Reduced 30% scanning time 3D multiplexer integrated circuit applied to large array format 20KHZ frequency inkjet print heads

Enhancement of the number and array density of nozzles within an inkjet head chip is one of the keys to raise the printing speed and printing resolutions. However, traditional 2D architecture of driving circuits can not meet the requirement for high scanning speed and low data accessing points when nozzle numbers greater than 1000. This paper proposes a novel architecture of high-selection-speed three-dimensional data registration for inkjet applications. With the configuration of three-dimensional data registration, the number of data accessing points as well as the scanning lines can be greatly reduced for large array inkjet printheads with nozzles numbering more than 1000. This IC (Integrated Circuit) architecture involves three-dimensional multiplexing with the provision of a gating transistor for each ink firing resistor, where ink firing resistors are triggered only by the selection of their associated gating transistors. Three signals: selection (S), address (A), and power supply (P), are employed together to activate a nozzle for droplet ejection. The smart printhead controller has been designed by a 0.35 um CMOS process with a total circuit area, 2500 x 500 microm2, which is 80% of the cirucuit area by 2D configuration for 1000 nozzles. Experiment results demonstrate the functionality of the fabricated IC in operation, signal transmission and a potential to control more than 1000 nozzles with only 31 data access points and reduced 30% scanning time.Comment: Submitted on behalf of EDA Publishing Association (http://irevues.inist.fr/EDA-Publishing

Clinical impact of double protease inhibitor boosting with Lopinavir/Ritonavir and Amprenavir as part of salvage antiretroviral therapy

Purpose: Double protease inhibitor (PI) boosting is being explored as a new strategy in salvage antiretroviral (ARV) therapy. However, if a negative drug interaction leads to decreased drug levels of either or both PIs, double PI boosting could lead to decreased virologic response. A negative drug interaction has been described between amprenavir (APV) and lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r). This observational cohort study assessed the virologic impact of the addition of APV to a salvage ARV regimen, which also contains LPV/r, compared to a regimen containing LPV/r alone. Method: Patients initiated on a salvage ARV regimen that included LPV/r obtained from the expanded access program in Toronto, Canada, were evaluated. APV (600-1,200 mg bid) was added at the discretion of the treating physician. Results: Using multivariate Cox proportional hazards models, we found that the addition of APV to a LPV/r-containing salvage regimen was not significantly associated with time to virologic suppression (< 50 copies/mL; adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 0.75, p = .12) or with time to virologic rebound (adjusted HR = 1.46, p = .34). Those patients who received higher doses of APV had an increased chance of virologic suppression (p = .03). In a subset of 27 patients, the median LPV Ctrough was significantly lower in patients receiving APV (p = .04), and the median APV Ctrough was reduced compared to reported controls. Conclusion: Our data do not support an additional benefit in virologic reduction of double boosting with APV and LPV/r relative to LPV/r alone in salvage ARV therapy. Our study's limitations include its retrospective nature and the imbalance between the two groups potentially confounding the results. Although these factors were adjusted for in the multivariate analysis, a prospective randomized controlled trial is warranted to confirm our findings

Inhibition of dengue virus replication by novel inhibitors of RNA-dependent RNA polymerase and protease activities

Dengue virus (DENV) is the leading mosquito-transmitted viral infection in the world. With more than 390 million new infections annually, and up to 1 million clinical cases with severe disease manifestations, there continues to be a need to develop new antiviral agents against dengue infection. In addition, there is no approved anti-DENV agents for treating DENV-infected patients. In the present study, we identified new compounds with anti-DENV replication activity by targeting viral replication enzymes – NS5, RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) and NS3 protease, using cell-based reporter assay. Subsequently, we performed an enzyme-based assay to clarify the action of these compounds against DENV RdRp or NS3 protease activity. Moreover, these compounds exhibited anti-DENV activity in vivo in the ICR-suckling DENV-infected mouse model. Combination drug treatment exhibited a synergistic inhibition of DENV replication. These results describe novel prototypical small anti-DENV molecules for further development through compound modification and provide potential antivirals for treating DENV infection and DENV-related diseases

Properties of continuous Fourier extension of the discrete cosine transform and its multidimensional generalization

A versatile method is described for the practical computation of the discrete Fourier transforms (DFT) of a continuous function $g(t)$ given by its values $g_{j}$ at the points of a uniform grid $F_{N}$ generated by conjugacy classes of elements of finite adjoint order $N$ in the fundamental region $F$ of compact semisimple Lie groups. The present implementation of the method is for the groups SU(2), when $F$ is reduced to a one-dimensional segment, and for $SU(2)\times ... \times SU(2)$ in multidimensional cases. This simplest case turns out to result in a transform known as discrete cosine transform (DCT), which is often considered to be simply a specific type of the standard DFT. Here we show that the DCT is very different from the standard DFT when the properties of the continuous extensions of these two discrete transforms from the discrete grid points $t_j; j=0,1, ... N$ to all points $t \in F$ are considered. (A) Unlike the continuous extension of the DFT, the continuous extension of (the inverse) DCT, called CEDCT, closely approximates $g(t)$ between the grid points $t_j$. (B) For increasing $N$, the derivative of CEDCT converges to the derivative of $g(t)$. And (C), for CEDCT the principle of locality is valid. Finally, we use the continuous extension of 2-dimensional DCT to illustrate its potential for interpolation, as well as for the data compression of 2D images.Comment: submitted to JMP on April 3, 2003; still waiting for the referee's Repor

Serum Differentially Modulates the Clonal Growth and Differentiation of Cultured Limbal and Corneal Epithelium

Purpose. The stem cell-containing limbal epithelium is in proximity with highly vascularized tissue, as opposed to the transient amplifying cell-containing corneal basal epithelium, which resides on top of avascular corneal stroma. We therefore speculate that limbal stem cells are preferentially under the modulation of serum-derived factors. Methods. Using a previously reported serum-free, chemically defined culture system for ocular surface epithelium, a culture condition primarily supporting transient amplifying cells of both corneal and limbal epithelia, we compared the clonal growth measured by colony-forming efficiency (CFE), colony size, and BrdU labeling, as well as colony differentiation measured by colony morphology and immunofluorescence staining, with the monoclonal antibody AE-5 against keratin K3 when fetal bovine serum (FBS) was added at different concentrations. Results. The addition of 1% FBS decreased CFE and colony size in peripheral corneal cultures but had no effect in limbal cultures. Both cultures showed no obvious difference in colony morphology or BrdU labeling and AE-5 staining. In contrast, at 10% or 20% FBS, CFE and colony size increased in limbal cultures, but dose dependently decreased in peripheral corneal cultures. The presence of a unique subpopulation of progenitor cells in limbal cultures different from transient amplifying cells in corneal cultures was further supported by the emergence of a higher proportion of a unique type (B) colonies in limbal cultures that had high BrdU labeling and heterogeneous or negative AE-5 staining, indicative of their being in a proliferating, undifferentiated state. These colonies showed continuous growth in late cultures and could be passaged into serum-free medium. Conclusio

Fluxes of particulate organic carbon in the East China Sea in summer

To understand carbon cycling in marginal seas better, particulate organic carbon (POC) concentrations, POC fluxes and primary production (PP) were measured in the East China Sea (ECS) in summer 2007. Higher concentrations of POC were observed in the inner shelf, and lower POC values were found in the outer shelf. Similar to POC concentrations, elevated uncorrected POC fluxes (720–7300 mg C m⁻² d^&minus;1) were found in the inner shelf, and lower POC fluxes (80–150 mg C m⁻² d^&minus;1) were in the outer shelf, respectively. PP values (~ 340–3380 mg C m⁻² d^&minus;1) had analogous distribution patterns to POC fluxes, while some of PP values were significantly lower than POC fluxes, suggesting that contributions of resuspended particles to POC fluxes need to be appropriately corrected. A vertical mixing model was used to correct effects of bottom sediment resuspension, and the lowest and highest corrected POC fluxes were in the outer shelf (58 ± 33 mg C m⁻² d^&minus;1) and the inner shelf (785 ± 438 mg C m⁻² d^&minus;1), respectively. The corrected POC fluxes (486 to 785 mg C m⁻² d^&minus;1) in the inner shelf could be the minimum value because we could not exactly distinguish the effect of POC flux from Changjiang influence with turbid waters. The results suggest that 27–93% of the POC flux in the ECS might be from the contribution of resuspension of bottom sediments rather than from the actual biogenic carbon sinking flux. While the vertical mixing model is not a perfect model to solve sediment resuspension because it ignores biological degradation of sinking particles, Changjiang plume (or terrestrial) inputs and lateral transport, it makes significant progress in both correcting the resuspension problem and in assessing a reasonable quantitative estimate of POC flux in a marginal sea

NbSe3: Effect of Uniaxial Stress on the Threshold Field and Fermiology

We have measured the effect of uniaxial stress on the threshold field ET for the motion of the upper CDW in NbSe3. ET exhibits a critical behavior, ET ~ (1 - e/ec)^g, wher e is the strain, and ec is about 2.6% and g ~ 1.2. This ecpression remains valid over more than two decades of ET, up to the highest fields of about 1.5keV/m. Neither g nor ec is very sensitive to the impurity concentraction. The CDW transition temperature Tp decreases linearly with e at a rate dTp/de = -10K/%, and it does not show any anomaly near ec. Shubnikov de-Haas measurements show that the extremal area of the Fermi surface decreases with increasing strain. The results suggest that there is an intimate relationship between pinning of the upper CDW and the Fermiology of NbSe3.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure