows an exemplified block diagram of a conventional switching regulator generating a stabilized power supply voltage. The regulator in FIG. 1 is supplied with a non-stabilized voltage from an input voltage source 1 on the primary side and provided with a transformer 2 which produces a signal for detecting a primary-side overcurrent, an output transformer 3 which divides the secondary side from the primary side, two diodes 4 which rectify a full-wave current at the secondary side, a choking coil 5 and a capacitor 6 which smooth the secondary-side current, and a MOS transistor 7 which controls a primary-side current by switching. A control circuit 8 detects deviation from a set voltage, and modulates the pulse width of the primary-side current in accordance with the deviation. Thus the control circuit 8 controls the output voltage at the output tereminal by means of a change in the on-off interval of the switching transistor 7. The control circuit 8 also detects an excessively high or low output voltage by way of a control processor 9, and further detects the primary-side overcurrent with the transformer 2, and thereby controls the primary-side current in a similar manner in accordance with the detected results. The control processor 9 receives the output voltage to monitor as well as to keep the switching transistor 7 turn-off. Numeral 10 shows an output terminal.
In this way, the switching-type voltage regulator in FIG. 1 is protected by detecting any abnormal output voltage with the control processor 9 and/or the control circuit 8 to thereby turn off the switching transistor 7 to bring the power supply output to a halt. Hence, ordinary output abnormalcy can be coped with, but there is a problem that the conventional voltage regulator cannot handle satisfactorily thermal runaway of the transistor 7 and/or diodes 4 to be caused when the ambient temperature rises for some reason. The above conventional voltage regulator must detect an abnormal stabilized output due to thermal runaway of the transistor 7 and/or diodes 4 before bringing the output of the voltage regulator to a halt and, therefore, protects the regulator a little too late, resulting in quite possible failure to prevent the transistor 7 and/or diodes 4 from being damaged or destroyed.
Thus, an object of this invention is to provide a a switching-type voltage regulator, capable of securely preventing a component part or parts of the regulator such as a switching transistor and a rectification diode from being damaged or destroyed due to a temperature runaway.

Switching voltage regulator with protective device against thermal breakdown


An invention for preventing optical crosstalk in a process of counting liquid scintillation samples deposited in a sample plate, the sample plate composed of a plurality of sample wells, the optical crosstalk being caused by mutual optical affection between samples deposited in the sample wells. Sample wells are provided with tubes made of material impermeable but reflective or scattering for scintillation light generated by the samples.

Liquid scintillation counters are commonly used for measuring count rates or activities of radioactive samples containing beta, or corresponding, particle emitting radionuclides, e.g., H-3, C-14, S-35, 1-125, P-32 etc.
Many beta particles are of low energies and have ranges generally less than few tens of micrometers in the sample. As a consequence, the sample to be measured has to be intimately contacted with a scintillation medium, most often by dissolving it into a liquid scintillator which typically comprises an organic solvent and at least one fluorescent solute present in a few percent by weight of the solution. In radiation interaction processes, kinetic energy of the beta particle is absorbed by the solvent and then transferred to the solute which emits a burst of scintillation photons, whose amount is proportional to the energy of the beta particle. These scintillation photons are detected with a detector that usually consists of two, coincidence operating, photomultiplier tubes producing electric pulses. The height of the pulses are proportional to the amount of emitted scintillation photons and thus proportional to the energy of the interacted beta particle. Coincidence operation is employed for eliminating the random thermal noise pulses of photomultiplier tubes.
Normally liquid scintillation counters are provided with one detector and they are designed to measure samples in 7 ml or 20 ml glass or plastic vials.
A novel liquid scintillation counter, designed for counting samples directly from multi-well sample plates is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,061,853 (Lehtinen et al.), which apparatus can count liquid scintillation or corresponding samples directly from a sample plate which comprises several separate sample wells or vials. The apparatus has one or several detectors in order to count one or several samples at a time. The sample plate is placed in the counting position on a rigid plate holder made of photon attenuating material and having holes for the wells of the sample plate. The walls of the holes are reflecting or scattering in order to guide the photons from the liquid scintillation sample to the detectors, built of two photomultiplier tubes operating in coincidence and situated on the opposite sides of the holes of the plate holder. The wells of the sample plate can be closed by an adhesive transparent tape. The apparatus can be used also for counting gamma radiation emitting samples if the holes of the sample plate are surrounded by gamma radiation sensitive detectors.
Another novel scintillation counting system for in-situ measurement of radioactive samples in a multiple-well plate is presented under European Patent Publication Number 0425767A1 (VanCauter et al.). This apparatus is provided with multiple photomultiplier tubes positioned adjacent to the sample wells containing the scintillator for simultaneously measuring the radioactivity of multiple samples with only a single photomultiplier tube sensing the scintillations from each well and converting the sensed scintillations into corresponding electrical pulses. The electrical pulses from each photomultiplier tube are processed to discriminate between pulses attributable to sample events within the wells and pulses attributable to non-sample events such as photomultiplier tube noise. The discrimination is effected by determining whether a selected number of electrical pulses occurs with a prescribed time interval, the occurrence of the selected number of pulses within the prescribed time interval signifying a sample event. Only the electrical pulses attributable to sample events are supplied to a pulse analyzer.
The multi-well sample plates have typically eight rows of wells, whose diameter is 7-8 mm arranged in twelve columns with 9 millimeters distance between the center points of the wells. The typical volumes of sample wells of such 96-well sample plates are 200-400 microliters depending on the height of the plate. Another type of multi-well sample plate has four rows of wells arranged in six columns. The volume of the wells of such 24-well sample plates exceeds one milliliter. When the wells of the multi-well sample plate are separate, the plate can be placed for counting on a rigid sample plate holder made of photon attenuating material and having thru-holes for the wells of the sample plate as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,061,853 (Lehtinen et al.). As a consequence, an optically isolated compartment is formed around each sample well of the sample plate. Unfortunately, most of the commercially available multi-well sample plates are transparent and the wells are joined together with ribs, bridges and the like in order to stiffen the sample plate. Therefore, it is impossible to place them in the above mentioned sample plate holder to isolate them optically. Consequently, some amount of the scintillation photons produced by the absorption of the beta particle in a certain sample well may travel to other sample wells and thus produce an undesired increase in observed count rates in those wells. This phenomenon is called optical crosstalk. It is known that the use of opaque multi-well sample plates can reduce optical crosstalk as mentioned in TopCount Topics PAN0005 6/91, published by Packard Instrument Company, Meriden USA 1991. However, in many applications transparent multi-well sample plates are preferred, and most of the commercially available multi-well sample plates are transparent.

Method and a device for preventing optical crosstalk between liquid scintillation samples deposited on transculcent sample plates


A multifunction machine for modifying a workpiece held in a bending brake is provided that allows one tool to be easily interchanged with another tool. The machine includes a carriage operable to move longitudinally along the bending brake, and a tool detachably connected to the carriage and operable to modify the workpiece. The tool can be detached from the carriage and interchanged with another tool for performing a different modification to the workpiece. In a preferred embodiment, either the tool or the carriage includes a projection extending therefrom, and the other includes an opening sized to receive the projection in order to connect the tool and the carriage. The tool preferably includes rotatably mounted rolls that may be used for cutting or forming the workpiece. The multifunction machine is intended to be used in conjunction with any type of bending brake.

Portable bending brakes are used at job sites for bending relatively thin gauge sheet material, such as metal or plastic sheets used to sheath portions of homes or other buildings. Bending brakes are usually constructed of an array of support castings that are held together by an appropriate frame. The castings are provided with a clamp and a bending structure that clamps and bends sheet material at the open ends of the castings.
To improve the utility of a portable bending brake, it would be desirable to be able to cut and shape a workpiece while the workpiece is clamped in the brake. For example, an operator may wish to cut an edge from the workpiece or to form the edge in some manner. An example of a cutter used in conjunction with a bending brake can be found in French patent No. 2504429 issued to Goubaud, whereas German patent No. DE 4235629 issued to Knoll describes a bending brake provided with both a cutting device and a separate roll forming device.
A need exists for a multifunction machine that would allow an operator to switch easily between cutting and forming accessories at a job site. It would be desirable to provide a multifunction machine that eliminates unnecessary duplication of structure between different cutting and forming accessories. Another design objective of such a multifunction machine is to minimize the weight of the machine and its accessories, all at a low cost.

Multifunction machine for modifying material in a bending brake


According to one embodiment, a pressure sensor includes a base unit, a film unit, and a plurality of sensing elements. The plurality of sensing elements is provided on the film unit radially with respect to a centroid of the film unit. The plurality of sensing elements has a first side and a second side intersecting the first side. Each of the plurality of sensing elements includes a first magnetic layer, a second magnetic layer, and an intermediate layer. Each of the plurality of sensing elements has a shape anisotropy characterized by a length of the first side being longer than a length of the second side intersecting the first side. The plurality of sensing elements is provided at lines having radial configurations extending from the centroid to have a prescribed angle between the first side and the line.

In a capacitive pressure sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal according to a capacitance change, the entire diaphragm is used as a portion of the electrode. Therefore, in the case where the pressure sensor is downsized, both the diaphragm and the surface area of the electrode are smaller; and there is a risk that the sensitivity may degrade.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Pressure sensor, microphone, blood pressure sensor, and touch panel


A composite semiconductor light-emitting device includes a first semiconductor element portion made of a first semiconductor material and a second semiconductor element portion made of a second semiconductor material different from the first semiconductor material. The first semiconductor element portion has a first semiconductor layered structure, and the second semiconductor element portion has a second semiconductor layered structure. The first semiconductor element portion has a plurality of light-emitting regions that emit lights of different wavelengths. The second semiconductor element portion has at least one light-emitting region that emits light whose wavelength is different from the lights emitted by the light-emitting regions of the first semiconductor element portion. The light-emitting regions of the first semiconductor element portion and at least one light-emitting region of the second semiconductor element portion are electrically connected to each other.

This invention relates to a composite semiconductor light-emitting device on which a plurality of light-emitting regions are formed using compound semiconductor layers. Particularly, this invention relates to a composite semiconductor light-emitting device capable of emitting lights of different wavelengths.
There is known a light-emitting diode (LED) capable of emitting lights of different wavelengths. Such a conventional light-emitting diode includes a first light-emitting layer sandwiched between a p-type compound semiconductor epitaxial layer and an n-type compound semiconductor epitaxial layer, and a second light-emitting layer sandwiched between two compound semiconductor layers (containing impurities) whose conductivity types are the same as one of the p-type compound semiconductor layer and the n-type compound semiconductor layer. The second light-emitting layer emits the light whose wavelength is longer than the light emitted by the first light-emitting layer. Such a conventional light-emitting diode is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-7401. The light-emitting diode is known as a compound semiconductor light-emitting element that emits white light, which is suitable for a lighting device used in various kinds of display devices such as a backlight of an LCD display device.
The light-emitting element (disclosed in the above described publication) has a layered structure including a single crystal ZnSe substrate (i.e., a lower light-emitting layer) that emits the light upon self-excitation and a ZnSe-based compound semiconductor layer layered on the substrate. A light-emitting layer (i.e., an intermediate light-emitting layer) composed of ZnSeTe and cladding layers sandwiching the intermediate light-emitting layer are formed on the compound semiconductor layer. Another light-emitting layer (i.e., an uppermost light-emitting layer) composed of ZnSe/ZnCdSe multi-quantum well is formed on the upper cladding layer. The uppermost light-emitting layer emits the light of cyan whose wavelength is 480 nm, the intermediate light-emitting layer emits the light of green whose wavelength is 515 nm, and the ZnSe substrate emits the light of yellow.
However, in the layered structure including the semiconductor layers and the substrate that emit lights of different wavelengths as disclosed in the above described publication, it is necessary to match the lattice constants of the layered semiconductor materials to each other, and therefore the kinds of semiconductor materials that can be used are limited. To be more specific, on the single crystal ZnSe substrate, it is possible to grow the same ZnSe-based compound semiconductor layers, but it is difficult to continuously grow a GaN-based semiconductor layer (capable of emitting blue or green light) and a GaAs-based semiconductor layer (capable of emitting red light) on the crystal substrate in terms of lattice constants.
Further, even if it becomes possible to emit lights of the respective wavelengths, there is a case where the intensity of one of the lights of respective wavelengths is weak. In order to uniformly balance the intensities of the lights of respective wavelengths, the intensities of the whole lights must decrease.

Composite semiconductor light-emitting device


Methods for stimulating granulocyte/macrophage lineage cells using thrombopoiet in are provided. The methods provided may be used to stimulate granulocyte/macrophage progenitors and neutrophils in bone marrow and peripheral blood cells and in vitro and in vivo. In addition, methods for treatment of neutropenia in patients are disclosed.

Hematopoiesis is the process by which blood cells develop and differentiate from pluripotent stem cells in the bone marrow. This process involves a complex interplay of polypeptide growth factors (cytokines) acting via membrane-bound receptors on the target cells. Cytokine action results in cellular proliferation and differentiation, with response to a particular cytokine often being lineage-specific and/or stage-specific. Development of a single cell type, such as a platelet or a neutrophil, from a stem cell may require the coordinated action of a plurality of cytokines acting in the proper sequence.
The known cytokines include the interleukins, such as IL-1, IL-2, IL-3, IL-6, IL-8, etc.; and the colony stimulating factors, such as G-CSF, M-CSF, GM-CSF, erythropoietin (EPO), etc. In general, the interleukins act as mediators of immune and inflammatory responses. The colony stimulating factors stimulate the proliferation of marrow-derived cells, activate mature leukocytes, and otherwise form an integral part of the host's response to inflammatory, infectious, and immunologic challenges.
Various cytokines have been developed as therapeutic agents. For example, erythropoietin, which stimulates the development of erythrocytes, is used in the treatment of anemia arising from renal failure. Several of the colony stimulating factors have been used in conjunction with cancer chemotherapy to speed the recovery of patients' immune systems. Interleukin-2, .alpha.-interferon and .gamma.-interferon are used in the treatment of certain cancers. Factors responsible for stimulation of megakaryocytopoiesis and thrombocytopoiesis resisted definitive characterization, due in part to lack of a reliable source, a lack of convenient assays, and a lack of knowledge as to the site(s) of production until recently, despite three decades of work to isolate and characterize them. The megakaryocytopoietic factor referred to in the literature as "thrombopoietin" (recently reviewed by McDonald, Exp. Hematol. 16:201-205, 1988; and McDonald, Am. J. Ped. Hematol. Oncol. 14:8-21, 1992) has now been identified and isolated (see copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/252,491; Lok et al., Nature 369:565-568, 1994; and Kaushansky et al., Nature 369:568-571, 1994; all herein incorporated by reference).
Mild bleeding disorders (MBDs) associated with platelet dysfunctions are relatively common (Bachmann, Seminars in Hematology 17: 292-305, 1980), as are a number of congenital disorders of platelet function, including Bernard-Soulier syndrome (deficiency in platelet GPIb), Glanzmann's thrombasthenia (deficiency of GPIIb and GPIIIa), congenital afibrinogenemia (diminished or absent levels of fibrinogen in plasma and platelets), and gray platelet syndrome (absence of .alpha.-granules). In addition there are a number of disorders associated with platelet secretion, storage pool deficiency, abnormalities in platelet arachidonic acid pathway, deficiencies of platelet cyclooxygenase and thromboxane synthetase and defects in platelet activation (reviewed by Rao and Holmsen, Seminars in Hematology 23: 102-118, 1986). At present, the molecular basis for most of these defects is not well understood.
Leukopenia is a deficiency in one or more of the cell-types collectively known as white blood cells (WBCs). Included are cells from the myeloid and lymphoid lineage. Lymphoid cells are T-cells and B-cells and their progenitors. Myeloid lineage cells include: the granulocyte/macrophage (GM) progenitor cells, which through the process known as differentiation, mature into neutrophils, monocytes, macrophages, eosinophils and basophils. The myeloid lineage white blood cells generally function as phagocytes and remove foreign material (e.g. fungi, bacteria and virus) by digestion using enzymes that are either released extracellularly or by endocytosis and degradation inside the cell.
A WBC count generally measures all the WBCs and a normal value is in the range of 5.0 to 10.0.times.10.sup.9 /liter. Clinically significant deficiencies of WBCs are usually deficiencies in neutrophils (neutropenia) or lymphocytes (lymphocytopenia). Levels of neutrophils and lymphocytes can be identified by differential white blood cell counts which evaluate each cell type in the WBC fraction separately. Neutropenia is diagnosed in patients with neutrophil levels below 2.0.times.10.sup.9 /liter. For discussion of the clinical aspects of neutropenia, see, for example, Cecil Textbook of Medicine (Wyngaarden et al. (eds.), 19th edition, W.B. Saunders Co., Philadephia, Pa., 1992). Neutrophil levels below 0.5.times.10.sup.9 /liter are considered life-threatening, resulting in serious recurrent and often difficult-to-treat infections. Abnormalities in the bone marrow account for the majority of clinically significant neutropenias and are primarily caused by cytotoxic drugs, radiation, marrow invasion by abnormal cells and infections.
While many cytokines have been characterized and some have proven clinical applications, there remains a need in the art for additional agents that stimulate proliferation and differentiation of myeloid and lymphoid precursors and the production of mature blood cells. There is a particular need for agents that stimulate the development and proliferation of cells of the multiple myeloid lineage. There is a further need in the art for agents that can be used in the treatment of cytopenias, including thrombocytopenia (low number of circulating platelets, less than about 1.times.10.sup.5 platelets/mm.sup.3), anemias and leukopenias, particularly neutropenia, and other platelet disorders. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides other, related advantages.

Methods for stimulating granulocyte/macrophage lineage using thrombopoietin