利用参数DFM减少栅泄漏

初创公司Blaze DFM最近开发的技术大大缩小了设计和生产间的差距。据称公司刚刚推出的软件是业内第一个电可制造设计（DFM）的解决方案。由于是为芯片设计者编写的软件，能够分析设计中怎样应用每个晶体管，并允许选择修正CD减少泄漏电流或优化定时及使泄漏的变化更小。在90到65nm的设计中，已证实此方法可减少泄漏功率40％，泄漏变化60％，定时提高可达10％。     

Reasoning about Knowledge: A Response by the Authors

Minds and Machines -     

Fault-Tolerant Convergence Routing

This paper presents fault-tolerant protocols for fast packet switch networks withconvergence routing. The objective is to provide fast reconfiguration and continuous host-to-host communication after a link or a node (switch) failure,Convergence routingcan be viewed as a variant ofdeflection routing,which combines, in a dynamic fashion, the on-line routing decision with the traffic load inside the network. Unlike other deflection techniques, convergence routing operates withglobal sense of directionand guarantees that packets will reach or converge to their destinations. Global sense of direction is achieved by embedding of virtual rings to obtain a linear ordering of the nodes. We consider virtual ring embeddings over (i) a single spanning tree, and (ii) over two edge-disjoint spanning trees. Thus, the fault-tolerant solution is based on spanning trees and designed for a switch-based (i.e., arbitrary topology) architecture called MetaNet. In this work, the original MetaNet's convergence routing scheme has been modified in order to facilitate the property that the packet header need not be recomputed after a failure and/or a reconfiguration. This is achieved by having, at the network interface, a translator that maps the unique destination address to a virtual address. It is argued that virtual rings embedded over two-edge disjoint spanning trees increase the fault tolerance for both node and link faults and provides continuous host-to-host communication.     

Endogenous Particle Stabilization During Magnesium Integral Foam Production

The production of magnesium integral foam components with a dense shell and a porous core is investigated. High pressure casting methods are used where liquid magnesium mixed with a blowing agent is injected into a permanent steel mould. A compact shell develops due to fast cooling at the walls. Larger cooling times in the core allow the decomposition of the blowing agent and the evolution of a foam structure. The resulting integral foams show a high weight‐specific stiffness combined with high energy absorption capability. For the first time, foam stabilizing without additives is realized. Stabilization is by foaming during solidification with the primary α‐phase particles acting as obstacles slowing down cell wall thinning.     

The technology gap and the developing countries

Recently much more attention has been given to the application of Science and Technology to development in the developing countries. While analysing the role of science and technology in the development of these countries, it is useful to distinguish between “growth” and “development”. The progressive application and development of modern science and technology should be considered much more than a simple accumulation of useful information of know‐how (science) and know‐why (technology).

It is well known that 98 % of the world's R and D expenditures are concentrated in the rich countries which have different interests, different problems and seek different solutions than those in the developing countries. As the ability to analyse technical scientific and managerial problems has grown in the rich industrial countries, the poor low income countries have become increasingly dependent on technologies conceived and developed in the rich countries and not suitable for their needs and resource endowments.

In the light of this situation, it is suggested that the rich‐developed countries should reorient a substantial part of their expenditures on R and D so that some of the resulting advances in science and technology are directly geared to the problems of the less developed countries as pointed out in the U.N. World Plan of Action for the application of science and technology to development.     

The effect of compatibilization on the behavior of a polycarbonate/polymer liquid crystal blend

Polymer liquid crystalline materials (PLC) blended with engineering plastics (EP) have the potential to reduce viscosity and increase the modulus of the EP, particularly if the PLC is in a favorable fibrillar morphology. A major deficiency in these blends—as with many other immiscible polymeric systems—is poor failure properties. In this paper, polycarbonate (PC) and a rigid, all-aromatic commercial PLC are blended and a third resin, a copolymer of methyl methacrylate and N-methyl-dimethyl-glutarimide is included as a compatibilizing agent. Characterization of the binary and ternary blends is carried out using rheological, mechanical, morphological, and dynamic mechanical characterization techniques. Binary blends of PLC in a PC matrix result in an immiscible, nodular morphology with low failure stresses. The addition of the copolymeric compatibilizer—particularly one with reactive functionalities—is found to improve tensile strength and yield a fibrillar blend morphology. It is proposed that this may be due to the compatibilizer reducing interfacial tension and adhering to the blend phases, rather than by causing a major change in blend viscosity.     

Gap width determination by microfocus X-ray film radiography coupled with microdensitometry of the image

Microfocus X-ray film radiography was applied to image submillimetre gaps formed by an accurate micrometer. Optical density profiles of the images were measured by a microdensitometer. Gap widths as well as the focal spot size were determined. Measured width results were compared with true values and the agreement is of the order of 2% for gaps in the range of 0.05 mm to 0.20 mm.     

Time to clinical stability in patients hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia: implications for practice guidelines

CONTEXT: Many groups have developed guidelines to shorten hospital length of stay in pneumonia in order to decrease costs, but the length of time until a patient hospitalized with pneumonia becomes clinically stable has not been established. OBJECTIVE: To describe the time to resolution of abnormalities in vital signs, ability to eat, and mental status in patients with community-acquired pneumonia and assess clinical outcomes after achieving stability. DESIGN: Prospective, multicenter, observational cohort study. SETTING: Three university and 1 community teaching hospital in Boston, Mass, Pittsburgh, Pa, and Halifax, Nova Scotia. PATIENTS: Six hundred eighty-six adults hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Time to resolution of vital signs, ability to eat, mental status, hospital length of stay, and admission to an intensive care, coronary care, or telemetry unit. RESULTS: The median time to stability was 2 days for heart rate (< or =100 beats/min) and systolic blood pressure (> or =90 mm Hg), and 3 days for respiratory rate (< or =24 breaths/min), oxygen saturation (> or =90%), and temperature (< or =37.2 degrees C [99 degrees F]). The median time to overall clinical stability was 3 days for the most lenient definition of stability and 7 days for the most conservative definition. Patients with more severe cases of pneumonia at presentation took longer to reach stability. Once stability was achieved, clinical deterioration requiring intensive care, coronary care, or telemetry monitoring occurred in 1% of cases or fewer. Between 65% to 86% of patients stayed in the hospital more than 1 day after reaching stability, and fewer than 29% to 46% were converted to oral antibiotics within 1 day of stability, depending on the definition of stability. CONCLUSIONS: Our estimates of time to stability in pneumonia and explicit criteria for defining stability can provide an evidence-based estimate of optimal length of stay, and outline a clinically sensible approach to improving the efficiency of inpatient management.