A 233-MHz 80%-87% efficient four-phase DC-DC converter utilizing air-core inductors on package

We demonstrate an integrated buck dc-dc converter for multi-V/sub CC/ microprocessors. At nominal conditions, the converter produces a 0.9-V output from a 1.2-V input. The circuit was implemented in a 90-nm CMOS technology. By operating at high switching frequency of 100 to 317 MHz with four-phase topology and fast hysteretic control, we reduced inductor and capacitor sizes by three orders of magnitude compared to previously published dc-dc converters. This eliminated the need for the inductor magnetic core and enabled integration of the output decoupling capacitor on-chip. The converter achieves 80%-87% efficiency and 10% peak-to-peak output noise for a 0.3-A output current and 2.5-nF decoupling capacitance. A forward body bias of 500 mV applied to PMOS transistors in the bridge improves efficiency by 0.5%-1%.     

5-GHz 32-bit integer execution core in 130-nm dual-V/sub T/ CMOS

A 32-bit integer execution core containing a Han-Carlson arithmetic-logic unit (ALU), an 8-entry /spl times/ 2 ALU instruction scheduler loop and a 32-entry /spl times/ 32-bit register file is described. In a 130 nm six-metal, dual-V/sub T/ CMOS technology, the 2.3 mm/sup 2/ prototype contains 160 K transistors. Measurements demonstrate capability for 5-GHz single-cycle integer execution at 25/spl deg/C. The single-ended, leakage-tolerant dynamic scheme used in the ALU and scheduler enables up to 9-wide ORs with 23% critical path speed improvement and 40% active leakage power reduction when compared to a conventional Kogge-Stone implementation. On-chip body-bias circuits provide additional performance improvement or leakage tolerance. Stack node preconditioning improves ALU performance by 10%. At 5 GHz, ALU power is 95 mW at 0.95 V and the register file consumes 172 mW at 1.37 V. The ALU performance is scalable to 6.5 GHz at 1.1 V and to 10 GHz at 1.7 V, 25/spl deg/C.     

Effects of erotica upon men's loving and liking responses for women they love.

In 2 studies, the construct validity of the Rubin Love scale and its discriminant validity in relation to the Rubin Liking scale were examined. In Study 1, 51 male undergraduates were asked to describe their loved ones on a series of measures after having been exposed to either erotica or control materials. Analysis of the within-condition correlations revealed convergent and discriminant patterns indicating construct validity. Analysis of covariance also revealed convergent and discriminant patterns: Only scores on the Love measures reliably increased from the control to the erotica condition. In presenting a behavioral analysis of the differential impact of erotica on Love vs Liking scale responses, it was assumed that (a) women are more likely to reinforce suitors for emitting statements more similar to the Love than to the Liking items and (b) men are more likely when sexually aroused than when not aroused to express statements more similar to the Love than to the Liking items to their loved ones. In Study 2, a series of surveys of 77 female and 64 male undergraduates offer support for these assumptions. Overall, results are interpreted as corroborating the construct validity of the Love scale. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anticipating informed consent: An empirical approach.

Discusses the American Psychological Association's ethical standards concerning the misleading of Ss with regard to experimental purposes or procedures, and proposes a "role-play sampling" procedure by which S's likelihood of consent to (and thereby the "reasonableness" of) a proposed experimental procedure can be determined in advance of actual experimentation. The procedure was tested with freshmen and sophomores (N = 106) drawn from the same college population used in 6 published social psychological experiments. Ss examined the experimental procedures used originally in each experiment and indicated their "willingness to consent" to participate in each study. 4 of the 6 experiments had been considered stressful by actual participants; 2 were nonstressful. The effect of varying amounts and kinds of information about each experiment upon consent rates was also examined. Results show both the stress and information factors significantly affected consent rates. Evidence is presented which suggests that the role-play sampling procedure possesses predictive validity in terms of the reaction which may be anticipated from those who subsequently participate in the actual experiment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Efficiency of heat transfer in recuperative heat exchangers with high-speed gas flows at low Prandtl numbers

The possibility to estimate the efficiency of recuperative heat exchangers is shown. The estimation takes into account the effect of gas dynamic energy separation using the known parameters: the efficiency of the recuperator, the number of transfer units, and the specific surface area expressed through recovery temperatures. The dependences of the recuperator parameters on the reduced rates of heat-transfer agents are calculated at Prandtl numbers considerably different from unity.     

Time domain modeling of lossy interconnects

A new model for dielectric loss, suitable for time domain modeling of printed circuit boards, is proposed. The model is based on a physical relaxation model. Complete time domain modeling of skin effect and dielectric losses in FR-4 boards are demonstrated and experimentally verified. Finally, the developed model is used to predict that FR-4 boards are useful for data rates up to 10 Gb/s     

Measurements and analysis of SER-tolerant latch in a 90-nm dual-V/sub T/ CMOS process

We designed a soft error rate (SER) tolerant latch utilizing local redundancy. We implemented a test chip containing both the standard and SER-tolerant latches in a 90-nm dual-V/sub T/ CMOS process. Accelerated measurements with a neutron beam at Los Alamos National Laboratory demonstrated 10/spl times/ better reliability of the SER-tolerant latch over the standard latch at no speed degradation. The worst case energy and area penalties were 39% and 44%, respectively. Both the energy and area penalties are negligible for standard-latch transistor sizes at least double the minimum width. We analyzed the effects of the recovery time, threshold voltage assignment, and leakage on the SER robustness. The proposed latch can improve reliability of critical sequential logic elements in microprocessors and other circuits.     

What does the Least Preferred Co-Worker Scale really measure? A cognitive interpretation.

The Least Preferred Co-Worker Scale (LPC) has been variously interpreted as a measure of leadership style or as a measure of the cognitive complexity of the leader. In this study, using 112 Ss including business students, managers, and systems analysts, the LPC scale scores were correlated with 2 other measures of differentiation and with 3 cognitive measures in an attempt to assess the interpretation of the scale as a cognitive measure. Results show that while the low end of the LPC seems to be associated with cognitive simplicity, the high-least preferred co-worker S was not unequivocally cognitively complex. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Traps in technology management

It is suggested that technology-based enterprises must avoid the following traps: overvaluing technology; interchanging research and development; underestimating the problems involved in manufacture; failing to anticipate technological change; positioning inappropriately; ignoring the power of marketing; not respecting investor expectations; and misunderstanding innovation. At a more fundamental level, however, lies the threat that these mistakes transcend technical or marketing deficiencies and are symptoms of a more serious infrastructural problem. The more dangerous trap, therefore, is failing to recognize this in time