Abstract: A wafer unloading system and wafer processing equipment (system) including the same are disclosed. The wafer unloading system includes a fluid supply tube for supplying a fluid, a nozzle for injecting the supplied fluid, and an injection hole defined in a plate to allow the injected fluid to reach a space between a polishing pad and a wafer.

Abstract: A dispensing device and the method of making same for dispensing medicaments to a patient that includes a housing, a first assembly connected to the first end of the housing that includes a body portion, and a penetrating sub-assembly. The first assembly also includes a rate control chip of novel construction that is connected to the penetrating sub-assembly and functions to control the rate of flow of medicinal fluid to the patient. Disposed within the housing is a second assembly that includes a shuttle, a collapsible container carried by the shuttle and a plurality of variable force springs that function to thrust the collapsible container into penetrating engagement with the penetrating member of the penetrating assembly and then to collapse the collapsible container to deliver the medicinal fluid to the patient. Connected to the second end of the housing is a novel third assembly that includes an operating member that is threadably connected to the shuttle.

Abstract: A power converter may include a first power path having no energy storage and a second power path having substantial energy storage. The first and second power paths have first and second input waveforms that are complementary with respect to a source waveform. The first power path, which may be more efficient than the second path, may transfer as much power as possible from the input to the output. The energy storage enables the second power path to make up the difference between the power available from the source and the power drawn by the first power path, and to make up the difference between the power demanded by a load and the power supplied by the first path.

Abstract: Tools and methods are particularly suited for certain cardiac conditions involving use of a catheter for pacing of the right and left ventricles from a lead in the right ventricle, e.g., to facilitate mechanically and/or electrically synchronous contractions for resynchronization. Certain aspects involve pacing and/or mapping by delivering pulses to a cardiac site useful for improving heart function as measured, e.g., by QRS width, fractionation, late LV activation timing, mechanical synchronicity of free wall and septal wall, effective throughput/pressure, or a combination thereof. In one embodiment, a catheter arrangement includes a fixation mechanism to attach the catheter arrangement to heart tissue, individually-addressable electrodes for providing pacing signals to the heart tissue, and an elongated structure that supports the fixation mechanism and the electrodes.

Abstract: Methods and systems for tracking an electronic signal corresponding to an operating frequency of an electronic component are provided. A method may include sampling the signal to determine previous and current time samples of the signal. A frequency of interest in the signal may also be pre-warped to decrease adverse warping effects resulting from processing signals having relatively higher operating frequencies. The previous and current time samples of the signals, along with the pre-warped frequency of interest, may be input into a digital tracking filter. The digital tracking filter may be configured to execute one or more algorithms on the previous and current time samples and the pre-warped frequency of interest to estimate a current operating frequency.

Abstract: Operating a pointing device in a low power manner by receiving first tracking information from a first tracking device, de-activating the first tracking device when the accuracy of the first tracking information is determined to be inadequate, activating a second tracking device in order to acquire second tracking information when the first tracking device is deactivated, wherein the first tracking device is substantially lower power device that the second tracking device.

Abstract: Compositions and methods relating to soluble dimeric proteins are disclosed. The dimeric proteins comprise first and second polypeptide fusions linked via a dimerizing domain, each polypeptide fusion comprising first and second monomer domains corresponding to a cytokine or an extracellular domain of a cell-surface receptor. The monomer domains may be positioned amino terminal and carboxyl terminal to the dimerizing domain. Alternatively, the monomer domains may be positioned in tandem, either carboxyl terminal or amino terminal to the dimerizing domain. The dimeric proteins are useful in methods for therapy, diagnosis, and research.

Abstract: One device herein includes first and second spaced-apart active regions, a transistor formed in and above the first active region, wherein the transistor has a gate electrode, a conductive contact landing pad that is coupled to the second active region, wherein the contact landing pad is made of the same conductive material as the gate electrode, and a contact that is coupled to the contact landing pad. One method herein includes forming first and second spaced-apart active regions, forming a layer of gate insulation material on the active regions, performing an etching process to remove the gate insulation material formed on the second active region, performing a common process operation to form a gate electrode structure above the gate insulation material on the first active region and the contact landing pad that is conductively coupled to the second active region and forming a contact to the contact landing pad.

Abstract: A cooking system is provided. The cooking system includes: a radio frequency tag; a cooking appliance provided with a radio frequency reader to receive food related data from the radio frequency tag, the cooking appliance comprising at least a heating element; and a server receiving at least the food related data from the cooking appliance, the server transmitting food cooking data for cooking a food suitable for the cooking appliance using the food related data, wherein the cooking appliance operates using the food cooking data.

Abstract: A method for transmitting a signal in an optical system includes generating an optical signal along an optical axis for transmission through an optical element, positioning the optical element so that a surface discontinuity is positioned along the optical axis such that the optical signal defines a substantially radially symmetric intensity profile, and launching the optical signal into an input face of an optical fiber such that the intensity profile is substantially null proximate an optical axis associated with the optical fiber.

Abstract: A packaged concrete additive includes ground, expanded perlite with a volume weighted mean particle size of approximately 10-100 ?m. The perlite optionally includes at least one additional component to improve workability and compensate for the natural tendency of expanded perlite to absorb water from the concrete mix. The additional component can include: water; a superplasticizer such as polycarboxylates, naphthalene sulfonate, and melamine sulfonate; or a hydrophobic compound, such as salts of fatty acids, fatty acids, silanes, and siloxanes. The additive is a flowable powder and for convenience of use it is packaged in a bag that can be directly added to the concrete batch and disappears on mixing. Concrete containing this additive displays superior properties to conventional concrete. Expanded perlite is a readily available raw material and the finished concrete is suitable where high strength structural concrete must withstand high temperatures.

Abstract: A procedure for improved temperature control in controlled radical polymerization processes is disclosed. The procedure is directed at controlling the concentration of the persistent radical in ATRP and NMP polymerizations procedures and the concentration of radicals in a RAFT polymerization process by feeding a reducing agent or radical precursor continuously or intermittently to the reaction medium through one of more ports.

Abstract: A multi-layer, multi-turn structure for an inductor having a plurality of conductor layers separated by layers of insulator is described. The inductor further comprises a connector electrically connected between the conductor layers. The structure of the inductor may comprise a cavity therewithin. The structure of the inductor constructed such that electrical resistance is reduced therewithin, thus increasing the efficiency of the inductor. The inductor is particularly useful at operating within the radio frequency range and greater.

Abstract: Techniques for adjusting stimulation are disclosed. A medical device measures an impedance associated with one or more electrodes, e.g., the impedance presented to the medical device by a total electrical circuit that includes the one or more electrodes, the conductors associated with the electrodes, and tissue proximate to the electrodes. The medical device stores at least one patient-specific relationship between impedance and a stimulation parameter, and adjusts the value of the stimulation parameter based on the measured impedance according to the relationship. The medical device may store multiple relationships, and select one the relationships based on, for example, an activity level of the patient, posture of the patient, or a current stimulation program or electrode combination used to deliver stimulation. By adjusting a stimulation parameter, such as amplitude, according to such a relationship, the stimulation intensity as perceived by the patient may be kept substantially constant.

Abstract: Methods, devices, and storage media provide for receiving a request to invoke a machine-to-machine communication to permit remote control of a device, wherein the request includes a device string that identifies the device and one or more secret strings; generating one or more hashed strings based on the request and a current time; and transmitting a remote control request to the device, wherein the remote control request includes the one or more hashed strings and the one or more secret strings.

Abstract: In an example implementation, an autonomous vehicle is configured to detect closures and lane shifts in a lane of travel. The vehicle is configured to operate in an autonomous mode and determine a presence of an obstacle substantially positioned in a lane of travel of the vehicle using a sensor. The lane of travel has a first side, a second side, and a center, and the obstacle is substantially positioned on the first side. The autonomous vehicle includes a computer system. The computer system determines a lateral distance between the obstacle and the center, compares the lateral distance to a pre-determined threshold, and provides instructions to control the autonomous vehicle based on the comparison.

Abstract: Methods and systems relating to providing constants are provided. In an embodiment, a method of providing constants in a processing device includes copying a constant of a first constant buffer to a second constant buffer, the first and second constant buffers being included in a ring of constant buffers and a size of the ring being one greater than a number of processes that the processing device can process concurrently, updating a value of the constant in the second buffer, and binding a command to be executed on the processing device to the second constant buffer.

Abstract: Delayed insertion of safepoint related code is disclosed. Optimization processing is performed with respect to an intermediate representation of a source code. The optimized intermediate representation is analyzed programmatically to identify a safepoint and insert safepoint related code associated with the safepoint. In some embodiments, analyzing the optimized intermediate representation programmatically comprises determining where to place the safepoint within a program structure of the source code as reflected in the intermediate representation.