Abstract: A method of preparing a foamed thermoplastic polymer comprises contacting a chemical blowing agent (A) which is a semi-carbazide with a thermoplastic polymer or a precursor of a thermoplastic polymer. Blowing agent (A) is preferably p-toluenesulfonyl semi-carbazide and said polymer is preferably PVC. Formulations, including liquid formulations which include the blowing agent (A) and other ingredients, are also described.

Abstract: Systems and methods for efficiently using solid-state devices are provided. Some embodiments provide for a data processing system that uses a non-volatile solid state device as a circular log, with the goal of aligning data access patterns to the underlying, hidden device implementation, in order to maximize performance. In addition, metadata can be interspersed with data in order to align data access patterns to the underlying device implementation. Multiple input/output (I/O) buffers can also be used to pipeline insertions of metadata and data into a linear log. The observed queuing behavior of the multiple I/O buffers can be used to determine when the utilization of the storage device is approaching saturation (e.g., in order to predict excessively-long response times). Then, the I/O load on the storage device may be shed when utilization approaches saturation. As a result, the overall response time of the system is improved.

Abstract: Systems and methods for efficiently using solid-state devices are provided. Some embodiments provide for a data processing system that uses a non-volatile solid-state device as a circular log, with the goal of aligning data access patterns to the underlying, hidden device implementation, in order to maximize performance. In addition, metadata can be interspersed with data in order to align data access patterns to the underlying device implementation. Multiple input/output (I/O) buffers can also be used to pipeline insertions of metadata and data into a linear log. The observed queuing behavior of the multiple I/O buffers can be used to determine when the utilization of the storage device is approaching saturation (e.g., in order to predict excessively-long response times). Then, the I/O load on the storage device may be shed when utilization approaches saturation. As a result, the overall response time of the system is improved.

Abstract: The system provides a method and apparatus for writing a unique copy of data associated with each of a plurality of individual users, without the need for storing duplicate copies of the entire data file. The system provides for creating an unusable copy of a portion of the data that is to be shared by all users of the complete data. The system will store and optionally encrypt and/or watermark a unique copy of the remainder portion of the data for each unique user. When accessed from storage, the system will combine the shared portion with the unique remainder to reconstitute the entire file for access by the user. Deleting the unique remainder associated with a particular user makes all of the data useless to that user. In one embodiment, the system first compresses the entire data file using index frames and delta.

Abstract: Systems and methods for efficiently using solid-state devices are provided. Some embodiments provide for a data processing system that uses a non-volatile solid-state device as a circular log, with the goal of aligning data access patterns to the underlying, hidden device implementation, in order to maximize performance. In addition, metadata can be interspersed with data in order to align data access patterns to the underlying device implementation. Multiple input/output (I/O) buffers can also be used to pipeline insertions of metadata and data into a linear log. The observed queuing behavior of the multiple I/O buffers can be used to determine when the utilization of the storage device is approaching saturation (e.g., in order to predict excessively-long response times). Then, the I/O load on the storage device may be shed when utilization approaches saturation. As a result, the overall response time of the system is improved.

Abstract: A thread scheduling technique for assigning multiple threads on a single integrated circuit is dependent on the CPIs of the threads. The technique attempts to balance, to the extent possible, the loads among the processing cores by assigning threads of relatively long-latency (low CPIs) with threads of relatively short-latency (high CPIs) to the same processing core.

Abstract: A computer system includes an integrated circuit that has a plurality of processing cores fabricated therein and configured to perform operations in parallel. Each processing core is configured to process multiple threads, where a thread is assigned to one of the plurality of processing cores dependent on a cache hit rate of the thread.

Abstract: A chip multithreading processor schedules and assigns threads to its processing cores dependent on estimated miss rates in a shared cache memory of the threads. A cache miss rate of a thread is estimated by measuring cache miss rates of one or more groups of executing threads, where at least one of the groups includes the thread of interest. Using a determined estimated cache miss rate of the thread, the thread is scheduled with other threads to achieve a relatively low cache miss rate in the shared cache memory.

Abstract: A chip multithreading processor schedules and assigns threads to its processing cores dependent on estimated miss rates in a shared cache memory of the threads. A cache miss rate of a thread is estimated by measuring cache miss rates of one or more groups of executing threads, where at least one of the groups includes the thread of interest. Using a determined estimated cache miss rate of the thread, the thread is scheduled with other threads to achieve a relatively low cache miss rate in the shared cache memory.

Abstract: The present invention is an enzymatic method and diagnostic kits for detecting and quantifying the presence of one or more lysophospholids in a sample of bodily fluid taken from a test subject. The method uses enzymes in a two step assay and may be used to detect disease conditions associated with altered levels of lysophospholipids and to correlate such conditions with altered levels of lysophospholipids.