In accordance with an embodiment, a switch controller for a switched-mode power supply includes an oscillator, an advance timing generator, and a dead zone generator. In the first needle portion, a first air vent being one end of the air passage is provided on a distal end side of the second needle portion from a second air vent being the other end of the air passage. The channels may be angled into the direction of rotation of the rotors to direct crushed material therethrough. The designated portions of the one or more frames of the synchronous transport signal from which the timing information is extracted may comprise designated overhead bytes of the one or more frames, such as, for example, transport overhead bytes. The gate electrode is disposed over the third compound semiconductor layer. An information change is stored that is associated with a business object such that tracking of the information change is enabled with respect to one a transaction time andor an effective time.